Wild Goose Chase

Hola!
Today was the 200th anniversary of the Argentine flag, so it was considered a holiday. Because of this we did not have school/orientation today. I woke up wondering what I was going to do with the day in Buenos Aires. When I woke up, Marta, my host mom, told me that 2 other American students (in another program) were coming over for waffle and coffee at NOON. I did not know that waffles and coffee meant 5 1/2 hours of hanging out.

It was really fun though. Christa and I met John and Jaime (who are really cool and both from a school in Pennsylvania) and ate waffles with Dulce de Leche (pretty much the greatest thing ever! Basically like a thick caramel spread). We spoke half in Spanish half in English (my host mom speaks English pretty well, so she was joining in on the conversations). We talked about everything from Walmart to traveling into New York from Newark to what our universities are like. It was really fun to hang out and talk with Marta.  Then, the goose chase began.

We supposedly were going to get coffee at a little cafe. Marta drove through Palermo, by the parks and the polo track, and the beautiful mosque, into some suburb of Buenos Aires. All of us Americans (to each other) were like "Do you know where we're going?" None of us knew but were just going with it. We drove for about half an hour and ended up at the river that separates Buenos Aires and Uruguay. From a distance we were able see our city and take some pictures on the rocks (Christa has those pictures because I forgot my camera). After about 15 minutes of exploring the river (beachlike area) we drove still looking for a cafe. There was no parking anywhere so we just ended up coming back to Marta's (my) house and having all sorts of nutty snacks and soda. We talked a little longer then Marta left the house to get ice cream. She came back about 20 minutes later, in which time we talked with John and Jaime about their program and about their school in the U.S. Then after eating a lot of ice cream we talked awhile longer.

At this point it was nearing 5:30 and Christa and I wanted to go to Catedral, where the Casa Rosada is and the govenment buildings, so trying not to be rude we told Marta we wanted to head out.

Christa and I headed out to Catedral only to be met with a rainstorm about 20 minutes after arriving. However, we were able to see the Plaza de Mayo and the cathedral, which is really beautiful inside.  We ended the "viaje cortita" (small trip) with people watching at the Obelisk, which is in an area similar to Time Square.

Sometimes its hard to believe we are in Argentina...that is until we hear people speaking in Spanish everywhere!