Buenos Aires

The adventures of the weekend began on Friday evening when Alice and Martin slept at my house because we had to leave at 4am the next morning for the airport. At about 9:30pm, I told my host mom we were going to bed because we needed to get up so early. She insisted that we stay up for a little while longer because she was going to the market to buy stuff to make empanadas. When I told her this was not necessary because we were going to bed, she said, don't worry you can go to bed and I'll bring them to the three of you. I'm not too sure what I thought would happen, but sure enough, at about 10:30 when we were all asleep, she came into my room and put the plates of empanadas by our heads. The next morning we laughed about the ridiculousness of the situation.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires, Alice's friend Rosa met us at the airport. She is studying in Buenos Aires for the semester so she knows a lot about the city. We spent the day with her walking around the city, and she pointed out all the important historical sites and buildings. It was like having a tour guide! Just a few of the places

we visited were the Plaza de Mayo, el congreso, and the

bookstore theatre. Rosa is studying at the University of Buenos Aires, so she took us to see a part of the campus. They have not had classes for a few weeks because the students are protesting the safety of the buildings. Recently, a glass window shattered and could have hurt students had it occurred during the day. She explained that

they don't have fire extinguishers, enough emergency exits, etc. It was interesting to see all the political signs and paintings that cover the indoor walls of the buildings. In the evening, we headed back to our hostel where we were staying in a room for 10 people. We talked with 2 guys who had just graduated from the University of Oregon and 2 people from England that drive tour

busses.

On Sunday we walked around the outdoor artisinal market in San Telmo which is probably 10 blocks long. We then met up with Rosa, Ben (Alice's other friend from Pomona that is travelling ar

ound South America), and Rosa's parents at the Recoleta Cemetary. This is a famous cemetary that is almost like a museum because the crypts are so large and elaborate.

The most famous one was the crypt for Eva Peron. Alice, Ben, Martin, and I spent the afternoon walking around Palermo and in the evening we went to a milonga, which is where people go to dance tango. It was very impressive since this is a dance that you have to be good at when you go to dance. It is not something that can be learned in the moment!

On Monday Alice, Martin, and I visited the major sports st

adium and then walked around the tourist areas. We saw restaurants that have stages for tango dancing that the tourists can watch while they eat! It was a

very lively area, with live bands that walk as they play, colorful buildings, and people following us to ask if we wanted to get drunk in their restaurants. In the evening, Alice went to eat with her friends. Two new British guys had just moved into our hostel room and they asked Martin and I if we wanted to join them for a

steak dinner. Martin was very

excited, as he had been waiting to have this famous Argentinian steak dinner the entire trip. Of course, I was not as excited as the three guys, but I was happy to find that the restaurant had an entree of grilled vegetables that I could enjoy while they all enjoyed their 17oz steaks! It was fun to get to know these two guys, one which is trying to be an actor (appropriately named Harry!) and the other that works in an IT department. They spoke no Spanish so they made us feel very confident about our level of Spanish!

On Tuesday morning, we headed to the airport in the madrugada (earliest part of the morning that it's really not morning yet), bought our last alfajores, and made it back to Santiago just in time to head to classes!

Here are some amazing pictures from flying over the Andes: the mountains and the blanket of clouds beneath the plane!