Age of Aquarius
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Welcome to the shire
El Bolson: Land of beer, berries, snow caped mountains, crazy tree carvings, delicious icecream and crazy creepy gnome t-shirts. Basically this place was like visiting the Shire. After the farm it was heaven to be surrounded by fresh mountain air and crystal clear water.
I took this picture of the sunrise from the bus the morning we left the farm. At least the insomnia is good for something.
Perfectly clear shire water. This place was unreal.
The boarder between the Lake district and Patagonia
Basically we sat around the small center plaza taking bum siestas on the dock in the afternoons, eating delicious icecream as an after nap treat and drinking raspberry beer. Perfect little unwind after the farm.
Best beer award: El Bolson Cerveza! Frambuesa is the best!
The slogan of the town was Here the Magic is Natural, hilarious but kinda true...
Look at these creepers, they are everywhere! This pic is from the local crafts market. Booths upon booths of crazy looking gnomes. Where am I?
Annnnnd we finally found a post office! w00t! So if you gave me your address before I left expect a postcard soon!
XOXOX
I took this picture of the sunrise from the bus the morning we left the farm. At least the insomnia is good for something.
Perfectly clear shire water. This place was unreal.
The boarder between the Lake district and Patagonia
Basically we sat around the small center plaza taking bum siestas on the dock in the afternoons, eating delicious icecream as an after nap treat and drinking raspberry beer. Perfect little unwind after the farm.
Best beer award: El Bolson Cerveza! Frambuesa is the best!
The slogan of the town was Here the Magic is Natural, hilarious but kinda true...
Look at these creepers, they are everywhere! This pic is from the local crafts market. Booths upon booths of crazy looking gnomes. Where am I?
Annnnnd we finally found a post office! w00t! So if you gave me your address before I left expect a postcard soon!
XOXOX
Monday, October 27, 2008
Never underestimate the appeal of indoor plumbing
To describe the farming shinanigans Liz and I have been creating the past two weeks I think it would be fun to write out a couple passages directly from my travel journal so everyone can fully comprehend my mind frame in the begining, middle, and end of the experience, so here goes...
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 13, 2008: Day 1 - Holy Shit! Im in a farm in BFE Argentina. What am I doing here? There are no indoor toilets, only a mud hut with a toilet seat suspiciously attached. Im already envisioning an Italy-toilet-seat-mid-pee-detachment-debacle repeat. Oh, and did I mention the sawdust toilet paper? Definitely not feng shuied for maximum pooping potential!
There are two obnoxious social abominations playing leap frog on TOP of the kitchen table named Paloma and Nacho, seriously, the kid is named Nacho! LOL! It´s frickin cold here too, we splurged at AR walmart equvalent on some little kid´s sleeping bags that come barely up to our nipples, which btw could cut through glass right now. We are supposed to wake up tomorrow at 8 and milk some goats or something in the mud fields, it´s probably going to still be dark outside just to spite me. We are sleeping in the loft with two twin sized mattressses on the floor of a room which is about 4 feet tall and could fit a king sized matress and NOTHING else. The ceiling is constructed out of cardboard and newspapers and held together with what looks like spiderwebs and staples. Everyone speaks spanish except for me, I have the feeling I am going to get really good at charades by the end of this ordeal. I would kill for a toilet shower right now.
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 15, 2008: Day 3 - Shit show! Literally! We were both elbow and knee deep in horse shit today, called barrow, for four hours this afternoon. If you add straw and dirt to horse shit and water it down you have an amazingly disgusting adheisive to patch houses... or throw at little children (hehehe). I stomped around in the kiddie pool sized horse shit mixture for four hours this afternoon, mixing it for maximum patching power and filling huge buckets for Liz so she could throw heaping handfulls at the shit house we are constructing. GROSS!
It seems that the jobs we are doing get daily worse and worse. We hoed this morning for four hours, which isn´t soooo bad because I can concentrate on my abs and arms and rock out to my ipod and just think of it as a work out, but that horse shit house is horrid.
I would KILL someone for some sugar. At night I have been shoveling Argentinian cheerios called Aritos into my mouth and sucking off the sugar and honey just so I can taste something sweet.
We have been on a steady diet of polenta and salad. Its pretty bad!
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 23, 2008: Day ? - Lost track of days, but I have figured out the trick to this farming thing.
Trick number 1- when bored strike up conversations about hot topics like exboyfriends/ fashion/ celebrities/ hot gossip with those around you
Trick number 2- If trick number 1 isn´t possible due to lack of human interaction keep your ipod on you at all times and rock out like its New Years 1999.
Trick number 3- Stock BABY WIPES and chocolate at all times.
Trick number 4- Sink showers, and lots of them!
Trick number 5- Bond with fellow volunteers over midnight games of Texas Holdum and forbidden cerveza (snuck in from the tienda down the road).
Trick number 6- Read bedtime stories outloud for the group from slutty romance novels (preferably with seductive and smutty art on the cover) with prpoer accents for each character until every person in the room is laughing histerically at the ridiculousness of the writing and sex scene situation.
I have actually come to like this farming thing just a little bit. We get siestas during mid day which I am way into, and the other girls volunteering and I have bonded over our lack of plumbing and exboyfriend tales. We make iced tea at night with orange slices for our tea breaks during the day and get to make homemade pita bread and bake it over a camp fire which is pretty cool too. There are about 4 cute little kitties wandering around, my favorite is named Desayuno.
The shit house is coming along just fine and the house made out of thatched willows is almost done except for the roof. Its actually pretty cool to be able to say I made something like that. The little social abomination Paloma snuck into our room while we were all out working the fields yeterday and stole all the chocolate the volunteers had stocked from our weekend travel trip to Mendoza. The problem with this is she is lactose intolerant. She was missing from dinner tonight and when we asked Nacho where his sister was he told us she was sick from eating all our chocolate... I like to call that karma :)
SIDE NOTE: The family comments are HILARIOUS! I am sitting in an internet cafe laughing my ass off about the farming debates taking place among the sibs. I love you guys, priceless!
For some more stories click here to check out Liz´s blog!
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 13, 2008: Day 1 - Holy Shit! Im in a farm in BFE Argentina. What am I doing here? There are no indoor toilets, only a mud hut with a toilet seat suspiciously attached. Im already envisioning an Italy-toilet-seat-mid-pee-detachment-debacle repeat. Oh, and did I mention the sawdust toilet paper? Definitely not feng shuied for maximum pooping potential!
There are two obnoxious social abominations playing leap frog on TOP of the kitchen table named Paloma and Nacho, seriously, the kid is named Nacho! LOL! It´s frickin cold here too, we splurged at AR walmart equvalent on some little kid´s sleeping bags that come barely up to our nipples, which btw could cut through glass right now. We are supposed to wake up tomorrow at 8 and milk some goats or something in the mud fields, it´s probably going to still be dark outside just to spite me. We are sleeping in the loft with two twin sized mattressses on the floor of a room which is about 4 feet tall and could fit a king sized matress and NOTHING else. The ceiling is constructed out of cardboard and newspapers and held together with what looks like spiderwebs and staples. Everyone speaks spanish except for me, I have the feeling I am going to get really good at charades by the end of this ordeal. I would kill for a toilet shower right now.
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 15, 2008: Day 3 - Shit show! Literally! We were both elbow and knee deep in horse shit today, called barrow, for four hours this afternoon. If you add straw and dirt to horse shit and water it down you have an amazingly disgusting adheisive to patch houses... or throw at little children (hehehe). I stomped around in the kiddie pool sized horse shit mixture for four hours this afternoon, mixing it for maximum patching power and filling huge buckets for Liz so she could throw heaping handfulls at the shit house we are constructing. GROSS!
It seems that the jobs we are doing get daily worse and worse. We hoed this morning for four hours, which isn´t soooo bad because I can concentrate on my abs and arms and rock out to my ipod and just think of it as a work out, but that horse shit house is horrid.
I would KILL someone for some sugar. At night I have been shoveling Argentinian cheerios called Aritos into my mouth and sucking off the sugar and honey just so I can taste something sweet.
We have been on a steady diet of polenta and salad. Its pretty bad!
Madre Tiera farm, Oct 23, 2008: Day ? - Lost track of days, but I have figured out the trick to this farming thing.
Trick number 1- when bored strike up conversations about hot topics like exboyfriends/ fashion/ celebrities/ hot gossip with those around you
Trick number 2- If trick number 1 isn´t possible due to lack of human interaction keep your ipod on you at all times and rock out like its New Years 1999.
Trick number 3- Stock BABY WIPES and chocolate at all times.
Trick number 4- Sink showers, and lots of them!
Trick number 5- Bond with fellow volunteers over midnight games of Texas Holdum and forbidden cerveza (snuck in from the tienda down the road).
Trick number 6- Read bedtime stories outloud for the group from slutty romance novels (preferably with seductive and smutty art on the cover) with prpoer accents for each character until every person in the room is laughing histerically at the ridiculousness of the writing and sex scene situation.
I have actually come to like this farming thing just a little bit. We get siestas during mid day which I am way into, and the other girls volunteering and I have bonded over our lack of plumbing and exboyfriend tales. We make iced tea at night with orange slices for our tea breaks during the day and get to make homemade pita bread and bake it over a camp fire which is pretty cool too. There are about 4 cute little kitties wandering around, my favorite is named Desayuno.
The shit house is coming along just fine and the house made out of thatched willows is almost done except for the roof. Its actually pretty cool to be able to say I made something like that. The little social abomination Paloma snuck into our room while we were all out working the fields yeterday and stole all the chocolate the volunteers had stocked from our weekend travel trip to Mendoza. The problem with this is she is lactose intolerant. She was missing from dinner tonight and when we asked Nacho where his sister was he told us she was sick from eating all our chocolate... I like to call that karma :)
SIDE NOTE: The family comments are HILARIOUS! I am sitting in an internet cafe laughing my ass off about the farming debates taking place among the sibs. I love you guys, priceless!
For some more stories click here to check out Liz´s blog!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
La Finka
Liz and I just spent the last two weeks on a farm in BFE without internet or phone, I have never appreciated hand lotion, indoor plumbing, and baby wipes more in my life. We are catching a bus in an hour to go to El Bolson so when we get there i´ll update on pictures and stories, because there are quite a few good stories of shinanigans to be told. Love you all!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Trabajando en la granja
For the past week Liz and I have been working on a farm about an hour outside Mendoza. A little tid bit on life that im not really sure I ever wanted to know, but I am now able to take away from this experience is that caca de caballo mixed with straw, and a little water makes a wonderful adhesive. Gross! We have been working the fields with a hoe
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Salta part I
Salta day one: Liz and I arrived in Salta after a 10ish hour bus ride, tired, cranky, and cold. We spent most of the first day familiarizing ourselves with the town, and getting to know out new roommates, two mates from New Zealand with the best accents and most hilarious cultural expressions I have heard in a long time. Our hostel is cute. It is painted in exotic bright colors and gives us free breakfast and dinner, which is served usually around 10pm or later, so since Liz and I cant really make it that long we usually have a light dinner around 6ish and consider the homemade food cooked at the hostel our 4th meal.
Salta at night
The view of Salta from San Bernado hill. It took us 1070 steps to reach the top.
The view from under a beautiful and refreshing waterfall on top of the hill
Salta day two: We went to a travel agency to arrange to see the salt flats and the cute little town of Cafayate for a wine tour. We really wanted to do the Tren de las Nubes, which means Train to the clouds, but we were told it isn´t in the best working condition and probably wouldnt be worth the trouble. We are told the other excursions will take two days. So we choose to do the salt flats on day three, and wine tasting on day four with our new mates in tow.
Salta at night
The view of Salta from San Bernado hill. It took us 1070 steps to reach the top.
The view from under a beautiful and refreshing waterfall on top of the hill
Salta day two: We went to a travel agency to arrange to see the salt flats and the cute little town of Cafayate for a wine tour. We really wanted to do the Tren de las Nubes, which means Train to the clouds, but we were told it isn´t in the best working condition and probably wouldnt be worth the trouble. We are told the other excursions will take two days. So we choose to do the salt flats on day three, and wine tasting on day four with our new mates in tow.
Salta Part II
Salta day three- The long excursion to the salt flats. We had the cutest little tour guide and the most insane driver. I feel like the rules of the road here are more like guidelines instead of actual rules. They drive on whichever side they choose, careening around corners at lightning speeds. Crazier than Hilo drivers if at all possible. We made it alive though to the salt flats, which looks like the craggy surface of the Burning Man playa.
These ponds are pure salt. Water lies a few inches under the surface.
On the ride back we took this crazy awesome road
My favorite part though was on the ride back to Salta passing through the most beautiful mountains you have ever seen. These mountains come in every color you can imagine: Steel blue, peach, plumb, carnation pink, tangerine, periwinkle, rust, moss green, aquamarine, tericotta, banana, and safron just to name a few. They are the most gorgeous geological wonders just resting outside the small town of Purmamarca in the Jujuy region. They are the different colors becasuse there is an abundace of minerals in the ground that makes the dirt change into the pastel shades.
Salta day four- We went on another tour, but this time to the town of Cafayate. We visited 3 different wineries and had numerous stops along the way for photoshoots and snack breaks. The New Zealand boys, Eric and Karl were hilarious. They told us about this tradition (if you can call it that) in their family. They have created something called the lunge club, and apparently its a sort of competiton to see who can do a lunge in the most outrageous place. Along the road to the wineries are all these massive rock formations that the Argentinians think resemble various objects, like a toad, or a nail, or titanic...
So Erik and I decided to do a lunge pic on top of the look out spot with titanic sinking in the background. So funny.
Cafayate vineyard
We spent the 2 hour ride back being entertained by the boys telling us in creative detail and animation the story of the Rambo and Rocky series.
Salta day five- Liz and I just basically lazily wandered around town today visiting different churches and window shopping, drooling over all the things we cant buy.
Inglesia San Francisco
Inside the cathedral
Que Bonita!
Tonight we have a 20ish hour bus ride to Mendoza on the western edge of the country by the foot of The Andes mountains.
Obnoxious, yet shamelessly appreciated catcall tally of the day: 14
These ponds are pure salt. Water lies a few inches under the surface.
On the ride back we took this crazy awesome road
My favorite part though was on the ride back to Salta passing through the most beautiful mountains you have ever seen. These mountains come in every color you can imagine: Steel blue, peach, plumb, carnation pink, tangerine, periwinkle, rust, moss green, aquamarine, tericotta, banana, and safron just to name a few. They are the most gorgeous geological wonders just resting outside the small town of Purmamarca in the Jujuy region. They are the different colors becasuse there is an abundace of minerals in the ground that makes the dirt change into the pastel shades.
Salta day four- We went on another tour, but this time to the town of Cafayate. We visited 3 different wineries and had numerous stops along the way for photoshoots and snack breaks. The New Zealand boys, Eric and Karl were hilarious. They told us about this tradition (if you can call it that) in their family. They have created something called the lunge club, and apparently its a sort of competiton to see who can do a lunge in the most outrageous place. Along the road to the wineries are all these massive rock formations that the Argentinians think resemble various objects, like a toad, or a nail, or titanic...
So Erik and I decided to do a lunge pic on top of the look out spot with titanic sinking in the background. So funny.
Cafayate vineyard
We spent the 2 hour ride back being entertained by the boys telling us in creative detail and animation the story of the Rambo and Rocky series.
Salta day five- Liz and I just basically lazily wandered around town today visiting different churches and window shopping, drooling over all the things we cant buy.
Inglesia San Francisco
Inside the cathedral
Que Bonita!
Tonight we have a 20ish hour bus ride to Mendoza on the western edge of the country by the foot of The Andes mountains.
Obnoxious, yet shamelessly appreciated catcall tally of the day: 14
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Oktoberfest
We will begin this journey in the quaint little town of Villa General Belgrano in the middle of the country of Argentina. Every year this little town gathers amongst their cobble stone streets, hand carved wooden store front signs, and massively large wheels of cheese to celebrate thier German heritaige. Somehow I am finding it hard to describe the levels of awesomness that make it possible for Oktoberfest to exist, so since a picture is worth a thousand words I am going to let the stories be told through the amazing photographic stylings of our twin cannon cameras...
After a grueling 2 hour bus ride and car sickness galore we reached the town of Villa General Belgrano. The first thing I have to do of course is get a fabulous felt fabric elf hat with a massive black feather sticking so far up into the air I can barely reach the tip when I extend my hand straight up in the air. So ridiculous, but everyone else is wearing one, and afterall I am trying to assimilate to the cultre.
The king and I
The parade going through the center of town, which only has one main street and no stop lights that I could see.
The aftermath... I really think this picture is one of my favorite food binge gluttony reminders. I mean just look at theat sugar coma in the making. It makes me laugh even now. Let me do a little recap of the activities and all the junkfood festival foodstuffs we consumed in just one day... wake up, cereal and dolche de leche by the truckloads, nauseating bus ride from hell, french fries, pounds of swiss chocolate, funny hat purchase and small happy dance, beer, parade, mint icecream, beer, the biggest bag of fluffy cotton candy I have ever seen, beer, another nauseating bus ride back to Cordoba, pizza, chocolate milk, and finally a caramel apple (purchased at the parade) and saved for this exact moment of perfect junk food gluttony. AWESOME!
After a grueling 2 hour bus ride and car sickness galore we reached the town of Villa General Belgrano. The first thing I have to do of course is get a fabulous felt fabric elf hat with a massive black feather sticking so far up into the air I can barely reach the tip when I extend my hand straight up in the air. So ridiculous, but everyone else is wearing one, and afterall I am trying to assimilate to the cultre.
The king and I
The parade going through the center of town, which only has one main street and no stop lights that I could see.
The aftermath... I really think this picture is one of my favorite food binge gluttony reminders. I mean just look at theat sugar coma in the making. It makes me laugh even now. Let me do a little recap of the activities and all the junkfood festival foodstuffs we consumed in just one day... wake up, cereal and dolche de leche by the truckloads, nauseating bus ride from hell, french fries, pounds of swiss chocolate, funny hat purchase and small happy dance, beer, parade, mint icecream, beer, the biggest bag of fluffy cotton candy I have ever seen, beer, another nauseating bus ride back to Cordoba, pizza, chocolate milk, and finally a caramel apple (purchased at the parade) and saved for this exact moment of perfect junk food gluttony. AWESOME!
Friday, October 3, 2008
News Updates
Good News: My toe is NOT broken! Hurrrrrrray! I have been hopping, skipping, and jumping for joy (litterally, just because I can).
Better News: The strap on my purse broke a few days ago and is being held together by some superglue and a struggling, suffering little paperclip. Now I know this may seem like bad news, but actually it means I get to buy a new purse! Whoooo hoooo! Which is extra super excellent since I have been admiring all the vibrant and bright colors floating around Cordoba. It seems like the streets are glowing with violets and marigold yellows (which im told are the favorites of the season). Im on the search for an animated violet color to tote around on my arm.
Absolutely excellent news: We found the BEST empanada joint in all of Cordoba, and it is only 4 blocks from our hostel. They have over 60 different varieties of empanadas. Its amazingly delicious! These little babies are so delectable and scrumptiously tasteful. We have been to this little hole in the wall so far everyday since we found it. Here is what our daily diet looks like:
Breakfast- Bread with heaping spoonfulls of caramel and coffee,
Lunch- empanadas,
Snack- more empanadas (because of course we got 1/2 dozen for lunch),
Dinner (usually at 6ish)- maybe some sort of vegetable something or other, but alwyas smothered in cheese,
Second dinner (because Argentinians don´t usually eat until around 10pm) MEAT!
I think we are going to turn into empanadas if we keep it up, but they are just SO. DAMN. GOOOOD!
Semi bad news: We were going to head to Oktoberfest today in the cute little town of Villa General Belgrano but it seems there is a bus strike happening today. Just today though and not tomorrow, which I dont really understand because it doesn´t seem that anything could be resolved in one day. hmmmm, oh well. So now plans have changed and we are going to Oktoberfest it up tomorrow instead. So that means we are stuck in Cordoba for another day of wandering and shopping.
Lots of love!
XOXO,
Juli
Better News: The strap on my purse broke a few days ago and is being held together by some superglue and a struggling, suffering little paperclip. Now I know this may seem like bad news, but actually it means I get to buy a new purse! Whoooo hoooo! Which is extra super excellent since I have been admiring all the vibrant and bright colors floating around Cordoba. It seems like the streets are glowing with violets and marigold yellows (which im told are the favorites of the season). Im on the search for an animated violet color to tote around on my arm.
Absolutely excellent news: We found the BEST empanada joint in all of Cordoba, and it is only 4 blocks from our hostel. They have over 60 different varieties of empanadas. Its amazingly delicious! These little babies are so delectable and scrumptiously tasteful. We have been to this little hole in the wall so far everyday since we found it. Here is what our daily diet looks like:
Breakfast- Bread with heaping spoonfulls of caramel and coffee,
Lunch- empanadas,
Snack- more empanadas (because of course we got 1/2 dozen for lunch),
Dinner (usually at 6ish)- maybe some sort of vegetable something or other, but alwyas smothered in cheese,
Second dinner (because Argentinians don´t usually eat until around 10pm) MEAT!
I think we are going to turn into empanadas if we keep it up, but they are just SO. DAMN. GOOOOD!
Semi bad news: We were going to head to Oktoberfest today in the cute little town of Villa General Belgrano but it seems there is a bus strike happening today. Just today though and not tomorrow, which I dont really understand because it doesn´t seem that anything could be resolved in one day. hmmmm, oh well. So now plans have changed and we are going to Oktoberfest it up tomorrow instead. So that means we are stuck in Cordoba for another day of wandering and shopping.
Lots of love!
XOXO,
Juli
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Museums and street art
There are a few things that are universal, such as the need to express through art. We have been spending our days traipsing about to various fine art museums and parks. Although the fine art in the galleries is amazing my favorite part about this prominent university town is the street art.
Spray paint stencils are everywhere, and they are awesome political and social statements. Like this one about Che, which is made even better by the book I am reading about his life.
Some more street graffiti. It´s really cool to see tags in another language.
While strolling through the Dinosaur Museum today we discovered another thing that seems to be universal... Taxidermy. Thats right, the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form. Take this little guy for example from the Musuem of Natural History...
I don´t even know what this is!?! Although this little fossilized prehistoric spitfire did make me laugh today because it reminded me of when I psudo-lived with Tonya in her Ducks appartment in Eugene and she would pull back the head skin of her kitten and chase me around the appartment with kitty held in front like a pissed off live shield, hissing and squirming with its eyes all bulged out. That thing was a menace, Ahhhh the spitfire days.
Something that Liz and I have been doing to amuse ourselves when we get bored is taking humorous American phrases and making a literal translation out of them. Example: Beefcake - used to describe a suave man of above average physical attractiveness who struts around showing his bulging biceps in tiny muscle shirts and tight jeans. The literal translation we have thus far attained is: Pastel de carne. This first came about when we were in BA and our doorman/bouncer at the first hostel turned out to be quite the Ricky Martin look alike beefcake. So imagine how hard we laughed today when we are in the mall in Cordoba, browsing the foodcourt for our usual empenada lunch regime when we saw this...
It´s a stew, who knew? When Liz pointed it out I think I peed a little.
In other news, Uncle John asked if US politics is a hot topic of discussion over here, well I imagine it is, however between our two simple phrases spanish translation books they pretty much only teach you how to talk about the green party, global warming, and the environment. So far its a no go on the hot political discussions. Turns out we only know how to talk PC around these parts.
I have also started keeping a daily tally of the various shows, gestures if you will, of appreciation we recieve from men. Just so everyone is clear as what constitutes as affection in this category I will name a few we have personally witnessed: Whistling, yelling compliments from long distances, the creepy over the shoulder ear whisper, honking the horn, clicking the tongue, clapping, presenting gifts, crashing the car/bicycle/skateboard into a stationary object because the drivers head is turned in an obviously leering way that leaves no room for even the peripheral vision to obey the rules of the road, and of course who can forget the ever popular marriage proposal... Just to name a few.
October 1, 2008 tally: 11
XOXO
Spray paint stencils are everywhere, and they are awesome political and social statements. Like this one about Che, which is made even better by the book I am reading about his life.
Some more street graffiti. It´s really cool to see tags in another language.
While strolling through the Dinosaur Museum today we discovered another thing that seems to be universal... Taxidermy. Thats right, the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form. Take this little guy for example from the Musuem of Natural History...
I don´t even know what this is!?! Although this little fossilized prehistoric spitfire did make me laugh today because it reminded me of when I psudo-lived with Tonya in her Ducks appartment in Eugene and she would pull back the head skin of her kitten and chase me around the appartment with kitty held in front like a pissed off live shield, hissing and squirming with its eyes all bulged out. That thing was a menace, Ahhhh the spitfire days.
Something that Liz and I have been doing to amuse ourselves when we get bored is taking humorous American phrases and making a literal translation out of them. Example: Beefcake - used to describe a suave man of above average physical attractiveness who struts around showing his bulging biceps in tiny muscle shirts and tight jeans. The literal translation we have thus far attained is: Pastel de carne. This first came about when we were in BA and our doorman/bouncer at the first hostel turned out to be quite the Ricky Martin look alike beefcake. So imagine how hard we laughed today when we are in the mall in Cordoba, browsing the foodcourt for our usual empenada lunch regime when we saw this...
It´s a stew, who knew? When Liz pointed it out I think I peed a little.
In other news, Uncle John asked if US politics is a hot topic of discussion over here, well I imagine it is, however between our two simple phrases spanish translation books they pretty much only teach you how to talk about the green party, global warming, and the environment. So far its a no go on the hot political discussions. Turns out we only know how to talk PC around these parts.
I have also started keeping a daily tally of the various shows, gestures if you will, of appreciation we recieve from men. Just so everyone is clear as what constitutes as affection in this category I will name a few we have personally witnessed: Whistling, yelling compliments from long distances, the creepy over the shoulder ear whisper, honking the horn, clicking the tongue, clapping, presenting gifts, crashing the car/bicycle/skateboard into a stationary object because the drivers head is turned in an obviously leering way that leaves no room for even the peripheral vision to obey the rules of the road, and of course who can forget the ever popular marriage proposal... Just to name a few.
October 1, 2008 tally: 11
XOXO
