Week 25: Parents Visit Buenos Aires!!

Dad, Mom, and me at Wanda precious gems Mine
 

WELCOME PARENTS!! I was lucky enough to get a visit from my parents! They stayed for about 10 days and the time went by in the blink of the eye. My parents arrived on a Monday night and the next morning we went on a mini-trip to Iguazu Falls located North of Buenos Aires near the Brazilian and Paraguayan boarders.

We visited for 3 days and had a great time. We stayed in a hotel called the Aldea Lodge and we felt like we were staying in the jungle!! There were wooden boardwalks that lead to sections of rooms surrounded by jungle and each room had a specific name relating to the jungle.

Our hotel room


Mom and Dad on the balcony that lead to our room


Me hanging out in one of the many jungle areas surrounding our hotel


THE FALLS!!
 

On our first day we headed into the Iguazu National Park and went on some trails that provided spetacual views of the different parts of the falls. We first headed over to the strongest falls known as la garganta del diablo (Devil's throat). The power behind that water was amazing!! The mist was so strong that we came back almost all wet!!

Then we visited two other trails showing us the upper and lower falls! Breath taking views! In the afternoon we went on a boat tour that brought us right up to the falls and soaked us!! It was a lot of fun getting so close to the falls! Then the boat took us down river a few miles and we had a jungle jeep ride back to the visitor's center area. We didn't see any panthers but we saw a lot of huge spiders, lots of colorful butterflies, many coatis (a raccoon relative), and a toucan.

A coati


Sorry Niagara Falls...Iguazu Falls out powers you
 

The second day we took a day trip to Wanda Mines and San Ignacio ruins. We stopped at the Wanda Mine first and had a personal tour of the open air mine. It was a great tour because our guide took us all over and we even got to see a worker extracting one of the mineral gems. Our guide told us that the mine is pretty small employing only 50 works but they predict that in the coming years it will grow larger as they need more workers to dig deeper.

Mineral at the Mine
 

After the mine we drove 200 kilometers to a small town where the San Ignacio Jesuit ruins are located. San Ignacio was one of the many missions founded in 1632 by the Jesuits during the Spanish colonial period near present-day San Ignacio valley, located in the Missiones province of Argentina.

The ruins are one of the best preserved among the several build in a territory today belonging to Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, and one of the most visited due to its accessibility. Lost in dense vegetation, the remains of the "Guarani baroque" (architectural style created by the fusion of the indigenous people's architectural styles and European baroque) style constructions were found in 1897, and gained the interest of the population after the 1903 expedition by poet Leopoldo Lugones, but its restoration didn't begin until 1940.

During the time of the founding of the mission the indigenous people of South America basically had two choices: join a mission or be sold as a slave by the Portuguese (I recommend watching movie "The Mission." It provides a great history the missions and shows the Falls!). So obviously many people chose to join a mission.

San Ignacio mission ruins

On our last day I went on an eco-tourism excursion that included hiking in the jungle, zip lining through the jungle, and repelling down a waterfall in...yep you guessed it...the jungle. I had a great time! My first time zip lining and repelling turned out to be successful and full of fun! Plus the people that went along on the excursion were amusing.

I could tell that I was in a different country during the hike...everyone was really loud (probably scaring away any animal nearby) and one guy was smoking. We hiked to the first point in the zip line and climbed steps 20m to the tree stand. We did a total of 800 meters broken up into 3 sections (400m, 200m, and 200m). After that we went over to the waterfall (just a beautiful place!) and repelled down 20 meters! It was very slippy but fun!!

Me repelling down the waterfall 

After our mini-trip we returned to Buenos Aires and my parents got to attend my church and see how the after church program goes. It was interesting being the translator!! Then on Sunday night we went to dinner and a tango show! The food was great (Argentine stake) and the show was full of energy!! There were many couples of dancers and they made it look so easy!!

Tango Dancers

Waiting for their ride to the airport

I hope my parents had a good time! It was great to see them and to show them my little world here. Now when I talk about people and places they have a good idea of what I am talking about! Unfortunately they did not get to go to MAMA with me because my boss had the flu but other than that I bombarded them with Argentine culture and food!! I even made them drink mate (tea-like herb that Argentine people always drink).

Week 21: Patagonia...Un Sueño

The view of Bariloche, lake Nahuel Huapi, and the Andes mountains from Cerro Otto

To escape the summer heat in Buenos Aires Emily and I decided to head to Bariloche Patagonia to visit another volunteer in our program who lives and works there.

In Argentina it is very common to travel by coach bus. There are many bus services provided in the country and most people travel by bus when going on a trip. It is cheaper than flying and they actually have really nice bus services. We took Via Bariloche and it included meals, a fleece blanket and pillow, and comfortable chairs that were almost like recliner chairs with a leg rest. The food was actually pretty good and they played movies for everyone as well.

After our 22 hour bus ride we arrived in Bariloche. Krystal (the volunteer that lives in Bariloche) was nice enough to let us stay with her in her apartment. She has a great apartment located in the center of the city with a great view of the lake. We had easy access to all the tourist stores and the public buses that took us along the huge lake to all the nature trails and mountains. The lake is named Nahuel Huapi which is a indigenous name from the Mapuche tribe. Nahuel Huapi is sort of a mysterious lake. No one really knows how deep it is and it is said that there are huge types of fish located near the bottom. I would say the lake is around the size of some of our great lakes.

Bariloche is a very "tourist" city. During the summer lots of people from all over Argentina visit the Bariloche area to escape city life and the heat of the country. Bariloche is located in the Andes mountains giving it a higher elevation and therefore cooler temperatures. During the winter Bariloche is the ski capital of the country. Emily and I really enjoyed actually being cold for once. Due to the fact that it is such a tourist orientated city it was really easy to find our way around and to travel into the Nahuel Huapi National Park to go on hikes.

On Sunday we went to church with Krystal. Her church, in my opinion, is the closest I have seen in Argentina to a United States Midwest Lutheran church. They have church ladies and a coffee hour after church. Everyone is so nice and always willing to help out in any way they can. We had a great time getting to talk with some of the people during the coffee hour. On Sunday one of the families offered to take us into the National Park and show us the shortest river in the world (or Argentina?). It is about 100 yards long (about the length of a football field). Also a young school teacher invited us over to her house for dinner one night. We had a great time eating homemade pizza.

Emily and Krystal in front of Krystal's church


The shortest river...all the water was this turquoise color in the area! So pretty!

The first hike we went on was climbing the Cerro (peak) Llao Llao. This was my favorite hike and it had breath taking views. There is a famous hotel nearby called Llao Llao. Our former president Bill Clinton and his family have stayed there. I got to get a look at the hotel as we drove by on the bus...very fancy!!!

View from Cerro Llao Llao

We also climbed to the top of Cerro Campanario. It was a much shorter hike but it was practically straight up! At the top there was an observatory deck and a little restaurant. They also have a ski lift that people can take to the top. After taking pictures and climbing around on the rocks at the top Emily and I enjoyed tea and coffee at the little restaurant with great views.

The view from Cerro Campanario

We unfortunately had a few rainy days meaning we could not go hiking. Bariloche is also known for its chocolate so one of the rainy days we went to one of the famous chocolate shops and drank hot chocolate. It was like drinking melted chocolate! It was so tasty!!!

On our last full day, Emily and I traveled to the top of Cerro Otto in gondolas as they call them. The views from the top were amazing! On top there was a highly priced restaurant with a spinning floor, a place where you could take pictures with St. Bernard dogs, gift stores, etc. In my opinion it was too touristy but we had fun non-the-less.

The cable cars that took us to the top of Cerro Otto

Our trip back was very interesting...very Argentine. The bus ride started out as usual and about 3 or 4 hours into the ride we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours...not moving an inch. Then for some unknown reason it cleared up and we stopped at a bus terminal to refuel. After that we started out again and found out that all the roads were blocked due to farm worker protests. Our bus and a ton of other cars, buses, and trucks were then driving around on gravel roads trying to find a route past the picketers.

After driving around in circles for an hour we gave up and ended up sitting in the same place for 7-8 hours. Lucky we were able to get off the bus and stretch our legs. Plus it was nice to be in the middle of nowhere with pretty orchards around us. We had a good time star gazing and talking to random passengers on the bus.

So our 21 hour bus ride turned into close to 30 hours total. When we got back it felt so strange to not be on a bus and feeling all the motion...it was like I needed to get my land legs back or something!

It was so difficult to leave Bariloche!! I fell in love with the National Park and would have loved to hike and explore more. Overall we had a great time!

Week 20: My Birthday!!!!

Breakfast with flowers

For my Birthday I went to La Plata to celebrate with Emily and one of the girls (Sofi) that lives with her in the student house.  

I woke up to a Happy Birthday sign that the girls had made for me and fresh facturas (like pastries) from a nearby bakery.  During the afternoon we went to the movies and saw the 3rd Narnia movie.  

Then we made my Birthday cake and a special dinner.  We tried to make the cake similar to Birthday cake in the United States.  They do not have frosting like we have in the US so Emily made homemade frosting...it was yummy!  Then we just spent the night listening and dancing to music.  It was a blast.  

I cannot believe that I am 23 years old!     

Me enjoying my breakfast with my Birthday sign in the background

My Birthday cake!!!

Emily (another YAGM volunteer that lives near me) and Me

Week 19: Youth Bible Camp in Jauregui

Our tents tucked away snugly in the trees :)

CAMP!!!!! Argentine style!!!!!! Last week I participated in the IELU youth camp. Four churches in the Buenos Aires area participated in the camp including my church in Ballester. Probably one of the biggest adventures of the week was getting to the camp. We left from Ballester around 8:30AM.  From there we took a bus to take a train to meet up with the groups from the other churches. From the train station, we took another bus to take another train to Jauregui-a small town north of Buenos Aires. From the train stop we walked about 3 kilometers to get to the campground (all of this with our sleeping bags and backpacks!). We finally arrived around 2:00PM. 

My discussion group (that is me on the left)

The theme of the camp was Vivir y Amar en Libertad (Living and Loving in Liberty). The sessions focused on different issues surrounding relationships and sexuality.

We played lots of games

We had art groups.  One played music and danced, one painted and drew, and the other one made these coin purses out of recycled tapes for everyone in the camp. 

Emily, me, and Erin enjoying our coin purses

Our last night we had seriously THE BIGGEST camp fire I have ever seen.  They literally cut down tree branches to make it!  Then after getting it built and going it started to rain :(  The fire was so big that even after raining it was still smoking the next morning...and afternoon... 

Closing Worship

Everyone waiting for the train to head home

Overall this camp was a lot different than how a United States camp is run...a bit more chill I would say.  We all had a great time and I think the kids learned a little :)

Week 16 and 17: Christmas and the Beach!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I had a wonderful holiday despite being far from home. It really did not feel like Christmas to me due to the VERY hot weather. To me it felt like more like the 4th of July. It was hot, there were mosquitoes, we had picnics outside and people shot off fireworks to celebrate Jesus' birth.

My pastor Angel and his wife Chabela were nice enough to invite me to spend Christmas eve and part of Christmas day with them. It was interesting to see how the people of Argentina celebrate Christmas.  It is not that much different than how we celebrate in the USA.  It is very much a holiday for spending time with family and friends and being thankful for Jesus' birth.

The Christmas tree in the chapel that I helped decorate.

Here is our dinner table for Christmas eve.  We had an asado (grilled meat) and lots of cold salads due to the hot weather.  The pastor had a great backyard where we could enjoy the weather.  Plus we got to eat ice cream!!  At midnight everyone set off fireworks.  The big fireworks are not illegal here so it was quite the show!  Like I said before, very 4th of July-like.

On the 26th I traveled to La Plata with another volunteer in my program and we joined Emily, her boyfriend who was visiting from the US (Moses), and Andrea to continue celebrating.  Andrea is the pastor at the Lutheran church in La Plata where Emily works and she took us out to a special bar that brews Argentine beer and got to taste real Argentine beer.  (Pictured L to R: Emily, Erin, Rachel, and Andrea).

On the 27th Emily, Moses, and I headed for a beach.  We went to Las Toninas and had a blast enjoying the warm weather and the ocean!  Basically all I did the few days was relax, read, take in the sun, walk on the beach collecting shells, and swim!  It was nice to get away for a few days. 

Me as a mermaid on the beach. 

We ended up renting the bottom half of this house in Las Toninas that was only 2 blocks away from the ocean!  We could hear it from our windows. (Pictured: Emily and Moses)

It had this really old school fridge inside!  We were shocked that it still worked!

This is the living room dinning area!  We had Direct TV satellite so we had fun at night watching TV (I do not have a TV in my apartment).  

On our last day we got up early to watch the sun rise over at the beach! So pretty!!

When we got back to Buenos Aires we hung out in the centro for a while before Moses had to leave to return to the US.  This is in one of the nice parks in the centro.

Emily and me in front of a clock tower. 

I had a great Christmas and New Year!  For New Year's Eve I was in Ballester with Emily.  We had fun drinking sparkling cider and listening to music.  About 3 minutes before midnight we listened to the *NSYNC song "Bye Bye Bye" to say goodbye to 2010.  At midnight we toasted our cider and joined my neighbors on the roof of the building to watch the fireworks.  

The fireworks were even crazier than Christmas eve.  I have never seen anything like it!  Huge fireworks were going off all around us!  The sky was filled with fireworks from every side.  It was beautiful and I felt so lucky to be in Buenos Aires experiencing how they celebrate the New Year.   

I hope everyone had a great holiday and are enjoying 2011!!  This next week I will be heading to a summer camp with the youth from my church.  It should be fun!!

Week 15: Christmas Workshop at Church

This past week, every night we had a series of Christmas workshops for the kids at church.  I taught the class of kids 6 to 8 years old.  During the week we got to draw, color, and learn about the Christmas story.  

Everyone as a group made Christmas cookies and decorated them.  All the kids got a package of cookies but we also gave out packages to everyone that came to the Christmas program we had on Sunday night as our final event.  The kids also had an opportunity to make crosses that said "Jesus," play soccer, and eat snacks.  During the later part of the week we started practicing the Christmas program that was a live Nativity and telling of the Christmas story.  Each of the kids got costumes and had a great time participating.  Overall it was a big success!  

Practicing the program.

Emily and Moses working on the banner we made with everyone's hand prints.

My hand print.

Christmas craft.

More program practice.

At the end of every session we stood in a circle holding hands and we said the Lord's Prayer.

The banner!

Some of the girls that helped make these crochet works during the after church program.

Angels at the Christmas program.

A shepherd and the three kings.

More Christmas Angels!

More shepherds!

An angel and three shepherds.

Getting Christmas gifts.  Every child in church received a gift from the church.

After the program we had pan dulce (sweet bread) and brindis (sparkling cider).  Pan dulce is a Christmas traditional food in Argentina...everyone eats it.  It is basically bread with fruit or chocolate pieces in it. 

And of course we had to get a little soccer in after the program :)