Who Let the Dogs Out? (tacky title I know but appropriate nonetheless)

Alright, so if ever you plan on coming to Argentina or really any third-world country in South America, I would recommend that you be prepared for lovely companions whenever you go out and about.  Mind you I am not speaking of human companionship though that may be true as well.... I am talking about the overwhelming number of street dogs that inhabit the lovely city of Mendoza.

I know I should probably be past the shock by now, but I still can't seem to get over the absurd number of homeless animals that are roaming the streets. I feel like I have a slightly unnatural attachment to all of these dogs because most of them are just so cute and I'd want to take them home with me if I didn't fear the nasty critters that might come along with these furry companions.

However, some of these street dogs have come to be particularly loyal companions to my friends and me while meandering the city. For example we have this one doggy friend who we have come to name Sparks who looks sort of like some sort of Australian shepherd/ Belgian Sheepdog mixture who will literally follow us from one end of the city to the next. He will wait for us when we go into bars and restaurants and will sit with us if we are eating/drinking outside. He also has the tendency to walk my friend Coral and me home from an evening out, especially if we are walking alone. Some people might laugh at us as we whistle and pet our street friend but I can't honestly see how anyone could have given this dog up in the first place. We never even gave the thing any food up until a couple of days ago when I bought this absolutely terrible sandwich that was barely edible and luckily it didn't go to waste since Sparks was ever so grateful for the snack.

The other night as I was walking home from Plaza Independencia the cutest of all things occurred. This puppy of I have no idea what breed, who looked as if he/she had been born this past week began following me home. It just kept whining and crying and jumping at my feet and it was probably the saddest/cutest thing I had ever seen. It followed me the entire 45 minute walk back to my house and when we finally arrived at my gate it tried to accompany me through the door. Unfortunately, my family's dumb obnoxious excuse for a dog started barking and yapping at the puppy scaring it senseless. When I told my family about the pup, they said I would have been able to keep it if Coki (their dog) hadn't scared it away. Needless to say I was horribly disappointed.

So now if I find a homeless pup and can get it safely in the house the next step is to see if my family back home will let me keep it..... (hint)


Well I'm off to enjoy this brisk winter day before it starts to snow/sleet later this evening

ZONDA TIME

Today is the first day of the zonda which for the vast majority of you who don't know is basically a wind storm that makes being outside near to miserable.

I woke up at my usual weekend time around 1:30 in the afternoon and I could already tell it was beautiful out it was a sunny day out, I checked the weather and alas it was going to be 80 degrees!!! Which naturally made me feel that it would be a great day to spend outside in the sun maybe get a savage tan or just take some mate and enjoy the lovely bohemians in Plaza Independencia.... terrible idea

First I walk to the trole stop and after about two minutes I noticed the massive dust clouds that were storming towards my face. I was grateful for my sunglasses because otherwise I would have had an incredibly difficult time ever opening my eyes. However, after about 15 minutes of waiting for the trole even my glasses couldn't protect my eyes...or mouth...or nose from being bombarded with dirt and dust.

Finally the trole arrives and I get to the plaza, and it was strange because even though it was siesta time most of the cafes that were usually open had closed their doors and hardly any of the artisans were around the plaza, which is strange because normally there are more people out. I see a couple of the guys hanging out on a bench listening to their portable radio and we decide to put up with the winds and just hang out and try to enjoy the day. After a little while we decide ice cream would be a good excuse to get out of the nasty winds and we head over to Bianco Nero- which is kind of pricey but has INCREDIBLE ice cream. We enjoy our lovely ice cream outside until a hard gust of wind nearly sends a killer umbrella across the peatonal towards our heads.

Even after this near death experience we still decide to stay outside and enjoy the day, so Coral and I go to grab her hookah and go back to the plaza to meet Meg, Kailey, and Michael. This would have been a great idea on a normal day but trying to light the coals on a windy day was the worst of ideas, sending sparks and burning coals everywhere we almost caught on fire several times. so we gave up on that idea and just decided to jam in the park, Michael had his guitar and there were a bunch of Argentine guys playing a makeshift drum circle. This was a safer and much more pleasant idea, and thus we enjoyed the remainder of the day.

I got back to the house and looked in the mirror and just had to laugh at the intense amount of dirt/dust caked upon my face, I looked like I had seen many full days at the tanning booth....sooo sad.

My host mother Fanni said this was just a small zonda, so it gets worse, sometimes to the point of closing schools down GREAAATTT. something to look forward to

CORDOBA!!!!!!

I have just returned from my incredible four day trip in Cordoba. Among other reasons I can tell it was incredible because I just woke up from an 11 hour nap. To recount every minute of the trip would not only be boring as all hell but it would probably be impossible so I'll just give you some of the basic highlights:


The Bus Ride-
We decided to take a semi-cama bus ride which was the second cheapest option provided for the 10-hour trek to the city. For the most part it was pretty comfortable, we could lean the chairs back a little and they played a halfway decent movie (Music & Lyrics), but I cannot say that I slept more than two full hours the entire trip which I suppose wasn't a surprise. Oh and for some reason whoever was controlling the air conditioning was under the impression we were living in the Arctic, because he kept the temperature at a constant of approximately 200 degrees. So we were a hot sweaty mess by the time we arrived but too excited to really care about our lack of sleep or lack of comfort.

The hostel- I picked out the hostel because that was my part of the planning process. Since it was a long weekend the majority of the hostels were already booked Aldea was the only one with great central location, and good overall ratings that also had enough room for Kailey, Coral, Michael, and I to all share a room. When we got there I was actually surprised at how incredibly beautiful it was. It had these deep red walls with huge painted flowers in the corners; and it had these awesome black fleather couches and a huge tv in the sitting room. Then a pool table and a bar and a full kitchen all on the main level. We arrived way too early to check in but they let us lock all of our things behind the bar which was great. AND all of the employees spoke English, which it wouldn't have been a problem had they not but it was kind of refreshing to know we wouldn't have to stress out about that. When we got to settle into our room it was a quaint little thing with four bunk beds and a window and a really nice bathroom with a shower and HOT WATER!!!

The people-

The first day in town we walked by a hookah shop and we decided to go in and check out what they had. Coral decided it would be a good idea to buy one because they are pretty hard to find anywhere else. So that evening after meeting up with some other guys from the program for dinner at this pretty swank restaurant we decided to stay at the hostel because we were all too tired to go out and dance. We figured that smoking hookah would be a good way to get to know some of the people at the hostel. We TOOTTALLLYYY underestimated the powers of the hookah. There were a group of twenty-some engineering students staying at the hostel from San Juan which is just north of Mendoza. We had invited one of the girls who was working that night Isabelle (whom we had met earlier) to join us so she let us bring it inside since it was a tad bit brisk in the evening time. The minute we did that the entire group of guys swarmed to our table. Apparently hookah isn't really popular in Argentina and so none of them had tried it. Some other guys from Sweden were there and they ended up joining our group as well.  It turned out to be an absolutely INCREDIBLE night! Everyone was so nice and funny and we got to practice our spanish with the guys from San Juan and we all shared Fernet and Cokes, and they taught us the "real" way to mix the drink. ***Fernet is this herbal tasting alcohol that is mixed with coke and is shared amongst friends ***

Horseback Riding- Kailey, Brian, Bobby, Armando, and I really wanted to go horseback riding at least once during our trip so we went to the travel agency to see about any cheap full day riding excursions they offered. We found one that was only about A$220 for a whole day of riding, transportation to and from and a full meal of Asado (really really good meat). It was only about an hour's bus ride away and we would leave at 9 am and return by 6:30 pm. It was located in this small desert town outside of Villa Carlos Paz and it was absolutely gorgeous. We arrived at the ranch with Marcelo the owner and he greeted all of us and invited us to drink mate and have some cookies while he prepared the horses.

None of us had much experience but I was put with one of the more rambunctious horses because I had ridden the most out of the group. Which was fine with me because it made things all the more exciting. My horse was a beautiful paint which reminded me of my sister Julia because they are her favorite horses. The ride started out pretty easy just along one of the winding dirt roads in the desert, but Marcelo warned us that after a little while we would be going off path into the mountains which would be a lot more difficult to ride....and he wasn't lying after about half an hour the leader of the group Hugo yelled that we were going to turn off the path and I looked to where he was pointing and all I saw were rocks and sand and of course the beautiful mountains in the back ground. He pointed to a small speck in the distance and said that we were going to ride to that statue and then take a break.

While we were still on the path however a couple cars went by and for some reason my horse spooked like crazy, I thought it was going to buck me off but I was able to control it and get it turned around and back in line again, I felt so proud of myself and then Marcelo came up from behind me and said that he was impressed with how I handled the situation which just made me feel good. So we went through some really rough steep areas but it was absolutely incredible we got to trot a bit when it was safe and after a couple hours we made it up to the top of the mountain where the statue was. The view was gorgeous and the statue was beautiful! We took a break and dismounted our horses and sat and talked for  a bit enjoying the beautiful day and after a little while went back on our way. On our way back we were stopped by this little boy who lived in one of the houses scattered along the mountain and he gave us a loaf of homemade bread that his mother had made that morning; that bread was probably the most delicious bread I have ever tasted in my life.

The ride back was a lot more tricky than the ride to the top of the mountains, but it was also a lot more fun. We took a different path and got to cross a bunch of streams and climb a lot steeper rocks and when we got back to the main path Marcelo let us all gallop most of the way back to the ranch, which was probably the most exhilarating experience of my life. I will have to do that again if I get the opportunity to.

Che Museum-
Sunday we got up relatively early so that we could grab a bus to Alta Gracia to see the Che Museum and to walk around the artisan city for the day. We got the tickets with enough time to go to the only open cafe in the entire city. On Sundays almost everything closes down for most of the day except for the artisan market and the main plaza, but most restaurants stay closed for the day. So we grabbed some coffee, medialunas, and empanadas to go and were on our way. The bus ride was about two hours which gave us just enough time to take a nice little nap. By the time we arrived it was a little after 3. When we got off the bus it was desolate there were practically no people out and about, which was a little disconcerting... so we decided to walk around the town for a little bit and eventually make our way to the museum. The town, though deserted was absolutely beautiful there seemed to be so much history behind everything and there was a beautiful little creek where we saw this beautiful horse just walking around without a care in the world. We eventually made it to the Che museum, which was the house that Che's family moved into because the air was cleaner and was better for his asthma. The house was incredible and so interesting there were stories and photos all over every room. I'll have to put up the pictures for that one. After a couple hours looking at everything we stopped by the gift shop and Michael and I bought Che's cigars and a poster and a postcard. We were pretty hungry after all of that and we ran into the other group of guys; Brian, Bobby, and Armando. So we decided to run into town and check out the plaza after getting some food.

After a lovely meal of pizza and fries we headed to the plaza where all of the artisans and a small festival were taking place. It was lovely even though it was pretty cold and so we just enjoyed the rest of the day mulling about and meandering around the city until we decided to make our way back to the bus station. Thank goodness we left when we did with 10 minutes to spare before the bus left. We all passed out from exhaustion on the way home and didn't wake up until we pulled into the station.

That night Michael, Kailey, Coral and I decided to make a home made dinner of mac and cheese, though none of us really new the recipe I took over with some idea of how to make it, we bought all the ingredients at the only supermercado that was open and bought a couple of bottles of wine and got to work. With enough pasta to feed a small country I decided to start with some milk and butter in a pot and to slowly add cheese to the mixture and when it was finished we poured the whole thing into this giant mixing bowl. It was amazing!! We were able to feed three additional people and still had some left over. At least we now know that we could feed ourselves if need be.

Our last day was spent walking around the city to different parks just enjoying the beautiful 60 degree weather. It was a government holiday so almost everything was closed but we still managed to have a great time just enjoying and relaxing.

All in all none of us wanted to leave such an amazing place, with such great new friends from the hostel it was definitely a trip to remember, and certainly sets the standard for the rest of our excursions to come.

PEACE

~~~~MB

My First REAL Argentine Night Out

OK so last night was my first night out of the house with people from my program. My friend Alana and I had made plans to walk down to Aristides which is kind of the arts young person part of downtown Mendoza, the group had decided to meet at 11:30 pm which is apparently normal here, but it is kinda late on my time.

So we were supposed to meet our friends at a hostel/bar called PH which is in the middle of Aristides, Alana and I must have walked past it at least four or five times at one point we ended up in a really sketchy part of town and were just about ready to give up when one of our friends calls out over a balcony at us to come up. We were literally standing right under the place and went up to meet what looked like a massive group of people. The waiter looked at us and instantly knew we were American, I might have just about cried, he was clearly having a hard time with the ridiculous amount of people showing up on a Monday night.

So I sat down and Alana and I ordered a bottle of Malbec to share. I had no intention of getting too tipsy but because it was my first night out in a new city I didn't really have any idea of what to expect. So the whole group just sat around and had a good time for most of the evening we played a bunch of different ice breaker games to get to know each other more; including the game "never have I ever" which for those of you who don't know is a great game to help reveal more than you would want to know about most of your peers.

Before I knew it, it was 4:30 am and time had literally flown by, it was such a fun night and there were still so many people left at the bar when we left it is crazy how late people stay out here. On the way home I shared a taxi with some of the guys and they covered my ride, which was perfectly lovely and chivalrous of them. If only I didn't have to get up the next morning for a 9:00 am orientation meeting.

Orienteering the World of the Mendocians

Orienteering was probably not the right word to use but it is our first day of orientation in Mendoza, and I didn't want to simply say Orientation, because that is boring. It is also our first day of visiting one of my potential universities, Congresso, which is also exciting, but those weren't until later in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day out and not too cold for once so I decided it was a grand idea to go for a walk and explore what Mendoza is like before lunch time. So I let Carmen (our housekeeper) **side note: we have a house keeper who cooks lunch everyday, cleans the house [and my room] and does all the laundry, which is neat but kind of awkward** ok so I let Carmen the housekeeper know where I was going and told her that I would be back before lunch time.

Note to all who decide to go on walks in Mendoza during the middle of the day in winter, unlike most places, it gets colder as you walk around not warmer, it's strange I know but true. Before coming to Mendoza I was really excited to be in a place where it is totally normal to say hello to random strangers around town. Because I assumed that all people in South America regardless of their regional location were generally just nicer than people from the United States. (This is not saying that I don't love living where I do, but customarily you don't really go around saying hello to random strangers if you are meandering in the middle of Washington D.C.). So as I was walking around for my first time alone in Mendoza, I smiled and said "Hola!"to everyone I passed. Naturally, the men would all return a greeting, though they would pair it with an awkward glance which pretty much screamed, "wow what a freaking weirdo, maybe she's special..." Whereas the women, would merely shoot me a mean glare that screamed, "Who does this girl think she is...does she think she knows me?" Either way it is definitely NOT okay or customary to walk around saying hello to everyone you pass on the street.

I also found that it is very typical as a generally okay looking female you should learn to expect the obligatory cat calls and whistles from the groups of men who pass you buy. Oh but not only just simply cat calls and whistling should be expected, also honking, waving, yelling, marriage proposals, and just random english words should also be expected; I even had one group of men slow down in their car in the middle of the highway to tell me I'm pretty. Granted the attention is lovely and it truly does make you feel good to have everyone telling you how great you are but it can get pretty old when you are just trying to enjoy a lovely walk in a new country and all you can hear are the voices of old men overpowering the songs of the birds and the sound of the wind. --The best thing to do is simply ignore it or give a slight acknowledgment, under no circumstances should you respond, that is something we learned during our orientation in Buenos Aires.

Even though I had hoped to be able to make it to the main part of the city and back before lunch I realized there was really no time for that so I quickly made my way back to the house and luckily had enough time to buy some water sin gas from a local kiosko. For some reason no one drinks just plain water here it is bizarre. My fam has practically 20 bottles of these funky looking containers with nozzles to make sparkling water, but they never have just regular tap water. I was almost tempted to buy one of those brita water filters to drink some normal people water.

Lunch was a lovely display of tomato salad, guacamole, and some sort of marinated beef, It was very good and the whole family was able to make it back for lunch and a siesta. Another thing, the television is always on during meal times, regardless of how many people are over; and it is totally normal to have conversations over the television. Sometimes it is really interesting though, we will watch the discovery channel or the news and it will spark some interesting conversation topics.

After a short siesta, it was time to head to Congresso. For the first day Marina would go with me to teach me how to use the trole which would be my normal mode of transportation to the inner city. Apparently she had some terrible experience with the Micro system ( busses) and she ended up in the wrong part of town. I will have to remember that if ever I attempt to use the bus system that I better know where I'm going and ask them if they are headed towards where I need to be.

So we arrive at Congresso, which thank goodness is right in the middle of the city and is pretty much convenient to everywhere I would ever want to go. Marina dropped me off and gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye and I was on my merry way. I met Coral at the front doors and headed on in.

The orientation was pretty boring, we just went over our placement exam and how we shouldn't be worried, even though I was pretty much freaking out about it. I felt so behind after not taking a spanish class last semester so I was hoping to do at least ok on the placement test. After that we all went out for coffee and ice cream at one of the local cafeteria's close to congresso and I trollied back home for dinner.

Wine, Art, McDonald's and a Big Green Ogre

Sunday evening I went with the family to una bodega, which is a vineyard and an art show for a friend of a friend of the family. I am starting to get the feeling that this family is extremely well connected in this area --apparently one of the uncles owns all of the North Face stores in Mendoza and then owns some other large chain retail store...so I get the family discount :-)  so we drive over to the bodega and just give a little nod to the security guard to open the gates for us and we are immediately greeted by all of the different family members and family friends. I honestly can't hardly remember anyone's names but I just smile and nod hello and attempt to stumble clumsily through all the greetings. The family gives us a little tour of the winery and it is HUGEEE and so gorgeous they did a lot of remodeling and turned it into a restaurant/winery/art gallery. Fanny gave me a little bit of the history of the place and as we walked into the bathrooms which Fanny told me that they used to be the huge storage tanks for aging the wine and that if you looked up you could see the stains on the ceiling and walls from the wine. This place was so incredibly cool. 

So we walk on into the art gallery and its pretty, apparently the artist is the sister of one of the cousin's girl friends and the cousin's family owns the bodega so she got the art space for her first show....talk about using those connections. There were a lot of people there so I pretended to fit in with my glass of wine walking around to the different galleries nodding and looking intently at different pieces, I didn't know if I was allowed to take pictures so I decided to stay on the safe side and keep my camera in my purse. I made small talk with some other family members asking about their favorite pieces and if they were going to buy any of them. 

Then I had a lovely chat with Enrique about my time at Strathmore, where my job was to do all the placement of the art and how it was interesting to see where they chose to place certain pieces. I felt good after the conversation because I felt I was getting better at this whole talking in spanish thing and at least he understood me for the most part, and we talked about why I chose Mendoza and about my music business. I was fully satisfied and then felt happy for the remainder of the evening. 

After about an hour there really wasn't much else to do so I sat with Marina and her boyfriend Pablo and they invited me to go "shopping" and maybe see a movie. It wasn't until we left and arrived at the mall that I realized "shopping" was what they called one of the only major malls in Mendoza. So we go to where the theater is located and it is packed, I have never seen this many people lined up to go to the movies in my life, especially not at 12 at night (which is apparently a typical time to go to the movies in Argentina). We decided on the 1:30 showing of Shrek which thank god was in English with Spanish subtitles and then all realized we were starving because a dinner of cheese and wine doesn't really satisfy a hungry belly.  

Marina asks me if I like McDonald's, at first I didn't know if I had heard her right and then after she tried describing it to me I finally got, it nodding like an idiot and she explained to me how McDonald's in Mendoza is kind of a big deal and is a lot nicer than those in the U.S. where as I explained to her Mickey D's is more the fine dining of the homeless and the poor college kids....she thought it was funny. I got my usual chicken nuggets and a coke hoping it would be enough caffeine to keep me up through the movie. It took 20 minutes to get the food, so I guess it is not considered fast food here, and we found a spot next to the play place and enjoyed our lovely meal. She was right by the by the food is way better than american MD's it just tastes fresher I suppose.

We sat and talked about almost every subject under the sun for the next hour or so, everything from my favorite movies and music to the new laws being passed about gay marriage in Argentina. It was another truly fulfilling discussion, I think I am starting to get the hang of it which is such a great feeling especially only after two days. OH and side note the McDonald's in Argentina serve wine and beer as part of the meal options, making it just that much more classy.

Heading to the movies we start to get scared looking at the insane lines rapping around the movie theater three or four times; good thing Pablo knows the manager  of the movie theater so we got to cut all of it without a fuss. We sit down and the place is packed already which is strange since the movie has been out for forever, but we find the perfect spot smack in the middle. It was so funny during the movie to see what the spanish translation was for some of the jokes; there were times where Donkey would say the funnies thing and I'd bust out laughing and the rest of the theater was silent because it just didn't translate at all. Marina kicked me at one point because I was laughing so hard during one of those instances. I have to say though, it was really refreshing to hear some english after not hearing any for three days.

All in all it was a fantastic experience and when we walked outside it was snowing a little which made the day all the more magical. I must say I love the idea of snow in July it makes it seem just that much more special.

Well my fingers are sore and I realized now that I wrote a lot, again so happy reading to all and I will find a way to attach some pictures and find out my mailing address sometime soon.


Peace Out

Living the Argentine Life

For our first weekend in Mendoza we spend the entirety of our time with our families. Which would be great if I was a tad more comfortable with the native tongue...I realize now that taking at least one Spanish class the semester before going to a Spanish-speaking country would have been a wonderful idea. However, since that is not currently the case I spent a good bit of time not talking and just listening, I think the family may think I'm retarded, hopefully not. So the weekend was pretty much a whirlwind of unpacking and settling in and kind of realizing that I am going to be here for a very. very. very. long time. 

So instead of sleeping in as I had wanted to I woke up at 8:30 local time here with awkward aches and pains in my back and neck because I am sleeping on a bed that I may have grown out of in elementary school. So after crawling out of my kiddie bed I begin to put away my clothes and all of my things. For those of you that do not know, I overpack...always, so instead of doing what most people did, bringing one suitcase and one carry-on I brought two overweight oversized suitcases one heavy carry-on and another school bag on top of that. (By the way when I went to check in the lovely man at the front desk waved my fees because of my sparkling personality...so anyone who says charm and smiles don't work lied). So as I am unpacking my mountains of clothing I look in the closet to find only 3 hangers so of course after realizing there was no more room in any of the drawers I decided the lovely mod art looking chair in the corner would be the perfect home for the remaining mountain of clothing. 

I recall my family making some half-hearted jokes about how out of the seven students they have hosted they have never seen so much stuff in their lives. On my behalf they also remarked about how they like my style and how I have been the best dressed of all their host students so I guess it worked to my advantage....somewhat. So as the rest of the family was still sleeping i attempted for about an hour to connect to the internet, which of course didn't work because the network was locked and I am computer stupid and didn't know how to work the darn thing. So good thing my phone had some connection to the internet so I could tell the fam that I had arrived alive and well and give them a mini update of my life thus far. 

For lunch we went to my host aunt Beti's house for a feast unlike anything I had ever seen. To start a small meal of pan (bread) this incredible mayo/lemon/blended spread and homemade guac and three different types of salami (they had salami with CHEESE IN IT) which was incredible and of course my host grandfather kept giving me more and more and more. Its as if these people are under the false misconception that I don't eat....which clearly isn't the case seeing as how we went through 6 loaves of bread in only the first course. 

After that we had different types of salad, tomato salad (they love their tomatoes), lettuce salad, potato salad, avocado and egg salad. So I tried most of these because my goal is to definitely not live up to the label of the picky American. I plan on trying almost everything. So after the salads came the mountainous servings of meat, literally mountains of fresh meat and seriously every single part so I decided to blindly try a little of everything and not ask what it was for fear that if I knew I would likely lose my appetite. After eating to the outer boundaries of what my stomach could hold I had to decline any further offers of more helpings. 

It is at this point where all the members of the family split off into various age groups to play table games, I was privileged enough to be with Cristin and the elders of the family playing this number game that I think they called Rumy, it was a team game of two v. two and you had to get groupings of the same color numbers or the same number and whomever had the most complete groups won. It was fascinating to watch and I kind of started to pick up on the rules but I participated solely as a spectator in this game. Then the members of my host cousin's band started arriving for band practice and it was time to bring out dessert. 

For dessert we had some type of flan (milk and eggs and sugar whipped together and chilled until solidifying) with dulce de leche which is just basically caramel. The dessert was incredible and then of course we had coffee and hard orange juice with vodka, a strange mixture of flavors to me but they seemed to love it. Afterwards of course we had music during which time they asked me to sing by myself, I did so with little reservation and sang one of my all time favorite songs Fairytale by Sara Bareilles. It was a little more nerve-racking because this family gathering had almost twice the audience as the last one but it was ok I didn't mind too much. And of course I loved the flattery afterwards and my cousin's band mates asked me to be the new singer telling their current lead vocalist he was kicked out. So I felt pretty darn good. 

I left after that with Fanny and Enrique to go back to the house for my siesta, I said all of my goodbyes and we went on our merry way. 

It was a lovely meal and great company and gave me such great perspective as to what family life in Argentina is like