So here I am. Chile!

So here I am. Chile!

3
Mar 24

Travel Blog "Everything Everywhere" names Argentina world's #2 Food country

2) Argentina

I actually visited Argentina before I started traveling in 2007. I went there in 2005 on a science research trip. The one thing which has stood out in my mind since then was just how good the food was. Argentinean asado is the finest BBQ in the world. All of my plans to return to Argentina revolve around food.

Mar 22

jacobandrachel asked: Love this. Absolutely love it! I'm going to Buenos Aires this summer.
When I have time I'm going to look at all your adventures. :)

Thanks! You have a lot to look forward to this summer. Let me know if you’re wondering about anything. Bs As is an awesome place that offers almost anything, but there are a few things that can get tricky.

Mar 22

Bariloche: Day One

Originally posted a couple of weeks ago, from Bariloche, on my regular blog.

philippelazaro:

I’m honestly just loving being here. This is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to, and I feel like being here is just in order. I’ve been a little bit tired, this past week, not so much physically, but drained. I feel like everytime I’ve wanted to say something it hasn’t been coming out right- or worse, I end up inadvertenly saying something I really would’ve never meant to say willingly without realizing it, whilst trying to say something else. I feel really bad when that happens. I think that might’ve come from pushing myself pretty hard lately. I’ve been writing something that’s very close to me and also very long. It’s the most intense thing I’ve written, and I’ve been working on it dilligently everyday for the past week and a half. It’s nearing completion, but I think taking a break right about now could just be a very good idea. And what could be a better break than travelling?

Anyways, no more about me. Let’s talk Bariloche. I left Buenos Aires at 7 P.M. last night and I arrived at 4 in the afternoon. That’s about 20 hours on a bus. I had a pretty comfy seat, but that’s still quite a journey. How did I get by?
Well, first they played a couple hours of mostly 80’s music videos on the bus. Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Europe, all the big hair classics. After I was amused by a few of those, they served dinner, which was bus food, so it had limits about how good it could possibly be. They started playing Premonition, but just when that movie got interesting, I fell asleep. I slept till nine in the morning, and I even had an interesting dream, but I forgot it. I spent the rest of the time listening to all I loaded up on my iPod. It was quite a diverse mix. I would go from hearing a talk at Woodland, to Sleigh Bells, to Harry Potter on audiobook, to a podcast on philosophy, to some more music, to nothing at all but thinking and praying. After a while, the view outside the window turned amazing, and I just had to take a bunch of pictures.

We got to Hostel Alaska (yes, Alaska) fairly easily. I’ve used a lot of hostels over the past year, but I’m leaning towards saying this is the best hostel I’ve stayed at yet. It looks like a nice little wood cabin, with deep sloping ceilings, dens, flannel bedsheets, wooden everything, guitars, and cats. It lives up to it’s Alaskan name. Just outside and across the street is a massive, beautiful lake right in front of mountains. Everyone staying with me is awesome. I came here with my friends Mandy and Sarah. We met Brian and Elaina at the hostel. We also made friends with some other U.S. students who go to Belgrano from Texas and New York, Dan, Meg, and Kathleen. Our hostel owner Javier is one of the nicest I’ve ever dealt with. This place feels incredibly homely, and I wouldn’t mind living in a place that looks like this. You’ll just have to wait for me to get back to my computer to put up some real pictures.

Bariloche is a very interesting city. It’s on the edge of Patagonia meaning it’s got everything Patagonia is known for- namely gorgeousness. It has a lot of pine trees, some of the bluest lakes in the world, rocky coasts, and views of Patagonia and the Andes mountain ranges. It feels partly unreal. The woodsy natural setting matches all of the cabinlike buildings that are around. There’s no shortage of outdoor activity, and it’s really serene. It feels good to get to some nature after very urban living in Buenos Aires. The scent of the air is perfect. It’s nature, mixed with chocolate. It reminds me a lot of the Pacific Northwest, the only other reminder of where you are is the Spanish signage on everything. For that reason, I’ve dubbed it Latin Oregon.

We’re possibly renting bikes and doing a 20km loop tomorrow. I really miss biking, so I’m excited. There’s also paragliding, swimming, and kayaking around. I’ll see how much of that I can afford. Javier seems to know the best way to do everything around here.

After freshening up in the hostel, we went out to the town, since I forgot to pack swim trunks. I bought some for only a bit over ten bucks. We then walked up to a plaza by the city center which had the strangest juxtaposition of activity. While the capital building, which also looked like a cabin, was on one side, the view of the sun setting over a lake and mountains stood on the other. Adorable pure bred dogs walked around, with barrels around their collar for people to put money into to get photos taken. A lot of families had small babies around. Skateboarders flew all over the place. To make it even more chaotic, every car was driving around in a circle honking, since someone just got married. It was bizzare.

We went to a nearby marketplace. Mandy and I bought chullos, which were definitely on my to-buy list. We made it onwards to Dias de Zapata, a Mexican restaurant. I’ve been missing Mexican food. I didn’t get anything spicy, but the macho burrito I ordered was great, and I had it alongside a salad, guacamole, and a bottle of Quilmes. Afterwards we wandered around and found a chocolate shop. Bariloche is Argentina’s chocolate capital, and that’s a must. I ordered a couple of really nice pieces which only came out to five pesos. Still remaining to be tried are Patagonian lamb and Calafate Berry ice cream.

I’m completely thankful to be here right now. It’s a trip-within-a-trip. It just feels like a great break from feeling like I’ve been overanalyzing things lately, and in a gorgeous place nonetheless.

4
Mar 21

Yesterday, I went to mass with my host family and to get a first hand experience with Argentina’s official religion: Catholicism. In the evening, I went to the neighborhood of La Boca to experience it’s unofficial religion: football. The sun went down around the time we got there making it a perfect scene. Argentina is one of the most football-crazed countries in the world, and their strong showing in last year’s World Cup was just a glimpse of the amount of skill found here. I’ve never been much of a football player, myself. Over here, everyone constantly appears to be training for a football match. A day at the park will typically lead you to encounter a chain of joggers, people pushing themselves to full capacity, skaters, and a football match. Parks back home have a handful of joggers, but these parks are like gyms, they have like a 90% workout ratio. I live in Belgrano, mostly River territory, and River is La Boca’s big rival. The neighborhood of La Boca is interesting itself. It’s one of the lesser ideal areas in town to be around late at night, or in the day for that matter. It’s a place that’s seen better days. Now, it hosts “El Caminito” a popular tourist attraction, the stadium, and the rest is sadly poverty. That gives the Boca Juniors football team a bit of a rougher, down and out spirit. Think Raiders. I was sitting in what I soon realized was the foreigner section. I was sitting next to two Germans and a Swedish girl. Our program, who I went with, hired external security, because of what typically goes on in the stands at these football games. I was expecting a fleet of bodyguards, which would’ve been a fun experience, but instead I got these two guys who get paid to watch football games and eat pizza with foreigners. It was a fun experience anyways. I soon discovered the other part of the stadium, the stands directly across, were the place you would want a security guard. On that side, a band played nonstop, as fans waved their banners, flags, and beach umbrellas with gusto. The game itself was a fun one to watch. I didn’t have much rooting interest, and Olympia ended up winning, 2-0. Partway through, a big injury happened on the field, but I missed how it all went down. Boca played decently, but not that well. They had a lot of good drives, but each time it would be one mistake that would blow an otherwise perfect opportunity. I enjoy watching football, so I had a great time. Even if I didn’t care for the game, though, I imagine I would’ve liked it. The area of La Boca, as gritty as it is, does have a lot of life. The stadium atmosphere was so energetic, it was like being in a tin box of enthusiasm. Outside, vendors sold very cheap and good empanadas, as well as cheap jerseys, which were all probably fake.

Yesterday, I went to mass with my host family and to get a first hand experience with Argentina’s official religion: Catholicism. In the evening, I went to the neighborhood of La Boca to experience it’s unofficial religion: football.

The sun went down around the time we got there making it a perfect scene. Argentina is one of the most football-crazed countries in the world, and their strong showing in last year’s World Cup was just a glimpse of the amount of skill found here. I’ve never been much of a football player, myself. Over here, everyone constantly appears to be training for a football match. A day at the park will typically lead you to encounter a chain of joggers, people pushing themselves to full capacity, skaters, and a football match. Parks back home have a handful of joggers, but these parks are like gyms, they have like a 90% workout ratio.

I live in Belgrano, mostly River territory, and River is La Boca’s big rival. The neighborhood of La Boca is interesting itself. It’s one of the lesser ideal areas in town to be around late at night, or in the day for that matter. It’s a place that’s seen better days. Now, it hosts “El Caminito” a popular tourist attraction, the stadium, and the rest is sadly poverty. That gives the Boca Juniors football team a bit of a rougher, down and out spirit. Think Raiders.

I was sitting in what I soon realized was the foreigner section. I was sitting next to two Germans and a Swedish girl. Our program, who I went with, hired external security, because of what typically goes on in the stands at these football games. I was expecting a fleet of bodyguards, which would’ve been a fun experience, but instead I got these two guys who get paid to watch football games and eat pizza with foreigners. It was a fun experience anyways. I soon discovered the other part of the stadium, the stands directly across, were the place you would want a security guard. On that side, a band played nonstop, as fans waved their banners, flags, and beach umbrellas with gusto.

The game itself was a fun one to watch. I didn’t have much rooting interest, and Olympia ended up winning, 2-0. Partway through, a big injury happened on the field, but I missed how it all went down. Boca played decently, but not that well. They had a lot of good drives, but each time it would be one mistake that would blow an otherwise perfect opportunity.

I enjoy watching football, so I had a great time. Even if I didn’t care for the game, though, I imagine I would’ve liked it. The area of La Boca, as gritty as it is, does have a lot of life. The stadium atmosphere was so energetic, it was like being in a tin box of enthusiasm. Outside, vendors sold very cheap and good empanadas, as well as cheap jerseys, which were all probably fake.

Mar 21

This is what I mean when I say my school’s new location looks a lot like it could be a part of Hogwarts. philippelazaro

This is what I mean when I say my school’s new location looks a lot like it could be a part of Hogwarts.

philippelazaro

4
Mar 21

Breaking the Hiatus

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted here. That probably has to do with the fact that I can’t remember my password for this blog off the top of my head, so when I was traveling, I couldn’t access it from the hostel’s computer. I did manage to make posts from my regular blog, though. To make up for it, I’ll be posting more actively, and I’ll be re-posting up the things I wrote while in Bariloche and Mendoza.

Argentine life continues to carry on well here. I’ve been here for over two months now, and I’m getting as cozy as halfway-through-the-whole-thing should feel like. I recently hit the “clicking point” where I feel really comfortable with my Spanish, and like I could legitimately express whatever I wanted with a satisfying level of accuracy. It’s still a long ways from being perfect, but being able to communicate effectively is still cause for celebration. I’m looking forward to becoming able to speak more naturally, without having to think consciously too hard.

The second half of classes have started up. We’ve changed campuses and my new location seriously looks like it could be a wing of Hogwarts. It’s actually a converted former mansion, and it looks the part. Stained glass, marble staircases, the works. I no longer walk two blocks to school, but I take a ride on the city bus and walk six blocks. It’s actually a nice journey, one I’m accustomed to now, and that I look forward to.

I just dropped off my laundry at the lavenderia. It was my last chance to do so before leaving for Chile on Wednesday.

Mar 21

philippelazaro: Salmon salad from that wonderful place, Tea Connection.

philippelazaro:

Salmon salad from that wonderful place, Tea Connection.

4
Mar 01

So this is how Argentines graduate. On their last day of school, they assault each other with all twelve aisles of the grocery store right in front of the school. Street cleaners stood by to do damage repair. Flour, tea, chocolate syrup, ketchup, and blue milkshakey things were just some of the parties involved. Needless to say, it was wild, foam flew everywhere, and everyone got messy.

I saw this happening and new I had to do something. It was so chaotic, so I did the only thing I knew how to do and started running everywhere with my camera, trying to capture it all while avoiding the sludge. Somehow, a 365 project trained me well in ninja photography. I didn’t get much more than a few drops of foam on my forearm, and wound up with a ton of awesome pictures of all the madness. I used the students onlooking family members as human shields, adjusted my zoom on the fly, and felt like I was doing something photojournalistic.

I celebrated my high school graduation a similar way, but with only a few food products, like whipped and shaving cream, chocolate fudge, and sparkling cider. It wasn’t nearly as crazy and I didn’t get anywhere near as messy.

1
Feb 27

philippelazaro: El Ateneo One of Buenos Aires’ treasures is this gorgeous theatre-turned-bookstore.

philippelazaro:

El Ateneo

One of Buenos Aires’ treasures is this gorgeous theatre-turned-bookstore.

4
Feb 27