frustrations and asunción, py

i got to the paraguayan border after 3/4 of a day on buses only to find out that i would now need to lug myself and my huge bag back to the previous town, shell out 50 bucks and get a tourist VISA. not only that but the only real viable way of transport was a personal taxi, ugh.....i could hear the money just draining like liquid out of my bank account. so after a few snafus at the bank i finally got the dough i needed to get the VISA. two hours after my initial arrival i had my VISA and was through to paraguay. now i had a decision to make, hop onto a crowded mini-bus for real cheap and hope it takes me to the brasilian consulate in asunción (my whole reason for going to PY in the first place) or take my cab high-style like right to the door. well, i knew my money was low but i was also extremely stressed and tired and was hoping to get the VISA processed that afternoon so i opted with the friendly cab-man.

then, i got to the consulate but it was closing 20 minutes after i got there...finish this later.

santiagueños

time flew in argentina, i was there for 18 days but it felt more like 3. what did i do?

santiagueños, people living in santiago del estero in the north of argentina, are known for sleeping all day and going out all night and boy is it true! its so hot there during the day (summer time well over 100) that no one can stand going outside so everyone sleep or chills in the house from 1-5 in the afternoon, nothing is open and the streets are empty. lunch, the biggest meal of the day happens at about 130. merienda is like a small breakfast with bread, sweets, and tea or café con leche and happens about 5 or 530. Then there´s la cena, or dinner, and it happens about 11 pm and normallay consists of a tasty sandwhich. argentina has excellent meats and almost every meal was rich and tasty for me, a meat lover. thats about the daily schedule and for those who don´t work or have school early in the morning it is very easy to sleep in til noon on a daily basis, and thats pretty much what i did...thing is it is quite difficult to eat a massive lunch 5 minutes after waking up. but i wasn´t the only one who slept in half the day, ceci and ines also did because their university classes didn´t ever start before 6 pm!!!

so i met a group of high school kids who played basketball with me several times. it wasnt great competition but it was a blast! they were great kids, asking me all kinds of questions about the US and offering every nuance about their own country and city. i ended up going to 3 professional basketball games, the team Quimsa, which were all a blast and all victories! It is true that argentinians take their futbol quite seriously...but it is also true tha basketball is without a doubt the second most popular sport and well supported. Their were approximately 3,000 screaming and chanting fans in attendence and the game reminded a lot of college basketball with respect to the fans, the concessions (just a table with some people making food behind it), and the skill level. Though the skill level is definitely higher than our college basketball i wouldn´t say its much higher than say final four ball. The best players on the teams were almost always african-american players from the US. They were definitely not head and shoulder above their teammates, but it was obvious who was the go to man in key situations...As for my own basketball play...let´s just say im a bit rusty. one afternoon i went to the park with my young friends and their was a group of older men who ran us off the court so they could play full-court 10 v 10, except they were only 9...so i filled in. i was already mad at their behavior, and on top of that i was arrogantly thinking i would likely dominate the game. well, i played ok but i definitely did not dominate... it was fun though.

what else? i met some friends at a local ping-pong club, where i met some stiff competition and others who were easily whomped. in one stretch of three consecutive nights i stayed out until 815, 730, and 630 respectively. i got a bit tanner, every day i laid out in the sun while the rest of the world slept the night off. i met quite a few beautiful girls, mostly friends of cecilia and her boyfriend benjamin. i enjoyed immensely the warm hospitality of cecilia´s family, their generosity and friendships. i especially enjoyed getting so much closer to cecilia, we talked a ton every day about everything under the sun, but mostly her relationship issues. i truly can´t wait to see her again!!!

well, im in asunción paraguay now, the trip (as always in latin american) had quite a few of unexpected surprises which i will write about next...thats it about argentina, what a wonderful place!

love

on travel

so i`ve been at this gig here for about 2 months now...and while it has been incredibly enjoyable, refreshing and awesome there are a few downsides.

free time. this is obvious but it is worth saying. im not working or studying. therefore, i have loooots of free time, lots of time to do whatever i want. and now this may seem like a complete liberty, and it is to an extent, but it is also a burden. not since i was 16 have i gone so long without work or school, something to strive for, something to work at. meanwhile everyone around you has job, school, friends, significant others, etc. that keep them busy. its just an odd place to be really, trying to soak in everything you can from a different land while not being drowned by the massive amounts of time you have to do so....

communication. while i do speak spanish fairly well there is still a communication gap, one that nags at me. so often people talk about local things. who`s going out with who, what the price of bread means to the family, what the latest scandal is in local politics...and so on. it is difficult for a foreigner to have much to say, sure you can have some input, but its not like dynamic interaction. and i love to have dynamic interaction, discussing politics, God, relationships, men/women, etc. on such a deep level, having real give and take. it is possible for me to have that here but only on a generic scale, not on a local scale and that`s a bit tough. it makes one feel a little bit on the outside. not intentionally so in the sense that the people are putting you there, but just because they are taking about something that you have no idea about and have nothing to say and therefore nothing to contribute.

i think good solutions to both issues are staying in one place longer, studying, getting a job, developing a social network, and learning about every-day life. until then, you`ll just be a wandering gringo......not that that`s a terrible thing. ;-)

love

Argentina, first impressions

First, im thanking God that the weather has finally smiled on me. After spending the past 7 weeks in the frigid cold, albeit beautiful, shadow of the mountains im freakin thrilled to be in the arid north of Argentina. Though the landscape is nothing to write home about (no pun intended) the beat of the sun warms my spirit!

4 years have passed since I`ve seen my argentinian sister cecilia! how great is was to see her!!! she is so mature now, frequently conversing about very difficult and deep topics, most hospitable (wont let me buy anything), and welcoming!

the trip to santiago del estero was long...and arduous. 1 day and a half to Buenos Aires, which by the way i wish i had way more money and time to spend there because it seems fabulous! very much like new york, grand city, bustling people, good public transport and an international feel and flavor. love it! but i only spend 1 day there for another 14 hours to santiago...

argentina? very dirty, it seems like they dont give a hoot about trash collection or litter. or else its already so bad they`ve given up hope. or maybe it sticks out here because the surroundings are so arid? argentinians? awesome! love to have long, intellectual discussions, which is of course a love of mine as well, though quite difficult to sustain in spanish for hours on end. love to walk all over the place (average 1 hour per day at least i guess). go out at night extremely late (we didn`t even go out until 3 am last night, returning at 7). eat great great meat, oh man im gonna get fat its soooo good! extremely passionate about futbol. very proud of their beautiful women (well justified). and not the cocky, too-good-for-this-continent that everyone makes them out to be...

love

Chile at a glance

what can i say about Chile? i was there 23 days and nearly cried when i left. feña`s family showed such fantastic hospitality it was nearly overwhelming. they always made sure i had some interesting things to do, always asked about my day, asked what i wanted to eat, took me all over the place. that is, on weekends we would "dar la vuelta" which literally means take the turn but for them means driving around. anyways, every weekend we would take a half-day trip to see some waterfalls, or some lakes, or some other beauty of nature that this part of chile offers. and not just the parents would take me, everyone goes, its a family event! lovely!

i had the privilege of going to carla`s english class, she`s studying to be an english prof and is quite good already! anyways, the chilean college experience was quite interesting. everyone goes home to their home towns every weekend, therefore very little partying is done with college friends, perhaps one night a week. but we did go to a party....and didnt get home until 1 o`clock the following afternoon! thats just how they do....start partying late (we arrived at the disco at 130 and left at 430) , then went to someones house until nearly lunch time!

the south of chile is completely unprepared for cold weather. it snowed the second day i was there, the snow disappeared before the afternoon ended and school was cancelled for the following day! and actually for good reason, because the city doesn`t have the equipment nor means to take care of the streets like we do, they are just not accustomed to snow, the first time in 15 years, imagine!

because of chile`s geography it is a quite beautiful place (at least the south of chile is), mountains, rivers, lakes, beautiful fauna... quite to my liking. however, what i didnt like, the cold!!!! ohhhh so cold every day. i mean not cold in our sense of cold winters but seemingly colder because they dont deal with the cold the same way we do. they simply endure it, they just tough it out, heating the whole house with a single fire in an oven in the living room, such that going to sleep under 7 blankets still requires about 20 minutes so that your freezing toes and hands are comfortable enough to fall asleep. we just fire up the gas and /or electric heating systems and blast it out. their system is much more nature friendly though ours is obviously more comfortable.... comfort at what cost? tough question.

chileans are passionate about futbol and proud of their country. they don`t have the best relationships (or thoughts toward for that matter) with their neighbors argentina and peru, but i was treated fantastically. staying with feña`s family was an incredible experience, it made me want to host a student again, it makes me want to go out of my way in the US and practice hospitality to the stranger, to the exile, to the immigrant, to the refugee.... how great a feeling it is to be treated so well in a foreign land!!!

love

Attn.

Sorry everyone for not writing in forever, I have been extremely busy this last week in Chile. I am leaving for Argentina tomorrow morning, Monday, and hope to get to Cecilia´s house in the north no later than Friday. Expect some monstrous updates within the week!

love