Weekend Shenanigans

Che Mi Gente,

As promised here is an update on the past couple of days! It's a little later than I had expected, but I had a project and a paper due this week so I've had no time for blogging. Pero, es la vida.

Viernes:

These little boys were so funny!    

       Friday morning I told myself that I was gonna wake up early and go to the botanical gardens. But I don't know what I was thinking when I promised myself that because I knew it wouldn't happen & it definitely didn't! Instead, I woke up about 3 hours before class started, went to exchange some money and then explored the streets around UP. Class went by quickly today!
       Originally the UGA en Buenos Aires program w as supposed to include a fútbol game. However, as the world cup in Brazil is quickly approaching and South American teams are competing for their chance to play, ticket prices in South America are steadily increasing. So we were told that we wouldn't be able to go to a game. However, one of the girls in my group found tickets at $140 and the program agreed to pay for all of our tickets. All 25 of us (including Enrique and Luciano) hopped onto a city bus to head to the River Plate stadium. We were going to see Colombia vs. Argentina. Before we left for the game, Marcela had warned us to not wear any American labels (patagonia, north face etc.) or do anything that would identify us as American. We were to only speak in Spanish in the stadium. She also warned us about insults that are often thrown at any game attendees who could possibly not be rooting for Argentina. She also told me not to be surprised if someone assumes that I'm from Colombia and says something. -___-  I'm not gonna lie, I was super worried when I found out we were going to be going to a Colombia vs. Argentina game. I'm the only black person in my group and I've already had so many people assume I was Colombian (Colombia has one of the largest populations of Afro-Latinos in South America). I know how aggressive Latinos can be when it comes to soccer games and I didn't want any problems because someone assumed I was for the opposite team.






         However, as usual, all my worrying was for nothing. The only incident involving someone confusing my identify came when we first entered the gates. We were walking through security when a man asked, "Is there anyone in line waiting to go to Colombia's side?" We all said no. Then he asked the question again and stared right at me -___- I told him no and he kept staring as if he was waiting for me to say, "Oh wait a minute. I forgot. I'm actually from Colombia." What I really wanted to do was put some of the curse words that I've learned to good use and be like, "No soy de Colombia *expletive*" but I just rolled my eyes and kept it moving. Luckily that was my only encounter with someone who assumed I was Colombian.

The two teams!

        The cancha (soccer stadium) reminded me of those in the United States. It was really large. There were vendors selling hamburguesas y chorri pan. Aki and I bought hamburguesas that came with the hamburger patty, ham (they love it here!) and cheese. Our group was split up into different sections in the stadium. Luckily I was with the majority of the people that I've grown close to. I was really surprised by how many Colombia fans showed up to the gate. They were more enthusiastic than the Argentina fans. They tended to scream louder and they sang their national anthem way louder than the Argentines, who kinda just mumbled the words. LOL! 

La Cancha/Stadium

      That was my first ever soccer game and it was awesome to get to attend one in a Latin American country. It was an awesome game to get to go to because Argentina is ranked #1 in South America (#3 in the world) and Colombia is ranked #2 in South America (#6 or 7 in the world). Luckily Michael sat next to me and explained what was going on in the game so I wasn't completely lost. It was crazy how enthusiastic everyone was about the game. Every time something happened, you could expect to hear a bunch of expletives being shouted. Even children were cursing right next to their parents. Haha! There were these two little boys sitting in front of us that were probably about 9 years old. They were so into the game and would get so upset every time something bad happened. They reminded me of these three little boys that I babysit who are huge Clemson fans and love to give me a hard time about going to UGA. What I loved most about the game was all of the songs that the fans sang. My favorite was, "Ole, ole, ole, ole, Messi Messi!" Messi is Argentina's most famous soccer player. The songs made me think of UGA football games. Oh how I miss them! 
      After the game we dodged traffic (I literally almost got hit 3 times) over to Barrio Chino. We ate at the same restaurant that we went to when we visited the first time. I had my 4th cup of coffee with dinner. I've never had so much coffee in my life! Here coffee is a big deal. At 5 pm, you go to a cafe with a friend, sip coffee and eat medialunas and alfajores. There are coffee shops on every corner. After dinner, some of the members of our group went out but I was super exhausted and decided to sleep so I could wake up early the next morning.

Sábado:

Tonolec

       Saturday I woke up early to go to Recoleta again. I had so much fun the past couple of times that I went there so I knew that I wanted to return to the feria and the cemetery. I took a bus to Recoleta and met my friend Tiffany (the one who is doing research on the black population in Argentina) outside the cemetery. We ate lunch at a parilla. I had the same matambrito de cerdo that I had when we ate at La Payuca on the second day that we were in Argentina. Afterwards we walked through the cemetery again so that I could take more pictures. There was a man outside of the cemetery that was trying to hit on us at the same time...gross. We tried to find Eva Perron's grave again, but that cemetery is really hard to navigate when you're not with a tour guide. 

Charo Bogarín y Yo

      We decided to stop by Tiffany's house which was a couple blocks down from Recoleta cemetery. On the way man with dreads stopped us to advertise a restaurant that he works for. We began talking to him and he told us that he was from Colombia. I have heard before that Colombian's pride themselves on speaking excellent, grammatically correct Spanish. However, I never had the opportunity to speak with a Colombian until then. I saw exactly what everyone meant after having the conversation with that man. He spoke very clearly and slowly and he was extremely articulate. He spoke very similarly to how teachers in the United States teach Spanish. It's a shame that Colombia is not safe for travel as it would be an excellent country for Spanish learners to study Spanish. 
             When Tiffany and I stopped at her host mother's house, her mother was home. She was going on and on about my braids...asking me how I styled them and telling me that they were so beautiful. She then told Tiffany that she wanted to see Tiffany's hair styled like mine. LOL! If only she knew the work that goes into these braids. It's really crazy how Tiffany has only lived with her host mom for two weeks but she knows all of her mannerisms  and behavior. She literally predicted everything that her host mom was going to say.
        When we left Tiffany's host mother's house we came back to Recoleta and shopped the feria. I bought several souvenirs, which once again will remain anonymous. Afterwards we wandered through the mall next to the feria and tried to find the Japanese gardens. We made it to the Floralis Genérica, but ran out of time before we got to the Japanese gardens. I'll have to return to them another day. 

        On the way home I couldn't find the bus stop to get me back to Palermo. I started walking up the street and found a bus stop that listed one of the streets close to my house. I asked a man waiting at the bus stop if he knew where the bus went. He was really nice and told me no, but to ask the bus driver before I got on the bus. When the bus came to the bus stop, I hopped onto the bus so the bus driver could hear me. He immediately took off when I got on the bus. I asked the bus driver if the bus went to Santa Fe, but he was pretty rude and didn't seem to understand what I was asking. Luckily I just watched the street names and got off on one of the streets where a friend lives. I could have easily gotten lost, but I'd say that Buenos Aires is pretty easy to maneuver. There are three main streets that I know how to get to regardless of where I'm at and I just direct myself to them whenever I'm lost.
         That night our group went to a concert called Tonolec. They are a group of about 7 people. Two lead singers, a back up singer, a drummer, a bassist, an indigenous flute player, and a pianist. They sing a fusion of electronic music/cumbia and indigenous music sung in the language of kom. It's kind of hard to describe the lead singer Charo Bogarín. She's kind of like the Indigenous version of Amy Winehouse. She's really eccentric and she wears all these tribal patterns. Her hair was in a big braided bun and a braid came down to her hips. Her voice was kind of deep. When she sang she opened her mouth really wide and sometimes it sounded like she was yodeling. Lol! It was one of the most different, but enjoyable concerts that I've ever been to. I had a really good time!
          Originally we were going to go out after the concert, but the concert ended a lot later than expected. Because of this we had no choice but to go get gelato :-P. I got a scoop of dulce de leche granizado and chaja (the dessert that we loved so much in Uruguay)!

Domingo:
     Sunday we got up really early to go to the estancia/ranch. Argentina is set up into provinces. Buenos Aires is a province, just like New York is a state. There is the city of Buenos Aires (just like New York City), but there are also parts of Buenos Aires that are country (like upstate New York). The estancia was located about 2 hours outside of the city of Buenos Aires so we took a charter bus there. When we arrived at the ranch the ground was wet because it had been raining earlier. The bus couldn't drive down the dirt road that led to the estancia becuase it had become slippery mud in the rain. Luciano told us that he needed three volunteers to ride with the gauchos in a truck to the ranch. Kassidy, Megan and I volunteered to ride in the truck with the gaucho and Luciano. It was a slippery ride and the truck was shifting back and forth like it was loosing traction. But thank God we chose to ride in the truck because the rest of the group had to ride in this giant hay transporter that looked more like a Conestoga wagon. LOL
        When the rest of the group got to the estancia we were welcomed with the best tasting empanadas that I've ever had. The group was then split up into two to go horseback riding. My group went horse back riding second so we had some time to explore the estancia. There were animals everywhere. A friendly labrador retriever greeted us as soon as we got to the ranch. Cats were sleeping in chairs and laying on the roof. There was a pasture that had donkeys, sheep and miniature ponies, a pen with work horses and a gate with chickens. & remember those green parrots that I was talking about in a previous post? Luciano told me they're called Cotorras, Monk Parakeets. They were in all the trees at the ranch along with several other types of exotic birds and hawks. The estancia consisted of  an old house with a pool and newer quarters, which served as a restaurant. The home was old and antique looking...really beautiful. We had no choice but to have a photo shoot.
         Finally it was my group's turn to ride the horses. We rode for about 30 minutes, touring the farm land that was part of the estancia. I rode a giant black horse named Enamorado. I loved his name. The gaucho that took us on our tour was very friendly...a little two friendly at times. LOL! The estancia was really pretty and it was really fun horse back riding on the land. I hadn't done that in about five years. I tried to get Enamorado to trot, but he was a rather lazy horse. He would trot for all of five seconds and then walk again. I guess I would be difficult too if I were a horse and I had humans riding me and telling me what to do all day.
        After horseback riding was dinner...parilla style. We had carne asado, beef, chorizo, steak, and grilled chicken with a chilled rice (that was cooked with red peppers and cabbage), cabbage, salad and bread. They would bring the meat out on platters as it came off the grill and you got to pick what piece you wanted. They kept bringing platter after platter of meat and after a while I was feeling like I was gonna pop a button off my jeans. It was delicious to say the least.
          At the end of lunch, the gaucho that had took us horse back riding played a couple of songs on his guitar. Then it was time to go outside. One of the other gauchos showed us an Indigenous horse whispering technique. When the Spaniards bought horses to Argentina, the Indigenas used their horse whispering techniques at night to soothe the horses and gain their trust. Eventually the Indigenas would gain the trust of the horses and steal them from the Spaniards. The Spaniards then learned the Indigenas' methods and used them as a means of breaking the horse. When the gaucho first started demonstrating the horse whispering it was really cool. He was laying on the horse and crawling underneath the horse, all while the horse remained completely calm. He even got the horse to lie on its back like a dog. Then things got a little weird. The horse was lying on its back, while the gaucho sat on top of it and caressed it. We all felt like we were intruding on an intimate moment between the horse and the gaucho. It was borderline bestiality. We were trying so hard to be respectful and not laugh, but a couple of the people in my group couldn't contain their laughter! Nevertheless it was interesting to watch.

Um awkward!

        After the gaucho's performance we took a couple of group pictures, rode the "Conestoga wagon" back to the bus and went home. We were all knocked out on the bus. When we got back to Buenos Aires I came home to work on a presentation for class. 

Be on the lookout for a new post with Monday & Tuesday's endeavors. 

Besos y Abrazos,

Jackie