(Note: this post is totally all over the place and long and short and leaves out particular details on purpose. Primarily because I’m lazy/awesome at living life here. But that’s all subjective. What fun!)
CORDOBA
It was really fun. Now that it’s been so long, I’m almost hesitant to write about it/recall all that happened. Ah hell.
I went to the Onda Vaga concert with Lily on Wednesday night, which was great. Argentine indie-ish rock band… wish I had intelligent words to use in describing them, but I can settle for awesome.
Onda Vaga
Kaarin met me at my apartment at the ass-crack of dawn (5am) to get to the airport at 5:30. BOO for making us wake up and get to Córdoba so early when no normal Argentine even is awake then and have us wait in the lobby of the hotel and then leave us to fend for our own nutrition until check-in time. BOO. Anyway, mall food was the only thing available at 11am. Frack. Napped when we checked-in to our rooms, then took a cute little tour in the drizzle of historic Córdoba. Some notes I jotted down (because I’m the ultimate dorky tourist, save having a fanny pack):
1) First women’s college founded there, and still remains the ONLY women’s college in all of Argentina
2) 15% of Córdoba is college students. Not quite the caliber of Austin, but still.
3) It’s a popular Córdobese custom to mix Coca-Cola with every alcoholic drink. Fernet, vodka, tequila, rum, whisky….and mas, but you know I know nothing of alcohol.
4) Here are the oldest churches in the whole country, built by Jesuits in the 1640s.
5) There are 16 McDonald’s in Córdoba the city.
Our tour guide (the NYU group was split into 3) was named Dávid, and he was bomb. He knew so much and was really into talking to us and joking and just legitimately showing us a good time in the city. Man, how I would love to be a tour guide in a foreign city.
We ate at a random restaurant that night and attempted so many places for the nightlife, since we heard it was la mejor, but alas, we only found one place where a local band was playing. At least the back-up singer/dancer was beautiful.
We woke up way too early to leave and go to… THREE ESTANCIAS. That’s right, as if one wouldn’t suffice, with its Jesuit history and churches…we needed to experience it three times over. AGH. I took notes for the tour, but it was so blah I don’t think I’ll make you guys suffer by reading it. Might I note that the last estancia was a museum, Estancia Jesu Maria, and being a history nerd, I love museums. David loved them too, and was spitting out facts left and right. Oh, and our entire tour was in Spanish for all three days. Loved getting to listen it all throughout our trip. Anyway, we came upon a castigator belt (think The Da Vinci Code, where the evil guy punished himself for evil thoughts with a barbed belt) and David was telling us how the priests and nuns and stuff wore them to keep themselves from thinking sinful thoughts. Anna thought he was saying something about keeping them from thinking about men, and she said aloud that she had a lot of guy problems or something. David said he didn’t really need to know that, but she could always use the belt if need be. It was funnier if you were there. She pretty much fell in love with him, and called him, endearingly, “gringo” (his nickname amongst the tour guides). She provided many laughs on the trip.
We stayed in Alta Garcia that night, which is where Che Guevara’s childhood home is. Unfortunately, we got there at 6:30, and the museum closed at 6:45. WOMP. And the nightlife sucked there too. But dinner was good. I had a delish paella. mmmmmmmmm mariscos.
Saturday was another early morning wake-up call. Oh NYU, me muero. BUTTTTT we got to go zip-lining and canopy-frolicking at Penón del Aguila, some mountain area in the mountains.
Most fun ever. Though, because you had to cross your legs in front of you as you rode the zip-line, it totally rips your abs the day after. I felt like I had just done 1000 crunches, which is funny because I can’t even do 10 without taking a break.
Afterwards, we went to a German town and saw an itty-bitty waterfall, to compensate for those that wanted to go to Iguazu but instead got stuck going to Cordoba.
Womp. Sorry Geoff.
(Can you tell I’m very apathetic about writing about Cordoba?)
All in all, it was a great time. My usual group of friends went on the Iguazu trip, so it was a nice change of pace hanging out with others that I’m not as close to. And being with Kaarin is always great 
School has recently become not fun. We’re getting down to the wire with the semester ending in three weeks, so of course all the professors are throwing finals crap into our faces left and right. NOT COOL, CHE. Too much that I have zero ganas to do. I’ve mentally checked-out on New York time, rather than NYUBA time. Oops.
The other day in La Lengua, we read some contemporary Argentine poetry and Mariano wanted us to translate it as best we could. Lily, Nick, and I did this one:
Manual de autoayuda
“Ponete a leer. No importa si tenés que pasar la máquina por las alfombras o si tenés que limpiar los vidrios del living, del cuarto y del escritorio. Vos ponete a leer. Dejá para otro momento la necesidad de ir al supermercado a comprar desodorante, queso blanco, un pan lactal y alguna gaseosa. Lo que leas hoy no lo vas a leer nunca. Si tenés que ir a trabajar, no te olvides de llevar un libro con vos: abrilo en el colectivo aunque viajes de pie, aunque vayas cabeceando por el sueño. Al mediodía, cuando salgas a comer, poné el libro a la izquierda del plato, y que te sea indiferente si la comida se enfría. Postergá todos los compromisos que tengas para la noche; pasalos para el fin de semana. No vayas al teatro, ni a a oír ningún concierto. Ni que hablar de ir al cine. Si alguien quiere charlar con vos por teléfono, que sea en otro momento. No importa cuándo. Lo que importa es que no sea ahora.
Ahora lo único que importa es leer.”
It’s so interesting because some of the sentiment can’t be translated directly from castellano to English. But we did it as best we could:
Start reading now. It doesn’t matter if you have to vacuum or clean the windows of the living room, the bedroom, or the study. You need to start reading now. Put off going to the supermarket to buy deodorant, cheese, sliced bread, or a soda. What you read today you’ll never read again. If you must work, don’t forget to bring a book with you; open it on the bus even while standing, even if you’re nodding off to sleep. At noon, when you go out to eat, put the book next to your plate, and it won’t matter if it gets cold. Put off all your nightly obligations; leave them for the weekend. Don’t go to the theatre, or see any concert. Don’t even think about going to the movies. If someone want to talk on the phone, leave it for another time. It doesn’t matter when. What matters is it isn’t now.
Right now all that matters is reading.
Translating is harder than you’d think!
——-
As for my personal life, it’s been all fun.
Went to Chan Chan, the other Peruvian place in Congreso. SO SO SO good. Can’t wait to go to Peru and eat ceviche ALL. THE. TIME.
CEVICHE <3
Love hanging out with my friends, even if we have quite a few fails in one night. We (I) finally made our way to Las Cañitas, the ritzy restaurant strip of Buenos Aires which is surprisingly close to where I live. Made two reservations at places: first one was “too touristy,” second one was a temakeria sushi place, which ultimately blew because Argentines don’t know shit from customer service.
Don't go here unless you want to be endlessly frustrated.
They’re so slow and apathetic and RAHHHHH I miss the speedy New York life I’ve come to love with all my heart. This slow, 80-year-old geezer-paced life is NOT for me by any means. So we were all hungry and went to a Mexican restaurant, Lupita, and gorged on guacamole and stuff. Yum.
It's on FIYAH!
I don’t want life here to end. And yet, I can’t wait to get back home. Wherever that is now. Okay, enough procrastination. (Promise next post will be more organized.)
