Trip to the NW and World Cup madness!!!

---

Last week my Dad and stepmom came to visit me for about a week. We spent several days in Buenos Aires and also took a trip to the northwest of the country. We visted three states: Tucuman, Jujuy, and Salta. Tucuman is where the Argentine Declaration of Independence was signed and it's a smally city in a pretty lush-green part of the country. All around the city are rolling hills and lots of flowers, and it seemed like a really nice place to vacation. Our guide on our trip to the NW was an Argentine friend and former coworker of my Dad, Conrado, who is from Tucuman and now lives there with his family. We basically drove north from Tucuman (through Jujuy and Salta) to the Argentine/Bolivia border and back again. North of Tucuman is desert, and we were closer to the mountains. The countryside looks a lot like the southwest of the USA (red soil, mountains, and lots of cactuses). Of course, we don't have herds of llamas that run across the road.
The northwest of the country is very different from where I am in Buenos Aires (flat grasslands near the water). The people are different too. The northwest of Argentina is where most of the remaning indigenous populations are. The names of the cities are also indigenous (La Quiaca, Pulmamarca, ). We tried traditional foods like tamales (similar to Mexican tamales), humita (steamed corn mash), cayote preserve (type of fruit), and even llama (wich reminded me more of pork than beef)! As I reported before, my digital camera broke so I'm at the mercy of others for pictures of my trip. My Dad took lots of fotos, so as soon as I see some, I'll post some on here.

Meanwhile, World Cup fun continues. Last Saturday was Argentina's first game in the elimination round against Mexico, and it was a real nail bighter, although Argentina eventually prevailed in overtime. I watched the game in my friend Emily's apartment with a group of Argentine friends from Rotaract. The two times Argentine scored everybody in the neighborhood rushed to their balconys to cheer, blow horns, and wave flags at each other. It's a lot of fun. The next game is this Friday against Germany and people are a little worried because the German team is also very good. It'll be fun to watch! If Argentina makes it to the final round, the game is going to be on Argentina's national independence day (July 9th, like our July 4th). That would be crazy.

This week my friend from college, Lisa, is here visiting me. She's in medical school in Seattle and just took the Boards last week. We've been enjoying the city sights -- it's been nice to have visitors because they actually make me go out and enjoy the city. I've seen many more the tourist sights in the past two weeks than I had seen previously. We're going to go to Iguazu Falls (at the Brazilian, Paraguayan, Argentine border) from Wednesday to Friday. They're supposed to be spectacular. Will also try to post pictures of that trip.

---