Che Boludo

Hola familia!
It's hard to believe I am already done with three weeks of class! I had my first parcial (midterm) yesterday and I think it went well but it was a lot of information to cover for just 2.5 weeks. I have learned a great deal in that time, both in my class and out in the city. I'm not quite at the conversational level yet (or at all really, at this point I can ask choppy questions and recognize a few key words..) but I'm getting there! Argentine spanish is incredibly different than any other spanish in the world. And the spanish spoken in Buenos Aires specifically is a whole nother story. It is a form of spanish called Castellano and you will know they are from BA just from the way they pronounce the word. Here, the y and ll (which normally make a "yuh" sound) make a "sh" sound. Therefore calle (street) is "cashe," caballo (horse) is "cabasho," aya (there) is "asha," and so on. I remember hearing this idiosyncrasy the last time I was in the city but since my spanish was limited it was not as apparent. Now I recognize it in everything. To make things more confusing, they have entirely different names and words for things. For instance, the word here (normally aqui) is aka, and the word for you (tu) is vos and it has a its own conjugation for each verb. It was a bit confusing at first to learn this way of speech but I am beginning to get used to it... even like it! It sounds so effortless. However, I know I will run into a little bit of confusion when I travel elsewhere, but if I learn to understand the porteños of BA.. I will be able to understand anyone!
I have already done so much in this beautiful city and there is still so much left to see. I revisted a few of the places I saw last time and they were just as amazing to see a second time. I revisted the Recolleta cemetery which is where the late Evita Peron is buried and it has the most ornate tombs I have ever seen. Like houses for the dead, these marble buildings can reach up to two stories high on just a couple square meter plot. Next to the cemetery is a cultural center where we saw a show called Fuerza Bruta. The show, which was a kind of cirque de sole performance art..thing, was quite possibly the coolest show I have ever seen. I wish you all could come visit me just to see it. Earlier this week I went to study in El Ateneo, an old theatre turned into a bookstore. Ranked one of the world's most beautiful bookstores, you can sit for hours in the cafe located on the old stage drinking a coffee and marveling at the view. I feel as though I am really becoming a part of the city. We also visited El Tigre, a river town in the northernmost part of the city, this past weekend with our program and just sat in a park on one of the islands and had food and drank wine. I am having a lovely time so far! Unfortunately, it's raining today so I am just going to stay in and catch up on some work. But Sunday was the first day of Spring so we have warmer weather to look forward to! I love you guys! Chaou!

3852 Miles Down!

Hola familia:)

Well it took 5 weeks and countless hours on buses to get here but we finally made it to Buenos Aires! I did the calculations and we traveled roughly 3850 miles from Lima, Peru to Buenos Aires, Argentina. That's like going along the entire west coast of the states 3 times!! We had many adventures.. probably too many to write here but I will review just a few. After Puno we hopped an 8 hour bus for Arequipa. Arequipa has probably become one of my favorite cities and I am so glad we incorporated it into this trip. We spent a week and a half in the beautiful city which was a mix of old and new and we were lucky enough to be there as they celebrated their nearly 500th anniversay! Beautiful Spanish couble stone streets and churches with intricate facades carvedd from volcanic rock make up the historic part of the city. Three very large (and active) volcanos surround the city and so the white volcanic rock is used for many buildings, which is why they call it the white city. I would love to return to Arequipa on my next visit to Peru. Moving quickly along, Alice and I got a bus to Tacna and then crossed the border into Chile. Just crossing into Chile it was easy to see the higher level of wealth of the people and the state. We stayed in Arica for a night and then got a 12 hour bus for San Pedro de Atacama. This small city located in the middle of the desert is a big tourist destination because of Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) which, like the name suggests, looks as if you are on the moon. We rented bikes and road around the area nearly all day. We were very tired so we went to bed early and prepared for yet another bus the next day. The bus took 25 hours but we made it all the way to Valpairiso. This port city is known for its artistic past and throughout the city there are hundreds, or possibly thousands of amazing murals painted on houses and stores and abandoned buildings. While we were there, however, we had a bit of a shock when there was an earthquake! We were in a cafe when a 30 second long 6.8 earthquake hit, it felt like forever but in the end no one (that I know of) was hurt. But it shook us up a bit. After Valpairiso we had a quick stop in Santiago and quickly jumped on another bus to Mendoza and then changed buses for Buenos Aires. Going over the Andes was breath taking but I don't have much time to write about it now.. maybe in the next post:) Now we are here all settled into our host family houses (which I will also write more about later) and after several long orientation sessions we finally start classes tomorrow! Thats all I have time for for now, I love you guys!