Celebrating 95 Years

We celebrated my host mom's boyfriend's mother's 95th birthday with a tea party and family at our house.

Singing happy birthday with one giant candle in an apple cake. 

All of us together. Surprisingly, we're not drinking wine, but Coke. Coke seems to be the only/most popular soda to drink here. 

Me and the birthday girl.

Before everyone had arrived. We had various sandwiches and tea cookies. My host mom really decorated the table beautifully.

Favorite Things

A random sampling of the food/drink I've been enjoying for the past few weeks.

Pork chops and potatoes. (photo not taken by me).

We have a thing called "Cafecitos" in my study abroad program. About once a month we all get together at the program director's giant apartment and eat desserts and drink tea. Ricotta cheese cake, strawberry cheese cake, an oreo, an alfajore, and peanut butter ( a rarity here (!!!)).

I'm seriously craving gooey, soft, melty, chocolatey chocolate chip cookies right now. I don't know if they exist here. but these are my new favorite brand of packaged cookies. Super useful when travelling/hiking.

I came home from class to a pan of green beans, slices of ham, and an egg. I ate the entire pan.

I bought all of the mate necessities!! You have to make mate portable as it's a social thing to be taken in the park or during class. Thermos, container for yerba (herbs), yerba (Taragui Citrus flavor even though my host mom told me to buy the "red flavor." I rebelled.), and of course the actual mate, which is like a gourd on the inside and on the outside leather, with a straw to filter the herbs.

Vegan Food, Zoo, Mini Hike

Wow so much has been happening and I've been lapsing on my "at least once a week" goal of posting here. I've also been having some problems with my IPhone and taking pictures. It will only hold about thirty photos for some reason...I really need to invest in a camera. Unfortunately, I have very little money and I'm trying to travel around South America at the moment which will take up the little money I do have.

Major updates:

1) I've decided to stay in Argentina for the entirety of my junior year. Which means, I won't be getting back to the U.S. until early July/maybe later because I really love it here.

2) I have an internship here! I've been writing, going to events, and working on social media for a couple magazines. Make me look important and go like their FB pages: The Squeeze Magazine and Playground Buenos Aires.

3) Less specific, but most importantly, I feel like I'm really living to the fullest here, which is not something I could say when I was back in the U.S. I felt stuck and somehow being in Argentina has gotten me unstuck. I can say confidently I'm enjoying every aspect of my life here.

Went to this vegan restaurant super close to my house with my host mom. Not many vegan restaurants here. Some people come here with Tupperware and buy all their food for the week because it's yummy and one of their only options.

Food runs out quickly and they don't put out more. The food gets cold, but there are various microwaves that everyone uses. It's a pay-by-weight kinda deal.

My plate: ravioli, potatoes, lentil empanada, fake meatballs, garbanzo beans, whole wheat bread, fake beef and mushrooms. Yummy especially after heating. Maybe a little too salty, but would definitely come back.

Post-lunch I went up a hill--Cerro de la Gloria. It was super short and easy in comparison to the other hikes I've been on, but still pretty steep. Easily accessible by bus.

I don't think I'm ever going to get used to views like these.

The zoo is close to Cerro de la Gloria. Naturally, we made a stop. I've heard plenty of rumors about this zoo. Some of which include: "You can literally touch a tiger, they're so close!" and "They definitely drug their animals, there's no other way..." So yes, you can get pretty darn close to the animals. You could probably touch this capybara, but the lions, tigers, and bears are more enclosed. 

Witnessed a peacock mating ritual. None of the ladies were interested.

I think this bear is over captivity...

Technically, you could touch a little monkey toe. So yeah, the zoo is a little crazy. It also smells horrible (especially the monkey cage). There was an ostrich/large bird wandering around the zoo outside of its cage. They also put large quantities of animals in small cages and small quantities of animals in large cages. Not sure about that logic, seems like poor planning, but what do I know about zoos and the happiness of other species.

I Never Go To School

The weather dropped from comfortably warm to super chilly, leaving me with a cold. This always happens to me when the weather suddenly changes and it's anything but fun. The only cure is rest, tea and time.

My host mom's son lives in Brazil, so she gave me this lime and honey tea from Brazil to try. Very strong and soothing for a sore throat.

I stayed home from school so I had time to Skype with a friend. School in the U.S. is about to start up again. I'm not missing it, but I am missing my friends and how comfortable I feel around them.

As I was lying in bed trying to recover, my host mom brought me cookies with dulce de leche. That's my kinda medicine.

The next day, I also didn't go to school because there was a nation wide strike. Very few micros (buses) are running, flights are cancelled, and my university is closed. From my understanding, various types of employees including bus drivers, professors, and medical professionals are demanding higher pay. Apparently bus drivers are paid extremely well, even more than professors, but that's not saying much because professors are not paid well. For lunch I had spinach filled ravioli with a chunky meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Slowly starting to feel better. Seems my host mom can cure a cold with her cooking.

Chorizo and Mint Tea

With a significantly reduced work load (perhaps even pre-IB level ) and my host mom packing my lunch on certain days, I feel like I'm back in high school.

Although, my real mom never gave me chorizo sandwiches for lunch in high school. My host mom packs me so much food, but it is so necessary. On Tuesdays my day starts at 9:30 AM and goes until 9:30 PM. I have to snack throughout the day or I will be in a very bad mood.

Unlike high school, I navigated my way through the city to have a meeting at a new cafe, BROD. The cafe has a huge, sunny patio, a fully stocked bakery, and friendly service that seems welcoming to tourists. I was sad when I was greeted with a "Hi!" instead of an "Hola!," but some may find this comforting. In fact, many people in Mendoza try to speak English to me, especially if I look confused, which is often. The problem is, said person usually tries to say only one word of the sentence in English. My problem is not with knowing the meaning of individual words (although sometimes it is), but understanding the complete thought. It's easier if said person just speaks in Spanish slower and more clearly. With many repetitions.

I ordered Sweet Mint tea at BROD and it was presented to me on this lovely wooden board. I've never had tea served to me this way, with loose leaf and a strainer, so I was confused. I'm not classy enough for this, but I'm learning. At least I knew not to dump the loose leaf tea into the cup.

Turns out it's super easy and I didn't need to put much thought into it. I will definitely be back to try their bakery goodies.

Movin on Up

This is the lunch of a woman with a schedule. I finally have four classes and all of their real hours and locations. Music, literature, regional development, and Spanish. Two classes at the local, public university (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo) and two classes with the program.

Dinner was a DIY salad. I opted for everything.

Blurry canned tuna. mmm. 

I've been craving churros and haven't told anyone. But somehow my host mom knew. She came into my room before dinner and said we were going out for churros. I wanted to ask if we'd be eating dinner before or after, but I just went with the flow. Turns out the churros with dulce de leche were dinner. So, I ate three churros at Churrico (apparently the best place to go for churros in Mendoza, it's been around for 45 years) for dinner from 9:30PM-11:30PM with two sixty-something year olds. This kinda stuff doesn't casually happen in the U.S.

Cabin in Potrerillos

Today is another holiday in Argentina, to commemorate General San Martin. He liberated Argentina from Spain. We didn't have school on Monday and decided to rent a cabin in the mountains.

Tea in a Texas mug and a lady finger or "Riki sima" for a quick breakfast before I headed out for the bus to take me to Potrerillos, a small mountain town about 1.5 hours away from Mendoza.

I've been to Potrerillos once before, but this time we took the bus even further to "Alto Potrerillos."

The entrance to the cabins. The name of the town and the name of our cabin rental place were the same, Alto Potrerillos, which proved to be only a little confusing.

Two pools and a breathtaking view.

Our cabin's name was Jupiter.

That's ours! 

Hey, friends. 

There was also a playground.

With a zip-line...

Naturally, we had to utilize the equipment.

Went for a short hike to look around the town and climb a hill.

Dinner for the first night was pasta with a ton of veggies.

Discovered a new favorite tea: Rosa Mosqueta y Manzanilla. Not sure about the translation. Something with chamomile.

Day 2: Oatmeal and raisins for breakfast before our long hike.

After searching for a path and ending up having to crawl through a fence, we were met by a herd of cows blocking our way...

Finally made it to the top!

Banana in the Andes.

Salami sandwich in the Andes.

Got a little lost on the way back from the hike. Ended up on someone's private farm after crawling under/through two fences. Post hike ice cream helped with the stress. Dulce de leche (OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD) and chocolate.

Dinner Day 2: Rice, beans, veggies. Beans are not popular in Argentina. We looked in the grocery store for awhile to find some, but I'm pretty sure these are actually lentils.

Blurry picture of some amazing bread I had on the bus back to Mendoza.