Igauzu Falls

March 7, 2009

After a very busy week we vowed that we would post a new blog. School is getting to be a drag. Way too much new information coming into our "old" brains. No longer do I believe that we will come back to the USA speaking fluently. A Spanish word now and then may be all that you will hear.
We are discovering some little local restaurants close to our apartment where we go to dinner. (la cena) On Thursday we ate a specially prepared Peruvian dinner at our profesora's (Monique) tiny tiny apartment. It was all different kinds of fish with special homemade sauces. Monique (Moni)is a very interesting woman of 39. She teaches art history at the university, Spanish at our school, aerobics and dance at a gimnasio and works in a store on the weekends. She has taken a liking to us after two weeks of Paul and I being the only ones in her class. Thus the dinner on Thursday. Her apartment was essentially all one room except for a tiny bathroom behind a sliding door. She is very poor and only had 2 forks. We took her some wine and wine glasses so we would all have something to drink from. Certainly was a great experience as well as a humbling one.
Today we went to Puerto Madero, rented bikes and rode around a large nature preserve. This preserved is bordered by the large Rio Plata on one side. It is pretty scenic except for the fact that the river is cafe with cream colored. There were many people out walking, jogging or biking. Just as we were turning in the bikes it started to rain. By the time we managed to catch a taxi we were soaked to the skin. The taxi driver freaked when we got in dripping wet. A nice tip calmed him down.

We are back to the world of technology after some unfortunate incidents with our computers. A bit of red wine is not good for a computer: now we are down to one machine which had a bit of a glitch last week also. All is well now AND we have internet in the apartment we just moved into. This is a real treat for us since we were always having to go to a cafe or internet shop for online use. Now all you "Skypers" can call us.
Along with WIFI we have DVD, stereo, AC (living room and bedroom), 1 1/2 baths, big living room, kitchen and dining that are all open with lots of windows. Truly we have moved "uptown". The big challenge now is to buy fruits/vegetables at those beautiful little negocios (small shops), meat/cheese from another,pan, medialunas from the panderia, and the other items at the supermercado. No longer do we have Maria to cook for us. We are planning to eat most breakfasts (desayunos) and lunches (almuerezos)here and either get take out from one of the parillas or eat at one of the many restaurants that are near here. Our apartment is on the 8th floor of an old building and is on a busy street but we are on the side and to the back. We look down on to a plant filled patio of one of the other tenants. The apartment is only 2 blocks from our school and is close to the famous cemetery where Eva Peron is buried.
On Thursday of last week we boarded a luxury "cama suite" bus for a 17 hour trip to the famous Igauzu Falls. Because flying is so expensive most people take these buses which are equipped with seats that lay flat, movies, food service, etc. Quite a switch from the buses in the US. We watched a couple of movies, had dinner complete with wine and managed to sleep pretty well. (left at 7:20pm and arrived at noon)
Igauzu Falls are located at the border of Argentina and Brazil in a large,
2100 sq km national park, much of it rainforest. The power, size and sheer noise of the falls are truly spectacular.The falls lie split between Argentina and Brazil and in total are more than 2km across. We were more than impressed. These falls rank 2nd in size with Victoria Falls in being the largest. Besides the falls there are thousands of species of insects, hundreds of species of birds and many mammals and reptiles. The trip back was longer as it seemed we made many stops along the way. We arrived back in Buenos Aires early Monday morning. Just time enough to take a nap before heading to class. If you want to check out some pictures try pasting this in your browser http://picasaweb.google.com/pojocat/IguazuFallsArgentina?feat=directlink.

So for now we are heading into our last week of classes, for now. Then on the 20th our son, Jason, and his wife, Lori, are coming to visit for a week. We are meeting them in Asuncion, Paraguay for a weekend with our friend Marcello Sosa and then returning to Buenos Aires. After that we start traveling, which may bring more interesting blogs.

Six weeks in Buenos Aires!

It is hard to believe that we have been here for 6 whole weeks!!! Both of us wish that we were speaking Spanish fluently and understanding everything! However...we are speaking and conversing with others who will speak slowly. Progress is being made and we have learned so much, but it doesn't seem like enough. Sometimes I feel like my brain cannot absorb one more conjugation, exception, irregular verb, past imperfect tense, future formal tense, etc. We have a lot of fun in class and the 4 hours pass very quickly. Since we don´t get out of class until 6:00pm the evening goes by rapidly and soon it is midnight. Of course it doesn´t help that dinner is not until 9:00 at the earliest.

Last week our Spanish class shrunk to only 3 students because the other 3 left to travel or return home. We also have a new instructor that we like a lot. Alejandro is very very patient and is spending a lot of time asking us questions in Spanish and making us reply in Spanish in the present, past and future tenses!! Takes a lot of my brain energy to quickly conjugate the verb , get the prepositions, articles, adjectives, adverbs and nouns all in the correct order in the sentence. When we speak English we never think about that. Enough about class.

Last weekend we had our best dinner yet at a restaurant we just happened upon. The food was great and we sat outside along with many other people. The weather here in the evenings is perfect for outdoor seating and there seem to be no mosquitoes. Quite lovely and very relaxing. That is probably one of the best things about the people here. They are in no hurry and always seem to be enjoying being with friends or family. In fact they always greet each other with a kiss on the cheek, even men meeting other men!! Quite refreshing to see and not have others speculating they are "gay" , weird or????

One week ago Sunday our priest friend spent the day driving us all around some of the different neighborhoods in BA. We ended up in Puerto Madero which is an old warehouse wharf district that is being rebuilt with shops, restaurants, condos, etc. We went to a buffet that was over the top. The meat, fish, pasta, pizza, gourmet dishes were never ending. Not to mention the salads, appetizers and desserts. Quite an impressive array of food beautifully displayed.

Paul started having some severe heel pain two weeks ago, made a trip to the doctor on Monday, had a x-ray and was diagnosed with plantar fascitis. He spent the last two weeks limping, walking only when absolutely necessary, icing his foot and taking Advil. Later he picked up some orthotics the doctor had made for him and already he is doing better. No overnight quick fix for this ailment (I had it a couple of years ago) but less pain is always welcome. As a result of this, Paul has been taking the bus to school since it stops right in front of the school. I still take the subway because I enjoy the 8 block walk to school from the station. Then after school Paul takes a taxi home which is a quick trip and then 45-60 minutes later I arrive. Tango lessons are on hold.

We continue to marvel at all the little "negocios" (shops) of various sorts that are along the streets. We will take some more pictures to try to show you the variety. There are many many bakeries with so many delicious looking goodies, fruit and vegetable shops that have a beautiful array of veggies and fruits, hair/nail salons galore, small hardware stores, lots of shoe stores, and clothing for women. Oh, also many many veterinary places that sell pet supplies, pets and have a veterinarian on site. Just so different.

The ice cream shops have a huge variety of flavors, sizes of cones, containers, etc. The cones are quite short but they really pile on the ice cream. A favorite flavor of mine is dulce de leche con nuetas which seems to be a favorite of many natives too.

Last weekend we took a commuter train outside the city to Tigre a small town on the edge of a large delta of rivers off of the Rio Plata that separates Argentina from Uruaguay. The delta spreads out for miles and is a maze of rivers where people have summer homes and resorts. There are tour boats but we took the local boat bus and went out to an area where three resorts are on an island. At one we sat and had a long lunch sitting right on the edge of the river. There was just constant boat traffic just like on the Fox River in Illinois near Chicago. During the week the river is quiet, but on the weekend it was like a superhighway. Kayaks, dinghys, ribs, ski boats, cruisers, boat taxis and the boat buses just keep coming. The water was high due to recent rains so we got our feet wet sitting at our table from the wakes of the passing boats several times.

Paul thought he was ordering a "Chorizo" sausage for lunch and it turned out to be "Chorizo of Bife" which is a ribeye cut of beef. Down here the eye of the ribeye is huge as this was. We both enjoyed it. The town contained an amusement park and huge market area where all sorts of hand made crafts are sold. It was interesting taking the commuter train through the subburbs and back. It gave us a good look at living conditions in the metro area of Buenos Aires.

Last Thursday we had an unfortunate accident when a glass of wine fell on the back or our laptop, but we have a back up which this is being typed on. But it will take us some time to get some pictures back and on the blog. Sorry.

The lastest news is that we just rented an apartment for March. It is in the neighborhood of our school and on a busy street but high enough and facing away from the street so we think it will be much quieter. It has A/C, Internet, Cable TV, bath and a half and our own kitchen. So we are pretty excited about this.

Take care, more later.