June 30th 2010
We arrived in Argentina at about 7 in the morning. When we left the airport we took a bus ride to our hotel where we showered and headed downstairs to meet up with our groups. Following orientation, they served us some homemade empanadas either filled with beef, chicken, sweet corn and potatoes, ham and cheese or veggie. They were amazing, I think I had five or six of them. The leaders then gave us maps of the city and turned us loose to explore the city as we pleased.
July 2nd 2010
In southern B.A. we went to a little area called La Boca ("the mouth" a little port town on the river), which is an old Italian part of the city. We then took a bus to the Playa de Mayo, the town square of Buenos Aires. Here there are many people protesting the government for various things, called piqueteros.
The next day we traveled to the northern part of the city, called Recoleta, which is the wealthier part of BA. We visited Evita Peron’s grave in the cemetery where all the rich people from Baires are buried. The graffiti is everywhere throughout the city, all over walls to shops and on trains and everything, covering almost every wall. That night we played some pool and finished our dinner before heading out to a tango club just down the street, where we were able to listen to the band playing traditional tango and salsa music.
July 5th
We got on the subway and took it to the train station where we traveled for about an hour to this town called "Tigre," which is in the delta region of Argentina. On the train ride I struck up a conversation in Spanish with this old man sitting across from me who turned out to be from Croatia. When his stop came he shook my hand, told me to have a great trip and grabbed his treats from the city and got off in the suburbs. Once in El Tigre we went and ate at this cafe where I had this amazing burger, topped with fresh tomato and lettuce from the area, ham and an egg, soon followed by a boat ride around the delta.
July 12th 2010
The flight to Salta took about two hours, most of which I slept through. I looked out the window and figured I was in an even more beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The entire airport except for this little café was closed for the fútbol game, but Argentina lost four to zero. I was finally dropped off at my new house, which was amazing. I had two brothers, Facundo (18) and Maxi (20) and two older sisters, Fernanda (23) and Stella (25). After dining on an insanely good lunch with the entire family, the father, German, wanted to take me to the highest point in the city where I took some pictures. So we walked maybe five miles up this hill where you’re able to see the entirety of the city, which is much bigger than I had expected.
July 27th 2010
After leaving Salta, we headed to a tiny town called Chicoana where we stayed in a small hostal. The next day we started our community service work on a run down school not too far from where we were staying. We played several games of soccer with local kids, which was pretty fun. The day came when we had to pack our alforjas (saddle bags) and head to ride horses out in Amblayo. I raced one of our gauchos, and beat him with my horse, a local racehorse. We left Amblayo and took a bus to the wine country of Cafayate where we toured two vineyards and tasted some wines, some of which were surprisingly good to me. We went trekking for over three hours in these mountains and we had so much fun.
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