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| Monument in Downtown Buenos Aires |
Eventually, we were all together. The group had convened at last. Our leaders, Vincent and Taylor, had us play basic get-to-know-you games such as zip zap zop, an instant classic with the group. We got to know each other, and then late that night we started on our eleven hour flight to Buenos Aires. We got there the next morning, red-eyed and needing showers, and so naturally, we immediately went sight seeing. We saw things like the famed mausoleum, the presidents home, and their beautiful city parks. However, the thing that I was the most interested in was trying out the Argentinian cuisine. It came as quite a surprise to me in fact. The majority of all food that I ate usually consisted of some type of meat with french fries on the side. There were always french fries on the side, it was like the American dream. In the following three days, we went around the city of Buenos Aires, sight seeing and being tourists, but after that we got on a flight to the northern province of Salta. Salta is where the majority of our trip would take place.
We arrived in Salta after a very pleasant two hour flight, and our first thing on task was to meet our host families. We took a bus about an hour from the airport and arrived in our small, home-stay town of Chicoana. Chicoana was very small, with a population of about 2,000 and it was the type of place where you were bound to run into at least 3 people you know walking to the market from home. So, I got off of the bus and met my two host brothers, Jorge and Maxi. They were very friendly and they helped me with my bags as we walked to their house. Inside the house, I met my host mother and my host sister, I encountered my host father later that night because he is a police officer. We got to know each other a little bit, but my family was very quiet and it took me a while before I could fully understand my mother's accent.
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| My host family in front of their house |
The first night I recall sitting in the kitchen and being very nervous. The family was at work preparing sandwiches, because they ran a delivery sandwich shop out of the house. I tried to jump in and help cut the potatoes, but I'm pretty sure I did it wrong, because a few moments later I found myself sitting at the table again and my mother was cutting the potatoes. Regardless, the first night I was there was by far my favorite night. Right when I thought it was bed time, my brother told me to come with him. It was midnight at this point, and I was very surprised. We walked about half a mile and arrived at a huge festival, where it seemed half of the town had gathered. At first it was a rodeo, and then the gauchos and the horses cleared out, and it became a massive dancing festival. It was so much fun, I learned how to dance a common folk dance called the cacherera and I met my two best friends of the trip, Flor and Matias. We danced and laughed, and Jorge and I did not leave until seven in the morning that day. I remember getting home that morning and thinking "I really don't know if I can do this every day." I later found out that that was quite the special occasion, but still their daily schedule was very much different than ours here in America.
After the first night, my daily schedule started to set in. I started my Spanish classes that I would go to every morning, and then I would always go back home to lunch at the house. My host mother was an amazing cook, and and was always asking me, or in some ways, telling me to get a second plate. I could never refuse. After lunch we typically would go meet with friends to do things like go on hikes, ride horses, or play basketball or soccer. However, my favorite thing to do was drink matte.
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| Me and some friends horseback riding |
Matte, of Yerba Matte, is a type of tea that is loved by Argentinians. Nearly all of them drink it, and it is the perfect drink to bring with friends and share. This drink is one of the reasons that I got to know my friends Flor and Matias. They invited me to drink matte with them one day after we rode horses, and I'll be honest, I was a little scared. Matte, for those who have not tried it, is a a very bitter and herbal drink that is not exactly pleasant upon first sip. However, I was dying to try it because the cup with the straw interested me so much. I drank mattes with them, and quickly realized that sharing a matte with someone was not about the drink itself, but about the people you share it with. This tea in a wonderful way, brings people together by being a binding unit that allows people to come together and share in conversation. It has so many social uses as well. Matias, who was very interested in American culture, explained to me that matte's social aspects are similar to coffee's in America. Where a first date can often be a coffee, or a business meeting, or just friends meeting after a long day. The difference I found between the two, is that mate often facilitates a slower and more personal connection than coffee. The reason being that you cannot simply buy a matte at a shop you have to have it yourself, so often you will meet in a park or on a hike, instead of at a restaurant or store. If there is one thing I am bringing back and keeping with me other than my big improvements in Spanish, is my matte satchel and what it means (I bought a whole satchel to hold the thermos, cup, straw, and tins to hold the yerba).
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| Me trying matte for the first time |
My week went on and I learned more and more about Spanish and Argentina. I met more and more people, and got very attached to the the town and its people. However, at the end of 10 days it was time for our group to leave. The departure was sad, and we had a big dinner at a restaurant in town with all of the families, where all the families said a few words about their student. In fact, I even had to say something to the whole crowd, in Spanish I may add, because my host brother and his friend thought they were very funny, because when Nikko, the host, asked for any closing remarks they both pointed at me.
We left Chicoana the next day and started off on our adventure part of the trip. We traveled to the capital city of Salta, Salta City and met our guide, Sergio. We toured the city a little bit, but mostly we were there to visit an orphanage that we had made benches for. We played with the kids there and all of them were very sweet and very grateful. We painted a nursery there and did some waste removal, but following that we said another set of goodbyes and went off to the ranch to start our horseback riding and camping part of the trip.
I had never been horseback riding before in my life, and truthfully, I was very scared. The people that were our guides for this period of the trip were a group of people called gauchos. Gauchos are like cowboys, actually, they aren't like cowboys they are cowboys and they run ranches and herd cattle. They took us on treks up the mountains on horseback and showed us some of the most beautiful views I had ever seen in my life. We did this for a few days, going out on horses, eating a big meal, going back out for another ride, and then falling asleep upon return. An interesting fact about gauchos, they wear a certain type of shoe that has been a staple of gauchos for a long time. The shoe looks exactly like the brand that is very popular her called Tom's. In fact, if you look at the tag on Tom's brand shoes you can see it is the same design as the Argentinian flag. I am now convinced that Tom's are the biggest scam of all time.
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| Horseback riding up the mountains |
We left the ranch after a few days and headed back to Buenos Aires. At this point the group was very close, and this last day we had together we spent remembering all of the good times we had, and talking about attempts we would make to visit each other. It was finally time to go to the airport and we set off for another flight for 13 hours. We arrived in Miami and said our last goodbyes, and I guess it was only fitting that I had another 9 hour layover until my flight to Nashville. However, it gave me time to think about my trip. I realized that while not all of it was the greatest, as a whole it was the greatest trip I had ever been on. I( made friends both in my group and in Argentina that I know I will see again, in fact two of my Argentinian friends plan to visit me next summer, and more than that, it gave me a new perspective on how I live my life. I saw the way that they lived in Argentina, how happy they are and how important friends and family are to them, and it has made me act differently since I've been back. Moreover, my Spanish has never been better, and I am confident now getting dropped into any Spanish speaking country and being able to not only survive, but thrive. Thank you so much Wilson family, this was a trip of a lifetime!
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| Great memories! |
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