VIVA ARGENTINA!

Hola todos!!

I'm ready to share some photos from Argentina!! I honestly didn't take very many because on the second day a pick-pocket tried to steal my camera on the metro and I was nervous about bringing my camera out after that. Luckily, a man saw the girl in the process and slapped her hand away from my bag. Then he started yelling at her and everyone was staring. I barely had time to react before she slinked off and got off the metro completely. Thank god for that man or I may not have had a camera anymore!

Except for that instance, Buenos Aires was fabulous. Probably my favorite city in South America thus far. Its so big and beautiful- the color and the architecture is so eye catching and different. Plus, its cheap and the food is to die for! The only thing I didn't like was the Argentinian accent. To me, they have some of the worst Spanish I have ever heard. I know Chilean Spanish is certainly nothing to brag about but in my opinion it is better than Argentinian Spanish. I couldn't understand half of what they were saying because the accent is so different. They also use "vos" instead of "tu" which changes all the conjugations I've gotten used to over the past 3 months. I really just didn't like it at all.

Anyways, we pretty much took the normal tourist track during out time there: we saw the government buildings (including La Casa Rosada), we traveled to different "posh" neighborhoods such as San Telmo, Recoleta, Palermo, etc. We also visited La Plaza Italia and the Zoo. We mostly just spent a lot of time walking around and discovering new places, etc. We also visited quite a few markets. Unfortunately, we never made it down to Puerto Madero or up to Tigre, so I would definitely love to return to Argentina some day and do a lot more sightseeing and traveling. Plus, I'd love to visit Cordoba, Salta and Iguazu Falls. The girls and I actually have plans to head over to Mendoza next weekend as a sort of good-bye trip/Thanksgiving celebration. Its only a 6 hour bus ride from Santiago and I've heard Mendoza is great.

On to the pictures!

A beautiful tree in Barrio Recoleta

La Casa Rosada

El Congreso

Statue in Plaza Italia

Another statue in Plaza Italia

Entrace to Zoologico Buenos Aires

Couple dancing the Tango in San Telmo

I'm sorry I don't have more to share with everyone!! I will try to get some pictures this weekend in Mendoza.

Today there is an asado to celebrate Franco's 6th birthday. Since most of you don't know, Franco is the grandson in my host family. His mother is my host sister, Lorena. So we are going to be celebrating with him this afternoon. The girls and I have also been invited to a party tonight by a friend of a friend. Next weekend we will be in Mendoza and the week after that its time to pack and get ready for finals. They will be leaving on Dec 10th and 11th to return to the US. And I will be staying here to begin my next adventure! They have been amazing friends to me and I know we will all keep in touch when we get back to the US. We've had so much fun here together and I am going to miss them a lot. But, I am already looking forward to a reunion with them sometime next year!

Tomorrow I will be getting back to work to finish the last of my assignments before finals. Que esten muy bien!!