El Camino

My first journey in Argentina came to a close on December 17. What is it that I have to show for five months in a city full of so much life? Not much physically. I shaved my beard, my tan was mostly non-existent, I didn’t fill suitcases with souvenirs or paintings. So what’s the difference between the Will who landed in Buenos Aires on July 22, 2010 and the Will who landed on American soil December 18, 2010? Whatever it is that’s changed in me, I carry it within. 

Agustín, Brian, Cara and I at a teammate's going away party. (Te quiero Dani Torres).

First and foremost, I walk with the affection and friendships of many new people in my life. My transition and daily life in Buenos Aires was made so full of love by the humor, sarcasm and warmth of Anahí and Juan José, my host family. Though we might spend all the day apart – we’d always reconvene for an enjoyable dinner together where we’d dine with stout or wine and pizza, pasta, beef or whatever Anahí had prepared. Coming home from night classes at 10 o’clock to a kitchen full of family and food was a joy.

Juan, Anahí and I at a gala a few weeks before my departure.

More extended family formed for me with the ultimate Frisbee community I joined. Every Saturday I counted on a full day of sun, competition and usually a team meal. My classmates at the Catholic University and at FLACSO all wove their way into my life slowly but surely. We stuck together for birthdays, travel, evenings out, exams, exploration and practicing the beautiful Spanish language.

My Argentine, Colombian, Peruvian and American frisbee family.

I invested myself in Buenos Aires. Admittedly, I did less travel in country than my average peer in the program. As I looked back at my goals at the beginning of the semester, however, I soon realized why it played out that way. Most of my goals were oriented around people and the city itself. They included making friends, choosing great classes, learning songs, learning history, learning tongue twisters and the like. My ability to communicate was sharpened as I gained fluency in Spanish. I feel better able to relate to people with which I don’t share much in common on the surface. I made more friends than I could’ve hoped. And yes, I learned a tong twister.

Team Sapukay after our first game of donning our uniforms!

The greatest discovery I made was through the test of my adaptability. Living in the seventeenth largest metropolis in the world was an enormous change for me. At first, I felt very out of place and overwhelmed. Over time, I became comfortable with my surroundings and using the public transit that spans Buenos Aires. I found it even exhilarating to learn a shortcut or better root across the bustling city. What’s more, I grew to love the city. I grew to love the lifestyle, the schedule, the rhythm of life, the sayings, the meaning of friendship, the parks and the open and vocal passerby. I answered a crucial question in my journey towards my future. Can I adjust and thrive in a new city, an enormous city, one with a different language? I know that answer is yes and that Buenos Aires is one of them! Thank you from this intrepid pedestrian from a small town for reading along! Happy New Year.

An evening out at Puerta Roja en San Telmo for Brian's birthday. Kayla, Tom, Sarah, Tiffany and Brian were my closest American friends while away!

My host brother Juan and I on the right with his sister Sabrina and her boyfriend Gabriel.

Will Cook

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think about what ways I’ve changed since coming to Buenos Aires has got to do with the FOOD – I officially love to cook now!

If I had to point the finger at someone we could call responsible for this new interest of mine, I’d definitely say it came from Juan and his love for preparing food. Looking back over the semester, some of the earliest bonding experiences we had were in the kitchen; he taught me about maté, we cooked pasta, chicken, omelets and laughed all the while. We even had a few fights with spatulas. I started off by trying to reproduce the simpler things that he made on my own. My increasing bravery (or foolish audacity) in the kitchen reached its peak on Thanksgiving when Brendan and I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make the holiday meal for my host family… Enjoy the photos!

Our first collaboration: chocolate chip cookies.

The incredible edible egg - another favorite dish to make with eggs: toast criollo. Cut a circle in a slice of bread, butter put on skillet. Crack egg and put in the 'hole' in bread. Add sugar, cook and serve. REALLY healthy.

Guacamole is a FAVORITE. I like making it from scratch here and ironically going to the Chinese neighborhood in town to buy tortilla chips for the dip...

Juan is crazy about guac.

Brendan making a waldorf salad for our Thanksgiving meal; she made a dressing from milk and dulce de leche (a sweet carmel-like spread used with bread and cookies here)

I like to cook.

According to Anahí (host mother), her sister, Juan and Angie – the sausage stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes and salad Brendan and I made were very good. Whether or not they were just being polite – it was extremely rewarding to make. I suppose this means that I’ll be expected to prepare a dish for future Thanksgivings back in the States!

Mendoza, Argentina

November has come and gone and I have been very out of touch with the outside world in terms of this blog! My classes have come to a close, three of my four exams are over and I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving with Anahí, Juan and Brendan.

Turning back the days on the calendar to the first week of November, I was riding a bus to Retiro on the northeast side of the city to buy a bus ticket. I had decided that morning while volunteering at CODESEDH that I was going to go take a bus with three friends to Mendoza that night. This was the best spontaneous decision I made all semester…

Western Argentina. November 5-7

The fifteen hour bus ride carried Tom, Sarah, Tiffany and I to Argentina’s wine country in the shadow of the tallest mountain in the hemisphere: Aconcagua. The city is ringed on one side by the Andes that straddle the border with Chile. Everywhere one goes the red and dusty earth is kicked up with the backdrop of some of the bluest skies I’ve ever seen and green grape vines flowing around the hills of the countryside.

Wine casks that are about 11 feet high!

The photos speak for themselves, but there are two parts of this trip that would be lost without me writing about them. The first was undoubtedly the incredible dynamic the four of us had as travelers together. Tiffany and I are very social and animated, but Tom and Sarah take those adjectives to ANOTHER level. I seriously doubt 9 minutes ever passed without one of them making us all burst out in laughter! Tom would crack his ridiculous jokes and Sarah would tell stories with her hands and laughter as much with her words. Imagine riding horseback with this crew in the foothills of the Andes or bike riding around the town of Maipu to see the vineyards (bodegas) of Mendoza and taste wine, chocolates and spirits together. Sounds like a dream, right? It truly was. Some of the best company one could ever hope for.

Sarah, Tiffany and Tom in our last stop on our wine tour day: a chocolates and spirits specialty shop.

The second beautiful part of this trip that wouldn’t come across merely through photos is a description of our Sunday outing to Upallata (pronounced ou-pah-sha-ta). We certainly didn’t have the time, gear or stamina to conquer Aconcagua together (altitude 6,962 meters), but we did find a dusty and rocky trail into the foothills of some of the ‘smaller’ mountains of the Andes just outside of this small town.

The incline on the trail increased and the four of us gained ground step by step on this sunny and windy afternoon hike. After a short 20-minute climb we’d reached about 1,200 feet about the valley and we all settled down on enormous boulders on our small plateau. Given how gregarious and spunky our group is, what followed shocked me. We all sat there on that side of the mountain for almost a half-hour without speaking a word. Not one. Just quiet and the most impressive view of snowcapped Andes I’ve seen on this continent. The clouds cast and odd shadow on part of the scene below us and the sun was so powerful it made us all squint. 

Before long, I was looking up over my shoulder at the steepest part of the climb that lay ahead and I decided to go for it. This part of the trek was really fun because the terrain forced me to get creative with how I reached the next peak on my path. After another ten minutes I was as high as one could climb on this particular set of hills with an impressive view. A moment later Tom scurried up beside me and as Sarah continued climbing below I burst out in the Georgetown fight song: “Hey Sarah: How long’s it been????!” And then with an echo ringing we bellowed the fight song at the top of our lungs. Quite a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I really love the Andes and my friends Tom, Sarah and Tiffany.

Will in Argentina, an Outsider's Prospective

            I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to observe Will in his new habitat for the past week and a half, and I’ve noticed a few things about his interactions with the city, the language, and the people that his blog doesn’t do justice.  While he’s busy making some delicious guacamole, I’ve decided to share a few of my observations.

            Will has conquered Buenos Aires.  He knows dozens of bus routes and subte lines like the back of his hand.  Just tell him a destination and he’ll know how to get there.  And if he doesn’t, he’ll pull out his well-worn out guide and be able to tell you within twenty seconds.  He also knows a ton about the history of the country, as well as current politics.  Only a few of my hundreds of questions have left him stumped.  Will, after only six months, can give a better tour of this Southern American city than he can of Washington, DC.  

Augustín, Brian, myself, and Will at the frisbee party

            Will has mastered Spanish.  Not that I am the ideal person to judge this- my Spanish was mediocre at its prime, and after not using it for the past year and a half, I am far from ‘proficient’.  That aside, not only has Will become fluent in the language, but he also has made a strong effort to speak in the native dialect and has picked up quite a bit of local slang.  I definitely have a harder time understanding him than I do other Americans when they’re speaking in their second language.

         
         Everyone loves Will.  Obviously he’s done a decent job of explaining how important the people he’s met are to him, but not the other way around.  From the guards of the apartment to fellow Americans to his host family, Will has made an effort to be even more warm and friendly then he is in the US.  I had the opportunity to go to a Sapukay Frisbee party on Wednesday night, where Will’s teammates raved about/imitated/mocked (lovingly) him, and obviously appreciated his presence on the team. 

Moral of the story, Argentina has left as great a mark on Will as he has left on Argentina.

-Brendan, the girlfriend

           

Uruguay on a Saturday

At the end of October my friends Brian, Kayla, Andrew and I went on a day trip to URUGUAY! Colonia is a small town just across Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires and is easily accessible via ferry. So, one Saturday morning my friends and I made our way to the docks of Buquebus (buque = ferry) – a tourist company that runs frequent ferries across the huge river to Argentina’s neighbor to the north.

The small town of Colonia, Uruguay. Both sides of this cove are in city limits.

We made the crossing in less than two hours and were on Uruguayan soil by noon! Oddly enough, the time zone in Uruguay is an hour different from Buenos Aires though hardly more than a few dozen kilometers apart. After disembarking we did a bit of strolling and discovered to our joy a quiet beach where we started throwing Brian’s Frisbee. After a few misadventures Brian was soaked up to the waist. Kayla tossed one into the river deeper than any of the others and without anything but a shout, Brian dashed and dove into the cold water to retrieve his disc! Soaked head to toe.

Brian started to dry as we wandered Colonia – we mused about the comparison we’d all heard about Uruguay: it’s Argentina’s “Canada.” You might laugh, but it’s an apt description. There are more trees in Colonia, traffic is infinitely more tranquil than in BA, the people are more welcoming and very chatty. As you may have read in earlier posts – folks like their maté in this part of the world. This warm drink is enjoyed with company – outside or in – and on this warm, sunny day the Uruguayans were drinking it ALL day. Before lunch we climbed a lighthouse (faro) from which point we could see Buenos Aires across the river, Brian started to complain from being cold (since he was still drying off) and so we climbed all the way back down and found a place to eat lunch together.

Atop the lighthouse with Rio de la Plata in the background.

The highlight of this extremely RELAXING day away from the city was renting a golf cart for a few hours to drive to a park on the beach. It was a four-seater that fit all of us nicely. As we found a place on the sandy beach Brian broke out the maté as we lazed in the sun. There was no where to be, no bus or subway train to catch, no work or honking horns – just friends on the beach. A bit later, we were engulfed by a crowd of young Uruguayan kids picnicking in the park celebrating a family birthday. When they heard us speaking English they approached us and very politely asked us where we were from. We spoke to them in Spanish answering their questions about what we thought of Uruguay and Buenos Aires. The asked us to say a few things in English so they could guess what we were saying and practice. Finally, we played a bit of fútbol with them in the sand before they had to leave and we needed to return our green golf cart.

Kayla insisted on driving us back in our rented golfcart after chilling on the beach.

This is the first time I’ve ever made a jaunt to another country for just a day – funny to think! I’d go back to Uruguay in a heartbeat.

An Unforgettable Birthday

When my friend Elliot told me that Dave Matthews Band was coming to Santiago this fall I was surprised.  What was my favorite band in the world doing in South America while I’m here studying abroad? You can imagine then, that when he told me that DMB would in fact be in Buenos Aires on October 14 – my 21^st birthday – my reaction was total disbelief!

Elliot's a friend from Chicago who is spending his first semester of his last year in HS in a province 15 hours outside Buenos Aries! He's as big a fan as I am...

            Astonished by this luck, Elliot and I quickly made arrangements to get tickets and for him to travel to Buenos Aires from Río Negro the weekend of my birthday. After some cajoling and music sharing, I convinced five other good friends who had never seen Dave before to come to the concert and help me dance and sing in the beginning of a new year. Best of all, I managed to convince my two closest Argentine friends, Juan José and Agustín, to attend!

            Let me preface my description of the concert on my birthday with the context of my previous experiences. Before Buenos Aires, each concert I’d seen of my favorite band had been in a large outdoor amphitheater in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the lawn seating hundreds of yards from stage and every time with my best friend Patrick Schlembach. The night of the fourteenth here was quite different! We arrived together at the indoor Luna Park for the concert in the center of a very urban commercial neighborhood. And upon arrival I couldn’t believe how close we were going to be to the stage! I felt like a king to realize I would be scarcely twenty yards from the stage in general admission. The anticipation built up in a crowd that spoke less English than I’d anticipated – many Argentines had showed up to see this little old band that started in Virginia about 15 years ago. The cheers brought the band to the stage and they opened with a song I know every word of. The band was out to have as good a time as their guests that night and I could see all their faces as they grinned and winked at each other while playing a three hour long show that blew my mind! They fed off the unusual crowd – in between songs the crowd would chant the melody of the chorus of the previous song (rather than the lyrics that most of the crowd didn’t know) and Dave would get on the microphone with a you-know-what-eating grin on his face and exclaim, “I like it better the way ya’ll do it!” The band thought it was hilarious too the goofy way the crowd chanted Dave’s name: Dave Maaaaahhhews.

On cloud nine is a good way to describe the feeling of being so close to stage. We got even closer!

Near the end of the show, Dave broke his guitar strings TWICE in one song and he refused to switch guitars after the second time - he just kept strumming!

            Just when I thought the night couldn’t be any more perfect after a full set and the encore, the drummer – Carter Buford – started tossing drumsticks at an elated crowd. After a few near misses, my friend Elliot came out of a dog pile with one!!!!! It was such a gift to be singing along to my favorite songs, on my birthday with so many friends in such a cool city. I’ll never forget my 21^st birthday…ever.

A Saturday with Pam and Brent Part II

I will take the memory of the Saturday night of the Tango show with my parents wherever I go for the rest of my life.

We arranged for a driver to come pick us up in Recoleta to take us to El Viejo Almacen in San Telmo. Carlos, the driver, ascertained (give me a break, it’s just so I don’t forget my English) that we were not Brasilian as he’d guessed and switched his mixed tape to an American collection that included Elvis, the Rat Pack and many other artists my parents were better at recognizing than I was. Carlos spoke to us in broken, but enthusiastic English and switched from one track to the next as he spent more time making eye contact with his passengers than the road. But we didn’t care, because he had us laughing – hard. Before we knew it, he’d dropped us off at the show and promised to pick us up after the tango performance – okay.

Next, we find ourselves seated at the foot of the small stage as the small band of musicians took their seats: a pianist, two accordionists and two violinists. What ensued was some of the most impressive and intense tango I’ve seen since arriving in Argentina – the birthplace of this dance. The coordination not only between the partners dancing, but in between all the couples on the small stage was awesome. It was like they were all speaking a non-verbal language coordinating every movement perfectly together. However, not every moment of the show was serious, at least not to me.

An eager tourist and photographer who’d been leaning over the rail on the second level that looked right over onto the stage had been snapping away all night with his camera. On several occasions I thought he was going to get his camera knocked by some of the elaborate lifts that the dancers were executing. Turns out I was half right.  One of the pairs did a lightning fast lift on the side of the stage with the overhanging balcony and the woman did a leg lift up and over this tourists’ head. The man’s reaction to getting a face full of legs and dress was hilarious he jumped backward and sat down – obviously startled into realizing just how close he was to the stage.

At the end of the great show, Carlos met my parents and I to take us home. He was jubilant as the way over and the music was taking my parents back – and took my dad, WAY back. Never will I forget my father belting out, “It’s my party, I can cry if I want to,” if I live to be 200! My mother and I were laughing so hard in the back seat that I’m amazed my father could still hear the music well enough to carry on.