Gaucho Ranch

Today makes the beginning of 12 weeks in Buenos Aires, and I have a little more than two months left before I go home. These past few weeks have been really busy, and it looks like it will stay that way until most of our group leaves the first week of November. By the way, busy is good. In addition to the Gaucho ranch, we also went to mate club (like always), went bike riding in the ecological reserve built on the shore of Rio de la Plata, and went to an amazing show called Fuerza Bruta. Fuerza Bruta was in some ways like Cirque de Soleil mixed with a rave, but it is very difficult to explain without seeing it. I'm going to make another blog post about it very soon with videos. It was way cooler than any of us expected it to be.

Anyways, this past Sunday we went to a gaucho ranch. A gaucho is basically the Argentine version of a cowboy, including their near mythical pop-culture status in the history of Argentina. The ranch we went to, called an "Estancia" in Spanish, was called Santa Susana Estancia and was the home of a family of gauchos. It was similar to a dude ranch in many ways.

Right when we got there, I could not help but buy myself a gaucho hat.

Next, we got to go horseback riding. We were all really excited for this part, expecting a trail ride. However, there were a ton of people there and very few horse so the trail ride was a field that we rode in a circle around, and the whole trip took at most 15 or 20 minutes. We enjoyed ourselves though, since most of us rarely get to ride a horse, but we were a little disappointed we did not get to go on a real trail ride.

After touring a tradition gaucho home (full of creepy old toys) we sat down for a huge feast. Lots of our favorite foods from Argentina, and after a salad to start the meal, we did not see a single fruit or vegetable for the rest of the meal. Choripan sandwiches, steaks, and as much wine as we wanted to drink. After the meal, there was a traditional Argentine culture show where we watched Tango and many other local dances.

33 chickens and untold cows gave their lives for the wonderful feast

Finally, the gauchos put on a horse show for everyone to end the day. They each held a wooden stick about the size of a pencil and tried to stick it through a ring hanging in the air as they rode the raced their horses down the field. The rings were tiny, about the size of a key chain ring, and after successfully getting the ring, the men would give them to a woman in the audience in exchange for a kiss. After the show, the gauchos offered a horseback ride to any of the girls that would like to join them on the horse, once again in exchange for a kiss. Argentine men are smooth, especially gauchos. I'm fairly certain at least one member of our group was wooed.

Wooed

Look for more updates to come soon. Thanks for reading!

Scott

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

Futbol

Spring seems to have finally arrived! It is going to be 75 today and I am writing this out on the balcony of my apartment. The locals haven't entirely caught on that it is warm yet; there have been lots of jackets and scarves around the city. Now is my time to shine sticking out like a sore thumb of Americana.

Week 6 is now officially done and I am a third of the way through my classes! we are getting two new members to our group this weekend, so we will start doing more touristy things on a more regular basis. If the schedule that they gave us is right, I will be in Uruguay in two weeks (although it doesn't seem that Argentinians are very strict with calendars, so we will see).

This past Sunday I finally saw a professional futbol (soccer) game at River Platte Stadium in my neighborhood of Belgrano.  The team is called River Plate (in English) which is odd because they still call the river here Rio de la Plata. I have no idea why.

 

 The stadium was really nice and the house was packed. There was more security there than when I had gone to other NFL or MLB games in the US, and we got borderline TSA levels of pat-downs. Also, they weren't going to let me in because my camera had batteries. I was really confused and thankfully the unintentional clueless foreigner schtick made security just let me through. Someone later told me that people throw the batteries at the field.

We were in the cheap seats, but still had a decent view of the field. When we took our seats, we figured out we were in the visitor sections by a major context clue. See picture below.

That is not just a fence, but a fence with barbed and razor wire between us and the rest of the stands. Soccer games are famously rowdy in Latin America, and to supersede any problems the stadium just decided to not allow the away team to sell any tickets and just sold them to River fans. The game was fun, and I learned a lot of new fun words that I can't repeat on this blog, as well as some fight songs. The intensity of the fans was awesome, but I would put it on par with any decent NFL game that I have been to. The difference I would say is that they keep it at a more consistent intensity throughout the game whereas in American Football the fans go absolutely crazy during big plays and then quiet down to let their offense work. Here everyone sings for most of the game. We all froze and River lost 2-1, but we made up for it by getting delicious Choripan sandwiches after the game. 

I am still undecided whether to be a River Plate fan or a Boca Jr. fan (the other major club in Buenos Aires). I'm leaning River, but we will see how I feel after I have seen Boca Jr.'s stadium. It seems like the dynamic between the two teams is kind of like a cubs/white sox dynamic between the two teams. With River being the richer team and Boca Jr. being the one supported by a lot of working class and poorer people.

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading!

Scott

Lujan Zoo

Week 4 finished and still going strong. Today I went with a few friends to the Lujan Zoo about 1-2 hours outside of Buenos Aires. Surprisingly, the local bus system took us all the way out there, for only 16 Argentine Pesos (about $2.00 USD). The bus itself was pretty nice, and I definitely will be using it again to go on other day trips outside of the city. It was nice to relax and get some fresh air without hearing a single car horn, and I got to eat another choripan sandwich. 

The zoo itself had my feelings torn. On the one hand, it was absolutely full of cool animals that you could take your picture with, like a lion cub.

Also, an elephant, which we got to feed bananas.

Not to mention a full grown Lion.

To top it off, I got to feed a bear some peaches.

The zoo itself however, did not really feel like a zoo. It was almost like a carnival. A really cool and fun carnival, but still a carnival. However, to re-affirm its awesomeness, one of the turtles gave me a little goodbye pose for our amusement.

This week itself has been really fun. I am now Facebook friends with nearly 10 locals! I can definitely feel my comprehension skills improving as I acclimate more the the accent here (very strong and fast), but I still feel that I need to be speaking a little bit more so I can impress everyone when I get back.

That's all I have for this week, I get to try and obtain a student visa this week, so I'll let everyone know how that goes next week.

Thanks for reading!

Week 3

This week has been very busy. I am taking classes five days a week plus we have done an activity every day this week. I am having a blast and I am really starting to get more comfortable in the city. I can now successfully take the bus and the subway without getting lost, although the bus is still a work in progress if I am going to a new place. Here is what my week was like:

Monday: La Bomba

This is an outdoor concert in the middle of the city every Monday night starting at 8 and ending around 10. The concert is about two dozen drums playing and the music is really exciting. Some people dance to the beat, others watch and enjoy the music, but most (myself included) awkwardly sway from side to side while listening to the music. There is a video on my Facebook page if you would like to see what it is like.

Tuesday: Mate Club

Talked about this  a few times already. It is one of my favorite activities to do here because I get to practice Spanish and meet lots of locals.

Wednesday: Tango Lessons

Well, if awkward shuffling wasn't enough for me this week, I also had the opportunity to return to the dance floor for my second Tango lesson. The lesson was easier this time, so there may be hope for my two left feet, and I had a good time. Women have to do a lot more fancy moves while dancing, but guys have to lead them through gestures and pushing and pulling to let them know what the next dance move will be. Leading is fairly hard.

Thursday: Pizza

My mother should be proud of me. Instead of going to watch the big protests against the government before the elections this Sunday, I met up with my group at a Pizzeria. It was the best pizza I have had down here and I finally got some pepperoni. However, this 8 AM class on Thursdays may kill me if I don't kill it first.

Friday: Teatro Colon and a breather

This theater is a little over 100 years old and was absolutely gorgeous. It was one of the last classical opera houses built before the World Wars went and made us all modern or something like that. I will probably have another blog post dedicated to just the theater soon, but today we went on a tour and got to see how the theater looks from the President of Argentina's box. It wasn't too bad at all. Symphonies, Ballets, and Operas regularly perform there and I hope to go see a showing soon.

Now I am going to enjoy a day without any homework or anything that we have to do. Thanks for reading!


Scott