April archive

Last Day

April 30, 2007

Today is my last day in Buenos Aires, and pretty much my last day in South America. Tomorrow I'll be in the airport ALL day, and on a late night flight home to all you pretty folk!!! I can't really write about the overall effects of this trip on me right now, I need to get a little more distance from here... haha. I don't really want distance from this place, because it has changed me and made me fall in love with it (and all the gorgeous men...), but hey. Everything happens for a reason right? Besides, I need some mommy and daddy love and some Armadillo Grill. Gosh I miss American food!!!! Even our versions of other ethnic foods are better than here. Italian, chinese, japanese... it just doesn't compare. However, we cannot do steak like they do in Argentina - cheap and delicous.

Anyway, you're probably wondering "why on earth is Eliza spending her last day in south america inside on a computer?" Well folks, the answer is simple. I'm tired, and I've seen a good part of BA in the past 2 weeks. And I have to get up at 4 am and probably not sleep for the next 36 hours. I'm going to take a nap.

See you all on the other side of the world.

Chatham in Buenos Aires

April 22, 2007

The past few days I've spent a lot of time with Amos, Mason and Abby! We figured out that we would all be in Buenos Aires at the same time, and took advantage of that fact! I had a fantastic time hanging out with a little Chatham Co. in South America! Especially so many of us! And I got to see Anna - It makes me not want to go home, and it also makes me so much more ready to be back! It was kind of strange seeing them because we are at such different points in our voyages. Abby, Amos and Mason all have 3-4 more months - I think all of them are coming home in late July. They have also only been here for just barely 2 months, whereas I am hitting my 4th month and getting ready to head home. They are all doing so well and their spanish is getting soo much better!! Amos introduced us to some of his friends, which was really nice. They are great people as well, and I'm glad to know he has some entertaining people surrounding him!

Abby seems to be having the time of her life, and I am soo excited for her. Every second she is enjoying life and embracing this experience. I can't wait to see her when she comes home! She was supposed to come home in late June, but now she will be spending about a month traveling. I think she is going to pull a Che Guevara and bike it down Chile and in Argentina, Bolivia and some other countries. By the way, if you've never seen "The Motorcycle Dairies" then you shoud immediately rent it, because it is a fantastic movie!! I really want to read the book - I'm sure its much better.

Mason is also doing really really well! His spanish is so good! I hung out with him during the day when Abby and Amos were in class, and we did a little bit of exploration of the city. Mason served as most of our communication because I seem to have lost most of my spanish skills when I started to really get Portuguese. Yikes. I'm getting better remembering, but the Argentine accent is soo different! They say y's as ch's, and drop s's sometimes, and just generally sound like they all have lisps. AND, they talk about 600 miles a minute. Good luck understanding that.

As for me, I am enjoying Buenos Aires, even though the weather hasn't really been optimal. It actually reminds me a lof of NC - going from high 80s for a couple days to mid 50s and rainy the next few. Thats where we are now - mid 50s and rainy. Its yucky, especially because I lost my rain jacket, and I don't have ANY warm clothes. Its ok though, can't stop me from going out and seeing the sights and enjoying the city. Today Gabby and I are going to an open air market in a neighborhood called San Telmo. It should be pretty cool! Oh! On Monday, it rained so hard in Buenos Aires that the streets flooded! It was awful, you couldn't get anywhere and the subway had to close early because the tunnels were flooding! People had to walk though several feet of water just to get home! Especially in the southern part of the city... So sad!

I'm getting very ready to come home - I want more summer! I also really really miss Brasil, wayyy more than i thought I would. I miss the food and the people and how much they laugh! Everyone is really serious here... ahh well. No worries. But Mom and Dad - you better get ready with the food... Barbeque and Carolina Burgers, chicken salad and cookies! And fresh milk!! AHHHH!! I miss that! Much love! See you all stateside in less than 2 weeks!

Buenos Aires!!!

April 16, 2007

The rest of Belo was really really fun... we went to Ouro Preto, and then went out for a night on the town Belo Horizante style (where I gashed open my elbow... oops.) which was amazing! Then the next day we went to a Churrasco, which is like a barbeque at someone's house (in this case, Anna's boyfriend's boss's). They spend all day cooking meat and drinking, and then around 7 eat more dinner, and drink more... and then they just dance and make fools of themselves. It was really entertaining... lots of people wanted to practice their english with us, and one of them was even trying to translate between Anna and her boyfriend (Anna was speaking in Portuguese)! It was pretty funny, and a very good time.

It was sad to leave, because I had such a good time! Anna's apartment is wonderful, and altough I didn't like Belo Horizonte as much as the other cities I've been to, it was still great to see Anna and to meet more Brazilians.

Now, I'm here in Buenos Aires! It is a beautiful city, without too many tall buildings! It is much cooler here than anywhere in Brasil, and everyone is very trendy! I'm getting tired of wearing the same clothes that I've been wearing for the past 3 and a half months! I feel a little out of place because I don't have any warm clothes! I'm waiting to meet up with Abby and Amos and Mason - communication isn't so easy down here because none of us have cell phones.... It is challenging even to make a plan, much less stick to it! I'm excited about getting out and using more spanish. Portuguese has taken over my vocabulary, and it is soo hard to make the small changes to spanish - yo instead of eu, gracias instead of obrigada, etc. But, I'm also really getting excited about coming home! I need to make some money instead of spending all of it (or borrowing it as the case may be). I also can't wait to see everyone and give some big hugs!

Love from BA.

Comments finally working

April 13, 2007

Well I've finally figured out how to make comments work. Have at it.

Love,

Zeke

Rio and Belo

April 11, 2007

I havent had much time at a computer lately.... at least not long enough to write a proper entry in this. I guess traveling will do that to you though. I havent written in my journal lately either.

Rio was amazing... as expected, the rest of my trip was just as fantastic as the beginning. Lucy and Efren and I went to see the Botanical Gardens, which are amazing and HUGE! This whole block is just like a little jungle in the middle of the city. It is incredible and we had such a good time goofing around and taking funny pictures of ourselves. The next day we went to the Corcovado... The huge statue of Christ the Redeemer. Lucky us, we went on Good Friday, probably when everyone in Brasil decides is a good day to go see Jesus. So, there was traffic out the wazoo, and we ended up getting out of our taxi and just walking up the top of the mountain. It is a pretty incredible scene, although I think it would have been a little more amazing had there been fewer people EVERYWHERE!!! I took some funny pictures, and Ill post them as soon as I can.

On a side note - computers in Brasil dont have the apostrophe. It sucks!

On sunday, after much debate about whether I should buy a bus ticket in advance or not, I went to the bus station to leave (no ticket), and there were no busses until 4 hours later. So I sat in the bus station for 5 hours. It was no problem though, because Lucy and Efren waited for me for a couple hours, so the time went by quickly. I read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (Im like, 3/4 of the way through Lance! It is great!). I made it to Belo Horizante unscathed by Rio, and by the bus through the mountains on a rainy night, with a scary bus driver.

Belo is a great city and Anna Hardy, who is generously putting me up, is soooo wonderful! Its great to see someone from Pittsboro after all these months. She has been here in Brasil since last July! Its been 9 months since shes been home!!! I dont know if I could do that right now. Im getting excited to come home and eat american food and drive a car and get hugs! Real, good, Pittsboro/Chapel Hill Hugs!!!

On Sunday I travel to Buenos Aires, and there Im meeting up with more Pittsboroians! Were everywhere!!!! Mason Phillips, Abby Wilson and Amos Vernon and I are all meeting up together in Buenos Aires. I think it will be fantastic!!! Im so excited to be ending my trip this way! Ive been using a lot of exclamation points, havent I. Yikes. hahaha.

More soon! Tomorrow we go to an old mining town called Ouro Preto. Ill let you know how it goes, and try and post all those pictures.

New Life Plan

April 4, 2007

I hope I don`t speak too soon when I say... I have fallen in love with Rio. Ive been here for like, 3 days so far, and I have hardly seen any of it, but I LOVE IT! A couple friends and I are staying in this adorable neighborhood called Santa Teresa. It is quiet and quaint, and has a trolley that goes up and down and all around the area because it is on a big big hill. The hostel we are staying in is amazing, (Jimi Hendrix just came on the stereo. What more could a girl ask for?) and we have hardly gone out at night because there is always something to do here. Lucy and I decided that after we graduate from college, we are going to buy a house here and open up a coffee shop with a hostel above it. Its a very exciting life plan, and I welcome any support / ideas anyone has about it.

Our first day in the city, Efren and I went to explore downtown, and ended up on the metro going to Copacabana beach (totally not in our original plan), and then bought what we thought were tomatoes, but were actually a strange sweet fruit. Not good for spagetti. We talked to a random homeless guy who tried to sell Efren a Linux magazine and a Wicca magazine. It was hilarious.

The beaches here (Copacabana and Ipanema) are gorgeous, with these incredible backdrops of fantastic mountains (the tall buildings get in the way) and islands in the front. The waves are like nothing Ive ever seen on the east coast... HUGE, sandy, and cold! The only people who actually get in the water are either barely in or are surfing. On Ipanema yesterday, a wave came while I was sticking my toes in that was so big it completely covered all my stuff that was about 30 feet back from where I was on the edge of the water. I lost my book, and my watch, and my sunscreen and chapstick. BOO!!! Its ok, I guess it is just a gift to Yemanja, the goddess of the ocean.

I was so worried about traveling and all this business of carrying all my stuff around, but it really isnt so bad. I head to Belo Horizante on Sunday, and then to Sao Paulo next saturday, and then to Buenos Aires on next sunday. It should be a great month. It has had a fantastic start, so hopefully it will just continue like this!