Colonia, Uruguay

Hello again! This week has been really fun and busy so far. My motivation level do do homework is going down as we start doing more and more touristy activities. On the bright side, 9 weeks of classes down, only 6 to go. I also reached the halfway point in the trip! It is crazy to think I have been here over 10 weeks now. I have a really busy October ahead of me so I have a feeling it will be November before I know it.

Last Sunday, we went to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. The town has about 25,000 people and was a nice change from the normal 13 million people I share the city with. The trip there was actually pretty fun as we took a ferry across the Rio de la Plata. The ship was huge and on the inside basically just looked like a gigantic airplane cabin. The trip took about an hour as we were taking the "fast boat" there. On the way back, the trip was on the "slow boat" taking three hours. The ship was full of things to entertain us though. It had a small arcade on it and we could stand on top of the ferry on the upper deck to enjoy the view of the river. About halfway through the ride, they had a small concert in atrium of the boat, and once it became dark they invited people to the top deck for an astronomy talk. Overall, traveling by boat was really nice to get there and back.

Colonia itself is a very old city with a lot of colonial history. The city was sporadically controlled by the Portuguese and the Spanish, with the British trying every so often to play there hand in the area as well. So, there is a mix of Spanish and Portuguese culture throughout the city, although the population speaks Spanish. The city itself also was directly between Buenos Aires and Montevideo Uruguay, two major Spanish cities competing for influence and power with the Spanish government. When we first got there, we were given a walking tour of the remnants of the fortress that was built to protect the town as well as the oldest neighborhoods in the area. We then took a bus tour of the entire city, and the white sand beaches mocked us throughout the entire trip as it was way too cold to swim or even enjoy hanging out on the beach. 

Uruguay itself is a relatively small country, with under 4 million people. I do not know a ton about their history, but I know that they share a lot culturally with Argentina, which is not surprising given the proximity and how much larger Argentina is. But mate is just as popular there as it is in Buenos Aires, as well as meat and the mythical idea of a gaucho (South American Cowboy)

After the bus tour, we went to eat lunch at a delicious Uruguayan styled restaurant. After talking to our tour guide, we all decided to order a "chivito." This delicious dish is special to Uruguay and is a sandwich with a slice of beef, a few large pieces of bacon, and a fried egg all smothered in cheese with lettuce and tomatoes. The sandwich is huge and everyone had trouble finishing it. If you ever get the chance to try one, try one. All of our group felt that it would be even better with a little bit of spice added to it, but alas, in this area of the world spicy food is a rare find. We finished off the trip with a quick walk through a local artisan market and then rushed back to the ferry to go home.

Tomorrow we are going to a gaucho ranch to ride horses and eat lots of carne asado (Argentine meat). Prepare yourself for lots of pictures.






Thanks for reading!

Scott

Phrases and Slang

As I have mentioned before, the Spanish here is very distinct from many other Spanish speaking countries. I am slowly learning a lot of the slang they use down here, although there is still a mountain left to learn. Like the last post, this one is more directed towards people with some background in Spanish, but I promise it won't be as confusing.

One of the first differences I noticed was that no one used the world "aqui" down here (I means "here" in English). Instead they use acá, pronounced exactly as it looks. They mean exactly the same thing at appear to be interchangeable. Everyone will understand you if you say aqui, but you won't look like a cool native. I have heard this is very common all the way up to Ecuador.

Every country seems to have its own way to say "cool"or "great." In Argentina the two biggest words I hear here for it are "genial" and "bárbaro." Genial seems normal enough but bárbaro literally translates as "barbarian" or "barbaric." It is a really fun word to use, plus you look like you really know your stuff when you use it correctly.

Probably the most common phrase I have heard here is "De Donde sos?" This means "where are you from" but for someone not used to the "Vos" dialect of Spanish I talked about in the last post, it make take a few times before you figure out what they mean. Most of the time they assume the United States already if you have been talking for a little bit, and want to know what state you are from. Unless you are from Miami, New York, Texas, or California, prepare yourself for a disappointed or confused look on the other Argentinian's face when he/she has no idea where that place is. Unless there has been a movie about the place, they probably have not heard of it, which is completely reasonable because I have no idea about the provinces/states of other countries. I do take the time to make sure they understand Kansas City is in Missouri, no matter how long it takes. I will not be called a Kansan! 

"Tomar" (meaning to drink/take) is one of the most useful words down here. I am yet to hear a native speaker use the word "beber," which we were all taught in school for the word "to drink," and this also works for taking medicine, a cab, the bus, the subway, a test, etc. When in Argentina, avoid at all cost the word "coger" (meaning to take, as in to take a taxi) because it has a completely different meaning here. Somehow a weird thing called culture mutated such an innocent word in the rest of the world and made it mean "to f***" in Argentina. You will get lots of giggles from people best case scenarios, or mean looks depending on the crowd that hears you. Thankfully, the locals are a vulgar folk, so it is not the absolute worst faux pas you can make. But people will think you really, really like that bus if you keep saying you are going to "coger" it.

Just today in my Latin American Cinema class I learned what may be now my favorite Spanish insult, "imberbe." It literally translates as beardless, basically calling someone naive, immature, and young. It was famously used during some serious political protests in the 1970's, so I guess nothing hurts an Argentinians pride like the lack of facial hair apparently.

There are a billion other ones, and I may add more as I can think of them, but I at least wanted to get a list started and also make up for missed blog posts. This Friday I am going to the Eva Peron museum and we are finally going to Uruguay on Sunday! The weather was absolutely awful the last 6 days, with highs between 45-55 and tons of rain every day. I have been told that this was the last gasp of winter, so I am hoping Spring will stick around for good.

Thanks for reading!

Also, Go Chiefs!

Scott

Observations of Buenos Aires

Well the last two weeks have been fun. Lots of classes, homework, and cultural activities. We have toured some historic parts of town, and been to a ton of street markets, where I successfully haggled again! The weather has been much better than August, with it getting up to over 90 degrees on Tuesday. However, winter isn't through with us yet and a cold front moved through Thursday keeping it down to around 50 for the next week or so.

After being here nearly two months, I have finally gotten a handle on the local accent and dialect of Spanish. This country is very distinct in many ways. First of all, they call Spanish "Castellano" here instead of "Español." Probably the biggest difference between Spanish from Mexico that we learn and Argentinian Spanish is the fact that they use "Vos" instead of "Tu" when conjugating verbs in the "you" form. Instead of the usual conjugation, you usually keep a verb in its infinitive form, knock of the r at the end and replace it with an s while adding an accent over the last vowel in the world. I try to use vos but it is very hard to remember to conjugate differently after learning one way for years. 

The other major difference in accent is that the "ll" is not pronounced as a "y" sound like in Mexico but rather with an English "J" sound. They also pronounce the letter "y" the same way. Example, the word for an American (Yankee) would be pronounced Jankee remembering that I am using a J as an English speaker would, not with the "h" sound that a J has in Spanish. Sorry if that was confusing, but that is learning another language for you. 

The other points of distinction for the local accent is that people from Buenos Aires are famous for talking very fast and have very sing-song accents. For the next entry, I will try to compile a list of slang words that they use down here. 

Next Sunday, September 22 I will be headed across the River to Uruguay! It will be very nice to escape the city for a day.

 Thanks for reading!

Scott