My Stuff

Just got off of an 18-hour bus ride. I am now about 20 minutes away from the beautiful Iguazu Falls.

Getting to the bus terminal was kind of crazy. We had to get up really early after partying late the previous night, and get to the bus terminal 2 hours early. There were these little televisions there though, so we watched Monsters Inc. and Bones and all sorts of stuff. In a bus terminal. What will they think of next.

At some point some man started asking us about how the little TVs work. One peso for 15 minutes of television. Well worth it when you´re bored and tired and don´t want to stand around with all your luggage.

A few minutes later, my backpack was gone.

This wasn´t my purse, so I still have my passport, my camera, my iPod, and wallet.

All the presents that I bought, all my jewelry, about $200 and all my clothes are gone. Also that paper that they stamp when you enter the country.

Yeah, fuck you too, Argentina.

I haven´t had a breakdown yet, haven´t even cried. Needless to say, however, booze will be an integral part of the coming days.

First day in Buenos Aires

I will say more lovely things later, because there ARE lovely things to say. But in the meantime Ive had my money and cell phone stolen. Also the hostel is insanely hot which isnt really its fault because the city is boiling. And im really tired from walking around everywhere and tired of being so sweaty and for some reason they took my sheets and dont have any clean ones. Also cannot seem to find a functioning computer with skype and/or aim and half the pages dont work and i cant get in touch with my hostmom so she can go through my things and find the numbers for my travellers cheques.

Though really this is mostly because I havent eaten in 6 hours and because I cant find the apostrophe on this damn computer. And if I dont ever have to use Internet Explorer again it will be too soon.

Really, Buenos Aires is beautiful. I want to move here. Or at least I know I will want to move here once I stop feeling like such a cliche. Much love,

k.

I'm going to Argentina!

I bought my ticket last night. $250 dollars for a roundtrip ticket? Yes, we obviously live in the wrong country. Moving to South America as soon as education is completed. 

I was creating all sorts of plans in my head to go to Peru and/or Uruguay as well but those tickets are about 4 times more expensive and anyway, Argentina has always been the bigger dream. Although since I'll be staying in Buenos Aires, which is right near the Uruguayan border, I'll be able to take way cheaper bus rides to Montevideo and Punta del Este anyway. 

Oh man, still having trouble believing that this is my life. 

I don't know WHAT I was thinking not buying a South American guide book back home, but last night I downloaded an Argentina travel guide and a guide about 5 day trips you can take from Buenos Aires and now I'm reading up like mad. Arge-FREAKING-tina. Holy moly. 

Places that I will definitely be going to in the next two weeks:

• Buenos Aires
• Montevideo
• Iguazu Falls (yeah, that's right. who needs Niagara?)
• Tigre River
• SO MANY OTHER PLACES

And I kind of want to attend a football match but I've heard it can get somewhat dangerous in Argentina because of how passionate they are. Still, that's one of the biggest reasons I came to South America (the passion, not the football) so why not risk it?

I'm not bringing my laptop since I'll be staying in hostels and I want to minimize the opportunity of possessions near and dear to my heart getting stolen. Still, I will occasionally be popping into internet cafés to check messages so write to me about what kinds of presents you want! And do not write steak. Or men. You know who you are. 

Photos

Too much work to update in detail now, but here are photos from my recent trip to Algorrobo and Isla Negra, where Pablo Neruda's main home was located, as well as some older vineyard and bar pictures. 

GO HERE

Mayonnaise, cigarettes, and lots of beer

There's too many things to say and I don't feel like going too in-depth, so I'll just provide a bullet list of observations. Except it won't be in bullet form because thanks to the EFFING formatting issues that blogger.com has, I've worked on this post for probably over 3 hours now. 

Chileans put mayonnaise on EVERYTHING. Bread, pasta, tomatoes, everything. It's kind of alarming. Granted it's not the same as gross U.S. mayonnaise, but to see it in such quantities on half the food that is served to you definitely falls under the umbrella of culture shock. 

Mineral water. Besides tap, that is all they have here. Which shocked me, until I realized that the U.S. definition of mineral water actually means carbonated water. Still, it's not a guarantee in all stores that you will be able to find water "sin gas" (without gas) because "con gas" is definitely the more preferred option. 

Everyone peels their tomatoes here. No matter what. And no one knows why they do it, they just do. A peeled tomato seems somehow naked though, so I defiantly leave mine unaccosted. 

There's a river that runs through Santiago. It's called the Mapocho River. It's kind of like the Seine, except 10 times more disgusting.

Everyone in Chile smokes. And there are no smoke alarms so they all smoke inside. And it's a completely normal occurrence to see a mother smoking and holding her month old baby. Although the tobacco lobby isn't as strong here as it is in the States because all cigarettes packs sold in Chile are almost completely covered in death warnings. It's something to think about when you bring the pack up to your face to shield your light from the wind and end up staring at a dying man. Or at the word "MATA" in giant letters.

First picture: In Chile, tobacco kills 16,000 people every year. You could be next. 
Second picture: Tobacco KILLS. If you want to live, stop smoking.

Barbecues are a way of life in Chile during the summer. If you have any sort of social life you can expect to be invited or to be hosting them every single weekend. I went to one this Friday and it was a lot of fun. A lot more red meat than I was used to, and a lot of smoking around pregnant women, but all in all the company was very interesting. Chileans do tend to slur even more when drunk though, so I gave up on understanding anything after a while and plastered that smile on my face that tells everyone I'm a foreigner. 

Just had amazing tacos with my host mom. After, we drank wine and smoked and ranted about everything in the world, including politics, silly Americans, and marriage. For several hours. I love that I live with a ranter. On a slightly related note, Chile's first woman president has several former marriages under her belt and is an agnostic. And she was elected. Is this an awesome country? I think so. 

A few pictures:

A pretty church outside of the police station where I spent all of that lovely time last week.



















A statue. And a crane. Lots of cranes in Santiago.

A zoo that I have yet to visit but which has amazing trees.

A street in Bella Vista that seems to only have bars. Pretty awesome though.



















The bar that I went to with my cultural group. Some men sitting next to us decided that I always had to join them for their toasts. Consequently, I got thoroughly drunk.

My brother told me that I look really cute on the webcam, exactly like "Bubby", his class hamster. 

Chau!