Oh right, my passport.

Iguazú

Chivito

Casa Puebla

in Montevideo

Uruguay, Iguazú, and memorias

So, just in case you are wondering: you need your passport to enter Uruguay. I wouldn’t say that I forgot it, I just happened to not realize that I would actually need that tiny, yet important document to cross international borders for the weekend. Okay fine. I was the dumb Americana in the ferry station trying to explain in perfect(ly horrible) Spanish that I hadn’t brought my original passport and that I would miss my boat if I went to retrieve. The oh-so-patient worker kindly directly me to the change-your-ticket line, so I gave up and changed my departure. Luckily (well, maybe not), my friend and co-traveler and randomly fellow Penn Stater also forgot her passport so half of our group went to board our original boat, and we went home to grab our little blue books.

It’s not as ridiculous as it sounds. In Buenos Aires, there are many people who work in the city for the week and return home to their families in Uruguay for the weekends because it works out better financially. Going to Colonia, the nearest city to BA, is no big deal. People do it everyday. It was such a nonchalant trip that I didn’t bother to bring my passport because I subconsciously thought that the odds of me needing it versus the odd of me loosing it weren’t worth the bringing it! False. Get it together, Rachel.

Once I made it successfully from Argentina, I realized that even though the countries border, they are distinctly different. People in Uruguay have neither the same ridiculous Spanish accent that porteños insist on using, nor the same love of driving like it’s the end of the world. They are calm and friendly. And the people in places that I went love tourists - which is better than if they hated us!

In Montevideo, we walked down the main avenue to find a fountain secured heavily by thousands of small locks. Simple locks - like the kind you might use to secure the door of a shed or you hang from your high school gym locker. All of them had two names carved into them. The legend goes that if you place a lock with you and your partner’s name on the fountain, you’ll never fall out of love. It’s was so sweet to see so many people investing in their relationship’s futures! It made for cool pictures, if nothing else.

We spent the night in Punta del Este, a beach town. In the morning, we rented scooters (don’t tell IES, I’ll get kicked out) and drove all over the peninsula and beyond. I will have you know I am an excellent driver. But, who on earth trusts a bunch of foreign 20-somethings with brand new scooters in a foreign country? I’m still not really sure what the speed limit was or how it converts to miles per hour, but no importa.

We went to Casa Pueblo, a museum/restaurant/hotel/resort in the edge of a tiny peninsula. Formerly inhabited by an artist, it displayed art of great colors and interesting shapes. The view was breathtaking, and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

We later, returned our scooters, got some huge chivitos and headed back to BA. Chivito sky rocketed to my top ten list of all time favorite foods. It starts with a melt in your mouth steak sandwich and just gets better from there. Add lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, egg, jam, bacon, ketchup, mayo, and mustard, and anything else you would like to this delightful grease pile. It rivals Primanti’s for height, and far exceeds them in flavor. It’s a fabulous piece of art, but unfortunately only officially found in Uruguay. So, in 2 days I had it twice.

The following weekend, I hopped on a 17+ hour bus on Thursday to arrive in hot and steamy Puerto Iguazú on Friday morning. Located in the very Northeast of Argentina, Iguazú falls are familiar worldwide and are very recently recognized as one of the seven greatest natural wonders of the world.

The truth is they really are spectacular. My pictures aren’t lying. The immensity and intensity of the rushing water was enough to get my blood pumping. Maybe the ridiculously close proximity to the falls is why some people prefer the Argentine side of the falls as opposed to the Brazilian side. I was actually suspended mere feet above the incredibly forceful water on the balconies that also served as walkways. Era un poco peligroso? Si, pero no importa. It was too much fun.

In other news, it rained cats and dogs for 1.5 days of my 3 day trip, and I got a horrible case of food poisoning that I’ve yet to fully overcome, but I’d rather focus on how incredible sights were. We were able to take a boat under the falls and get totally drenched - which was great for 2 seconds then I couldn’t breathe or see and it wasn’t fun anymore. Awesome to be so close you get the feel for how powerless you are, not so awesome you get to be so powerless.

Oh, did I mention that when I was clad in my lifejacket heading down toward the boat via the stone steps carved from the mountain that the worker who was trying to hurry me along “helped” me along to miss a step completely, fall to the ground, twist my ankle and slam into the rocky mountainside back first? Yeah, the twisted ankle, black and blue back, and bruised pride were the cherry on top of my food poisoned weekend.

And, my bus broke down on the way home causing a 3 hour delay increments of 30 minute random stops whenever the engine decided to quit en route to BA.

But, seriously, I had a great time!

Tonight at dinner, I caught my host mother looking at me. Raising an eyebrow, I chewed my potatoes thoughtfully and looked back across the table. She explained that my face reminds her of her mother, a woman who traveled from Switzerland to Argentina to raise her family. I think that she was simply referring to bone structure and and circumstance (tonight, I had my hair pulled back), but she further commented on how I look very European and not so American. As the United States of today is comprised mostly of immigrants, I find this difficult to believe, but a compliment nonetheless. It’s sad to know that after the next couple of weeks, I will likely never see these people that have taken care of me so nicely again. =[

In happier news, I got my student’s feedback from my English classes this semester. I can’t believe that anyone would say such nice things about me! I really don’t think I deserve it, but I’m very happy to accept them anyway!

https://picasaweb.google.com/107885548887151676014/BATres?authkey=Gv1sRgCJnq1dqMutWjQg

^ my pictures from Tigre and Uruguay ^

I'll post Iguazú soon!

un beso