Eat. Revel. Travel.: ravioli

Last week was our spring break because the Argentine students had exams. I actually did have two out of my four classes, but I had already planned my trip when I found out my classes would be in session and wasn't about to cancel.

Our first bus ride to La Rioja from Mendoza around 11PM. We paid for "camas" instead of "semicamas." To me, that meant the chairs would recline 360 degrees. They did not. I still slept surprisingly well.

Layover in La Rioja waiting for the bus to Villa Union. Several embarrassing things happened to me while waiting in the terminal. I'm going to blame it on sleep deprivation. 1) There was a man sitting outside the bathroom of the terminal selling toilet paper. He laid out the squares of toilet paper on a flattened cardboard box. I proceeded to knock down and soil his entire source of income with my giant backpack. Instead of being a normal person and making eye contact, apologizing, and picking up the toilet paper...I quickly said "Lo siento!!!" and ran away. 2) Before I left Mendoza, I purchased a bottle of water. It had remained unopened during the bus ride, so when I opened it at the terminal I didn't realize that it was agua con gas instead of sin gas. I've never been sprayed so much and so forcefully by a carbonated beverage. I was stunned for at least a slow 10 seconds as it sprayed all over my face, pants, the window, the table, my two phones, etc. By the time I got to my senses and closed the bottle, the other people in the terminal were staring intensely and my friends were laughing hysterically.

We walked around La Rioja for a bit trying to kill time, but didn't find anything of interest. We would've had to take a micro into the center to see more than the outskirts.

After an unexpectedly long bus ride to Villa Union, we decided we couldn't make it to the national park on our first day. We also decided to cut out one of the cities we originally planned to visit, Tucuman, because time was running out and we wanted to make sure we saw Talampaya (the national park). Did I mention this is the first trip I've ever been on without some sort of authoritarian presence/itinerary? I've never traveled for ten days with solely friends, my backpack, and loosely formed plans. It was hard and we made mistakes, but I learned so much about how to travel and what is important to me during a trip (good food. comfortable sleeping arrangements. safety. people I can manage to be around during their worst, and maybe next time I won't do so many bus rides. I'm not a huge fan of multiple legged trips). So, we got to Villa Union around 5PM, rented bikes (free), and went up this hill to see a breathtaking sunset on the mountains. Also, more embarrassment: My bike was extremely hard to pedal. I was thinking, "Wow, I am really out of shape," as my friends sped past me. Eventually, I realized my tire was flat. I had to trade with my friend because she's a fighter and I'm a weakling. So she pedalled that flat tired bike all through Villa Union. Don't worry, we got ice cream afterwards.

Good old Grido. The ice cream store that has taken over Argentina. It's not very good, but it's cheap. And dulce de leche ice cream tastes good to me no matter how poor the quality.

DINNER!!! After all of the buses and waiting in terminals, I was so excited to have a hot meal. Bread, cheese, and ham/spam was very appreciated.

My first lomo in Argentina. Fried egg, beef, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. I couldn't eat it all. It might have been because I ate very minimally while travelling and didn't know what to do with all this food. Still, three proteins plus cheese will fill you up pretty fast.

We woke up at 6AM the next morning because we were told the bus to Talampaya would come at 7AM. We were waiting in the plaza by 6:45 and it was still dark. Nobody was walking around, but a car with two guys in it started circling the plaza and stopped in front of us. They tried to talk to us and after trying to blow them off, they kept coming back. This sort of thing happens a lot (men harassing me and my friends), but it was dark out, we were in a new city, and we didn't know where to go. Eventually, we moved and they left us alone. The bus didn't come until 8AM. or was it 8:30? Either way, we made it to Talampaya, booked our tour via bus, and ate tutuca (sortof like popcorn) while waiting to enter the park.

There was an outdoor dinosaur museum to explore while waiting. Nothing special, but a time killer. Many dinosaur bones have been found in Argentina (many specifically in Mendoza), because of the desert climate. It's easier to find bones in an arid desert than it is in a jungle. Less vegetation. At least, that's what I've been told.

Talampaya has various canyon and rock formations. They've also collected writing/drawings on rocks from our ancestors. The bus was definitely a good choice. You could pick a walking or bike tour, but it's uncomfortable. And you don't get to see as much.

Go Ellen!!

#Canyonselfie

The tour provides a snack. Orange juice, water, Torrontes wine, green olives, peanuts, potato chips, and some other crunchy thing (Ellen's favorite).

Trying to stay out of the desert heat on our walk back to the bus to Villa Union. Embarrassing moment again: a weird, big bug would not leave me alone. It was attacking me. I could not help it. I freaked out and ran around hitting myself for about 25 minutes. The Argentines watched.

And then more bus drama!! We realized we could take a bus that night to La Rioja to get to Salta, so we checked out of our hostel (they charged us for an extra night because of our short notice...). We thought the bus to La Rioja would be at 7, but we read the wrong sign and it turned out to be at 9. We had a few anxiety attacks, but it all worked out! It just meant more waiting in bus terminals and having to eat yogurt without a spoon.

I was getting worried about buses. I was afraid we had the wrong information or we'd end up in a random city in the middle of the night. I started thinking, "I hope we meet someone in the same position as us." And then three women showed up at the otherwise deserted terminal. One of whom was even going on the same 2AM bus to Salta. My fears instantly melted away.

Andesmar is my new favorite bus company. I will always try to book with them from now on. Dulce de leche alfajore and tea for breakfast. Argentines don't really "do" breakfast. It's always very light.

Lunch was a sandwich with a side of...a tinier sandwich! The big sandwich grossed me out, but I got hungry enough and ate it. They served a grapefruit soda which I loved.

Andesmar has bingo! (sometimes.) And Colleen won!!! She got a free bottle of wine.

We made it to Salta. The first full day we walked up a hill to see a view of the city. I took the trolley down because it looked fun.

The second day in Salta we went to museums and churches. The MAAM was my personal favorite with three mummies of Incan children. The bodies are very well preserved (you can see their skin, clothes, and hair.) These mummified children participated in a ritual which selected the most physically perfect kids from respected families. It was a privilege to participate in such a ritual and it was held in times of change or uncertainty (e.g. a new emperor) as a sacrifice to turn things in their favor. The children were then dressed in ceremonial clothing, walked up this mountain, performed spoken rituals, participated in a "fake" wedding, drank a hallucinogenic substance, and were left on the mountain (to die). But death was not such a hot/cold concept as it is today in our Western world. The Incans would take the bodies of their family members out of their tombs during times of celebration to make sure everyone was present for the party. I think this was the first museum in which I read everything on the wall.

Spinach ravioli and bacon cheese bread for lunch in Salta at New Time Cafe in the tourist-y area of the plaza/peatonal.

7AM wake up call for an excursion and it was a rough night before. Colleen is unhappy.

Our main goal was to see the salt flats, but the excursion made a few other stops along the way. The bus left our hostel at 8:30AM and we didn't get back to Salta until 10PM. The car ride was excruciatingly bumpy once we were further away from civilization.

We stopped in a pueblo called San Antonio. I don't know how I feel about stopping in pueblos. On the one hand, it enables me to see more of Argentina and what small town life looks like. But on the other hand, what am I supposed to do there, really? There's a lot of poverty and people trying to sell you things. I'm not sure how to feel about this: some people from the pueblo base their income on waiting for whiter, richer people to go on a tour into their city. What if the tours stop coming? What will they do then? It seems unsustainable, exploitative and I wish there was a better solution.

We bought salami, avocado, tomato, cheese (which melted into a large mound), and homemade bread. I was cautious about eating the vegetables and fruits during the trip, but it had been so long since I'd had any that I tore into them for this sandwich. We sat in the plaza of San Antonio and ate. A little girl came up to us and watched us eat. It was uncomfortable that we had a huge feast and she had nothing, so my friend gave her bread. It was still uncomfortable because exploitation, U.S. citizen, white, wealth, education, etc.

We finally got to the salt flats!!! Embarrassing moment: our group of five tried to do a "Let's all jump in the air together at the same time" shot. My friend and I both fell, but I caught myself with my hands while she landed on her knee. Her knee bled profusely and we had to clean it with a panty liner. Open wounds on windy salt flats just aren't fun.

The next day we walked to Campo Quijano/La Silleta which is where our hostel was. No, our hostel was not in center city Salta, but a thirty minute micro ride outside the city because we like to do things difficult. But also because the hostel was 30 pesos a night (less than US$3). We were told there was a lake we could get to, so we climbed under some fences and over some rocks.

And we found it!

Our last night in Salta. It was the 2nd year anniversary of the hostel and there was a party. It was themed "apocalypse." They were doing free zombie make up so we obviously had to participate. Perhaps more importantly, we had to catch our bus back to Mendoza at 2AM. Got in a taxi around 12AM. Success.

18 hour bus ride back to Mendoza. We made it back alive and with new stories to tell.

Last weekend was el Dia del Niño in Argentina. Argentina has a couple of other holidays the U.S. doesn't have such as Día del amigo y Día de la mujer. I like these holidays. Día del Niño is a day to celebrate the children in your life. To me, this holiday seems a little strange because virtually every day adults are giving to children. And, everyone is a child. Not everyone is a mother or a father, but everyone was born at some point. Regardless, it's a day to spend with family and a day to give gifts and a day to eat food. I spent the holiday with my host family and their extended family.

I gave the three kids I was spending the day with three triple chocolate alfajores. Alfajores are delicious crumbly cookies and I've eaten many, usually I go for the dulce de leche flavor. The kids were very excited and the one pictured below opened his up immediately and ate the entire cookie. I was not expecting a gift for Dia del Nino, buy my host mom gave me soaps that smell like peaches and have built in massage knobs. I was glad to be a kid again.

We ate spinach and ricotta filled ravioli with incredible meat sauce. Large chunks of meat that had been sitting in the sauce. Bread. and an ice cream cake. The ice cream cake had pink ice cream which I thought would be strawberry flavored. It was bubble gum.

Following a relaxing and fulfilling weekend, life became hectic with the start of classes. I'm trying to take a literature course at the local, public university. So I went to Literatura Argentina I for a couple of days, but the colonial Spanish proved to be too difficult. I went to a new class yesterday called Literatura Hispanomericana II and I think this will work much better with my level of Spanish. This literature class will probably be my only truly difficult course as I'll be taking two courses with the program and a dance class. I'm very excited to read contemporary Latin American authors. I've been pretty disorganized when it comes to arriving to class on time/on the right day. It's not completely my fault, though. The hours seem to change without my knowledge. I'm trying to adopt the chill, Argentinian vibe with this whole process.