OK from this point on daily blog plostings, or at least I will have an individual post for each day to keep it from getting too confusing.
So it is my last day in Buenos Aires : ( but still so much to do
During the first half of the day we went to explore the northern part of Buenos Aires including el Cementario de la Recoleta which is one of the oldest cemetaries in Buenos Aires and is home sweet home to the ancestors of some of the wealthiest families and the most famous families in Argentina.
With the lovely Alejandro as our tour guide once again we explored some of the ruins and some of the most beautiful mausoleums I have ever seen ( not that I have seen many but these were truly incredible). Unlike those in New Orleans every mausoleum has several levels including a basement which is odd to think about each one being like a little home for the dead. Some of them have actual sitting areas for family members to come and visit. We spent a long time visiting some of the more noted mausoleums including that of Eva Peron. The irony being that Eva Peron hated the upper class and the fact that she was buried amongst some of her most hated peers is just a little hilarious. She is currently resting in the basement of her family´s mausoleum because years ago her body was stolen and was taken to various places of the world and gaurded by various different owners. So finally they sealed her in the basement with several layers of cement ensuring that no one will every steal her body again.
There was one Mausoleum that stood out the most to me simply because the story behind it is so frightening. Apparently, years ago during the early 19th century a rich young girl was having the best of fun on her birthday, when she suddenly became very sick and died. The next day her body was placed in the family mausoleum and was lay to rest. That night the keeper of the cemetary was walking amongst the mausoleum´s doing his nightly rounds when he heard muffled noises coming from one of the mausoleums he began searching vehemently amongst some of the newer resting places (because these were the most commonly broken into) but alas he could not find the source of the noises. The next day when her family went to the resting place of their daughter to pay their respects they noticed that the lid of the coffin had been moved so in a panic they removed the lid only to find the terrified and contorted body of their daughter with dry blood from her nails and scratch marks on the lid of the coffin. Apparently she had suffered some strange illness that put her into a coma (dead like state) and she had awoken in her coffin only to suffocate from lack of oxygen. As a respect to the actual death of their daughter the family had a huge statue built of their daughter knocking on the door of her mausoleum. And it is because of this case and similar instances that bells were placed in the coffins of the dead and that in some religions they leave their deceased out of the coffin for days after their death to ensure that this type of story is not repeated.
All of us got major chills after hearing this story which kind of made being in the cemetary all the more exciting. It was sad to see though, that some of the mausoleums had not been taken care of for quite some time as some were overgrown with plants and displayed broken windows and doors. Interestingly enough though, even if the family does not have enough money to keep up with the mausoleum no new mausoleum can be built in it´s place until every member of the extended family agrees to give up the spot of property.
After the cemetary we headed back on the bus to go to Barrancas de Alvear which rests on the river where if you look hard enough you can see Uruguay across the river. The whole group enjoyed the afternoon laying in the sun or sitting on the wall overlooking the water with our legs hanging off the edge. We played different games including Ninja and Waa which looked absolutely ridiculous to anyone watching it. Then we went into the restaurant which was beautiful and overlooked the entire river. It had sort of an old rustic beach house feel to it with ceilings open and all the walls and floors made out of wood panels and with open windows everywhere. (even though it was winter and freezing) The food was again incredible and we had some amazing helado (ice cream) for dessert, there is something about their ice cream that is unlike anything you can get in the U.S. same goes for their coffee...everything tastes purer and richer-mom I´m not just saying that because it´s actually true everything just tastes better here.
After lunch we spent a little more time outside playing on the trees and just acting like little children and playing soccer with some of the local Argentine kids. This is exactly what I pictured an abroad experience would be, just living like the Argentines and interacting with everyone and enjoying life because time is definitely not money here. If I could compare the pace here to anywhere it would probably be most similar to island time where things just happen when they happen and if nothing gets done it´s ok because you are enjoying the day.
Unfortunately we did have to catch a plane so we begrudgingly boarded onto the bus where we made our way for the airport. On the way I began making more friends with the people around me including a lovely young chap Michael from Portland who displays to a "T" what being hipster is and who shares my love for sarcasm and we enjoyed many a laugh just being the best of sarcastic to one another. And another lover of sarcasm Ross from Idaho who enjoyed spitting his little bits of sarcasm here and there. It was a perfectly lovely sarcastic bus ride and I had a perfectly wonderful time.
Then to the airport.... my least favorite activity of all time partly because I wayyyy overpacked and it was a huge pain to lug all of my stuff all over everywhere. One trick that I learned from my prior experience was use a cart it makes all of it a whole lot more pleasant that way you can put all of your bags on top of one another and push it through the check in line. One more tip if you have a huge carry on...make sure it has wheels because carrying a duffel bag that weighed about 30 pounds on top of everything else I had to carry was borderline miserable. Once we had gone through that whole process everything went much smoother. Unlike security in the U.S. the process of going through security in Buenos Aires was a piece of cake; we didn´t have to take off our shoes or take our our computers or turn on our cell phones we simply stuck everything on the little conveyer belt and picked it up on the other side. The security guards looked as if they couldn´t care less if you brought a bomb to the airport, as long as you didn´t make a mess that they´d have to clean up. I don´t know if it is naivete or just and extreme sense of trust in people but it made the process a whole lot less stressful.
We boarded the plane with ease, but this time I was not stuck next to a lovely young man from Argentina I was stuck inbetween two old business men who looked like they just wanted to get this whole thing over with and didn´t really want to make small talk; which I suppose was fine because after last night I could really use the two hour nap I would get from the flight. Besides I didn´t really want to stress myself out thinking about the fact that in a couple hours I would be meeting my new temporary family and that it might actually hit me that I was going to be staying with them for the next five and half months.
I woke up after about an hour and a half and filled my nervous stomache with some tasty plane cookies and turned my attention to the television that was playing what appeared to be an Argentine version of smile you´re on candid camera or punk´d. Then I proceeded to doze off some more until we began our descent into Mendoza at approximately 8pm.
Once we land and get off the plane the fear and stress finally set in I think amongst the mob of people behind the glass doors holding white paper signs I can see my family smiling and jumping and waving. My nerves ease up a little but then proceed to take over my entire body as I just stand like a statue smiling and making an awkward wave as I laugh nervously to myself. I finally collected all of my massive tons of baggage and meet my host mother Fanny and sister Marina at the end of the mob of people. I am embraced with kisses on each cheek and lots of hugs as we rush to the car to escape the freezing cold weather. I am bombarded with questions about the flight and my family and my studies and if I have a boyfriend back home or if I knew anyone in the program. I tried vehemently to switch my brain into spanish mode as I awkwardly answered each question in slow and simple spanish. We drove through the outskirts of the city of Mendoza and through some back roads to get to my new home.
Everything looked soo different we clearly lived in a nicer part of town in some of the barrios (neighborhoods) outside of the major part of the city but still I was greeted with a huge black iron gate and some weird looking keys that were meant to unlock the gate. Once we stepped past the gate we were joyously greeted by Coki their teeny long haired miny doxen looking dog and my new father Enrique who is a tall happy looking fellow. We walk into the house and Marina´s novio (boyfriend) and the rest of the family struggle to bring all my things to my room upstairs. I could understand some kind of funny joke about how I am the first to bring this much stuff during a study aboad program. I laughed along because I knew how ridiculous I must look to everyone. Once I was settled in a little bit I was told that my host brother Javier would not be able to join us for dinner because he works incredibly long hours at the restaurant since he is in school to become a master chef.
Although my brother would not be joining us most of the rest of the family would be. As we prepared for a lovely meal of empenadas and several different types of pizza one with hard boiled eggs and cheese and tomatoes and the other with ham and peppers the family began pooling in. Including, aunts and uncles, and cousins and great aunts and some neighbors. Before dinner began, Enrique brought out his guitars and gave me one of them and then he asked me to sing and play something for him while the rest of the family was putting everything together. So I did, slightly nervous at first and then I began to open up more and soon he was joining in creating harmonies and jammin it up. Then we put away the instruments until after dinner and I was showered with compliments on my playing and my voice and was then told that after dinner I was to have another concert for the rest of the family. My face must have dropped because he just laughed and told me not to worry it would be fine and that I was the new lead singer of the family...no pressure. So we all ate and laughed and again I was bombarded with 17 million questions about what it´s like living close to D.C. and more about my family and friends at home. It was an absolutely fantastic meal and definitely se the tone for what meals are like around here.
So after dinner we grab the guitars again and my tio (uncle) grabbed some percussion instruments and we all started singing and playing together, I played some songs by myself and so did Enrique and then we all joined in on all of them. I swear the grin on my face must have looked ridiculous, but I was just having so much fun. It felt like home, like our christmas eve parties when we all get together and sing songs and play our respected instruments. And I am happy to say that they knew most of the beatles songs that I asked to sing and we all sang beatles songs even though it sounded a little strange with everyone´s thick Argentine accents.
After dinner we cleaned up the plates and the family headed home. My family asked if I wanted to go out and meet some friends, even though at this point it was nearly 1 in the morning. I politetly declined explaining I needed to catch up on some much needed sleep and so we said our goodnights and I headed to bed.
It was the minute that I lay down to go to sleep that it kind of hit me. I wasn´t going to be able to say goodnight to my parents every night before going to bed, and that this was actually happening. I got a little sad but then sleep quickly overcame me and i drifted off into slumberland.
And such was the end of my first night in Mendoza
Ta ta for now and until my next post which I am probably going to write in the next five minutes...toodaloo
Oh yes and the pictures will be posted eventually, hopefully
***MB
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