An Amazing End to an Amazing Semester

All my bags are officially packed. I'm sitting in my room and have a few miscellaneous items laying on my desk, waiting to be put into my backpack. This feels so surreal. I have lived in Uruguay for almost four months of my life. I have traveled across South America, all across Uruguay, into Brazil, Paraguay, and both ends of Argentina. I hope with everything in me that I will be able to return here someday.

All bittersweet aspects aside, I need to update you about the past few days.

Sunday and Monday we took a group trip to Rocha. We were supposed to go there last weekend, but that fell through due to the weather. I'm so glad it did, because the weather the past few days was perfect. There were barely any clouds in the sky and the temperature was at least in the 80's.. I don't know exactly. Anyways, we spent some time at the beach that was right by our hotel and just enjoyed hanging out at the beach before lunch. Later that afternoon, we went to the Ombu Forest, which has these HUGE plants that look like trees but are actually more closely related to grass than trees, strangely enough. Many of them were hollowed out or had holes in them - I thought they were pretty cool!

check out that mad frisbee form ;D

Lindsey and I inside an Ombu bush/tree/thing

Sunday was pretty fun, but Monday was when our mini-vacation got really good. We traveled to Cabo Polonia for the afternoon. [You should google some pics of that, it's so beautiful.] Anyways, this place is incredibly secluded and does not have any actual roads that lead there. If you want to get there you must take a huge 4x4 truck or ride a horse. With the large number of people we have in or group, we took one huge 4x4. The weather was perfect. Early that morning several people wanted to go out and watch the sunrise over the ocean, but the sky was completely overcast. However, by about 10am on there was hardly a cloud in the sky. We saw a lighthouse and a bunch of sea lions, and then the next few hours were our own to spend however we chose. The beach was amazing there. The water was light blue and the waves were awesome. All fifteen of us put on sunscreen and ran into the cold ocean water. It was SO fun. We were able to spend a couple hours playing in the waves and swimming in the ocean, and once I became tired, I went back with a few others and laid out under the sun to dry off.
My only wish was that our time at that beach could have been longer, but those few hours made the entire trip well worth it.


We came home Monday night and I began packing. Tuesday morning I woke up and continued my packing before lunch, and once lunchtime rolled around I was able to celebrate my birthday! Raquel had cooked my birthday lunch and cake since my birthday will be coming next week and I won't get to celebrate it here in Uruguay. It was fun to be able to say that I celebrated my birthday in the Summer. :)


I have two other side notes that I have neglected to write about on here...
1. Please disregard all the grammar and spelling mistakes that I have made in this blog. Learning Spanish has completely murdered my English-speaking abilities. I'm hoping once I get back to the States my English will restore itself to the condition it was in before I came to this Spanish speaking country. Be patient with me as I work on that when I get back.. haha :)
2. I have learned that the United States is very selective in its history lessons. We all had to take an International Studies course while we were here and read Born In Blood and Fire, a history book about Latin America. Between reading that book and learning about Uruguay's history, I discovered that they aren't afraid to let people know about their history's mistakes. Latin Americans teach others about their struggles as well as their triumphs. Upon learning about this new history, I learned about instances where the United States made its mark on Latin America. Most of these stories I had never been taught before, and most of them revealed things about my home country that I would not be very proud of. It was insightful to be able to look at the United States from another country's perspective, even though it was more of a negative perspective.

Alright, well I just thought I'd write about those two things, because I had wanted to in an earlier post and had just forgotten.

We leave in one hour for the airport. WOW.
See you guys soon!

Tourist Season Has Arrived

Before I talk about our trip to Rocha, which was an amazing way to end our semester, I have a few etcetera things to say about this past weekend.

On Saturday, several of us got up and went shopping for all our last minute souvenirs for ourselves as well as our friends/family. We took a bus to Ciudad Vieja and just started walking back to Casa, shopping throughout downtown all the way back through the busy street of 18 de Julio. When we first got off our bus and started walking through the Old City, we noticed that there were a lot more people walking around than usual. Also, the more we walked around, the more we noticed that the majority of these people were speaking English. It was so weird! Since it was the first weekend of December, [which is Summer here, in case you forgot] it was also the first weekend marking Tourist Season. It felt so strange to be able to understand everything people were saying around me.


So, I have an addition for my "Things I Will Miss" list -
The Language Barrier - I know, that sounds strange, but it has been nice to be able to completely tune other people out if they are not talking to you. If I want to understand what people are saying, I need to concentrate on every word. Then, once I figure out what that person is saying and successfully communicate back to them, I feel so accomplished. It is such a great feeling right after you have a successful conversation with someone entirely in Spanish.

Some other things I have realized from this particular experience, as well as just from thinking aloud with others:
When we first arrived in Montevideo, I thought everyone was so quiet. We would be around huge groups of people and it would feel like we were one of the only groups of people there. Now, I do not feel that way at all. The streets don't seem loud to me, but they no longer seem quiet either. Which makes me wonder... when we get back to the States, am I going to be completely overwhelmed the noise level? We have all been talking about this here a bit, and I think we all agree that we will probably experience sensory overload. Not only will people probably be a lot louder than we are used to, but we will also be able to understand what everyone around us is saying. Which brings me to my next thought...

I am so glad I came here this semester. True, next semester's group will get to experience Carnival, which is a HUGE celebration here and will be so awesome, but all those tourists were annoying. Which made me realize another thing. While we were walking downtown on Saturday, I almost started to comment on how all the English-speaking tourists were getting on my nerves and had to stop myself with the reminder that they can understand me. We have gotten used to being able to talk about people who are right beside us, knowing they cannot understand what we are saying in English. Once we're back at the States, looking over to tell a friend, "that guy is totally being a creeper" or, "check out that girl's shoes" while standing right beside them probably won't go over too well. We're going to have to start analyzing people in Spanish once we get back... although living in Texas, people will probably still be able to understand us!

Lastly, I have come to realize that talking to strangers once we get back to the States is going to be so much easier than before I left to study abroad. Before coming here, I hated calling people I did not know or talking to random strangers if I needed something from them, but now? piece of cake. I have had to try and do these things for four months without even knowing the language. Countless times I have formed phrases in my head, approached someone, and asked my question, hoping that somehow I would be able to understand their answer. Now it doesn't seem like a big deal at all to talk to people I don't know. Especially once I'm back in a country that speaks English.


All in all, this has been such an amazing semester. I'm going to update this again here pretty soon and talk about the past few days, because they are definitely worth mentioning. But first, I have quite a bit more packing to do.

Oh and PS - you know my comment about the exchange rate in my last post? yeah, it's now up to 24.25 URU pesos to every USD. heck.yes.

Lists and Things I've Noticed

As the semester is coming to a close, I have done quite a bit of thinking about what I have grown to love here in South America, what I am going to miss, and what I am looking forward to coming home to when I get back to the United States.

Things I will Miss:
1. The food. I have fallen in love with Uruguayan food. Chivitos, Milanesa, Alfajores... not to mention the La Cigale ice cream parlor down the street! Some people in our group are not huge fans of the food down here because there is not a lot of seasoning used in the preparation, but anyone who knows me knows that plain food is not an issue when it comes to my taste in food! - Just a quick explanation of what those kinds of food are.. Chivitos are basically hamburgers and can be made with either steak or chicken. However, they also contain fried eggs, lettuce, tomato, bacon, ham, cheese, mayonnaise, olives, and whatever else you can think of. Milanesa is like a slab of chicken fried steak, often topped with ham and melted cheese. And alfajores... they're a kind of cookie here. Think two fluffy sugar cookies with dulce de leche in the middle, doused in chocolate. mmmm. Though my taste buds will be sad to leave all this, I'm sure my waistline will thank me, haha! :)
2. Raquel and Mariela - they're our cooks. I'm adding them as a second bullet, but throwing them in with number one's explanation.
3. The laid back lifestyle of Uruguayans. I have discovered that my sense of time has been completely skewed over the past three and a half months. Time just is not as big of a deal here as in the US. I am curious to find out how it is going to feel once I'm plunged back into the fast-paced life in the states.. Will I fall right back into that kind of lifestyle? Or has my view on life altered enough to where I'll be able to hold onto some of that Latin American laid-back attitude?
4. No tax. That one speaks for itself. I love not having to factor in an extra eight percent or so into everything I buy here.
5. Living without a purse or cell phone. This kind of goes along with number three, to an extent. It was weird to not be permanently attached to my cell phone at the beginning of the semester. I kept thinking it was vibrating, only to reach into my back pocket and discover its absence. Don't get me wrong - once I am back in the states I'm sure it will be right back on me at all times, but it has been a wonderful four month break.
6. The smell of our laundry. We take our laundry to the lavanderia every week or so, and the next day we pick it up, smelling quite like heaven.
7. Piropos - I actually just learned this word yesterday. So I know, most people would probably have this on their list of things they did not like about South America, but I've found them to be flattering for the most part. Piropos are the men who go around in the streets, yelling out and whistling at the pretty women who walk by. Sometimes they get annoying, or just plain creepy if it's an older man, but for the most part, I choose to take them as complements. It was weird to get used to, but what girl doesn't like to be told she looks pretty as she's walking by?
8. Living in Casa ACU. This is one of the biggest things I am going to miss. I have absolutely LOVED living with fourteen other college students, all under the same roof. I feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to get to know each and every one of those fourteen people - we have had such an incredible group. Last night I was reading in the computer lab at about 12:30, and I just sat back and took everything in. People were sitting around me, doing homework or just facebooking on the computers, I heard a fiddle and harmonica playing from a couple rooms over, and I couldn't help but think how much I was going to miss being surrounded by all these people. Living with friends is officially one of my favorite things in the entire world. To my best friends back home who read this - one summer, we're all living together. It's official.


NOW, for a list of things I'm excited for:
1. YOU. Okay, that one is obvious. I'm crazy excited to see my family and best friends. I can hardly contain my excitement when I start thinking about that... Yesterday I was in class and caught myself staring off into space with a gigantic smile on my face, thinking about seeing you guys for the first time in four months. :D
2. Driving. Even though I have really enjoyed being able to walk everywhere, I do miss being able to get in my car and drive anywhere at the spur of a moment. I miss driving with the windows down; I miss blaring my music and singing along at the top of my lungs. Speaking of music...
3. Music. I miss being surrounded by music all the time. Given, I have been exposed to some awesome new bands and songs while I've been here, but most of the people here are not as nearly obsessed with music as my friends back home are. I'm excited to go home to that, especially after four months of hearing 90's songs playing all over the place. Not that I don't love 90's music - it's one of my favorite genres... but still. :D
4. Monster. I must admit, I have just found a replacement drink for Monsters - it's called "X4 Keep Moving." However, I still miss our green monsters back home, as ridiculous as that sounds.
5. Chick-fil-a, Taco Bueno, Chicken Express, Dominos... just a few of the restaurants I'm excited to come home to. I've decided on the way home from the airport, Chick-fil-a breakfast will be the first thing I consume. I'm so excited.
6. Free water and refills. When ordering drinks here at restaurants, we always are given a glass with a bottle (or can sometimes) of whatever drink we asked for. Usually our waiter will pour the drinks for us. Minus the fact that water is just as expensive as soft drinks and once you're done with that bottle you have to order another if you're still thirsty, it has been pretty fun to be served like that. But I am so ready for free water and refills.
7. Human interaction. That is a horrible title, but I don't know what else to call this one. People here have plenty of human interaction, kissing every person they know on the cheek as soon as they see them and as they're saying goodbye. However, I miss hugs. Not only that, but I also miss being able to walk down the street and make eye contact with strangers, smile, and say "hi" to them without worrying about them getting the wrong idea. I had to really work to make myself stop looking strangers in the eye and smiling at them as they passed by when I first arrived here in Montevideo.


These lists are anything but comprehensive, but they cover quite a bit.
Long story short, I'm ridiculously excited to come home, but I know I'm going to miss South America a ton.

In other news...
Classes are over!!! All my finals are on Friday. [I only have three actual finals, so it shouldn't be too bad.]
Sunday and Monday we are taking a trip to Rocha. I'm sure I'll write more about that one later.. We were supposed to go there last weekend, but the weather was bad so we decided to shoot for this weekend instead. so we're all praying for good weather this time around!
Now, I realize that the economy has been going through some awful times back in the States, although I must admit that I have not felt the effects of this depression. In fact, despite all it has been doing to everyone in the States, as well as the rest of the world, it has really benefited all of us here. Both the US dollar and the Uruguayan peso have become weaker. At the beginning of the semester, our exchange rate was about 18.80 pesos to the dollar. Now, we've got a 23.60 pesos to the dollar exchange rate. That definitely has helped me break even with my bank's ATM charges, haha.
Speaking of US influence on the rest of the world... I never realized how much our actions affect all the countries everywhere else in the world. There is an adage that goes, "If the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia." Living here has really been an eye opening experience, especially being here during the elections. I would be willing to make a bet that most Uruguayans knew more about our elections than many people living in the US.

Anyways, that's enough about politics. I swear, I'm turning into more and more of an adult by the month. We discovered that during free travel, when several times we found ourselves talking about subjects that our parents would be talking about over the dinner table. Yikes. [No offense, Mom and Dad.] :)
Well, that's about it for now. This time next week we will be on a plane headed your way! I wonder when I'm going to be able to wrap my mind around that... Probably not until I'm back in Fort Worth.

Two More Weeks...

It is so hard to believe that we now have less than two weeks here in Montevideo.
I'm excited to come home and see everyone, but I know I'm going to miss South America a TON.

People here have been getting ready for Christmas for the past couple weeks, which has felt so weird since it is now summer here.. And it definitely feels like it! The past few days it has been in the lower to mid 90's outside. Since they do not celebrate Thanksgiving here, they do not have a starting point to begin putting out decorations.
Speaking of, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home!!! We aren't celebrating Thanksgiving until tomorrow. Weird, I know, but it is because of our Ministry in Latin America class. About half of us have been taking this class since last friday, and today was our last day. Our teacher, Bio (pronounced Bee-you) flew here from his home in Brazil and has been teaching it as an intensive week-long course. It has been a busy week, but Bio is an amazing teacher and we have all been so blessed to have him here with us. I'm going to be sad to see him leave tomorrow morning.

Yesterday morning was an interesting day for our Ministry class. We were instructed to pair up with one other person and go out onto the streets and find two homeless people to ask a list of questions we were given. At first, this made me extremely nervous and even a little angry. I was not comfortable with approaching a random homeless person and asking them questions like if they thought God was the reason they were on the streets - much less in a language I'm not fluent in! Needless to say, I was doing a lot of praying as Kelly and I walked towards downtown, for both courage and safety. We had decided to only approach women, preferably older women if possible. We finally found a group of three people sitting on the sidewalk and nervously approached them. I asked if I could ask the oldest lady of the three some questions, and with the help of her friend we finally were able to have a conversation. She was SO sweet, and eager to talk to us. She hoped that God would someday allow her to get off the streets, but viewed her setbacks as trials, not curses from God. As we left, we gave her and her friend sandwiches. She was SO thankful, and kissed our hands, asking us to come back and visit her again. We made her day, and it felt so rewarding. Kelly and I are hoping to be able to go visit her again this next week, at least once.
The second person we approached was a lady who was probably in her early thirties and sitting with two of her children. We found out that she has three other children and she answered our questions, even though she was much more reserved than our first friend. We gave her a sandwich as we left as well, and as we were walking back to Casa ACU I turned back to see her two children eating the two sandwich halves. That made the whole day worth it.
That morning definitely stretched me, but my only wish is that we had had this class earlier in the year so that we could have done more things like this throughout the entire semester.

In addition to being busy with our Ministry class, those of us who are in the Latin America and the Arts have been frantically trying to finish all of our art papers that are due pretty soon. I have been writing non-stop for the past couple days, and just finished today!! It feels like such a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, it is amazing. After writing five papers in the past day and a half, I don't really know what to do with myself now that I'm done!


...I know there were a lot of things I was planning on writing about, but now I can't remember all of them. We might be going out of town this weekend to Rocha, but we might not. I find out tomorrow, so we'll see. I'm sure I will be remembering some of the things that I've forgotten, so I'll be updating more soon probably.
If not, though... see you guys in two weeks!

Fin del Mundo

It's about time I updated about our ten-day free travel break!
So, as you all know, I went to Ushuaia, Argentina with five others...

Our trip had an interesting start. We left Casa ACU at about 6:15am, allotting plenty of time to take taxis to the airport and get situated before our flight left at 8:30. However, after riding in our taxi for a little while, Aaron, who was sitting up front with the driver, asked what the name of the airport we were going to was because it seemed like we were not going in the right direction. Thank goodness he did! Our driver responded by saying, "Aeropuerto?! I thought you said, 'Al puerto!'" He was taking us to a port by the ocean instead of the airport! Luckily, he was extremely nice about it and turned around, getting us to the airport with plenty of time before our flight left.

After a connecting flight in Buenos Aires and the worst airplane food I've ever experienced, we finally made it to Ushuaia. I don't even know how to begin explaining how beautiful it was. We were flying over the bluest water I've ever seen, splattered with white dots that we knew could only be glaciers floating in the ocean. The water was surrounded by the snow-capped Andes mountains. All of this coupled with the sunny/partly cloudy skies was just incredible... I don't know how to describe how we felt, other than that we were awe-struck. I couldn't help but turn around to face the other five and say, "Good choice, guys."

We made it to our hostel without any problems and were met with some of the most helpful and friendly people I have been privileged to meet during my time in South America. We dropped off all of our things in our room and received a tour by Lucas, one of the guys working at the hostel. After our little tour, he asked to see the tours we had planned for the week, proceeding to tell us, "No no no, these will not work. These are for old people, they are very boring." A little panicked, we told him that we weren't sure if those tours could be changed. But Lucas was determined. He helped us call the tour agents and after a bit of effort, we had ourselves a new and improved tours schedule.

Although it was sunny upon arriving to Ushuaia, it began to rain during our tour of the hostel. Lucas laughed, saying, "It's Ushuaia! The weather is crazy here - it's true! We get everything - sun, rain, wind, and snow all in one day!" Little did we know how true that statement was... Before visiting this city, I had thought the weather in Texas was crazy! But sure enough, his words rang true. There were days it would be sunny and a bit warm at one point, then rain for fifteen minutes or so, become windy, AND snow! All in one day! It even hailed for a little bit on one of the days! Talk about crazy weather..

<- Sunny Ushuaia














<- Snowy Ushiaia

Our first major event for the week was a boat tour of the Beagle Canal. We went about 17km to see sea lions, Imperial Cormorants (birds that look similar to penguins but can fly), and the southernmost lighthouse in the world. Then we traveled another 50km in order to reach the penguins! The ride there was really amazing. The boat had an upper deck that you could go to hang out and take pictures, and the view was so beautiful. We were surrounded by Andes mountains and sailing through deep blue water that you could tell had to be freezing. Argentina was to our left and Chile was to our right. So even though I won't be able to make it to Chile this semester, at least I was able to see it! The penguins were adorable.. they were all waddling around and playing in the water. It was SO cute. I tried to lure one into the boat for you Steven so I could bring you one back, but they just couldn't be fooled! Tricky little guys.

The next day we went on a tour to two lakes, Lago Escondito and Fagnano. This was originally planned to be a bus tour with a couple stops at various lookout points, but Lucas helped us get that changed to a tour in a 4x4 truck that would take us down to the actual lakes through all the off-roading terrain which ALSO included lunch! Our driver came to our hostel to pick us up that morning and picked up a couple from London and Northern Ireland who would be riding with us. They were really cool and we had a great time getting to know them.
Side note: While I'm on the subject of meeting people from other countries... That was one of my favorite things about this trip. Ushuaia is a popular spot for people to travel to from all over the world, so we were able to meet and talk with all kinds of different people! This was especially true in our hostel - we met people from Australia, France, England, and other parts of the US, to name a few. It was so fun to cook, eat, and just sit and talk with people from all ends of the world. Not to mention listening to their accents! So cool.

Anyways, back to the 4x4 tour. We first stopped on the side of the road overlooking Lago Escondito, which means "the hidden lake." So beautiful. After spending a bit of time looking out at the view, we began our descent to the actual lake. We immediately started going down a steep pathway, laughing at the number of yellow "PELIGRO" signs we passed by. [Peligro means danger.]

Lago Escondito

We spent some time down by Lago Escondito and then headed to Lago Fagnano. Along the way, there were tons of dead trees and dams everywhere... Apparently Ushuaia has a big beaver problem. Small fact: in 1946, Canada brought over 25 beaver couples. Now, there are around 125,000 beavers. The government even started giving people fifteen pesos per beaver they can get rid of! Crazy, eh? ;)
Once we passed through Beaver Land, the 4x4 ride became really exciting. At times we would nearly be driving straight up or straight down - at one point my window was almost level with the ground because we were driving sideways! Claudio, our driver, was a lot of fun. He was crazy though! He got out of the vehicle at one point and just laughed as the car continued to drive even though he wasn't driving anymore! We drove through huge puddles and ditches filled with water or mud, and once we finally made it to Fagnano, he drove INTO the lake, as well as up a VERY steep hill. It was so fun! We got some great videos of that drive.
Lago Fagnano was huge. And freezing. But just as amazing as the previous lake, if not more!

Lago Fagnano

our 4x4 truck and driver!

For lunch we headed to this random ranch house where there was a fire in the fireplace and a huge table set up for us. It was so cozy and wonderful. We ate asado, a South American dish that basically means meat barbecued outside on the grill. It was SO good. We spent a lot of time sitting and talking amongst the six of us and our two European friends.

We ate some pretty great food during our ten day trip, along with some interesting selections I wasn't too fond of. One night we ate out at a seafood restaurant, which was amazing. However, another day for lunch we decided to be adventurous and order a seafood pizza. It was disgusting. The others didn't mind it too much, but man did my stomach hate me for trying that one! Though I must say, it was good to know that my taste buds haven't completely turned upside down.. I had begun to get worried since I have been eating so much seafood and enjoying it. I'm glad there is still some seafood I just plain do not like. Other than those instances, we did a lot of our own cooking, which was definitely a good plan. We spent less than $35 on food for the entire ten days!

We also visited Tierra del Fuego, the National Park. That was definitely an interesting day. Which by the way, we had decided to rent a car! So we were able to save some money instead of relying on taxis for some of the longer trips such as the one to Tierra del Fuego. That was definitely an excellent decision. It was so fun to have a car for a few days! We have all missed that. However, it was a standard, which meant that Tanner was the only one who could drive us around, since he is the only one who knows how to drive a stick shift well. Although that did not stop us from trying! We did not run into many people in the National Park since the weather was incredibly cold and snowy! -But I'll get back to that part. Since we were the only ones out there at times, we took turns driving around one of the parking areas, with Tanner's guiding help. Which means.... I drove. A car. Which was a standard. In the snow. AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Epic.
Another side note: [I know, this post is ridiculously long. I just had to accept and surrender to that fact.] We grew accustomed to putting "at the end of the world" to everything we did. We found that this addition instantly made whatever you were doing at the moment about a billion times more awesome. "I'm hiking up to a glacier...at the end of the world." "I'm walking down the street...at the end of the world." "I'm eating a sandwich...at the end of the world." ;D

Anyways, Tierra del Fuego. We explored around and got all excited when it began snowing, even though we were already FREEZING. [with the exception of Joanna, our whole group was from Texas. so snow is basically always going to be a big deal to us.] However, as we continued on, the snow only continued to fall harder. It wasn't until we were beginning to become real live snowmen that we decided we should probably head back to the car. On our way out we stopped by a small building that turned out to be the southernmost post office in the world, where we got our passports stamped, indicating that we had made it to the end of the world. Amazing.

Driving back home, [it's amazing how quickly we're able to call different places "home" now...] it was still snowing, so what did we do? We sang Christmas Carols. While everyone back home was engrossed in Election Day, we decided to celebrate Christmas! That night we watched Christmas movies, then looked outside to discover that it was yet again snowing, and this time sticking to the ground! We had a great time playing in the snow outside in our pajamas. The woman at the front desk of the hostel thought we were crazy, saying, "Estas loco!" when we walked back into the door after we'd had enough. [meaning, "y'all are crazy!"] We simply agreed, and went back to our room. :)

The next day we decided to go climb a glacier! It was beautiful. The higher we hiked, the harder it snowed. We passed a few hikers on our way up and they proceeded to tell us that we would not be able to make it to the actual glacier because there was too much snow. However, we weren't going to just give up without a fair fight! We decided to keep going and just see how far we could make it. We eventually had to stop once the snow got too high, but we definitely made the most of our surroundings. We made snow angels, had snowball fights, slid down hills, and fell into waist deep snow!
Eventually we had to start walking back to our car before the snow got bad enough to make us stuck up there. Even though we didn't get to climb the actual glacier, we made it far enough to say that we climbed up to a glacier!



There is a prison in Ushuaia where they used to send the worst criminals in South America. Since it's literally at the bottom of the earth, there was no way for any of them to escape - and if they did, they would certainly die from the cold before they got anywhere. The prison is now a museum, so we went and explored around in there one day as well. There was a section devoted to to pieces of art, but we definitely stayed FAR away from that area. Dang Art class. It probably would have been really interesting to me had I not been completely burned out on art museums.

I think that about covers all the main things that we did. It was so strange - every time we walked outside I would look up and all those mountains would surprise me. I never was able to get over how incredible they were. I just remember thinking to myself, "God, how are you this incredible??"
There is no way we would have been able to have as much fun as we did had we decided to stay at a different hostel. We were so lucky and blessed throughout our trip. With safety, by the people, and just the way that all the events played out.

our group with Lucas, right before we left

goodbye, Ushuaia

After leaving Ushuaia, we spent the night in Buenos Aires before coming back to Casa ACU. Let me just say, our hostel there only furthered our appreciation for La Posta. This hostel was nowhere near as nice, and instead of having our own room, we shared one big, hot room with about five other people. The hostel in general was just dirtier. But it was nice to have that as a contrast... I would hate to have the mindset that all hostels are like La Posta only to one day find out how horribly wrong that assumption is.
We did eat at TGIFridays in a mall in Buenos Aires. We were pretty excited because the menu showed that they serve different kinds of salad, which is not something that happens very often in the places we have encountered in South America. Even when there is variety in the salad selection, it is still very different from salad in the US. However, keeping that in mind, we were really disappointed to find out that those salads were more expensive than the steaks! We still ate there though - I think all our Christmas spirits from that week made us all a bit homesick and excited to see everyone back home. It was nice to have US food, even if it was still a bit different.

Our taxi to the airport on the way back to Casa ACU.... ask me for that story sometime. It's pretty intense. The short and sweet version though, is that our taxi driver kept trying to take us to the wrong airport by the time we finally convinced him to take us to the correct one, our taxi fare had gotten to be 80something Argentine pesos, when it should not have been more than 20. So we had an interesting time arguing with him over how much we would pay him, given that collectively we only had 17 Argentine pesos left. And by "we" I mean mostly Tanner. And by "interesting" I mean awful. It kind of worked out in the end... I mean, we obviously made it back to Casa, but it was definitely a frustrating ordeal.

However, we all made it back to Casa in one piece, excited to share our stories with our fellow casa mates and hear what everyone else had done. It was weird to not be surrounded by everyone for a whole ten days.. It makes me wonder what being apart for all of Christmas break is going to be like. I was defintely excited to be back home in Uruguay.

I have so much more to talk about that has absolutely nothing to do with free travel, so check back in a couple days and I will hopefully have time to update yet again. Next time it definitely will not be this long, though, don't worry. haha :)

EDIT:
Mom wanted me to put these two pictures up as well... here ya go Mom :)

See that little strip in the water? Yeah, that's where our airplane landed.

SNOW!!

Before We Head to the End of the World...

I need to update you on the past two weeks, as promised!

First, I want to mention something about Brazil that I forgot to put in my last post. In Brazil the main language spoken is Portuguese, so it was strange to suddenly be in yet another country where we didn't know the language again! Someone would say something to me, and once I understood what they wanted in English, I would try to translate it into Spanish, only to realize that they wouldn't understand that either! Talk about getting your languages confused!
It was a fun week of trying to communicate with people from all over the world, since Iguazu Falls is a hot spot for tourists from all over the world. At one point during our train ride to the falls, Brandon was speaking to a couple from Argentina in Spanish, Joanna was talking in English to a man from Germany with a heavy German accent, and Aaron was talking to our Uruguayan guide in Spanish as he was replying in English, both of them working on their speaking skills. I bounced from conversation to conversation because I was sitting in the middle of all this, but it was fun to just sit and listen.

Anyways, last weekend Jordan, my roommate Alex, and I went to Piriápolis! It was so nice to just go out and be on our own for a weekend. We stayed at a small hotel that was half a block from the beach and spent most of our time exploring and relaxing on the beach. My favorite story from the weekend came from Sunday as we were about to leave. Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining, so we were afraid that we would have to get earlier bus tickets to come home since we had been planning on spending the day at the beach. After we had eaten breakfast though, it had stopped raining and the skies had begun to clear up, so we decided to wait a little while and see if it got warmer outside. While we were waiting, we explored the area around the coastline and found a dock with several rock pools and had a great time climbing them and trying to maneuver our way through the slippery areas into the water. I felt like Pocahontas!

Once we had been playing in the rock pools for a while, it finally got warm enough for us to head back to the beach. Once we got situated there, two dogs came running right up to us. Alex and I got really excited; they were so friendly! It was strange though, because anytime someone walked anywhere close to where we were laying out they would both run to that person and bark at them until they were far enough away from us. Then they would both come running back and just lay down near or against us. It was precious! This went on for about an hour until we decided it was time for us to head back to the hotel and get our things so we could catch our bus back to Montevideo. The dogs both left with us and walked us to our hotel, where we then told them "adios!" and went our separate ways.

After we picked up our bag [yes, the three of us successfully packed in one bag], we started walking to the bus station. It was a pretty short walk, and when we got there, guess who we found waiting for us?! Our two friends!! They had gone all the way to the bus station to see us off! ;D It was adorable, and they continued to stay by our side until our bus arrived. It was the same story there - anytime someone walked close to us they would get chased and barked at until they were a ways away from us. Then the dogs would just trot back and plop down next to us again. God had a couple angels watching out for us that day :)

So that was our weekend! Needless to say, we were glad that we didn't buy tickets to come home early Sunday.
Monday brought about the start to an incredibly busy week. We had a picture party/Halloween party, since there wouldn't be time to celebrate Halloween any other time during this week. We all dressed up and submitted our 25 favorite pictures so far from the semester and had a great time laughing at some of the ridiculous things that we had caught on camera so far. The costume part was a lot of fun too - a lot of them came from jokes and things that had happened within our group here at Casa. I was a Uruguayan futbol player!

Tuesday night we got all dressed up to go to the Teatro Solis and see a ballet titled "Beyond Borders." It was really modern and actually had a lot of influence from the United States - I even recognized some of the music that was used. We all really enjoyed it!

Oh, another thing that has been going on the past two weeks is that we've all been going to a place called "the Alianza." Literally translated, it means "the alliance." It is a place where people living here can go to speak and learn English, as well as learn about the United States. We have all been going there in assigned pairs to volunteer by sitting in on classes or leading conversation clubs. We basically just go and talk to Uruguayans for an hour or so. It has been a pretty great experience for the most part, and we've gotten to meet a lot of Uruguayans that way!
Today Jordan and I are going to visit a classroom of intermediate speakers who will probably be around our age, give or take several years. We are also going to go to a classroom of eight year olds and teach them about Native Americans in the US. I'm excited! That's going to look pretty cool on a resume someday.. ;)

The rest of this week has been filled with everyone here at Casa frantically trying to get last minute things done before our ten day free travel break. Six people are leaving on a bus tonight for Brazil, three are leaving Saturday for Peru, and myself along with five others will be leaving early tomorrow morning for Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, located at the southern tip of Argentina. We're all SO excited!
One small fact about where we're headed for the next ten days: there's going to be 18 hours of sunlight during the day... that's how far south we'll be! How awesome is that?? :D

That's about all I've got for this post! I'm headed out to the Alianza now, and we're leaving for Patagonia in.... about 17 hours!!

¡Brasil!

I think all my posts on here are going to end up being long ones. I really should start updating this more often. This post, however, will only be about Brazil. I'll try to update again soon with everything that has happened since then.

Two weeks ago we all went to Iguazu Falls, Brazil for the week. It was such an amazing trip! Brazil is beautiful. At times we were literally in the rain forest, it was so cool! Our hotel was pretty awesome, too. Behind it was a plethora of animals, including peacocks, rabbits, turkeys, ostriches, bulls, and monkeys! We spent our first afternoon in Brazil walking around and exploring the area around our hotel.
Sunday we went to a huge bird park and saw many exotic birds up close. Some of the highlights were when a toucan attempted to eat my camera, a giant parrot tried to steal the bobby pins in my hair, and we walked through cages filled with butterflies. [All of the birds we were able to get close to were perfectly harmless though, don't worry.]

After the bird park, it was off to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls! We were told the saying that, "Argentina has the waterfalls, but Brazil has the view." Once we reached the falls, the view was simply amazing. Everywhere we went, I felt like I was right in the middle of a postcard. [which, by the way, I'm going to try and start sending more of... so send me your addresses!] I took a ridiculous amount of pictures - my camera died before we even made it to lunch! Everything was so breathtaking. And what was so crazy was that everywhere we walked, the more amazing it became! I would be stopped dead in my tracks, just in awe of what was before me, only to walk a little ways further to see something even more incredible! There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE, all around us, mixed with rainbows, butterflies, and flocks of birds flying in the vast quantities of mist.

After lunch that day ten of us were able to go on an extra tour through the rainforest and board a raft to go out INTO the river with the falls coming down around us. Our driver even took us under one of the falls four times - it was incredible! One person riding with us told us that the driver went under it two extra times just for us because we were having so much fun and being so enthusiastic.

In between two of the times we went under the waterfall -

INSIDE the waterfall -

Monday we went to the Argentina side of the waterfalls. We saw many waterfalls up close and ended at "Garanta del Diablo," literally translated to "Throat of the Devil." This is where many of the waterfalls meet and fall in one area - it was incredible. Seeing all of that makes it utterly impossible to doubt the majesty of our God. There was just SO much water in that one location - it was so powerful and beautiful.

Tuesday brought about a new kind of adventure by the name of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. We first visited the Itaipú dam, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World." After visiting the falls, it seemed kind of boring in comparison, but it was still pretty neat to see. After that we went into the city where we ate lunch and shopped around. The difference in our surroundings once we entered Paraguay was incredibly drastic. I was able to change some money into the Paraguayan currency, which ended up being about 4,500 guarani to 1 US dollar. At the end of the day, I left with five different currencies in my wallet - Paraguayan guarani, Uruguayan pesos, Argentine pesos, Brazilian reais, and US dollars.

Later that night, we all got dressed up to go to the Full Moon Dinner at the Falls. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do it or not because it had been cloudy all day, but the sky cleared up just in time to head back out to the falls. The walk back out to the Garganta del Diablo was breathtaking - literally one of, if not THE most amazing sight I've ever seen in my life. It was so peaceful. We were walking solely by moonlight, and the only sounds were from the water rushing around us and falling in the distance. However, once we got to the actual falls, it was anything BUT peaceful. Apparently the Devil's Throat was quite a bit more active that night than when we had gone the day before, because we became SOAKED, nice clothes and all. We spent the remainder of our night at dinner eating and having a good time, despite being drenched to our bones.

The last couple days in Brazil were spent visiting a Guaraní village [the indigenous people of the area]. Something interesting we learned about them was that since they live in the rainforest, they have adapted to their surroundings in that they are a very short people so that they do not have to crouch down as much to navigate through all the trees. Anyways, we spent some time there and were able to buy some things from them that they had made.

We also went to a Jesuit Mission for the Guaraní. That was a really awesome place to get to explore around in - the buildings, though broken down, were incredible.

So there you have it - I think that covers all the main points from the Brazil trip. I'm going to try and update this again tomorrow and write about my trip to Piriápolis this past weekend and all the things going on this week - we are in the midst of an incredibly busy week right now!

Another Long Post

Hey everyone!
Last weekend we took a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, about two hours east of Montevideo. It is a small historical town filled with tourist spots and museums. It was a beautiful day and the town was really neat. I really have been enjoying our opportunities to get out of Montevideo and see some areas where we aren't surrounded by buildings in every direction. Right as arrived at the town we stopped at an old bull-fighting stadium called the Plaza de Toros. The actual stadium was closed off due to the fact that it was falling apart, but there were already several other tourists that had climbed through the various holes in the fence. So, being the excited and curious college students that we are, we followed suit and climbed on through so that we could explore. It was such a cool feeling to step through the arches and onto the field. Even as I climbed into the stands I could just picture what it would have been like when the stadium was full with spectators waiting for the big bullfight.
Afterwards we ate lunch and explored the town, spending a lot of time at a lighthouse along Rio de la Plata (the widest river in the world). I bought a Uruguayan soccer jersey there too! :)

This weekend is Dia del Patrimonio, or Patriot's Day. It is an important holiday for Uruguay - all the Uruguayans spend the weekend outside taking part in some of the many festivities going on. Today and yesterday we spent a lot of time exploring around Ciudad Vieja (the Old City) which is like downtown Montevideo. A lot of places that are usually closed to the public open for this holiday, so we were able to explore some interesting places, such as the Teatre Solis (Montevideo's equivalent of our Bass Hall), a museum dedicated to the history of Uruguay's government, as well as some other random places we found while walking the streets. There were crowds of people everywhere watching the countless street performers, so we stopped to watch a few of those as well. There were dancers, people dressed up, and a man doing tricks on a tightrope. It was fun to see Uruguayans acting like tourists in one of their own cities.

Next weekend is going to be a big one for us, too. We have four days of classes this week, then early Friday morning we will be heading out on a 20+ hour bus ride to Brazil! I'm not exactly sure what all we are planning to do there, other than that we will be spending some time in Iguazu Falls. If any of you have seen the new Indiana Jones movie and remember the scene with all the waterfalls, that's where we'll be! It is one of the world's largest and most spectacular waterfalls. I'll be sure to take TONS of pictures, I promise. :) We'll also be stopping in Paraguay, I believe. Which means another passport stamp! I'm hoping by the end of this trip I'll have stamps from the majority of the countries in South America.

Some other big news - from October 31st until November 8th (I believe those are the correct dates) I will be heading to Patagonia, the southern tip of Argentina. Myself and five others will be staying in Ushuaia, which is the southernmost city in the entire WORLD. We already have our plane tickets and reservations at a hostel for the week. We also already purchased tickets for a train tour, the entrance fee for a day in Tierra del Fuego (a famous National glaciers park), a full day at Lago Escondito, and a boat tour where we'll get to go and see penguins! (I'll make sure to get pictures of them for you Steven). Those are the main things we have planned already, and I think we'll be spending our last night in Buenos Aires. I'm crazy excited :D

I think that covers all the major news. Oh, two weeks ago I started taking Tango lessons with some of the other students here as well as our directors, Wimon and Rosalinda. Every Monday night a couple comes to Casa ACU and gives us a formal lesson. It is a ton of fun - I'm loving it so far.

Also, our daylight savings started yesterday. It's kind of strange, since all of you in the United States won't change for another three weeks. So for three weeks we'll be three hours ahead of you, then once you guys change we'll be four hours apart. Pretty strange stuff.

That's about it! Time is flying down here. I feel like December is going to be here in no time - but I'm trying not to think about that yet. Until my next post.. I love you guys! And I'll try not to wait so long until my next post. :)

Of Excursions and Birthdays [Catch Up Post]

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote in this last! A lot has been going on. Which also means that if I don't update this now, I'm never going to be able to catch you all up with everything. I'll try to cover all the major things that have happened since last time I posted..

The fútbol game was really fun. Neither Equador nor Uruguay scored any goals, so they ended the game as a tie. Even though that was kind of a bummer, it was definitely a huge cultural experience. The entire stadium was filled with light blue clothing and Uruguayan flags and the crowd would frequently burst out in chants/songs.

The next weekend we went to Buenos Aires, which was one of the most amazing weekends I've had so far. We took a bus similar to a charter bus to Colonia, Uruguay and then got on a ferry that took us across the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires. I fell asleep on the bus before we even got out of Montevideo, so when I woke up to miles and miles of the greenest grass I'd ever seen, it was a pretty big shock. When all you've seen for two weeks straight is buildings and sidewalks, so much green was definitely a nice surprise. After I woke up I just stared out the window and watched the scenery as the sun set in front of us.

The next day, Friday, was filled with a three-hour tour of the city and two art museums. The tour was pretty interesting and we were able to make stops and see some popular sites, including the La Boca neighborhood, famous for their brightly colored buildings and street performers luring in tourists from all over the place:


Buenos Aires was incredible in itself. It is called the Paris of South America and with good reason - it is HUGE. I thought Montevideo was big, but it doesn't even compare to Buenos Aires. That night we all got dressed up and went to a Tango show/dinner. The food was amazing, and the show afterwards was just as good. It was a lot of fun to have an opportunity for everyone to get dressed up and have a night on the town afterwards.

Saturday evening we were able to go to a local church and meet with a big group of kids that were about our age from around the area. As amazing as the whole weekend was, I think this might have been my favorite night in Buenos Aires. We hung out at the church for a while and had a time of worship with them. Afterwards we decided to go to a place with several small fútbol fields and play soccer with people whose passion lies in those fields. We started walking to the fields and at least a good hour and a half later, we finally arrived. Needless to say, we got a good warm-up just walking to the fields. We broke up into teams of five, intermixing with the locals so that the teams wouldn't be TOO unevenly matched. Cindy and I played on a team with three of the local guys. It was pretty interesting because we found that guys generally do not pass to girls, so Cindy and I did not have a lot to do for a while and kept up the defense. Towards the end of the night, however, we started getting the ball more once our teammates figured out that we were pretty decent players :)
Here is our team:

Sunday morning we went to church to discover that there is a group of 60 students from Pepperdine University studying abroad in Buenos Aires! A portion of them were at the same church we went to, so we were able to spend time with them and hang out a bit later during the afternoon before we left to come back to Montevideo. It was exciting to see others studying abroad from the States and we got each others' names so we might be able to meet up again sometime later in the semester.


So that covers the main things that happened in Buenos Aires. The next week was pretty chill in Casa ACU because everyone was pretty tired from such a busy three-day weekend. The end of the week brought our first birthday here in Uruguay. Birthdays are becoming one of my favorite parts of living in Casa ACU. Raquel makes the most amazing cakes, and even though every meal she makes is basically guaranteed to be amazing, birthday meals are even more so, if that is even possible.
Earl's birthday was on Thursday, so we ended up making enough confetti to cover his entire bedroom floor and throwing it on him at midnight. Then we threw what I'm pretty sure has to be the first toga party Casa ACU has ever had.

Finally, this past Saturday we went to an Estancia about an hour and a half west of Montevideo. We were able to ride horses, go canoeing, and swim in an indoor heated swimming pool. It was a day filled with activities and we all were pretty beat by the end of the day. It was nice to get out of the city for a day and be surrounded by that abundance of green I was writing about earlier. Not to mention the horse I got to ride was an amazing pick. It was a very good day. I'll be sure to put up a picture or two once my friend Aaron puts his up onto facebook or shutterfly. [After my camera fell out of my pocket when my horse started trotting, I became a bit wary about keeping it out much - Don't worry, it is still good as new though.]
Here is a picture from our horseback ride and as we were pushing off in our canoe.


This weekend we are going to Colonia, the place mentioned earlier that we drove to in order to board the ferry for Buenos Aires. Apparently it is a city full of Uruguayan history and culture, so it should hopefully provide for more adventures and fun experiences.