I think we found a place to live!!!!!!

We searched for houses in Portland again today, and found three great prospects. I didn't realize that there were such great places out there. We looked in NW and SE Portland, but I think we decided on a place in SE near East Burnside, Stark, and Belmont. If you're not familiar with that part of Portland it's basically a great little area with funky coffee shops, great restaurants, and lots of character. Our place is a mile or less away from everything...grocery stores, movie theaters, bookstores, cafes, restaurants...all the places you need.

Oh my gosh!!!! I am so excited to show you guys pictures. We are just about to send the application in. My computer is tweaking out, so I am going to post this, but I will post more later.

Here's a picture of Danny's and I with Marcus and Angie at Vivace.

The snow has melted

Hey guys,
It feels pretty good to be back. With me being me there is always reflection. And with that comes some feelings of loss and feelings of thankfulness.

I miss the excitement people get when they haven't seen you for a couple days. I miss hearing Castilian spoken everywhere (when I first arrived in Cordoba I never would have thought that would be something I would eventually miss). I miss their passionate spirit, their grace, patience, Cordobes really know how to have a good time, and take life easy. There's not much anxiety. I miss their generous hearts. Their willingness to take a risk (even when they might look a little silly), and just their all around love and affection they have for one another.

Christmas went well. It was cool, because I felt like this year it was less about presents, and more about family. I like that. There were several contributing factors. The weather- a lot of family members were unable to make it to their desired destination because of the snow, so people became more thankful if their loved ones were able to be there. There was a new level of gratitude to be with our families this year because we haven't been with them for almost 4 months. It seemed like most people got a little more creative with gift ideas this year because of the economy taking a bite out of people's bank accounts. Several people just eliminated giving gifts all together, and some made their own gifts by hand. I like the simplicity.

Danny and I got a chance to hang out with our best friends Marcus and Angie last night. It was great to see them again. We would have seen each other sooner, but the snow wouldn't permit it. We got to see their adorable cat, Wilson. I think he is the cutest cat I have ever seen (Cover the ears of all the other cats in my life, so they don't hear that). We went to Vivace on NW 23rd, and had their amazing crepes. We had the number 7, which has nutella, chocolate, whipped cream, bananas, and toasted almonds on it. It was pretty amazing.

Danny and I were looking for apartments and we were in Portland all day, so we ate out 3 different times in Portland, and I could not believe how much I missed the food here. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant on Hawthorne, Cha cha cha. I had the Big Mama Burrito with their special enchilada sauce, and freshly sliced avocados...mmmmm. There is so much variety. I can understand a little more about part of the reason why Americans are obese. We have such easy access to food, it's incredible. It's so simple to get food here, with little effort on your part.

I like looking for apartments. It's sort of sad when you get see one that's amazing, and you fall in love with it, and then someone else gets it before you do. That happened to us a few times already. I guess a lot of people are out shopping for places to live right now. I know we'll find a place that suites us. We saw one place that was incredible, but it was a little out of our price range. We might be able to cut a deal with the guy. Since being in Argentina the highest priority for Danny is good grill/BBQ access so he can start having more asados. He's so thrilled at the idea of retrieving our grill from storage and firing that baby up!

Well, I better get going. I have to help make Christmas dinner for our extended family. They were unable to make it here before Christmas because of the snow, so we are celebrating today.
If you're in Argentina reading this- I am giving you an imaginary hug right now. There was a guy at Cha cha cha who was speaking in Spanish, and I got the biggest urge to go up and hug him, because it reminded me of being in Argentina.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We made it back safely, and with no problems. It was amazing because SO many flights were canceled. We had a 30 min delay, but that's nothing. We sat next to a lady that had been waiting for a flight back to PDX since Sunday.

There was snow everywhere when we got back, so we built this snow goblin.

Flight number

This is for the Varner's and my parents, but our flight number is AS 563 from LA to PDX.

It is totally weird. We are in the airport in Chile, and I think about how far I have come since I was here last. I remember crying the last time we were here- from the culture shock, and the humiliation of not being able to order a sandwich. Now, most people are ordering their food, speaking English, and I am feeling really sad that I am not forced to speak in Spanish. We will still speak in Spanish to other people until we get to LA. And, I guess if there are Hispanic people in LA, we will talk to them in Spanish too. I want to really find a group of people to speak with.

It's funny, I was just in Cordoba today, and when I was there with people from Intel I spoke in English. I am sort of regretting that. I am getting bugged with how much English I am hearing. Everyone is talking in English. Why am I bugged with this? I speak in English. That doesn't seem fair to my own language. I am still in Chile though, I feel like I should be hearing Spanish.

We met a friend on the plane from Peru, and it was really fun to chat with him (in Spanish). I cannot tell you his name, I have never heard it before. He wrote it on a piece of paper for us, but I can't remember because it was long and very different.

I love how people we meet want to continue to keep in contact with us. I love to be relational with them. When we meet people here, and talk for 20 minutes- it feels like I have known them for a really long time. The depth is reached quickly. I hope, as a culture, that will always remain the same. I am going to head out now. I am excited to see you guys, and go sledding. We are still in our summer clothes, so we have to adjust quickly!

Alberto

I guess I am posting a lot today. We just say adios to Alberto, and his son-at the butcher shop. Here's a picture of him and Danny.

Please pray for us

I know I asked for it before, but please pray for us for a safe flight and to arrive tomorrow- as scheduled. I would really love to spend Christmas with our families, not in the airport :)

If we got stuck it would be in LA, and the bright side of that would be that we could say 'hey' to our friend at the Venice Beach Hotel. Remember, the Bas Rutten look alike? I bet he would be happy to see us again. As much as we would love to see him too, we would rather spend Christmas with our loved ones.

Leaving today, a little reflection

I have a list of all the different nuances about Cordoba, and I have intended to post them on here, but just haven't done it, but now is the time. I apologize in advance if anyone gets offended- it's all in good fun.

-There's a bomb that goes off at least on a weekly basis from a protest. People protest here ALL the time because their wages are so low. For a few days the garbage men protested, and it was not pretty. Everyone puts their garbage in bags and places them on the sidewalks, it's not just like that 'on garbage day', everyday is garbage day, but they don't have bins, so when the garbage men protested it got really stinky.

-They mop their sidewalks every morning. When I walk to school people are outside of their business mopping their section of the sidewalk, what a novel idea. Along with this one, they are very fastidious about cleaning their windows.

-There's always a fresh pile of dog doo on the sidewalk everyday. Well, lots of them. The sad thing is, you know pretty soon there is going to have a foot print in it. Which is something you see quite often. They don't have laws about cleaning up after your dog, or even having your dog go someone besides the side walk, which leads me to the next nuance.

-There are stray dogs everywhere-hence the dog doo. Danny and I had never seen a dog with testicles before we came here. All the dogs we've encountered in the states are neutered, but it is rare to see a dog that is neutered here. Bob barker would have a hay day!

I have more written down, but I should go pack some more. I will write more when I get home. I am sad to leave, but happy to see people at home. Just to let you know I am going to continue the blog to let my Argentine friends know how things are going for Danny and I in the states, and for people in the states to know as well. I still have more to write about our last weekend here, and of course, the rest of the nuances. We are so thankful for the opportunity to come here, and for the people we have met along the way.

I have built relationships with our laundry lady, Pablo-the man we bought our glasses from, our butcher-Alberto, and his family, our house cleaner, The maintenance man in the building, people from Danny's work, Sergio and his friends-from the bookstore, teachers, and students from school... Each one of those people have changed and effected me. They all will be missed.

The city of Cordoba (nuances and all) will be missed. Even the people I didn't know. I walked to school, and I would pass by a security guard every morning, the people washing their sidewalks, I would look in the window of a meat shop called 'Angus', and see what the guys were up to in there, the men waiting for their van to fill with passenger (I never knew what the van was for), the people who would stand in the doorway of their shops and look out at the passersby. They were my regulars, and they gave me comfort. I knew I could count on them being there each morning. I will miss my path to school.

We are going to finish with all of our tasks here, then swing by Intel to drop off our keys, and say bye again. We will be on our way soon-and I still can't believe that we are leaving. I cried when I arrived, and now I cry as I leave, but for very different reasons.

View of Cordoba

We hung out with our friends yesterday, and this was the view from the pool area of their apartment. Absolutely gorgeous, we never knew Cordoba was so huge, you should have seen it. I will tell you more about it later.

Leaving tomorrow :(

Here's our itinerary again.

We'll be taking off from Argentina on December 22nd 6:35pm. We leave Santiago, Chile @ 10:35pm and arrive in LA @ 7:05am. Then we arrive in Portland @ 1:20pm on December 23rd.

Please pray for us. I heard the airport closed down yesterday, so I am a little nervous. And the flight from L.A. to Portland was canceled today, and that's the same flight we're going to in two days. Please pray that it goes smoothly. Thank you! I am excited to see you all!

*This is Sergio, my friend who owns the bookstore. My stupid camera is broken again, so my pictures are taken with the my phone.

Flor y Fanny

This is a picture of both my teachers. Florencia is on the left and Fanny is on the right.

Intel Party

Today was the last day of class for me, and the last day of work for Danny. I shared my feelings about this yesterday, and it was kind of the same thing today. The great thing was that I got to see Florencia again before I left. She went to Brazil for vacation and I didn't think I was going to see her again. So, I got to say goodbye again. My current teacher, Fanny, made earring for me for a Christmas present. I thought that was the sweetest thing. Both Danny and I are a little mopey tonight. We can't believe we are leaving. There's a possibility that we will return. Oh, how I would love that!

We went to the end of the year party for Intel. It was a lot of fun, of course. Some of the people who work at Intel performed some live music for us. I don't think I have mentioned this previously, but there are a lot of musically talented people in Argentina. Especially in the province of Salta. 'Folklorico' is there passion, and there is typically a guitar in every household. Evidently, everyone in Salta knows how to play the guitar.

We left the party at around 2:30am, and I felt like we were 'retiring early.' I am constantly amazed at how late people can stay up here. It's been over 3 months, and I still cannot wrap my head around how they can continue staying up so late. We arrived home a little before 3am, and more people were out on the streets at 3am then there are during the middle of the day, or at least in our neighborhood. I guess right now I am being very Argentinian. It's after 11:30pm and we have still not eaten dinner. We will go out pretty soon.

Today, we went out for some beers and appetizers after Danny got off work, as a final send off. We tried cow tongue, that was descent, but I probably won't eat it again anytime soon. Danny tried cow stomach, but that was too far for me. I have seen that hanging in the market, and wondered what it was, and felt squeamish just looking at the texture.

Apparently they eat/use every part of the cow except for the colon. We were sitting with a guy that lived in a farm area 'el campo', and he has eaten every part of the cow. If you are someone who gets grossed out easily- don't read the next line. In the farm area they cut of the cows head, skin it, drill a hole in the top of the scull and wrap it in aluminum foil and cook it over hot coals. They actually bring the whole cows head to the table! Oh my word. We better head out to get our food.

***I recorded the Intel band playing, but the sound quality on my camera is really bad, so I didn't put it on here, but I put a little clip of everyone enjoying themselves, and dancing. Sorry, for the sound. BUT...The good news is, my camera works again!

Goya y Dalí

I forgot to tell you. I went to the museum yesterday, Mueseo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa.I have told you about this museum before, they have rotating exhibits. They were showing the work of Fransisco de Goya, and Salvador Dalí. How cool is that? I have seen the most famous artists in the shortest period of time, it's crazy. It's my favorite when I see work that I recognize. It's so much different to study a work of art in a book compared to seeing it up close and personal.

The work was mostly Goya's printmaking prints, and their were a few pieces of Dalí's work, but it was a new take on Goya's prints. So, it was essentially the same thing, but with minor alterations. He added 'Dalí' flare. I cannot remember the name of that, I think it starts with a 'D'. That's going to bug me. It might be 'appropriate.' Anyway, it was a really great thing to be able to see. I know some people from Argentina read this, so if you like either of those artists, or art in general it will be showing until January 3rd at Mueseo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa.

Revelation

So, I was at school today, and my class ended and it finally hit me FOR REAL that we are leaving, and tomorrow will be my last class. I decided to journal about my feelings after my teacher left, but in Spanish. I was trying SO hard not to cry because I knew someone could walk in at any moment, and it's hard for me to talk in Spanish (all the time, but especially) when I am caught off guard or really emotional.

For instance, today, I was walking to class and a truck started backing up and a women was standing with her back to the truck and the truck wasn't paying attention, and I could see that he was about to hit her, and all I could do was yelp out a loud noise and throw out my hands. No words came to my mind. The truck ended up hitting her but it wasn't going that fast. I don't think she really got hurt, just mostly startled, and angry that the driver wasn't paying attention.

Anyway, back to the classroom. I wanted to take pictures of the school to remember it, but my camera is not working- so, I had to use my phone to take pictures. ***Side story***Danny and I went out to have drinks and empanadas with my library friend Sergio two nights ago, and I wanted a picture with him, but my camara stopped working right then. But, Danny took a picture with his phone, so at least I have some image of him. Bad timing, huh? ***end of side story*** So, I walked out of the classroom into the patio area where I like to sit and watch the birds during my break, and I just burst out crying. There are so many memories I have, in such a short amount of time. It really breaks my heart to think I might never see these people or this place again. How can that be? They are now a part of me, and I am a part of them. I want to figure out a way to take it all with me.

I don't know what our future holds, but I hope we can return here one day. This is going to be hard. We have to say all of our goodbyes in the next couple days. I am going to be a wreck. We are going to a Christmas party for Danny's work tonight. I am excited about that.

The picture: This is where I sit and watch the birds. They live in the avocado tree in the middle of the patio. They fly down all the time to pick up fallen sticks to make their nests. They have brought me a lot of comfort and fascination.

Weather challenges

It is SO hot here! It is supposed to be 96 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius), and it feels like it has reached that point. I was eating lunch with Danny and I was sweating underneath my eyes. The pit of my elbows were dripping sweat-that's how hot it is. Now I am indoors with the air conditioner on, all the lights off, and the shades pulled. I had plans to go visit different places around town today, but I am going to lay low for a while.

So in 6 days we are going to be returning to the United States. I am super sad, but also excited to see my family and friends. I feel like the time has gone by so quickly. The weather is drastically different there. It's forecasted to be in the mid-90's all week here. In West Linn, Oregon it is currently 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and snowing. That's over a 70 degrees difference. How crazy of a transition is that going to be? Honestly if you have any tips for how to acclimate to different climates in a short amount of time- please let me know: My e-mail: liz.varner@gmail.com.

So, I thought of a fun little idea. I am going to take pictures of some of my friends I have met, and post them on the blog. Like our butcher, my bookstore friend, our house cleaner...I want to remember them. I know they will be in my heart, but it's always fun to look back on them in a picture too. I might do that today. I am trying to figure out a way to not be as affected by the heat. Maybe I can dump water over my head before I go out. Oh, I got it. I remember this trick from volleyball. I'll put ice in a Ziploc bag and place it on my veins. That usually helps.

Can you believe Christmas is 9 days away! I don't know how it feels (festivity wise) in the states, but it does not feel like Christmas here. I felt more festive when I made cookies and Christmas cards for people. I had a lot of fun doing that. K, I am going to head out. Chau!

One week left :(

Friday night:
We both LOVED The Nutcracker. It was really lovely. Whenever I go to those sort of events I always get amazed with what the human body is capable of. Bending, twisting, twirling around endlessly on the tips of ones toes. I now know why I am not a ballerina. They sure do look beautiful though. Graceful and elegant. My favorite part was when the dancers acted like dolls. That was amazing. I couldn't stop laughing when they carried them off stage-they looked just like dolls.

Saturday: Chill out day

Sunday: We went to Alta Gracia to see the 'Che' Museum. Ernesto “Che” Guevara. People here are crazy about 'Che.' I won't go into the long history about Che, but he was an Argentine Marxist Revolutionary and a guerrilla leader as well (among other things). He worked alongside Fidel Castro in his 26th of July Movement. You may have heard of the famous movie (and book) titled “Motorcycle Diaries.” It's about his journey through South America. He was a well traveled guy-it's kind of amazing actually. He rode 4000k all around South America on a road bike with a little motor. That was his first journey, but his second one is the one the movie is about, and that's on a real motorcycle, but it broke down along the way...Okay, I am rambling on about it. I always find it fascinating when people are so fixated on the life of one particular person.

It's late. I better head to bed.

I made chocolate chip cookies today. A whole lot of them. I didn't know what to give people for presents. I wanted to give them something different from what they already have in Argentina, and then I thought, 'chocolate chip cookies!' I have not seen them here, and they like sweets, so I figured that would be a good present. I made little Christmas cards too. I had a lot of fun doing it.

I heard it snowing in Portland! How fun. Go sled for me!!!!!!!!

The Nutcracker

Hey. Well, I am super excited because Danny and I are doing our first Christmasy event. We are going to see the Nutcracker. I know it's a ballet, and somehow Christmas is involved...and that's about it. I am assuming a nutcracker will show up at one point as well. Apparently, I saw it when I was a little kid, but I don't remember a lick of it. I suppose it has to be good because they keep playing it over and over again every year at Christmas time. Nevermind, that theory just got flushed away. They bring fruitcake back every year, and we all know what that tastes like.

I hope you are getting in the Christmas spirit. Man, can I just say that I miss Christmas music. I haven't heard it here. I heard something that could have resembled it in the mall, but it wasn't anything I have heard before. I know people can get tired of Christmas music really fast, but I just love it. It's so upbeat. I even worked in a deli where they played the same music everyday, and I didn't tire of it. I think I have a high tolerance for repetitive music. I used to make my brother so mad when we were kids because I would buy a CD and get obsessed with one song, and I would play it through out the house continuously. My dads the same way as me. I just can't get enough of a song if I really love it.

Here's a picture I took at our hotel (in Iguazu). Butterflies are called 'Mariposas' in Espanol.

Cataratas III

I decided to chose writing to you guys, instead of doing my homework this time. I will be brief because I should do my homework soon.
Saturday: We arrived and checked in a hotel called, 'Rio Tropic.' I would highly recommend this hotel. It was beautiful, and intimate in the set up. Only ten rooms, a beautiful pool, and breakfast every morning with fresh squeezed orange juice from their own orange trees. They have a various types of oranges trees, so every morning you get to try orange juice from a different type of orange. The owner, Remy, is super nice and helpful too. So, during the day we went to The national park in Iguazu, Cataratas del Iguazu. This is the home of the widest waterfall system in the world. It consists of 275 falls that stretch for 1.67 miles. We saw a monkey, lizards, a family of coatis, and of course tons of beautiful waterfalls. We took a speed boat to view the falls. It was exhilarating.

Sunday: We went back to the park, because it definitely needs to be viewed in two days. We went on a jungle walk, and saw a toucan. Sadly, I was unable to get a picture, but it was still great. We saw a raining tree. Have you ever heard of raining trees? It rained continuously- I know this sounds weird. It wasn't raining anytime that day, it continued on for hours, and it was only a specific type of tree that did it. We can't figure it out. At the end of this trail was a hidden waterfall with a little swimming hole. We took turns standing underneath it. It was amazing, we felt like we were in our own little world. The most breath taking of it all was The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo). It measures 490' by 2300'. The video is of Garganta del Diablo. I have to go get to my homework now. Love you!

Cataratas II

We took a boat ride to see the falls.

Homework and library friends

I am going to be good and do my homework instead of post about the falls. I want to, but I know I should do my homework now. I talked to my library friends again. We talked for about 3 hours. Some in English, but mostly in Castillian! Choppy of course, but still fun. Sergio (the guy who owns the bookstore) gave me a present. He gave me a book to practice Cordobeses. Which is like the specific words and sayings that people use in Cordoba. Certain provinces have their own way of saying certain things, and this one was about how Cordobes speak. I was so happy to receive it! I had so much fun talking with them again. I got to meet Segio's sister, and Rene (the guy from before) was in there too. There was a new guy who lived in Detroit for a year and half, but is from Argentina who was shopping for books, and he overheard us talking and he translated a little bit. We laughed a lot, and had a great time. Need to do homework! Chau!

Cataratas

I like this verse:

"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done."
-Ecclesiastes 11:4

I tend to want to wait for the perfect conditions, but they rarely ever come. This was a good verse for me to hear.



Speaking of perfection. Here is a picture of Iguazu. I will, of course, be posting more later, but for now, I am going to go have lunch.

We're back

We got back from Puerto Iguazu earlier today. It was a 21 hour bus ride, so long! I have to go run some errands, but I wanted to post this little guy. He came up to us while we were sitting on a bench.

The falls were amazing! I will catch you up later. There's a lot to show and a lot to say. I start classes tomorrow with a new teacher, and I am super nervous. I got to a really comfortable spot with Flor and I liked how we did things, but it will be good to have a different teachers perspective. Hasta Luego!

***The video is not uploading. I will look into it tomorrow.

Sentimental

I am feeling really sentimental today. I have been sentimental for the last few days, but this is the first day I have let myself cry about it. I am really going to miss it here. I had to say goodbye to a friend today, Diego. He has been a good friend to us here, and I am really going to miss him. He's going to visit the states next year, so I really hope we get to see him again.

I got sad when I was doing my laundry because I like doing my laundry by hand and hanging it to dry on my little rope. I took a picture of it to remember it. I know our time is not over yet, but I am preparing myself for it. We have 18 days left :(.

Tomorrow I have to say goodbye to my teacher, Florencia (Flor). She is going on vacation and will be back after I finish classes with a different teacher. She has been my teacher from the beginning, and I am going to miss her too.

I am not very good at goodbyes. I get really attached to people/things in my heart and it's hard to let them go sometimes.

The exciting news is, we are going to Iguazu Falls tomorrow. The falls can be seen from an access points in Brazil, Argentina, or Paraguay. We, of course, are going to view it from Argentina. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory, so that's fortunate for us. I have seen the falls in pictures and in the Planet Earth dvd's. If you haven't seen Planet Earth you need to. It's an amazing BBC documentary series about different places and species all around the world. It's filmed and captured more beautifully then I have seen before. You can check out clips of it on Youtube.com.

Watch this clip of Iguazu to see what it's like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L8845utZI4 (This is not a Planet Earth clip, in case you were wondering.) I didn't watch very much of it because I don't want to spoil it. There's a Coldplay song to go along with it, so that always makes everything more enjoyable. I better start packing. Love you guys!

Mosquito war

Yesterday we saw 007:Quantum of Solace. I would not recommend it, but it was okay. I left sort of feeling like it wasn't over, and there wasn't really much of a message to it. I am not a movie critic, but that's my opinion. I like the Bourne Series much more. After the movie we walked to the Artisan's Market, and strolled around. It's always fun to see the things people create. I love marketplaces.

I know I am a Varner now, but I still have Griswold blood. And this is a type of thing a Griswold would do:

Mosquitoes absolutely love me here-it's ridiculous. I wake up with a new bite on me almost every morning. In Buenos Aires I woke up with 10 new bites. We have the most powerful repellent you can buy, but I haven't used it when I sleep because I am not outdoors. I started to get the hint that it doesn't matter where I am- the mosquitoes will find me. Apparently, you're not supposed to spray it indoors anyway, and it has all these rules (none of which I was aware of before using it). So, last night a mosquito kept buzzing around my ears waking my up. (BTW- I am a more sensitive sleeper here. A mosquito would have NEVER woken me up before. If you know me, you know how hard I am to wake up.)

Anyway, I get out the repellent and spray myself and go back to bed. He returned for another visit later and I sprayed the repellent on our sheets (which I also find out you're not supposed to do), and then I crawled back in bed to go back to sleep. He was back again, by this time it was about 3am, and I was so frustrated! I didn't turn on the lights, I thought I would spray myself even more with the repellent, just to get the stupid thing to leave me alone. I felt where the hole was on the sprayer, in order to avoid spraying myself in the eye, and turned it away from me (or so I thought). I ended up spraying A DIRECT SHOT into my left eye!!! I screamed in shock and pain, and ran to the bathroom. It stung so bad. I freaked out Danny, and he woke up in a panic and thought something was seriously wrong with me. I had to flush my eye with water for 15 minutes while Danny read the bottle to make sure I was going to be okay. I felt like a spaz-especially since the thought went through my head, 'point it away from you, so you don't spray it in your eye.' It was a lot of hassle, but I will say that the mosquito never bothered me again.

Buenos Aires completed

Saturday night we ate in Palermo Viejo at Sarkis, which serves Middle Eastern cuisine. I have missed Middle Eastern food, it was so delicious! We ate hummus, meat stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, baba ganoush, and pita bread. This was the appetizer, and we planned on splitting a main course dish, but we were so stuffed, we couldn't eat anymore. It was amazing food.

Sidenote: So many people speak English in BA, it was rather odd for us. It seemed like the majority of people we would hear speaking were English speaking.

Danny and I were walking home from dinner, talking about how it's a regular occurrence to walk by an apartment building and get sprinkled with some type of liquid. Most of the time it's condensation from peoples air conditioners falling, but every once in a while you will see people dump things out of their apartment window or shake out a rug, without looking below. Coincidentally, Danny mentioned that a few days ago someone barely missed him when they threw some water out their window. Immediately after, I felt something pour on my shoulder and splash on my clothes. I thought that someone had thrown water on me, but when I looked down it was a brown substance. A bird pooped on my shoulder! It was SO gross. I felt SO dirty. I was thankful that this happened after we ate dinner.

Sunday:
We walked by a church in the morning and it was the sweetest sound to hear people worshiping. We haven't been to church for so long and I am craving it. We felt so much comfort hearing the people singing.

We caught the subte to Recoleta and went to Feria Artesenal, an artists market-the biggest artists market I have ever seen. It made Portland Saturday Market look small. I personally like the feel of Saturday Market more, but it was fun to experience this market. I wanted to stay for longer, but Danny insisted we go to our next destination, the art museum. Can you believe he was the one insisting we go to an art museum? He's been more into art lately than I have been. It was the most amazing museum I have ever been in. It's called 'Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes'. Almost every famous artist I can think had their work in this museum. Pollock, Picasso, Rodin, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir...The list goes on.

Sadly, we were on a tight schedule, so we only got to see the first floor of the museum. We headed out to see La Recoleta Cemetery. It contains the gravestones of the most influential people in Argentina. We didn't get a chance to see Eva Peron's (Evita's) burial place because we were in too much of a hurry. There is a picture of the cemetery on Danny's Flickr page as well as some others taken in Buenos Aires (http://flickr.com/photos/dvarner/).

We ate the fastest we've ever eaten and raced back to the subte and raced to our hostel from their to make it in time for the futbol game. We were late and got scolded by the women waiting to drive us to the game. Ooops. The game was Rivers vs. Agentina Jrs. Unfortunately, our team lost (the Rivers), but the fans continue to cheer for them-it's really cool. They cheer DURING THE WHOLE GAME. I knew they were seriously crazy about futbol games, but I didn't realize the extent until I sat by a lady from Buenos Aires and she gave me the scoop.

The opposing teams wait for each other outside the stadium after the game and fight each other. She told me that people kill each other. I don't know how regular of an occurrence the killing is, but we had to wait for a half an hour or more after the game was over to leave because it's too dangerous to leave right away because of the fighting. The security guards have the visiting team leave first. They don't serve beer at the games (because they are crazy enough without alcohol) and security guards are everywhere. It's very different than any game I have been to before.

Monday:
We arrived back home at 7:30am. We had to hurry home so Danny could get ready for work, and I had my final exam for my group class to study for. I had my last group class on Monday, it was kind of sad. I am going to miss my classmates and my teacher, but my brain is really happy about it. I was taking classes for 5 hours a day with about an hour or two of homework. I think it was too much for me. I really felt like my Spanish speaking abilities decreased because my brain shut down.

Now, I can think clearly again. I didn't realize how much of a strain it was on me until I completed the class. I feel more free now. I am still taking classes for 2 hours a day, but that's a pleasant amount. Learning a new language is really hard. I would love to be fluent one day, I am SO FAR away from that, but I think I can do it. I need to find a way to use it when I arrive in the US. I am kicking myself now for not taking classes in college. Oh well, you live and learn. Danny and I have talked about having our kids go to a bilingual school. I think that it is a wonderful skill to have. Then our kids can teach us!

Tango video

This is a little shot of of some of the people dancing at Tsunami tango.

Lazy Day

I am being really bad and not writing about Buenos Aires yet. I am procrastinating. We tangoed last night until 3 am, and it was so fun. We both loved it.

We have been pretty lazy today, watching movies. We were going to go paragliding, but the weather is too bad. We'll see if it clears up for tomorrow. There has been thunderstorms the last two days. Today it shook the doors it was so strong. It also brought us this HUGE grasshopper. I put a dime next to it to show you its scale. I didn't know they could get this big.

This is what Christmas is all about...

Check this out:

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

THANKSGIVING:

It reached over 100 degrees yesterday. I had to run all around town looking for different ingredients. They don't have stuff like brown sugar in just any store, you kind of have to hop around to find it. I went to 5 different places to get all the stuff I needed, and I went to two of those places three times because I forgot things. It did not feel like Thanksgiving. It ended up getting better. The power went out twice in our apartment, I always like it when the power goes out. It's a reminder of a simpler life.

The bird, and the whole meal turned out wonderfully. I really enjoyed making it. I put way too much pressure on myself about it, but in the end I was able to relax and enjoy it. Danny bought an apple pie for us that was out of this world! We have a bakery right by our place and they have a gift with baking. At the end of the night we made a list of things we were thankful for. My list had 11 in-depth things, and Danny listed 112 things. We are so different in our approach to things, it's funny, and sometimes tests both of our patients (a lot). In the end we both wrote about how we were thankful for our differences- it gives us both a new perspective.

Tonight, Friday, we are going to go to the Tsunami Tango place again. I never put the tango video up because it was too long and it wouldn't upload. Danny spent a few hours trying to compress it, but it didn't work. I will bring my camera tonight, and record a shorter video for you guys to watch. I still have the other one on my laptop, so if you want to watch it when I get home, just ask. I will post the rest of the Buenos Aires blog sometime tomorrow.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!

I want to be at home SO bad right now. I want to spend Thanksgiving with my family and loved ones. I bought a turkey yesterday, from Walmart :-) It is the only place that has turkey around here, or at least that anyone knew of. It was our first time taking a taxi. I was nervous, but it was great. I can't tell you more about Buenos Aires now because I don't have anytime. I need to go get all the rest of the ingredients for cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I feel like a real grown-up. I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner! crazy. Wish me luck. No matter what, i will put a picture of my turkey on the blog, even if it's a disaster :-) I love you guys. Have a wonderful time celebrating together. I miss you!

Buenos Aires

FRIDAY & SATURDAY:
Friday night we caught the bus at around 10:30pm to go to Buenos Aires (BA). As I mentioned in a previous blog, they do this so you can sleep while traveling. Danny and I love the idea that we are accomplishing something while we sleep. We ate dinner on the bus, they showed a movie, and I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it. I had a pretty good sleep considering we were on a bus. We arrived in BA at about 7am, and were able to observe the life around the bus terminal. This is a very common area for thief's to practice their act.

I can be a little feisty at times (if you didn't know that already), and I was very determined to not have someone steal from either Danny or I. So, I was on the look out, and carried my mace in my hand. I watched different thieves, and took note of their methods. Often times they work in teams and they give signals to each other We were circled on at least two different occasions, by some guys who were interested in taking our belongings. I have a lot of nerve sometimes, and I just looked them in the eyes and told them (without telling them) I knew exactly what they were doing. From what I have heard, they tend to go after people who are not paying attention to what their surroundings.

Oh my gosh, I just realized why I was so determined to not be stolen from, besides the obvious reasons. When I was a kid, about 11 years old, I was in the mall and I had a bag full of Christmas presents for my friends and family. I naïvely set the bag down, without being aware of it, and turned around later to find it was stolen. I was so heartbroken and upset that someone would steal from a little girl, and on Christmas. On that same shopping trip I had a fanny pack full of quarters, and I was in the arcade, and I felt something touch me, and I looked down and a man had his hands around my waste trying to steal my fanny pack. I turned around and he left- I couldn't see his face. It was one of those loss of innocence times where you realize people cannot always be trusted. I felt powerless in both those situations, and now I want to do what I can to be aware and prevent it.

I am writing a lot, and the internet is going in and out, so I will post this section and put more on a little later....

Okay, here's more:
So, when we arrived we figured out how the subte (subway) worked. We checked into our hostel in Palermo. We stayed at Hostel Suites Palermo. It is in an old mansion which used to be a geriatric home. It was a very nice hostel with cute rooms, which have french windows that open up to overlook trees, buildings, and pretty pink Bougainvilleas. I left the doors open to the window, and in the morning it was a dream to wake up to the sun shining in.

We basically explored for the first day we were there. I was overwhelmed with the size of the buildings. They are huge. I felt like an ant. We strolled through San Telmo and saw the Plaza De Mayo, where the mothers of 'the disappeared' protest on Thursday (An amazingly sad story, if you want to know more you can ask me about it.) At the Plaza we saw a bunch of people filming for a movie, it was pretty fun to watch. We saw the Casa Rosada (Pink house), which is their White House. Their president is female, Cristina Kirshner, and we thought she probably liked working in an enormous pink building.

We visited 9 de Julio (The day Argentina gained it's independence), which is the widest street in the world. It's nine lanes wide. Standing in the middle is a famous icon of the city, the obelisk. It's a regular gathering spot, especially for fans gathering after a futbol game.

I have to go buy a turkey, so I will continue more later, sorry for the pauses.

Vamos a Buenos Aires!

We are going to leave in a couple hours for Buenos Aires. I am super excited. We are going to a futbol game (American Soccer). It is huge down here. The fans are crazy and super passionate, and I am excited to be a part of it. I love sports events, it's fun to have a bunch of people toogether cheering for one thing. Well, two things (each team), but you get what I mean. I better go pack. Please pray for us if you think of us. For everything, but also our safety. There's a lot of robbery that happens there, and we are obviously American, you get my drift... I have to run. I will fill you in when I get back.

Pictures of the asado portion. We put a few posts up today, so scroll down to "Los Reartes," and you'll understand :)

Medialunas

I can write on the blog too:) About every block in Cordoba has a 'panaderia' or bakery where the sell all sorts of goodies. One of the more popular treats is the 'medialuna' which translates to 'half moon' or known back home as a croissant. Well I got a good tip on how to make a DELUXE medialuna breakfast from our friend Paula we went camping with last weekend. Following her advice, I made a visit to our butcher, Alberto, and got some sliced ham and cheese to prepare for my breakfast. Then this morning after picking up some fresh medialunas I cut each one in half stuffed it with the ham and cheese then placed it in the oven for till they got tosty hot. Sooo GOOD! I was so happy with them i took pictures.

I had to put my new friend on here too (Mr. Frog). In Spanish, frog is 'sapo'.

Los Reartes

Sorry I haven't written for a while. I think my brain got so overwhelmed with information that it just stopped receiving new information and turned to putty. We went camping last weekend with two other couples from Danny's work, and had a great time. We went to Los Reartes, near Villa General Belgrano, where we went to Oktoberfest.

For some reason the rain and cold weather are really refreshing here. It reminds me of Oregon. Don't get me wrong I don't want as much of it as Oregon has to offer, but it's refreshing every once in a while. Anyway, it rained on Saturday, so we waited until the afternoon to go, in order for the weather to clear up. We left at about 3pm. We hung out, set up, and we went shopping for our dinner.

They talked in Spanish the whole time we were on our trip, and I think that's part of what started my brain to feel overwhelmed. I felt like I got worse at my Spanish afterward. I liked learning new foods and stuff in the grocery store though. It is really fun to shop with people from Argentina because they know exactly what they want. What I mean by that is that there is a typical way of doing things here. They have specific traditions.

I have negative associations with traditions. It's a close brother of 'rituals'. I don't like rituals, I guess I just don't like rigidity. But these traditions are fun. There's a reason why they continue to stick around.

Back to the schedule. At about 9:30pm we started building the fire for the asado. I love watching the preparations for an asado. I feel like I am getting a sneak peak into something rich. We ended up eating at around 11pm underneath a open grassy roofed hut. It was so cold. One of the couples slept in their car for the night. We could tell they were not used to camping. They both brought rolling suitcases that contained about a weeks worth full of clothes, funny stuff. We were really thankful because they let us borrow their sleeping mats. All we brought was a blanket off our bed. We were a little unprepared. They were really generous and let us use some of their sleeping stuff.

The next day we laid out in the sun, had a BBQ, and played 'Truco', an Argentine card game. Two other guys came to meet up with us. We went in the river and splashed around for a while. While we were in the river we set up little stacked rocks on one big rock, and saw who could knock them over first. It was a simple game, but for some reason it was so much fun. It was a really beautiful place. Good food, good company!

No sé.

Hello loved ones,
I am tired, and I need to finish school work, so I'll keep it short. Holy cow! It's 10pm. The day is flying by. Okay, so now I am going to school for 5 hours a day. It's really hard, but I really like it. Some days I feel like giving up, and some days I feel invigorated. I talked to one of the guys who works at the university for about an hour after class today (in Spanish- his name is Pablo). WOOHOO! Don't get me wrong, it's not fluid, beautiful, Spanish (Castillian really), but I am formulating sentences and I can understand people (somewhat). Pablo is studying to be a Spanish teacher, and I am studying to be a Spanish student :), so it's really good practice for both of us. He gave me some really good feedback that gave me some encouragement.

It's always good do have a reminder of how far you've come. Because, when you're in it, sometimes it's hard to see the progress being made.

I got some really terrible news today. One of my brothers friends, Adam, died yesterday of a heroine overdose. He was my brothers best friend growing up, and he was someone special to our family. He always had a special place in all of our hearts. Danny and I had a memorial time for him tonight. I think about how much hurt Adam's family must be going through. I am sensitive to the fact that some of you are going to get bugged or triggered that I am writing this, but these are my thoughts. When I hear about something like this I think about all the other people involved, and how it's going to affect them. I wonder what he was thinking before he died. What motivated him to use again? I think about how much positive change pain like this can bring to other peoples lives as well. I think about A LOT of things.

To be perfectly honest I feel sort of overwhelmed with the pain in the world. It's hard for me to not to take it on at times. It has been bombarding me lately. There is a lot of desperation around the world right now, and I can't pretend like it's not there. I know this is a really low time for people, and probably several of you reading this. I am praying for a lot of you. That's all I know how to do right now, is pray.

Some things to think about:
-"What can I learn from this?"
-"Life's lessons are repeated until learned." -NMT (Not my thought)
-"I cannot change or heal what I do not acknowledge." -NMT
-Compliment people when the things come to your mind. Don't compliment people behind their backs, say it to their face.
-Don't put other things before your own sanity and serenity.

So much for keeping it short :)

Paintballing group

Someone in the group had a camera, and e-mailed Danny this picture, so I thought I would put it on here. I started taking classes for 5 hours a day. Oh my word! We'll talk more later. I have to eat dinner. I hope this post reaches you with a smile!

Restaurante Adentro

Last night we went to an outdoor restaurant- we loved it. Do you ever go to a place that makes your soul sing? You get this feeling of inspiration and creativity that makes you feel like dancing. Well, that was this place for me. I have imagined owning a restaurant before, and pictured what it would be like, and so many of my ideas were lived out in this restaurant. Great food too!

Paintballing

Today we went paintballing with about 20 guys and 2 girls from Danny's work. We had so much fun. We had never been before and we loved it. We split up into two different teams and were given a mission. We had four missions total. For instance one team had to go into a house and rescue a hostage, while the other team defends it. Each team gets a chance to attack and defend on each mission. It was outdoors in a forested area. We were dodging in and out of trees, crawling on the ground on our stomachs, running up hills, and crossing streams.

Danny has welts all over his body. The paintballs move at 300 ft/sec. I feel bad for him. I managed to only get hit twice. Once in the face mask and the other just skinned my leg, so I am welt free. During the game I was crawling toward some trees and I heard a guy rustling in the bushes, so I pushed myself up to get a better view, and I stuck my hand in a cactus bush. So my injuries came from a cactus, not the paintballs. I am still picking little slivers out of my hands.

This was all in 90 degree weather, so we sweat like pigs. We had to wear triple layers and long john's to protect oursleves from the bullets. Needless to say, we were exhuasted by the time we were done. We came back home and took about a 4 hour nap. I want to go paintballing when I get back home too, so if you are into that sort of thing, let me know. We can get a group together and go.

Unfortunately we forgot our cameras, but Danny took this picture with his phone. I feel a little doofy putting this picutre on, but Danny assures me I should. What can I say, I was pumped! So much fun!

Lunch Spot

This is where we ate lunch in Villa Carloz Paz. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures, because it was such a cool place, but, here's a little glimpse.

US ELECTION DAY

It is so strange to be an outsider, listening in on what is happening with the US election. This is a historical election and there is a part of me that wishes I could transport there to be a part of it. Some of you might wish you could transport somewhere else to get away from it :-)

This weekend was a relaxing one. We went to their museum of modern art, ate at a well known Lomito restaurant (Lomito's are sandwiches with thin beef strips prepared with a lemon flavored sauce-they are delicious), and we went out of town to Villa Carlos Paz. Danny and I have really enjoyed the different art museums here. Like all art museums, some of the work is unexplainable and just weird, but some of it has been my favorite work I've seen.

We went to Villa Carlos Paz on Sunday to go to a swimming area. It's where the Cordobes go on hot weekends in the summer. But we didn't not find anything remotely close to what we saw in the brochures. The Willamette River looked clean compared to the water here. We are pretty certain the swimming area was on the opposite side of the town from where we were. We will probably go back later when some of Danny's work buddies can show us the spot. We went to one of our favorite lunch spots yet. It wasn't because of the food, although the food was good, but the atmosphere. There was a glass divider between the dining area and the 'quincho'. The 'quincho' is the whole area where the meat is cooked on the parrilla. There were 4 whole goats hanging over the parrilla and several rows of meat, slow cooking for hours. We loved watching the asadors (the men who prepare the asado) at work.

We went to a huge market place over the weekend as well. They do not waste meat around here. There are tongues, heart, brains, kidneys, livers, intestines...the works being sold at this market. I like to try new things, but brain, heart, and tongue will not be on my dinner plate. They have skinned whole goats, pigs, cows, hanging. It is an amazing site to see. I love market places. They make me feel alive. There is so much activity, creativity, community. People are there enjoying food and each other company. Qúe rico!

PRICE IS RIGHT!

Hey,
I am writing all of you to remind you that our Price is Right airing time is on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD. Whenever I watched the Price is Right it was on @ 10 AM on CBS, I don't believe that's changed. We are sitting in the middle section (In the middle from side to side, and front to back.) Enjoy!

Horseback Riding!

I wrote this yesterday:
My birthday was on Sunday, and we went horseback riding. We were going to go paragliding, but the wind patterns weren't suitable. That was fine by me, I love riding horses. We will go paragliding a different time. Horseback riding was going to be my present for Danny for his birthday, but we never had an opportunity to do it until now. We had so much fun. We woke up at 6:15, took a bus to La Cumbre (2 1/2 hour bus ride each way), had lunch in town, then went horseback riding for 3 hours!

Danny and I woke up an hour later than we planned this morning, and we sounded like we were 90 years old. Every part of us hurts. It was worth it. We were led through La Cumbre by a gaucho named Juan. A 'gaucho' is loose equivalent to a cowboy. It was really peaceful. As you can see from the picture it was a beautiful day. Juan's dog came along to protect us from cows and other dogs. He got attacked by another dog one time. Danny called it 'Doggy Compton' because there were dogs chasing him regularly.

My horse, Bianca, had a mind of her own. She would just take off running whenever she felt like it. At first I didn't want to get ahead of Juan, so I would pull back the reigns. Toward the end I just gave in and let her run. My mom said she was 'barnsour'. Which evidently means she was eager to get back home. We had so much fun. Horses are truly amazing animals. We will have pictures posted soon.

I had my last class with Florencia today. It was kind of sad. I really like her and she helped me so much. I think it will be good to have the group classes though. I will be able to talk to people in Spanish more often, and hopefully make some new friends. Wish me luck!

Got Beef?

I took this picture on the way to school this morning.

Librería

Yesterday:
Do you remember how I told you guys about how we have to set our clocks forward an hour here? Well, we forgot. Danny was an hour late to work today, and I was an hour late to class. Luckily everyone was understanding. My homework for today was to survey three people from Cordoba. It was a short survey, but I had to ask them questions and explain what I was doing in Spanish. I was so scared. I had such high anxiety after she asked me to do it, but I knew it would be good for me. I went to Intel and asked the women who works at the front desk, that went alright. I jumble my words when I get nervous, and that happened a few times, but I got through it.

I was walking back home thinking, I knew the women at the front desk, so what was I going to do when I had to ask a stranger. Then I thought, I should go ask my book store friend, Sergio (I mentioned him in a previous entry). He owns an old bookstore and is a professor of history. It went WONDERFULLY! One of his friends stopped by, René, who is a professor of geology and earth sciences. They attempted to speak English, and I attempted to speak Spanish for two hours. It was great. They ordered cafe con leche (even though it was 90 degrees outside) and we all attempted to speak a non-native language. It made me feel so much more safe because they didn't know my language and I don't know there's.

I know practicing with natives is one of the best ways to learn a new language, so I am going to stop in the bookstore more often and just chat. At first I felt obligated to buy a book, but I think I can just go in now and say 'let's practice.'

More Salta

Continuation...
Second day: I found out at 11pm (the night before) that I left my sunglasses and camera in the car. By 'the car' I mean the excursion tour people's car. They get their cars washed and cleaned every night, so they're fresh and ready for the next day, so I started the day a little bummed because I was pretty certain I was never going to see my camera or sunglasses again. Plus we had a different guide, so I thought for sure they were gone, but to my surprise we ended up seeing our guide from the day before along the way and he had them! That made my day.

All of our trip parallels the same trip of the famous “El Tren de Las Nubes,” In case you've ever heard of that. We started our day in Purmamarca, known for 'The Painter's Palette,” or “The Hills of Seven Colors.” It was quite beautiful, but hard to capture in any of the photos. We had breakfast at an adorable little outdoor cafe that was also someone's home. We had Api and some type of pastry with honey. It was such a different and wonderful taste. The Api is a hot beverage that has a taste all it's own, but the closest comparable thing would be the best hot apple cider apple you've ever tasted with a special added twist. It's thicker with a beautiful shade of purple.

After our time in Purmamarca we headed to Maimar (There are Indian tribes there called Tilcara). A lot of the places we went were picturesque and grand. Much of it reminded me of Eastern Oregon landscape- I mean EASTERN Oregon. John Day fossil beds, painted hills area. Some of the areas were a little surreal. The lower pressure causes the clouds to look like white sand in the sky. Through out our trip we saw cactus fields, herds of Llama (and other members of the Llama family), donkey, sheep, goat, wild horses. I don't know at what point of the trip it was, but we got our picture taken at the monument that marks the Tropic of Capricorn. I thought that was pretty cool. I am getting tired, and need to make and eat dinner, so I am going to skip some stuff and wrap this up.

We ended the trip at a sub tropical rainforest. Don't get too jealous, it's not a rainforest with monkeys and brightly colored plants. Just looking at it I would not call it a forest, but I don't know all the details that classifies a body of trees and plants as a rainforest.

On one of our free days we took a gondola up to a little park overlooking Salta. We took the advise of the guy at our hostel and went up at sunset. It was beautiful and relaxing.

Salta is where empanadas originated. So, as you can imagine empanadas were an accompaniment to almost every meal. Muy delicioso! I also ate a ton of tamales. (To my amazement there is not a whole lot of typical Mexican food here. I thought there would be because of it being a Spanish speaking country and all that, but not really. I would love to have a burrito with salsa and tortilla chips. All of which cannot be found here-or at least not easily. I have yet to see a place that sells burritos. All of you at home- do not take your burritos for granted, you never know when you will be without them. They don't even have black beans in most places. I had to go to a special store to find them. I am going to make burritos this week because it has been way too long.) Salta had consistently wonderful food. Truly, wonderful food. I need to go make dinner.

*You'll have to visit to see our pictures. My pictures are more lame than Danny's- he's the photographer in the family, but I got a couple good shots. I didn't have my camera at the Salt Flats, but Danny did so be sure to look at his website for those pics. I don't think this website likes to have links, so just copy and past the web address.
Danny's Flickr pics: http://flickr.com/photos/dvarner/
Lizzie's Flickr pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizvarner/

Salta, Argentina

Here's an update about our vacation. There are so many things to tell you, but I will attempt to limit it. We left Friday night and took a snazzy bus to Salta, Argentina. Salta is in the northern part of Argentina-past the Tropic of Capricorn. The bus showed movies, served food, and the seats reclined to a 'Lazy Boy' position. It was like first class on an airplane. The buses here are usually double deckers, and they are really nice. While I was on the bus (and several other times) I couldn't help but think about how fortunate Danny and I are to be here, and to have this opportunity. I am so thankful, and know this has been a gift. Before we left to come to Argentina I wondered if we were silly for having our life hang in the balance for so long, waiting to here if we were going to be able to come here, and I can say with confidence I am glad we waited.

Back to the story...It was a 12 hour trip from Cordoba to Salta. It's set up so you can go at night, sleep on the bus, and arrive in the morning- smart thinking. We went on excursions all day Sunday and all day Monday with a guide. We went to different villages through out the province of Salta and Jujuy.

I loved seeing a different side of Argentina. The area has the highest population of indigenous people in Argentina. They look completely different from other Argentines. This is caused by the higher altitude. The highest point of our trip was at 4200 meters (That's 13,780 feet) above sea level. To give the Oregonians a point of reference: Mt. Hood reaches 11,245 feet. The people living there have adapted and developed more red blood cells to compensate for the decreased level of oxygen. They have much thicker, darker hair and thicker, darker skin to protect themselves from the sun and other variants in the climate.

Danny and I climbed up a hill and we felt like we had just ran a marathon. We were breathing so hard. It's that desperate kind of breathing when you feel like you're breathing through a straw. We were told later not to run, jump, bend down too fast because of the level of oxygen being lower. People not used to the elevation can easily get altitude sickness, that was easy to believe after being in it for a few minutes.

On the first day we went to Purmamarca, Jujuy, San Salvidor, San Antonio de los Cobres, the salt flats, and other places I cannot remember. There are villages in Salta where the people do not have money. Each family grows/raises a specific crop/animal in a community and they live by trade. For example one family is in charge of raising chickens and the next family is in charge of growing alfalfa, and so on...They live by trading resources with one another. I love that.

We ate lunch in a very poor village, San Antonio de los Cobres, which is a small mining town. The guide recommended a restaurant and we ate Llama. Yes, that's right, the animal that spits a foul smelling fluid. It was quite good-similar to Bison. It did not have a gamey taste at all. It tasted like a lean cut of beef. Speaking of beef, I ate that for lunch too, and boy was it good. Mmmmm....Beef good enough to make a vegetarian cry.

We took the famous 40 national route to the Salt Flats (Salinas Grandes). Agreeably our favorite part of the trip. The area is shaped like a bowl with mountains 360 degrees around. Salt water flows into the area and settles because it has no place to go. It is then collected, mixed with iodine, and shipped right to a store nearest you. I skipped a few steps, but you get the idea.

It was amazing to walk on salt and feel it compact and crunch beneath our feet. It was a similar feeling to walking on snow. Much of it was similar to snow. It was blinding white as far as your eye could see- amplified by the sun. There were sections of rectangles approximately 4' x 7' dug out of the ground where the salt is collected. The rectangles contain salt and water, which results in a beautiful affect. Miniature crystals are formed, creating a dance of prisms. Much like sunshine on a snowy day.

I will post pictures later. This is getting to be pretty long, and I'd like to post this today, so I am going to end here, and I will post about our second day either tomorrow or Sunday. Speaking of Sunday I have to remember to set my clock forward 1 hour. You guys set your clocks back in November, and then we will be 6 hours different. Sunday is also my papa's birthday, and then my birthday is the week after that. I am going to be 24 years old. Tengo viente cuatro anos...Man, I don't feel 24.

Thanks for the prayers for my health. I am feeling much better, thank you.

La Gente

Have I told you how kind the people are here? Oh my word. They truly care for and love other people here. I've had hard times off and on here, but your support back home and the people here are really what's helped me pull through it. I don't think they've heard of the word 'gossip', they just love you and if there's a problem they will say it to your face.

We have a woman who cleans our place and I told her I was sick and she offered to go out and get me medicine. She talks to me in Castilian (Argentina's language-I keep saying Spanish, but it's really Castilian) and tells me all these different things I should do to get better. I used to never understand a word she said, but now, I actually knew some of what she was telling me. I was feeling better today, but still sick, but I wanted to go to class today and my teacher hugged and kissed me and was so excited that I was feeling well enough to come to class. I felt SO loved. I didn't end up having class today because she thought I was still sick, so she scheduled to take an exam today. That's probably a good thing because I still need to rest up, but I was just glowing on my walk back home because I felt so loved by her. One more example. Danny told his boss I was sick, and his father-in-law is a doctor and he offered to take me to see him and translate. I cannot get over how generous and loving they are here.

I don't know if I mentioned this in a blog yet or not, but there seems to be no hierarchy among the people. What I mean by that is people of a different class don't treat others of a lower class lower then them. There's certainly no elitism, well among the majority of Cordobes. People treat the janitor in a building the same they would a good friend. You can't tell if someone is an old friend with a waitress/waiter because they are so happy to see them and they talk as if they've known the person for years. People authentically loving other people, I can't think of many things that bring me more joy.

side note

I just found out you can't comment on the blog if you don't have G-mail. That bites! I'm sorry to all you that have tried and been unable to comment.

Ocktoberfest

Sunday:
We drove in three separate cars with a group of friends from Intel to go to Oktoberfest. On our way up we stopped off at a place that offers Ziplining across the lake. It was $10's! There are some things that are more expensive here, but when it comes to services it is definitely cheaper. We drove between an hour and a half and two hours to get to a German refugee village, Villa General Belgrano. The village was named in honor of the man who created the Argentine flag. During WWII some Germans made there home in this village and it has remained a Germanic village to this day. There was a parade through the streets with people dressed up in lederhosen and national costumes. There was food traditional of Argentina and some traditional of Germany, and of course beer.

We stopped at a river after lunch and had some amazing aged salami, cheese, and homemade bread... Oh yeah, my digestive system is so much better here. I don't know what it is. I won't dare eat straight up dairy products, but it has been so much better. I can eat pork (in moderation), and basically all the other stuff I haven't been able to eat. I think I O.D.'d on the salami on Sunday. I was so happy that I could eat it that I just kept on chowing down. I also ate cookies and pastries!!!!! Delightful!

A couple of Danny's work buddies said he was spoiled because everyone was speaking English around him and he wasn't ever going to learn Spanish, so that meant we spoke in a lot of Spanish after that. We both really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much effort and energy it takes to speak in a non-native language. It's good for us.

It was such a peaceful day. By the river we heard some rustling in the bushes and saw that there were 3 cows (vaca) on the other side of the river. No fence or anything. I went over to talk with them, a little in Spanish and a little in English, and they started to cross the river to my side. I wasn't sure what to expect from them. I knew they weren't bulls, so I wasn't too worried, but a little. It ended up they were quite friendly. They just hung out and ate grass next to us while we ate our salami. Like I said, very relaxing.

I didn't watch the full video, but this is a little glimpse into what Oktoberfest is like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZhI5XIMiz0