Is It Really Almost Time To Go?

I can´t believe I'm leaving Buenos Aires on Saturday and at the same time it feels like a year ago when I arrived. I have to say that it has been far beyond my expectations. If Chile is half as good as Buenos Aires has been then wow! (Of course I hope its just as good or better, but I have found its better to keep expectations low).

Its been a little while since I wrote so here are a few of the highlights of my last week or so.

Spanglish-I have gone three times. Each time its a little different and I meet different people. I went out a few days ago with a guy I met there for a langauge exchange. We had dinner at this really crazy restaurant (which I didnt take any pictures of (gah!) and talked back and forth in Spanish and English for 2 hours. It was really great. Im hoping to see him one more time. I went on Saturday and met a whole group of people from different countries including Argentina. We all went out for pizza after. One guy Juan (born in Argentina but raised in Holland), a brazilian girl and I talked a lot. He invited us to do something another day. She had to leave, but I went to Tigre with him. It was amazing. Its a river delta. We took a water bus and he talked to a local and found this really amazing place that we had to walk through the delta (and the water) to get to. If you are on FB check out the pics.(When I post them) Its amazing. Spanglish is the one thing that has pushed me the most. I have to go by myself usually and I have to speak Spanish. It has been really good for me.

The hostel-I wasnt sure what I was going to do this last week. Maybe travel around, maybe take more Spanish classes, but I decided to go to a hostel I heard about and just have fun in BA. I left my host family on Saturday morning for the hostel. I was actually a little nervous because even though it came highly recommended I didnt know what it was going to be like. It was a great decision. The first day I met Juliana from Brazil. We went to the Japonese garden together and the rose garden. Then we went to Spanglish together. I met a French guy named Oliver and I went with him and Juliana to a very cool drum show in this crazy worn down warehouse looking place. Its gritty in a cool way. I met 2 girls from Sweden and 1 girl from Holland and they invited me to a milonga. Its a local gathering where people dance tango and other traditional dances. It was completely local and so amazing to see how people knew the steps to all these dances. The dutch girl is really tall and blond so all th old guys kept asking her to dance. It was pretty funny.

My old friends-I still see my friends from the school. On Sunday Carley (the Canadian) and Frederick (the German) and I went to the neighborhood called La Boca (the mouth, basically its a poor port neighborhood) where they have this little touristy place called Caminito. Its a street of brightly colored houses. All the locals warned us not to walk there as it is only safe in the touristy area, so we took a bus. We are all a little afraid of the buses because there are so many of them and a lot of them take you outside of the city. However, I got very clear directions from a local and we made it with out any problems. We ate lunch, got serenaded at the restaurant and saw a little tango dancing. We all remarked on how well things have worked out.

There are so many things that have happened I can't tell them all. I will tell you one last story. We went to an estancia (a ranch) for a lunch (it was a parilla, they grilled lots of meat). They started stuffing us full of food and drinks the moment we arrived. They had a traditional music and dance show during lunch. Later in the day they had a gaucho show (cowboys and horses basically). Before the show 2 gauchos offered me and another girl a ride. So we rode (those pictures are on FB) with them. My gaucho (Oswaldo) told me I was pretty and asked me to marry him! Ah, latin men. Later one of the games was to catch a ring on a small stick while riding their horse very fast. If they catch it, they can offer it to a girl. If the girl accepts the ring she gives the gaucho a kiss, if not then she has to kiss the horse. The first guy offered it to one of the girls with me and she kissed the horse. My guy actually got it too and he didnt forget me, haha. He came and offered it to me. I went ahead and kissed him. Don´t faint people, it was a cheek kiss.

I love the culture here. It is so colorful and warm. I hope Chile is as well.

Besos