The latest

              May 10^th was the City of Rosario ½ Marathon, which I decided to run.  It went really well, and was a privileged peek at the organized side of Argentina!  I ran my best ½ Marathon time yet, finishing in 2 hours and 12 minutes.  That same weekend was also the weekend before all of my midterm exams, so I was also busy studying for the upcoming week. 

            Last weekend I went on a trip that I have been looking forward to since I started planning my trip to Argentina.  A friend of mine from the program, Stephanie, and I, went down to Patagonia last weekend to see the Perito Moreno Glacier.  We stayed in a little town called El Calafate, and we had an amazing time.  On Thursday evening, after we finished classes, we headed to the bus station here in Rosario and caught a bus to Buenos Aires.  We stayed the night in the trusty Art Factory Hostel before catching our plane down to Calafate at eight o’ clock the next day.  The plane ride went flawlessly, aside from a little hiccup with people trying to board the plane from both ends.  We arrived in Calafate before noon, and we checked into our hostel, which turned out to be a beautiful alpine style lodge.  It’s the nicest hostel I’ve stayed in yet, by far.  Anyways, we dumped our stuff there, and then headed into town to walk around for a bit.  We got a bite to eat in a little café, and walked around by the edge of the lake, took some pictures, did some window shopping, and sampled some of the locally made chocolate that they sell in town.  In every other shop…  It was pretty good, too.  That night, we ate some of the backpacking meals we had brought with, so that we wouldn’t have to take them home again.  That, paired with a nice cold beer, was as tasty of a meal as any other, and we lightened our backpacks in the process. 

`            The following day, Saturday, was our full day in Calafate, and we used it to visit the magnificent Perito Moreno glacier in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.  It was snowing when we left, and it snowed almost the whole boat ride out to the edge of the glacier, but right as it came into view, the sun came out, and it was beautiful and clear for the better part of the afternoon.  We chose to participate in a minitrek, a guided walk along the right shoulder of the glacier for a few hours, and we spent the sunny part of the day doing just that.  We went with a group, and it wasn’t really a long or a hard walk, but it was a really unique way to experience the park.  After the trek, the weather started to get nasty again, really wind and cold and snowy, so we took a quick tour of the viewpoint walkways, and then happily went back to town.  That night, Stephanie and I went out to dinner at a pizza place, where they served us their special, Patagonian Lamb pizza.  It was really delicious, despite my squirming conscious about eating baby sheep.  

            Sunday was our travel day.  When we booked our flights, they were supposed to be together, leaving Patagonia in the late afternoon on Sunday.  However, for whatever reason, my flight got switched and Stephanie’s didn’t.  So I flew home in the early afternoon, and then waited about four hours for her flight to get in, and then we took a bus back to Rosario together.  We got home early in the morning on Monday, and then it was business as usual on Monday morning.  

            This coming weekend is another group excursion.  We are traveling north this time, to the San Juan and Rioja provinces, to visit a national park and a provincial park, as well as the city of San Juan, which is home to the childhood house of Domingo Sarmiento, a past president of Argentina.  The national park is called Talampaya, and it is home to fossils and petroglyphs.  It should be really fun, as should the provincial park, home to Valle de la Luna.  I hope to be able to take lots of photos, and soak up some more of the clean mountain air that I was lucky enough to enjoy in El Calafate. 

            After this coming weekend, it’s back to school for about four more weeks, and then I’ll be coming home.  I have one or two more personal trips planned in that time, and there are a couple more group activities and excursions, but my time in Argentina is winding down quickly now.  I’ll see you all soon!

News from the southern half

Hey All,

Well, a lot has happened since the last time that I wrote.  Two weeks ago, I spent the weekend at the Gaia Ecovillage with the sustainability class.  It was a vegetarian, permaculture community, dedicated to living lightly in their environment.  They constructed all of their buildings and living spaces using natural building techniques, such as cob and straw bale construction, and utilized both thatched and living roofs.  Three wind turbines and two sets of solar panels provided all of the energy that they used. They also had several solar cookers, a solar oven, wood-burning clay stoves, and a clay oven.  All of the water was heated using a solar water heater, and all of the toilets were dry composting toilets.  Really cool!  I spent two days and one night there, and although I love being in Rosario, it was really nice to enjoy the fresh air and have a quiet nights sleep.

            In the next two weeks, I am taking all of my midterm exams, so I’ve been studying hard, but I’ve still found some time to recreate.  While I was walking around a couple of weeks ago, I saw a poster for the Rosario ½ Marathon, so I went and registered for it, and I’ve been busy training for that.  I will be running the race on the 10^th of May, and I’m really excited to dabble my feet in the international running scene.  Things can be so disorganized here; it’ll be interesting to see how an event of this magnitude ends up going.  I’m also really excited to have a new running shirt, because I only brought one with me, and it’s getting pretty smelly.  It’ll be nice to have another…

            Yesterday, the whole group went on an adventure!  We had tickets to go see a soccer game at one of the local stadiums.  One of the Rosario futbol teams, Newell’s Old Boys, was playing River Plate, a team from Buenos Aires, and it was one of the craziest things I’ve ever scene!  We got there around 3:30 in the afternoon, but the game didn’t start until 5:00, so we sat around and watched the second string players.  Once the actual game started, however, all of the fans stood up and were singing and yelling and jumping up and down, and they didn’t stop until half time.  There were banners and flags, and everyone was wearing the Newell’s colors, black and red.  We were sitting (standing) in one of the plateas, which isn’t the general section, because I guess that section is pretty dangerous, but we could see what was going on.  When Newell’s scored the one point of the game, the fans were setting off red smoke bombs and yelling and screaming and singing!  There was so much energy in the stadium; I don’t know how to begin to describe it.  It was definitely an experience.  The Argentines are serious about their futbol! 

            I haven’t really done much personal travel since I’ve been here in Rosario, aside from my impromptu trip to Buenos Aires, but all that is about to change.  The weekend after I take my midterms, I am flying down to Patagonia, to go see Perrito Moreno, the largest glacier in Argentina, and one of the only stable glaciers in the world.  The gateway city to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, where Perrito Moreno is located, is the small town of El Calafate, which should be nice and cold and wintry.  They have a local brewery there as well, and I’m pretty excited to try their microbrews.  The wine in Argentina is amazing, just as I knew it would be, but the beer definitely leaves something to be desired.  It should be really fun.  A little mountain town in the Andes, glaciers, scenery, and hiking; it doesn’t get much better that that.  My friend Stephanie and I are traveling together, and we are planning on taking a trek on the glacier, as well as getting some good panoramic shots from the viewpoints and hanging out in town.  I can’t wait to take some photos; it should be pretty epic!  (Life is sweet!)

            Oh, this is new!  I was out walking around this last weekend, and I met a young woman who was looking for a conversation partner, so we are going to meet up once a week or so, and speak English half the time so that she can practice, and Spanish for the other half so that I can practice.  Or some other similar configuration…  I thought it was a cute little story, and it’s going to be really helpful for me, I think. 

Not too much else is going on here; I’m just going about my daily routine, for the most part.  School is good, I’m learning a lot, and I’m enjoying the company of all the people I spend time with.  I’ve watched some good movies, and I’m enjoying my temporary residency in a large city. 

That’s all for now, and I can’t wait to see you all again when I get home in June!

Until next time, 

Love, 

Sarah

P.S. Emma and Rachel and Gail (I can’t remember if you’re getting these…), I love my spork that you gave me, I use it every day!