Oíd mortales el grito sagrado: Libertad, libertad, libertad!!!

So this weekend we celebrated Argentina's bicentenial! Which was so exciting. It's really cool that I got to be here for it! I had a 5 day weekend, fantastic, filled with fun and festivities. On saturday I went to a youth conference thing with some people from the church, which was a lot of fun, and then went over to my friend Mariela's house and watched a fútbol game and hung out a bit in between sessions. I met this girl Monica from El Salvador. She's really sweet! I hope we get to know each other better and get to hang out more. Then on Sunday I was supposed to go to Parque de la Costa with the girls from my etnología class but it was pouring!!!! So instead we just hung out at my friend Polen's house and watched movies and played card games. It was a lot of fun! We spent the night over there and had a little slumber party (and of course got very little sleep). I seriously don't think I have ever laughed that much in one day! Also, it was just really fun to be back in a real house instead of an apartment (Polen lives in tigre, a city outside of Buenos Aires, so it's all mostly real houses). Then on Monday I went to an espectáculo for the reopening of the teatro colón, which is like the largest and most well known theater in south america (it had been closed for remodeling a few years). It was sooooo cool. It was outside and they projected all of these video things and had dancers and all in a show that told the history of the theater. But there were about 80 million people. It was insane. Then we met up with some other friends and saw some of the concerts and a tango show and fireworks. And then Tuesday I hung out with Ann a bit (so good to see her again!!!) and then met up with some friends from the church to watch the parade. This parade was incredible. It was made up of 19 floats and told the history of Argentina. And the floats were insane!!! They were a lot more like works of modern art than floats, I don't even know how to describe how cool they were. But it was an extremely looooooonnnnnnnggggggg parade. And I learned some great new songs, including part of the national anthem (the title of this blog is the first part of it). And ¡Ya lo ve, ya lo ve, él que no salta es un inglés! This one everyone sings and jumps up and down (because he that doesn't jump is English). I think it stems from the Guerra de las Malvinas with England.

But this whole bicentenario thing is really cool. In various classes and things since I've been here, people (especially Argentines) have commented on the country's lack of pride, but this weekend was completely the opposite! Very very patriotic. Which makes me happy. Because I love this city and this country so much, it's good to see the people who live here show it too.

¡Más aventuras!

So I have like 6 weeks left here in Buenos Aires. Crazy. I'm not ok with that. But these past couple of weeks have been so so so much fun! I've been hanging out with the girls from my etnología class a ton, which has been so good! We went to this giant shopping center a couple of weeks ago and then I went with my friend Flor to a fiesta for the birthday of one of her friends. Really fun. And then stayed the night (morning?) at her house! Then this weekend we all went to an asado! ¡Qué rico! Where we played twister and on the playground like 5 year olds and spent the whole day muriendo de risas =) I also taught them how to play spoons, and created a pretty awesome mixture of spoons and chancho va! Then on sunday night I went to an outdoor music festival with Flor and her friend Pablo! Next Monday and Tuesday are holidays so on Sunday we're going to parque de la costa (the argentine equivalent of 6 flags) and having a slumber party at my friend Polen's house! Also this weekend I went to a Salsa class with Agata, Julie and Erica. Really fun, but really hard and kind of stressful seeing as I have no rhythm whatsoever. ¡Soy pata dura! But it was still really fun! Then I went out with some of my friends from ISA to this really cute, kind of fancy area called Las Canitas. And Friday I went out to dinner with friends from la iglesia. Really fun and delicious! And I taught my friend Oliver a little bit about Texas and comida picante. Haha.

Also, I'm having so much fun teaching English to Matías. On Wednesday I went over to their house around 2. Taught a little English, drank a little mate, hung out ALL day with Karina and left at 1:30 in the morning. Haha, what?

And, I FINALLY can have hot showers! In the bathroom there hasn't been hot water (just kind of lukewarm) since I got here, and I finally got up the courage to talk to Miriam about it and turns out all she had to do was crank up the water heater a notch. So hooray! Hot showers in the morning = best thing ever!

And I have a fantastic 5 day weekend coming up! Yay! Happy 200th Birthday, Argentina!

p.s. Pat, I went to the national library. It kind of looks like a spaceship, but made for a productive day of studying.

Viaje Lindísimo

Las cataratas de Iguazú: uno de mis lugares favoritos desde ahora en adelante. So this weekend I went to Iguazú Falls with ISA, only one of the best trips I've ever been on. So so so much fun! We left Thursday around 7 in the afternoon en micro. The bus ride was a little more than 12 hours, not too bad, but I couldn't sleep at all... We did watch two movies- Up in the Air, with George Clooney (terrible and depressing. Don't see it) and Motivos de no enamorarse (kind of weird at first but overall really good). And I hung out with Julie the whole trip, so it was so so so much fun! Then on Friday morning we arrived at Las Ruinas de San Ignacio, which is this old old mission set up by Jesuit Priests during Spanish colonization. This tour guide from the national parks, Margarita, was with us all weekend. She was very sweet, talked non-stop, translated the most random things and maybe could have been nominated for what not to wear, but was very fun. And the ruins were really cool. There were dogs everywhere, and one of them, Patricio, followed our group around.

Next we went to a chacra, which is a kind of plantation, where we ate incredible asado, dominated in volleyball (haha not.) lounged by the pool, and went on a tour of a yerba mate factory. Then we had another 4 hours on the bus to get to Iguazú. We watched where the wild things are. Extra terrible movie. Really disturbing and disappointing. But our hotel was so nice. I roomed with Julie and this girl Erica that I met in Rosario. So much fun!

Saturday we were at the national park all day enjoying the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. ¡Increíble! And we had such wonderful wonderful weather. It had actually been raining the past 7 days until we got there, but we had nothing but sunshine and wonderfulness! It was perfect! We took this boat out to the falls and got completely drenched but it was so much fun. Then we went to this spot where you are standing in Argentina but you can see Paraguay and Brazil. They're both just across these two little rivers. When we got back to the hotel we explored the town a little bit and then lounged by the pool some more. Then we hung out in the hotel and watched tv. Yep, we're cool. Portuguese wheel of fortune and mtv. Then that night I went out with some of the ISA people to have caipirinhas, since we were so close to Brazil. And it was really funny because we were definitely the only people in the bar. And we played pictionary telephone and 20 questions. But I don't really think Puerto Iguazú has too much of a night life because it was a Saturday night and the bar closed at 12.

Sunday we went to this Guaraní village. The Guaraníes are an indigenous group from Argentina and Brazil. It was really cool learning about their culture and history, but felt very strange and uncomfortable. We felt kind of like we were invading their lives, or at a zoo. But these are real people. It was weird.

Then we went to the airport because HOORAY!!! We were flying back to Buenos Aires. The bus rides really aren't too bad, but an hour and a half flight is so much better! I wasn't able to sleep the night before either, so I was so so tired when we got back. And it's just always nice to come back to Buenos Aires. When I see the city, it just feels like home. I realized I have exactly 2 months left here, which is insane. Everything has gone by so so fast. I'm not ready to leave yet, but I guess I'll just have to aprovechar al máximo the rest of my time here and come back some day!

And I definitely recommend Iguazú. By far one of my favorite trips. Although actually Mendoza and Rosario were so fun too. So how great is it that all of my experiences here are so wonderful I just can't even pick a favorite!!!? I love this life.


Oh and p.s. my dad got a job!!!!!!!!! Best weekend ever!