Geo: -41.1333, -71.2833After a miserable night in the oven called Buenos Aires, we caught a flight to Bariloche, where we hoped to be able to cool off a bit.Overdone.We're freezing out whatsus off. The wind's blowing like an angry Nor'easter and our luggage is lost, so we're in tee shirts and shorts jumping up and down and slapping our arms trying to keep from freezing to the pavement.Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but really, it's cold after a month of 100 degrees. I begged an extra blanket off our landlady and I'm wrapped up in that like an eskimo. I was just visiting with a girl from France here at the guest house and she said they couldn't go trekking today because of all the snow. It snowed 30 cm. last night and stranded ... read more

Geo: -33.1394, -58.3043Remember all the cows of the gaucho years? Well, they're still a bunch of them around. Their history is integral to the history of the country and nowhere is that more apparent than in Fray Bentos.In 1863 a German engineer developed a system to process beef and, funny thing--discovered Uruguay at the same time. Beef--Uruguay, it works. Situated on the Uruguay River and thus with easy access to the outside, this sleepy port city became a giant producer of beef products that literally fed the world. They shipped a million cow's worth of beef to countries all over the world, much of it as OXO Cubes to troups in WWI and WWII. As the technology increased the ability to can beef safely increased as well. The main product was corned beef, the kind I ... read more

Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568The thing about studying in a host country is you meet so many go-to people. Like dear Nella who gladdens my heart and really should have been my sister, we're so alike. And darling, sparkly Andrea, who livens any room she enters. And Alejandra, the crazy sister who's the practical joker. I wish we'd been able to spend more time with her. She's a kick. And that's just the Uruguayans. At school the first week we forged friendships with this core group--we all started out together so we all had about the same degree of nervousness and trepidation about it all, but everyone dropped out at different times and it was kind of weird. We would just get to know someone and they'd just fade away and someone else would start up, but never ... read more

Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568This family is hysterical. I LOVE THEM. We make a quick dash-in-and-out at the house after class because Mateo's had a high fever and we are really not wanting to get sick. We're on our way to the travel agent's office who's handling our last three days in Uruguay. We only have three days left of class, then three days of touring before we head for Argentina. But oh no, not so quick. This random woman meets us in the hall with kisses ands hug and so-nice-to-meet-you's and Andrea dashes past us with, "this is really important and the woman asks, You'regoingtoMercedes? What? YOU'REGOINGTOMERCEDES? Louder. Her face is inches from mine. Mercedes? I ask. We're blank. Ok. Head clears. This is English. You're. going. to. Mercedes. ? Oh no, Bob answers and starts in ... read more

Geo: -34.8713, -55.2678We started this blog to share our adventures with family and friends since we wouldn't have a phone for the 3 months we're in South America. We were hoping it would be a way for us to communicate with the people we love, but we can't tell if anyone's reading it because we've had so few comments--that's the only way we know if there's anyone on the other end, so to speak. I don't know--maybe it's hard to leave messages, too.Anyway, we're finding it's a lot of work to do this and need to know if you're there. So…if you're out there and you're reading this, please know we long to hear from you.And THANK YOU THANK YOU to those of you who have figured it out. We love your notes!But on to our ... read more