PERU! WOHO!

This last week Lauren and  I took off for 5 days in Peru! What an Adventure! We spent our first night in Peru sleeping in the lima airport from 10pm to 3am. It was very misrable because we could not check into our gate and spent the night sleeping in the food court and in front of the check in with our bags propped up between us. We flew into Cusco and arrived at about 7:30 am, my good friend Katie from Duluth picked us up from the airport and took us to a hostel. Then we went out to Breakfast, in Argentina they dont eat breakfast so pancakes and bacon were a special treat! We ended up napping into the afternoon  and Katie took us shopping and around town seeing the sites until dinner.
Cusco is very different then Buenos Aires, it is very touristy, much like Disney World. Also the venders of Cusco will come right up to you and ask you to buy there wears, very obnoxious and hard to carry a converstaion while walking down the street! it got very tiresome quickly.  We headed back to the hostel and was in bed by 9:30pm. Traveling at night sure does wear one out!
We woke up the next morning ready to tour the Sacred Valley and catch a train to Agua Calientes to see Machu Picchu! We  showed up at the tour guide company but it was closed and when it opened we asked the lady about our tour and she had no idea. At the last minute a lady came up and told us to follow her, we did and she put us on a bus for the tour we had no idea what was going on but we were laughing the whole time. that day we took a tour of two Different ruins Pisac and Ollantaytambo. These were Incan ruins from when they ruled the Sacred Valley before the Spainards came and destroyed them.  Stupid Spaniards.....
That evening we caught a train to Agua Calientes and stayed at really nice hostel, hot water and everything!

The next morning we got up at 4am to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu, it was raining and foggy but we were much to excited to care. We had our tour at 7:40, we learned that the city was not a normal city and the important inkan people resided there; astrologers, philisophers, all the ologers lived there, priests and priestesses.  After the tour we hiked Waynapicchu the large mountian behind the city. It was not safe at all, i was very surpised that they let anyone who wants to hike it! The view was breath taking and worth the million vertical steps!

It took us about 4 hours to get up and down, then we left the park for lunch and a little break. That afternoon we hiked to the Sun gate which was another 40 min up and 40 min back! Wow I needed some convincing to do that hike! The view was worth it! By the time we got back down the park was closing and we caught a bus back down to Agua Calientes. I ate the Ceviche for dinner but did not know you are not supposed to eat it after 3 or inland of the coast. Needless to say I was very ill.  We caught the train back to Ollantaytambo  and a bus to Cusco where katie was waiting for us at the bus stop and took us to a hostel and tucked us into bed :)  What an exhastingly satifying unbelivable day!
Our last day spent in Peru we checked out 3 museums in Cusco and Katie show us the sights! What a beautiful city!  That evening Lauren and Katie went out salsa dancing but I was still feeling ill from the Ceviche so I went to bed early. We woke the next morning, feeling a bit better, katie met us for our last breakfast and sent us on our way to the airport. flew to lima, an 8 hour layover, then safely back to Buenos Aires.

What a bueatiful, breathtaking trip!
Thanks for being our tour guide kaite, I love you!

A Weekend in Mendoza

The view from our deck at the Cabana

Last weekend we took a group trip to San Rafael in Mendoza. Mendoza is a province in western Argentina known for their excellent vineyards and beautiful senery. I wonder whose idea it was to take 50 students, half of them under 21, to wine country. sheesh...

Anywho, we stayed in a beautiful place right on the Atuel River, south of San Rafael. It took a 12 hour bus ride to get there.  We arrived and went for a hike in the mountians. The hotel fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner all weekend, which was very good! We got a snack every afternoon as well. I ate too much! The Next day we went rapelling and ziplining, lots of fun!  I was suprised to see that the break device on the zipline was a man that probably wieghed less then me! haha! That afternoon we toured two vineyards. The first one we looked at was huge! The second one was family owned. It was interesting to see how they were run differently. The next day we went river rafting and packed up to go home! Another 15 hours and we were successfully back in Buenos Aires.  A short little trip but absolutely beautiful senery!

besitos!

Hiking through the foothills of the Andes 

View from the repelling point

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo, You can Come too too too!

We went to the Lujan Zoo on Saturday this last weekend. It was by far the craziest zoo I have ever been to! PETA would file lawsuits without a doubt.  It was about an hour and half outside of Buenos Aires by bus. We got to hold baby lions and pet the tigers. So crazy!

Valpo!

On Monday of last week my friend lauren and I booked plane tickets to Santiago, Chile to visit a friend of hers in Vaparioso. On friday morning we took off and flew over the Andes mountians and landed at the Santiago Airport, where we met Luaren's friend Josolyn. She was so sweet to pick us up!  She helped us get some money out of the ATM. The Exchange rate in Chile is 500 pesos to 1 US dollar, the bills are all in thousands which all the zeros where confusing but we got a hang of it, sorta :) We spent the afternoon seeing the sights of Santiago, including the Presidential house and other governmental buildings. We also went to this bueatiful park with fountians and palm trees, and hiked to the top and saw the whole city surrounding us! que linda!

It was an hour and half bus ride to Valparioso and we arrived a bit tired but ready to go! Valpo is a beautiful city on the hillside overlooking the Pacific ocean, it was dark by the time we got there so the whole hillside was all lit up! We took the city bus to  Josolyn's house and got settled in. We decided to go out our first night in town and went to a place called El Huevo, or The Egg. It was crazy, it was this huge building with rooms blasting every kind of music! reggatone, salsa, electronic, top 40, hip hop, 2 live bands and many more. Needless to say we had a wonderful time dancing the night away!

The next day we took a bus to Vina Del Mar about 15 minutes away. but first we visited her university which was this Buetiful old building with open courtyards and palm trees. We went for lunch  in Vina and I got a seafood soup, in Chile the seafood is half off EVERYDAY! Very very cheap! We walked around checked out the beach and went for icecream that afternoon. We moisied back to Valpo and made dinner of local fish and fresh veggies mmmm! Was feeling a bit ill so stayed in that night and got some good rest.


The Boat fixer!

 Day two we stayed in Valparioso and Josolyn showed us around!  We went down to the Harbor and took a tour on a little boat. Valpo is port of the Chilan Armada, so lots of gray boats. I would not want to mess with the Chilan Armada :) Another highlight of the boat tour was the boat fixer. its this huge U shaped boat, open on both ends. When a boat needs to be fixed, it lowers and ship goes in it and get fixed! so cool! The size of the ocean liners had me in shock!  I thought the boats on lake Superior were big but boy was i wrong! That day for lunch we got the local special of steak bits on fried onions, over a bed of fries. mmm soo good! That afternoon we saw a movie at the theater but because there wass some sort of Chilan time change we missed it and had to see Resident Evil 4. lol im not really into zombie movies but it was pretty good. That night we had a good time drinking some litros at josolyn's house with a friend of hers!
On monday we took the elevators! which instead of being vertical they sit at any angle and go right up the side of the hill, we had lunch at cute little cafe on top called Cafe Color. Soup and salad mm mm mm! They forgot about our soup but there was nothing we could do because they dont tip in Chile!  We spent the after wandering in and out of shops and and just lOOking at stuff the hillside was beautiful because all the houses are these bright colors! That night lauren and i made seafood dinner while Josolyn did homework.

The last day spent in Valparioso Josolyn had class so Lauren and i wandered around doing a bit of shopping and sight seeing. Stopped at an internet cafe. Mom and Dad are in Italy so I wrote them a little email, we headed back to Josolyns for dinner and then went out for Margaritas for our last night in town and to celeberate the Miners successfully getting out! Woohoo!

This is the top of one of the elevators

The next morning we packed up and flew back to BA. We returned safe and sound and on thrusday and took two midterms! keeping busy!


VALPO!

 love you all- Anna

The Hurlingham Club

David: "Today we are Democratic."

Anna: "Well what are you usually?"

David:  "An Aristocracy!"

This last weekend our friend David, a 75 yr old Bacholer that sits in on our classes, invited us to a fair happening at the Hurlingham Club. The Hurlingham is an English club; it has 4 Polo fields, an 18 hole Golf course, 2 Cricket greens, clay Tennis courts and futbol; this covers about 8 km of land!  It is located in Buenos Aires and took us about a hour to get out there by train and subte.

When we walked in we laughed because they had the Beatles blasting on the loud speakers. Most of the people there spoke with a British accent. There is a saying that  goes; A true Argentine eats like Italian, dresses like a Spainard and speaks with a British accent! We ran into David and he gave us a tour of the club. We ate Chirrizos, which are like bratwurst, and had a lamo sandwich, which is more meat. We were  introduced to some of the club members, and other friends just in for the day to enjoy the fair.

The rest of the afternoon we spent strolling around the grounds looking at the what the venodors were selling. A percentage of the profits that day went to a local charity. What a Bueatiful sunday afternoon taking in the English culture!
Cheerio loves!

Jesuit Ruins + Mate plantation + Iguazu Falls = Paradise!

This weekend we went to Iguazu Falls in Northern Argentina in the provience of Misiones, the Falls border Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina. We took an overnight bus and arrived in Misiones Friday morning. We toured the Jesuit ruins in the area. They were absolutly beautiful. The rock is red from the Iron and Bauxite in it and the climate is tropical, so everything is very green. Muy lindo!

The next stop was this Beautiful Mate Plantation. We arrived and looked like a party/spa day! there was a rolling lawn of green grass with vollyball, soccer, swiming pool and pavilion sort of thing with hamocks, pingpong and fuseball. We were introduced to the lady of the house and she told to relax and have fun! They had 2 horses outback along with a set of oxen pulling a cart that you could visit with, pet and ride! We all went swiming and then they called us for lunch, which was a delicious BBQ with all sorts of meat and salads. They had cold Mate to drink, tasting like ice tea! After lunch they took us on a tour of the plantation and we saw how Mate yerba is made. Mate yerba  is the National Drink of Argentina.  It tastes like the bitterest of all tea and it is served hot in a cup called a Mate and drank with a metal straw. It is a social drink. The mate cup is passed around the group. one person will drink the whole cup. It will then be refilled and passed to the next person, same straw and all! People that work in the country will strike if they do not get a Mate break, it is very important! after thanking the lady of the house and cook for dinner we headed to the hotel and had dinner and went to bed.

On Saturday we went to Iguazu Falls. SO PRETTY!! We toured the upper falls in the morning and slowly worked our way down to the botton throughout the day. There really is no way to describe the falls except to look up beautiful in the theasurus. I will try to get up some pictures later this week!

Our last part of the tour was a boat ride under some of the falls! I wore my raincoat and my top stayed dry but my legs got soaked! We would yell MAS! MAS! MAS! to get the baot driver to take us under the falls again. It looked as if we had all gone for a swim when we got off the boat!

We travelled back to the hotel all soggy wet cleaned up and went for dinner. This morning we caught a flight back to Beunos Aires and I'm back safe and sounds plus a couple bug bites but ready for another week of school!

Besos- Anna

Urugauy Part 2

I woke up this morning to another beautiful day in Punta Del esta but unfortanutly our last day. The boys went surfing this morning and I went down to the beach to watch for a bit. I did not think it was warm enough to get in the water, I was in pants and a light coat. So when they asked me if I wanted to learn I politly declined and took a rain check for a warmer day.

I walked Back to the hostel with one of our new friends Marcos. He was also surfing that morning with my two friends.  He was from Urugauy and I asked him how long he was going to stay at the Chela's hostel and he said, "until I dont feel like it." A very easy-going lifestyle :)  We made Breakfast and caught the city bus into Punta Del Esta and got bus tickets to Montevideo. We went down to the beach to get some last pictures and ended up almost missing our bus! All the sudden its 2:12pm and our Bus leaves at 2:15! So we run to the bus station, we watched the first bus to Montevideo depart, as the driver yells at us to catch the second one. As he says this the second bus for Montevideo pulls out and starts to leave, and Chris and Andrew start running after  it. Begrudging I ran too. A half of a block later it stopped or should I say it slowed so we could hop on. How Crazy! The rest of the trip home went off without a hitch and I'm safely back in Buenos Aires!  What an Awesome trip!

A picture of  Most everyone at the hostel! New Friends!
from left to right: Chris,Maxi, me, Marcos, Andrew and Chela in the front :)





On Thursday we are taking a Group trip to Igauzu! No time to put my backpack away! Do laundry, go to class and we are off!

With love,
Anna