amandafl

This past weekend I checked another place off my long list of places to visit; I had the fortunate experience of spending four days in Mendoza, Argentina’s wine country. My friends and I spent a day on a biking tour of three different wineries, or bodegas as they are called here, complete with tastings at each one. We first went to Weinhert and got to see their extensive cellars, including massive casks of wine (one over 4,000 liters); the second one was Cecchin, which produces all organic wines; and finally we stopped at Di Tommaso, which is one of the oldest wineries in Mendoza and sells its products exclusively in Argentina. I learned lots of techniques to makes me feel fancy next time I order wine—how to taste it, how to swirl it to release the ... read more

After a week traveling around Ushuaia and El Calafate, all I can say is wow. There is no way I can possibly describe in words all the amazing sights that I saw. Even pictures seem to fail to capture all the natural beauty that is there. While in Ushuaia, a friend of mine who I was traveling with commented it’s so naturally beautiful that it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture—the bad ones turn out good, and the good ones spectacular because Mother Nature has already done all the work. We spent the first four or five days of our vacation in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world and the launching point for trips to Antarctica. We mostly spent the first day walking around and exploring the city. A few of us headed to ... read more

What an experience this week has been. Thursday afternoon we went to go watch the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo march in front of the Casa Rosada, the president’s house. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, they are a group of women who lost their children during the Dirty War during the 1970s. During this War, Argentina was under a military government, and many people who had contrarian political ideas were kidnapped secretly in the middle of the night by the government. These people were then detained, tortured, and killed, while their families were left with no information about their whereabouts. Even after the war, little was said about these disappeared persons, or “desaparecidos.” The Madres began marching to demand an end to the secrecy and ... read more

On Sunday my friends and I went to the world-famous Recoleta Cemetery, the final resting place of Argentina’s most famous and important figures. It’s a sprawling complex of mausoleums and above-ground graves that one could easily get lost in, literally and figuratively. I’m sure it’s only out first visit to Recoleta, as we didn’t get the chance to explore it fully. We jumped onto a guided tour that was all in Spanish. Good practice for our Spanish, but not so good if you want to understand everything that is being said (we managed to understand some interesting snippets, including how Evita’s remains traveled to Italy and Spain before achieving their final resting place in Recoleta two decades after her death). Then, shortly after we visited the grave of Evita we lost our guide! So after only ... read more

Saturday we had a trip to El Tigre, a city which is just north of Buenos Aires, and the Parana River Delta. We toured a series of islands and waterways, where many people have weekend houses. It sort of reminded me of in the United States how people have lakeside cottages they go to during their days off. Instead of roads, there are rivers, and instead of cars the people have boats. Even their supermarkets are on boats. It was a really pretty area to see, and it was nice to have a day away from the city, even though I’ve found I love living in the capital. We spent most of the day at a recreation area called El Alcazar, which had beaches, areas for sports, and food. One of the highlights of our day ... read more

It’s finally here—the much anticipated blog that I promised! I’ve been busy buying necessities, settling into classes, and adjusting to porteno life in general, hence the delay. But now, all you curious people can read about it. I’ll skip the mundane details of the flight (it was long, I was nervous but excited, yada yada) and get to the interesting stuff. I was expecting culture shock to hit me like a sack of bricks, but it really hasn’t. Sure the first couple of days were a bit overwhelming in an exciting way, but I was surprised that seeing and hearing everything in Spanish didn’t overwhelm me more. I’ve come to realize how limited my spoken Spanish can be, but fortunately I know enough to communicate with the locals and get myself around. I’m slowly adapting to ... read more