Changing Leaves and Blossoming Trees

It is now autumn on the other side of the world...although you would never know it if all you saw were the trees in mid-bloom. There's a mixture of both trees that are loosing all their leaves, and trees that appear to think it's spring and are blossoming loads of bright pink flowers, blanketing the grassy parks with their velvety petals. 

With Easter being this past Sunday and a national holiday on Monday in memory of los desaparecidos, thousands who disappeared during the military dictatorship here, the school year has been slow to start. Fran and I, taking advantage of the few days of vacation, went fishing on the Paraná River in a town called Esquina. 

We arrived Thursday night to the lodge called Los Gringos. One of the owners is Joe, an American married to an Argentine woman and living here in Buenos Aires with their two children. When I asked him where he's from, he gave me the same answer I usually give most people when pestered with the same inquiry, "tough question." Our fishing guide, José Luis Martínez, was a weathered fisherman full of stories to keep us entertained. The first day was slow with Fran having much more luck than I. He caught two sting rays, among other things, which José Luis promptly took and chopped off their tails before throwing them back into the river. Day #2 started off with a downpour of rain which we fended off with bright yellow rainsuits which reminded me of Paddington Bear. Sorry to say no pictures were taken...I had much more luck on the second day, catching a few piranhas (you read correctly), a nicely sized catfish, and a few other fish with untranslateable names. Once the rain stopped, we anchored the boat next to one of the many little floating islands and José Luis whipped up a fire (no idea how...everything was soaking wet after the rain) and fried up some fresh fish caught only a few hours beforehand. It was marinated in his special mixture of spices and lemon juice, delicious. Of this I do have pictures (to be posted later because I forgot my camera in Fran's car). 

A quick sidenote about our fritanga. Dad would have been envious. I thought back to last summer when we went up to Cape Cod and Dad asked for fish cheeks in every restaurant we went to, but his search was unsuccessful and there were no fish cheeks to be found. I, on the other hand, sitting on the banks of the Paraná, reveled not only in not only FRESH fish cheeks, but fresh fish tongue as well, which I must say is a delicous delicacy probably not available in the States. Of all the fish parts I've tried over the years, the tongue was definitely my favourite. For all of you with weak stomachs and unadventorous palates, feel free to send your fish heads my way if ever in need of a place to dispose of them. And Dad, perhaps the idea of fresh fish head will motivate you to do some outdoorsy activities on our next family vacation? 

Easter Sunday was spent at Fran's with a veritable feast of meat (which was probably the last asado I'll experience for a while due to political strife...more on that to come). Plan's were hatched to take all the nephews and niece, 6 in total, to Temaikén, a zoo that lies in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the following day. That fateful Monday at Temaikén meant Fran had a little competition from a young suitor. 

Tom, his 6 year-old nephew, started off the day refusing to greet me with the customary kiss, calling me fea, and trying to hit me. Within a few hours, he was doing everything within his power to separate Fran and me, physically pulling us apart every time he saw us holding hands and telling us he didn't want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend. He pointed out other options for me, not taking into consideration that most of them were there with their own girlfriends. As the day continued, he saved his phone number in my cell phone telling me to call him whenever I want. By the end of the day, he was holding my hand, hugging me, hanging all over me, and wrapping himself around me when we went to see the sharks and "he got scared". He was also very curious to know what my mom, dad, brother and sister's names were. Apparently he wants to get acquainted with what he views as his future in-laws. 

In other news, I started my internship at HelpArgentina this week. I think it will turn out to be a very positive experience, most of the others are fairly young and all seem really positive and nice, giving the office a really fun atmosphere. Most of the other employees are also females, which is a nice change after being surrounded by mostly guys. The first ten minutes of my second day on the job were spent listening to them talking about sex, which can give you all an idea of the atmosphere at the office. Not much was done my first few days, they're moving this weekend so they were mostly just occupied packing everything up. 

Back to the very important shortage of meat. You may all be asking yourselves how it's possible that there be a shortage of meat in a country known world-wide for its steak. Kristina, the new president and wife of the previous president, raised taxes on all agricultural exports. The most extreme change was the tax on soy, going from 27% up to 40%. Needless to say, the country's farmers (who are a wealthy and powerful group with a lot of respect and clout) are extremely upset. They are now on strike and have set up roadblocks all over the country, heavily halting tourism during Easter. On Tuesday, 7 million liters of milk spoiled due to the strike. Meat is becoming non-existent on grocery store shelves and even butchers only have scarce stocks of chicken. Argentina's middle class, showing strong support for the farmers, took to the streets in protest all over the country banging pots and pans (known here as a cacerolazo, a cacerola is a pot). Hordes of people shut down one of Buenos Aires' main avenues and crowded into the Plaza de Mayo, located directly in front of the presidential palace. Kristina answered back with her heavy-handed thugs, who called in their mafia-like protesters to counter-protest. Things have started to take a turn for the worse, with violent conflict between the two groups starting to take place and neither side showing any signs of letting up. I'm in for my first full-blown Latin American political battle, and it'll be rough one with no steak. Anyone who wants to get a little more information can read the article Dad forwarded to me from The Economist. 

Carter, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!! Just in case you didn't get my inspiring e-card I emailed you on the day of...

Eddie, hope Cuba has been amazing, and I hope you've taken loads of pictures. Let me know once you're back, I have a design query about a poster I'm working on to run by you. Katherine, I want more news from London. Your once-a-month updates are very lacking. To Mom and Dad and everyone else, I send my love, pictures of the house and from the fishing escapade to come soon!

Foto foto foto foto foto foto foto foto foto foto foto

Punta del Este

Florianópolis

Salvador

Lençois

Itacaré & Trancoso

Rio de Janeiro

Finally got pictures posted! Links go to each album. Next up...the house/roommates and a town called Esquina (corner). 

Shopping with the Frenchies

Having been back in Buenos Aires for almost two weeks now, I'm finally starting to get my life together and once again feel settled. A week ago, I moved into my new home, a big old house not far from where I was living before. As I'm obligated to follow in big sister's footsteps, I share this big old house (with wooden floors and high ceilings...more descriptions to come) with three boys. Sébastien and Thibaut (pronounced almost like Tivo), both French architecture students, and Pablo, a Peruvian currently looking for a job in marketing. Sébastien and Thibaut both have blue, crystal-clear eyes that I envy. The best part of the arrangement is that all three of them cook, and not only cook but cook well. Last night's menu was Thai chicken curry (paired with not only red wine, but a white wine as an aperitif as well) and tonight's consists of grilled steak and Thibaut's apparently famous roquefort garlic mashed potatoes. 

The title of this post is due to yesterday's shopping excursion to get dinner ingredients. The two Frenchies and I went first to the verduleria where we bought all the vegetables and fruit from a Bolivian woman, then to the carniceria where we bought meat and eggs (which are sold not in a carton but are given to you loose in a plastic bag), to the grocery store for bug spray and other random food items, and last but not least, to the bodega on the corner for wine (because heaven forbid they buy wine at the grocery store). And these four places are all within a two-block radius of each other and home. It's all about the micro communities here. 

Going to the wine store with two French guys was an experience worth noting. They've lived in this neighborhood for only two weeks, but they walked in and were immediately greeted by the owner and we were each given a glass of wine to try. The owner talked to them both for a good 15 minutes and very obviously knows their taste in wine well. He even offered them the chance to pay later if they didn't have money on them. It all felt very sophisticated after spending all of last semester buying $2 bottles. They ended up getting one bottle of white and three of red, all of which were finished by the end of the night and none of them were drunk. It seems almost like drinking juice to them. 

Sébastien's girlfriend, Linda, who as of 5 this morning is ex-girlfriend, made Thai chicken curry and coconut rice for dinner. The festivities were in honor of our first official roommate dinner. We ate up on the roof which is basically a huge brick terrace, listening to music and taking advantage of the last days of warm weather. 

Now about the house...it's on a quiet, mostly residential street near the subte (subterranean train). Immediately after the double wooden doors at the entrance, you go up a marble staircase that curves to the left. On the left is the living room and dining room, directly in front is my room, and if you turn right and walk down the hallway, you have Sébastien and Thibaut's rooms on the left and huge windows on the right that look out into a little courtyard. At the end of the hallway is one of the bathrooms and the kitchen (where there is not only a dishwasher, but an actual set of knives and an electric juicer as well...all luxuries compared to most sparse Argentine kitchens I've seen). Right before hitting the end of the hallway, there's a narrow flight of outdoor stairs that lead up to a narrow hallway that passes by Pablo's room and the other bathroom, and then further up to the roof. If you continue further up the staircase it takes you up to another little terrace with lines for hanging clothing and a little outhouse-type room with a laundry machine. As soon as I'm done uploading pictures from Brazil onto Facebook, I'll be sure to take pictures of the house and the roommates for you all to see. 

The other big news to share is that I have a potential job. I'm going in for an interview tomorrow but they sound interested and seems promising. The job would be an unpaid internship at an NGO called HelpArgentina, which basically serves as a bridge between foreign donors and volunteers and local organizations. My job would consist specifically of...whatever I want it to be. I can design and implement my own project, relating it to graphic design, public relations, advertising, or any other field of my choosing, as well as getting to visit some of the organizations they work with and generally helping out wherever needed. I would also have a flexible schedule and the best part is that not only are the other people that work young and seem really cool, but the office itself is extremely aesthetically pleasing as well. I'm looking forward to getting involved, not to mention have something recent to add to my resume as well! 

Classes start next week, which means I'm still officially on summer vacation, although next Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday are national holidays due to Easter and some other festive day. Good way to slowly ease into things...

The City of God

People say that God made Earth, and that when he finished making Earth, he took the time to make a little spot for himself, and that spot is called Rio de Janeiro. Now I'm not sure if I would go as far as to say it's heaven on Earth, but it is pretty close.

The city itself is absolutely stunning, surrounded by dramatic, rocky mountainsides that rush straight down in almost a vertical line to meet the city's edge. The city sprawls out through the landscape almost like water, taking the path of least resistence and winding its way through the mountains and around the coast, creating what at night is a jaw-dropping view. In the center of the city lies the lagoa (lagune), around which there is a 7.5 km running/biking path. The lagoa at dusk is gorgeous and might possibly be one of the most romantic places I've ever witnessed. Shame I didn't have anyone to share it with...there are wooden docks around the lagoa that I kept imagining as the perfect date spot. A few beers and a blanket to sit on and all set.

Now for some highlights...the guy's apartment I couch surfed at is right across the street from PUC (prounounced pookee), one of the private universities. I wandered onto campus one day with Daniel and I was blown away. The campus is like paradise on earth, it's basically a little jungle in the middle of the city with a university nestled right in the middle of it. Of course all the students are beautiful, they strut their stuff around their paradisiacal campus in high heels and low-cut shirts. There are two little bars across the street that are full at all hours of the day and absolutely packed in the late afternoon until around 2 in the morning with students who get out of class and go for a beer. Very lively social life...

I was disappointed I didn't get to witness one of the famous sunsets at Ipanema beach. During December and January the sunsets are apparently spectacular and on clear days when the whole sky turns a blazing red and orange, people stand up and clap. The ocean is extremely strong and the undertow will pull anyone that's not a strong swimmer right into the crashing waves. The water is icy but refreshing on a hot day, and like every other beach, there are vendors walking back and forth all day selling everything from sandwiches to beer to sunscreen. There's even a stand that's been set up by a Uruguayan couple who has been there for 20 some years selling choripanes, sandwiches widely eaten in Argentina and Uruguay.

One afternoon Daniel took me up to Sugarloaf Mountain, one of the two places that have the most spectacular views of the city. You're taken up in a cable car, the cars reminded me a lot of the pods on the London Eye. From the top, you have a view of the entire city and surrounding areas, as well as the dramatic coastline and with luck and no clouds, you can see the Christ Statue (one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the world) off in the distance. I was disappointed that at sunset a few clouds rolled in literally right over the sun and nowhere else, but as dusk turned to evening, the city lights came on and the views were like nothing I've seen.

One of the few culinary highlights I treated myself to during the trip was at a sushi chain called Koni. Instead of rolls they basically make a little cone out of seaweed and stuff it with the same ingredients that would go into a roll, so almost like a sushi taco.

Another highlight was getting to meet some of Daniel's friends. The exchange group there is much more international than mine here in Buenos Aires. Most, if not all, his friends that I met had lived in Paris, Rio, Sao Paolo, Spain, Switzerland, or a combination, at different points in their lives and were just a really cool, refreshing group of people to meet. Many thanks to Daniel, of course, for being my patient tour guide in Rio for three days (I don't know if you read my blog but if you do, there's your public thank you).

I'm now back in Buenos Aires in the process of choosing classes for the semester. Believe it or not, I don't start classes until next week. Lucky me, I get another week of vacation! I'm in the throes of apartment searching and getting back on my feet now that a good part of my social life is gone, but I'm very happy to be back and getting settled.

I'm having trouble with my laptop battery at the moment but I should have it replaced by Saturday. Once I get that taken care of I'll start uploading pictures so you can all see what I've been up to the last month and a half!

Wrapping It Up

It's an odd feeling now that the trip is drawing close to an end. It seemed like ages ago that plane tickets were bought and plans started to be made, but I was so busy with so many other things until I even stepped foot on the plane that I feel like I never even had the chance to think about any of it. Until now, a month in and a few days from the end, and I realize what a whirlwind it's been. 

Trancoso ended up being a great place to stay. We stayed with this couple, a man from Boston and his Brazilian wife, at their posada for the two nights we were there and they couldn't have been nicer people. They were so warm and welcoming and their two daughters, who were adorable, talked more than I do or ever did, as hard as that is to imagine. The younger of the two gave both Daniel and me a ceramic dish that she had painted to remember her by. Definitely people who I'll call next time I'm in Boston and hopefully at some point in my life I'll have the chance to pass along the favor. 

From Trancoso, we to another small town about an hour north called Arrail D'Ajuda. It used to be a very upscale resort town but has fallen out of fashion in the last few years, leaving it with all the upscale infrastructure but not the upscale prices. Perfect for, as I've come to call it, my ham and cheese budget. We found a cute little hostel for a great price without even having to negotiate, although that may have had more to do with the attendant's state of mind when we arrived. Let's just say she was extremely aloof and her eyes were severely bloodshot red...

We didn't spend much time in Arrail because the following afternoon we were taking a bus to Rio. We wandered around a bit but as it was a Sunday morning, pretty much everything was closed. Not that those few hours were wasted...there was a hammock and a hot shower, two things that have come to be luxuries. 

The bus back to Rio was about a 21 hour ride. We had bought some natural sleeping pills to try and make the trip a little more bearable, but all they did was make the circulation in my legs very poor so I spent the whole night wiggling my feet around to get my circulation running again. Two movies were played on the bus though, one decent and the other very good. 2 Filhos da Francisco was the name of the good one, for anyone that's interested. It's the story of a couple that lived in extreme rural poverty. They had something like 8 children, and it was always the father's dream that two of his sons would become musicians to save them from their otherwise unavoidable miserable future. I won't tell anything else so as not to ruin the story in case anyone sees it, but it gives great insight into Brazilian culture, Brazilian country music, and the lives of those who most consider to be invisible. 

As in Salvador, I'm couch surfing in Rio. My host is a guy called Ian, tall with long dark hair and a scruffy beard that he told me his dad once offered him money to shave off, but he refused because apparently it's become too much a part of his identity. Ian is very nice, speaks perfect English, and has an amazing apartment right across the street from Daniel's university. When I arrived, there were four other girls staying there, an Austrian, a French, a Swede, and a Dutch. The Swedish and Dutch girls are both very nice, they know each other from the year they spent studying in Argentina so they both also speak near perfect Spanish. The French and Austrian girls aren't so much worth mentioning...they left this afternoon though, leaving the big queen-size bed they were sharing all to me. 

I've got two more days here in Rio de Janeiro before heading back to Buenos Aires early Friday morning. Traveling has been an amazing experience and I've seen so many cool things, but I'm just ready to get back to a place I can call my own and unpack all my bags for a while. Although I have to say, living out of a backpack for a month has been far easier than I imagined. I'm hoping the experience will make me a lighter packer for future trips, although I somehow find that doubtful...

I'll post more on Rio once I'm back in Buenos Aires and had a few more days to get a better feel for the city and see some more sights. Today was pretty overcast and gray the whole day, a little disappointing considering most of what there is to see is dependent on clear, sunny days, but hopefully the weather will improve soon.  

Jellyfish and Brazilian Hospitality

On our last day in Itacaré, Daniel and I were convinced that we just had to see some of the other nearby beaches. For R$15, we were put in a van with two couples and carted off to two different beaches. They were both very pretty, but to be honest I think I preferred the beaches closer to town. I prefer the rocky little coves as opposed to the wide, open expanses of beach. Itacarezinho, the second beach we went to in the afternoon, was at high tide and there wasn't much sandy space to speak of. So we went straight to the water and swam for about an hour, the water was the perfect temperature, the waves were just right, and I was thinking the entire time how pleasant it was to be swimming worry-free and not thinking about any of those nasty little sea creatures that can so easily ruin a trip to the beach.

When we got tired of swimming, we retired to the shore, letting the rising tide wash over our feet as we stood and talked in the last golden light of the afternoon sun. All of a sudden, I felt a burning on one leg and seconds later on the other. I looked down and there was a tiny little jellyfish, clear and bright blue in colour, with one single tentacle wrapped around my legs. The tentacle was almost like a string, about the width of dental floss but wet and sticky. I can only imagine being a small seahorse or something of the sort and getting wrapped up in that long, stringy thing. But alas, I am not a tiny little seahorse, and although my leg felt like it was on fire and I now have a friendly red welt wrapping around my leg as a reminder, I did get to discover that peeing on a jelly fish sting really does work.

We left Itacaré last night and arrived this morning in Trancoso, a small town about 11 hours down the coast. The town sits atop a grassy bluff looking down on the fluffy white sand and blue water below. The town square is a big sandy area lined with restaurants, bars, and upscale boutiques and at the far end sits an old, white little chapel. There's a full moon tonight that lights up the entire area and it's beautiful combined with the twinkling lights and colourful buildings surrounding the car-free square.

Daniel and I spent all day down at the beach, enjoying our last few days of carefree tanning time before heading to Rio. I took a quick dip in the water to cool off, and I heard the first American accent I've heard during my entire time in Brazil. I wandered a little closer and saw a father and daughter playing in the waves and not only speaking in English, but sure enough, with an American accent as well. I went over to ask where they were from, and as we got to talking he mentioned he was there with his Brazilian wife who owns an inn here in town. He offered us a room but I said we had already found a place that suited our barely-scraping-by student budget. His wife came out a few minutes later and we all talked for a long time and then they invited us to have some beer with them back at the beach. Over the next hour, while enjoying cold beer and sun-dried meat with yuca chips (a Brazilian specialty), they offered to host us for free at their inn for two days. Turns out, they have a daughter about our age who loves to travel, spent a summer in Spain, now lives alone in Florida, and they sympathize greatly with the young student traveler trying to make due on a small budget.

The inn is like a palace for us, we have our own room and bathroom complete with airconditioning, a little porch with a hammock, and there's a black lab called Lola. The couple has two daughters, 8 and 10, who speak non-stop. They gave us a tour of their own house on the property and invited us to come along to dinner with them. Their daughters, apparently, had begged them to invite us and they refused to take no for an answer. They treated us to a delicious pizza dinner while we entertained their daughters, and told us that breakfast is included with staying at the inn as well. They also ordered an extra pizza for us to take back in case we got hungry later. The family couldn't be nicer and of course we haven't stopped saying thank you since the second we stepped foot on their property. They just tell us they remember what it was like when they were young and ask, "honey, would you like more beer?" in their thick Boston accents. So they next two days we're saving a little money, staying in a nice place, and keeping company with, who would have thought, AMERICANS in Brazil!

Beachtown Bliss

After four buses and 13 hours of travel, Daniel and I arrived at our destination, Itacaré. Itacaré is a small beach town in the state of Bahia, a few hours south of Salvador. It's nestled right between the churning, blue ocean and the rainforest. The beaches here are known for surfing, and the waves are strong with a powerful undertow, but the water is warm and the beaches are small, rocky coves lined with palm trees.

After arriving and finding a place to stay, we headed down to the nearest beach. There was no one over the age of 30, everyone was tanned and naturally beautiful, and the scene was even completed with the cliché guy with a ponytail playing the guitar and singing Bob Marley songs.

As in so many other small towns in South America, a great number of the backpackers here are Israeli. When there are Israelis, there is Israeli food, and that means falafel. In Brazil, so many of the restaurants have menus that are exactly the same, and that usually includes a lot of dry, salted meat and fried carbs. Our dinner, in comparison, was a delicious falafel sandwich and a salad with more vegetables than I've eaten in the last three weeks combined. Topped it off with fresh pineapple juice and my night was complete. We walked down to the beach for a bit, which was completely lit up by the full moon, and I truly felt we were in paradise.

There are four beaches nearby, within a half hour walk, all of which are small, rocky coves with great swimming. There's another beach which can only be accessed by a trail that goes right through the rainforest. Everyone told us we could only arrive with a guide, but being the stubborn and cheap duo that we are, we decided we could hack it alone. We did eventually end up at the beach, but only after two hours of basically going in circles. I've never sweat so much in my life as I did, the humidity is insane, but my pores are all the healthier for it and I did treat myself to two cocos gelados (coconut's are kept in coolers and then they drill a hole in it so you can drink the milk and it's cold and delicious) as a treat for the exhertion.

Off to find a suitable place for dinner then we'll put ourselves to bed early tonight...plans for tomorrow include catching the sunrise at the beach.