Hello friends! Another week has passed here in La Plata and it’s been lots of fun. I started the week with the finishing my final project for a class at the Comisión on Recent Argentine History & Human Rights. I wrote a paper about where the figure of 30,000 disappeared people comes from and how different leaders in the human rights field and popular media represent the victims of the dictatorship and other state terrorism. I was happy to finish it and check one more class off my list. I’m just about done with school here, I’m meeting with my professor who had a heart attack to see if we can turn in a final project to get credit for the course, but if that’s not possible then I am done with school here. I’ve really enjoyed all the Comisión classes and it’s weird having (even more) free time.
After finishing my paper on Wednesday, it’s been an easy week. Maya and I wanted to travel to Chile this weekend but with the volcano eruptions, the travel has been restricted and it just didn’t seem like it would all work out. We decided to stay here in La Plata until our trip to Iguazú at the end of the month. Wednesday, we went to see Gnomeo & Juliet (the children’s movie based on Romeo & Juliet portrayed as warring garden gnomes). We’ve actually seen a few children’s movies and they are great practice for listening to Spanish (I would definitely recommend Rio more than Gnomeo & Juliet). Thursday night we went out to our favorite bar here, La Salamanca. It has live folklore music on Thursday nights and great empanadas. I’ve even learned the chacarera folklore dance common in the northern part of the country. Friday, Maya and I enjoyed a mate in the plaza and bought a few tickets for various shows in the coming week. That night, we ate awesome paella. One of Eli’s friends, named Cecilia but called La Vasca (because she is from the Vasque or Basque in English region of Spain), made paella filled with delicious seafood.
Saturday, we headed into the city to see the Sound of Music (La Novicia Rebelde or “The Rebel Nun” in Spanish) on Buenos Aires’ equivalent of Broadway. It was awesome but very strange to listen to the songs that I absolutely adore in Spanish. I had to try to get the English words out of my head and listen to the Spanish lyrics. I really think kids movies and movies or shows that I’ve already seen are great practice with listening comprehension and my Spanish has definitely improved since being in Argentina. After the show, Maya and I decided to head over to Palermo for the evening. Palermo is a young, chic neighborhood with lots of restaurants and bars. It almost seems like a caricature of a hipster/organic/yuppy neighborhood with vegetarian and organic restaurants, hipsters riding bikes in the streets and selling artsy goods, and chic boutiques on every corner. We splurged and got a drink before going out to dinner and I tried a mojito for the first time (it was delicious). While walking around, we stumbled on a wonderful Mexican restaurant for some much needed food with spices. The food in Argentina is good but Argentines cannot handle any sort of spicy food (they rarely even use black pepper). After yummy chilaquiles and huevos rancheros we started walking back to Retiro to catch the bus. After realizing that we were 50+ blocks away, we took a bus to the terminal and before heading back to La Plata. While this was a fancy day for Maya & I, we only spent about $40 USD including the show, transportation, drinks, and dinner. I’m really going to struggle with the exchange rate when I get back to the U.S.
Today, the Bacci family came over for the day and Lydia, Eli’s mom, prepared another delicious meal of spinach stuffed fish, squash and chocolate mousse for dessert. I love that Eli gets together with her siblings (Yamila and Mariano) and her parents every Sunday to just eat lunch, drink mate, and catch up on what happened in the past week. They are all are wonderful people and it’s one of the highlights of my week.
Next week I have a couple birthday parties to go to and Maya & I got tickets to the ballet in La Plata for Friday night. I’m also hoping to go to a soccer game next weekend (I still can’t believe that I haven’t gone to a game yet…). I hope you are all doing well!
Love, Caroline
At the Cataratas (waterfalls) de Iguazú. This one was called La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat).
There were so many rainbows because of all the mist in the air-- the entire park seemed like a fantasy world.
Maya and I at one of the overlooks of the park. you could see the falls from different levels and lots of animals and plants too.
Preparing food at the guaraní indigenous community Fortin Mborore in Misiones.
This is the school for the community started in 1986 by Angela. She helped develop the community of Mborore in 1983 after the dictatorship and then started a bilingual school (spanish and guarani) for the children of the community practically by herself. She had incredible stories of the beginning of the community and was a great guide to the guaraní community.
The group outside in the ruins of the Jesuit missions in San Ignacio. These were started in the early 1600s and were surprisingly open to visitors. After the tour we were able to wander around the park and climb on rocks (aka 400 year old ruins) on our own.
Me inside of a tree that gives you energy if you touch it and something about getting married if you walk around it three times. It was planted near a big stone column and actually grew around/engulfed the entire column.
