Videos de Argentina

So here we are back to the real world and back to work.  I finally finished uploading all the pictures and videos.  As soon as I'm done putting titles on the pictures I'll include a link to them.  As for the videos I'm putting them on here.  The first is from Cordoba at the Artesian Market they have every weekend, some "flamenco" dancers putting on a little show.



The next video is from the tango show we went to in Buenos Aires.  Sorry I didn't record the whole thing I thought they were done but then they danced for another two minutes.  At least you get the idea :)



 And last but not least saludos from the familia in Cordoba.  I have two more videos of the family but I didn't have the correct setting on my camera so they came out silent.  You can view them on my youtube channel though if you like



Well, that's it from Argentina.  Seems so long ago.  Till next time, ciao!

tango

   So you probably wonder what we have been up to for the past week.  Saturday night we did go to the tango show.  We had to arrive early at 7:30 and I thought that was weird.  The reason being was because a tango lesson was included before dinner.  haha! Mike thought I did that on purpose but I really didn´t.  After our lesson we had dinner and then the show started at 10:30.  One forgets that Argentine tango is different from regular tango.  Alot more footwork and very intimate.  Here´s the best pic I have from the show.  Its hard to get a good picture.  Looks a lot better on the video I took.

 On Sunday we flew back to Cordoba and had lunch with Mike´s dad´s side of the family.  tio Orlando made us pollo al disco, I think that´s what its called.  Basically chicken soup cooked on the grill.  It was good but it was soooo hot on Sunday it was hard to eat alot of it.  Here´s one of the pics I have of the family. 

 After we left there we drove to Alta Gracia and first stop was to see Lukas and Paula.  Their new place is so cute.  I´m glad they have more room so the boys can run around.  After that we went and checked in at our b&b.  Here´s the front of it.

 I absolutley love staying here.  The owner, Sylvia, treats us so well and makes sure we are very comfy.  I told her my shoulder was hurting so on Monday she had her massage therapist come over and I had a massage at night on the patio.  It was very relaxing.  I actually fell asleep. haha!  Monday we spent sightseeing around town.  We went to the Che Gueverra musuem and did some shopping and eating, of course.  Tuesday we packed up and headed to Mendoza.  Along the way we stopped at Villa General Belgrano and did some quick sightseeing.  I must say in this pic its upsetting my head actually fits this cartoon cutout :p

 On our drive to Mendoza we hit a massive dust storm called a ´´viento zona´´.  There was also some lovely volcanic ash mixed in from the eruption in Chile.

 We arrived in Mendoza at night and there were no lights because the storm knocked down a bunch of trees so it was interesting trying to find the place we were staying.  The next day we rented some bikes from the owner and went wine tasting.  We hit up three wineries.  We would have gone to another but we rode right past it and didnt even notice, I think it was a good thing we didnt go, what do you think haha!  Here is the view of the Andes from one of the wineries.  It was a shame we were so close and couldn´t go.  It was another four hour drive to get there and we just couldn´t squeeze it in. 

 Mike enjoying his wine from Tempus Alba.  We also ate lunch here, Mike had a delicious steak and me and my mom had a too die for hamburger, it had prosciutto and an egg, delish with 6 french fries.  I asked for extra and they said they couldn´t do that. Really? You can´t put 6 more fries in the fryer.  Whateves, it was still good.

 The next day we went to a couple more wineries.  The first was called Trivento and their wine was gooooood and really strong.  Those are the only bottles we bought.  We went to another winery but it was too early for a tour so we went to the only beer garden in Mendoza for lunch.  Yes Eddie, I found beer in wine country hahah!  It was a refreshing break from all the wine and the way they decorated was a stitch!

 After that we went to the last winery which was okay, lot of history and very fancy but I didn´t care for the wine.  By that point I think I was tired of wine :)

That night the owner of where we were staying made us an asado.  It was actually quite good.  We had dinner with the other couple staying there from Holland.  They sure have traveled alot, we have to catch up.  Today we drove back to Cordoba and right now we are getting ready to go to tia Rosa´s house for our last asadaso.  I´m working up an appetite just thinking about it.  Okay tomorrow we leave bright and early (hopefully) for Santiago and then to Atlanta.  Here´s to hoping we make all our standby flights.  Ciao!

update

Sorry I´ve been MIA.  Its been a hectic few days.  Tuesday we did go hiking in the Condor Park.  It was just as pretty as I remember it.  Unfortunatley we didn´t see any condors, sad face.  We got back that night and went to tia Rosa´s house to visit with her daughter Carla.  Wednesday we got up and went back to tia Rosa´s to see tia Pepa.  That was nice to meet Mike´s other aunt.  That afternoon we flew to Buenos Aires and got to the family Russo´s house around 7ish.  The next day we went to the airport to pick up my mom.  So weird seeing her down here in Argentina. heehee!  That day we went to el Caminito in la boca and did touristy stuff and later went for the tour of La Bombonera, I think I´m spelling that right.  Its where Argentina´s most famous soccer team, Boca Juniors, plays.  That evening we went to the meeting.  It was nice catching up with some old friends.  That evening I started not feeling well but we were already making plans to go to Uruguay.  That´s right folks, Uruguay.  Its right across the river =) so got up at the buttcrack of dawn and took the buquebus, or ferry, to Colonia.  From there we took the micro, bus, to Montevideo and met up with Bruno´s brother Leo.  He took us all over city central and I was so exhausted at the point and feeling really crappy.  I think I have the flu.  Got to his house and I went to bed.  Felt bad went all the way there and I couldn´t really socialize.  We had dinner and this morning got up early again to come back to Buenos Aires.  I´m feeling a little bit better today but still not 100%.  Got back to the house and took a long nap.  My being sick ruined our plans for today, we were going to take the big red tourist bus and go all over Buenos Aires and later shop at Calle Florida.  I feel bad because my mom is missing out but I´m just too weak and still a bit feverish.  So I´m resting till tonight because we have plans to go to a tango show and I´m not missing that for nothing.  Then tomorrow back to Cordoba.  Sorry there are no pics with this post but I think I´m going to go lay down again, I just wanted to bring everyone up to date.  Maybe next time I take an international trip I won´t get sick, this is starting to get annoying.

em·pa·na·da

n.

A Spanish or Latin-American turnover with a flaky crust and a spicy or sweet filling.

Its so nice to have one's luggage and wear fresh pants :)  I had the same jeans for 3 days.  Yesterday was quite the busy day.  We went to tia Lucia's house for an asado.  When we got there tio Orlando and his wife were already there.  Of course Orlando was fussing at Mike for not having called him to get a ride to Lucia's house instead of us taking a remi.  Tio Omar made the asado.  He kept cracking me up because everyone would be talking and he would say, escucha escucha!  Trying to get everyone to listen to him and of course they kept right on talking.  When we were done with lunch and drinking our espresso's Mike's other tia showed up, tia Maria and her daughter Carolina with her two kids.  So we got to see everyone briefly.  But there were other primos missing so this Sunday there is going to be a massive asado at tio Orlando's house.  I can't wait.  Here's a pic from yesterday's lunch

(l-r: orlando's wife, julietta, tia lucia, tia maria (back) me, mike, orlando, omar (back))

That evening I didn't feel like sitting at the house doing nothing so I convinced Mike to go downtown to the Artisan's fair.  Basically its a giant flea market.  Its the place to be on a Saturday or Sunday night.  People everywhere, selling food, trinkets, puppies, belts, leather products whatever you can think of and more.  They also have a little stage setup and there were people dancing and later on a kid's show.  After that we went to a restaurant called Alfonsina's.  Its a hip restaurant on the roof of a building.  We tried Quilmes Red Lager, our goal is try all the different Quilmes while we are down here.  So far all good.  Mike had an empanada criolla and I had an empanada de jamon y queso.  We also ordered a half pizza with roquefort cheese, yum!  To top it off I finally tried a caipirinha, let's just say it was strong!  

(me enjoying my Quilmes Red Lager)

Today we went out and tracked down different family members.  The first we could find at home was Tio Placido and his family.  We sat down and had a nice chat.  His daughter Laura was there, she runs a small convenience store in front of the house.  It was nice catching up with them.

(l-r: antonia, placido, mike, enrique and laura)

After that we caught a remis (a taxi service) to tio Angel's house in barrio Los Gigantes.  His wife Maria served us some empanadas arabes.  They were very good.  Angel insisted on driving us around to meet the other family members.  He drove us all the way out into the campo to see tio Daniel and his wife Maria.  Mike hadn't seen him in several years.  Out of his mom's family Mike resembles him the most.  We drank mate and ate pan casero.  It was nice and relaxing. 

(l-r: daniel, maria, mike, angel)

After we left Daniel's house we went by two more tia's houses but one is real sick and was at the clinic and the other wasn't home.  So tio Angel dropped us off at Lizi's house (where we are staying) and now we are getting ready to see tia Rosa again to eat more food.  Woohoo!  I leave you with this adorable picture of Lizi's little girl Flor.  So cute!

Tomorrow if we have ganas we are off to the Parque Quebrada de los Condoritos.  Since we didn't get to do the whole trail last time.  But only if we have ganas :) Ciao!

vecinaaaa!

We made it!  Every single standby flight we got on and arrived all in the same day.  Only one drawback our bags didn't booo!  The plane was overweight and since our bags were the last to arrive they didn't make the last flight from Panama City to Cordoba :p  The nice COPA airlines representative told us they would arrive on the next flight the following day and they would send the bags to where we are staying bright and early Saturday morning.  Well its noon on Saturday and we still don't have our bags :(  Our friend Lizzie is on the phone trying to figure out what's going on.  Other than not having any clothes our trip has been pleasant so far.  Yesterday we had breakfast with Lizzie's mom and then went to visit Mike's tia Rosa.  We stopped at the grocery store to buy a few american things like cereal :)  I need more than a cookie and a piece of bread in the morning.  Last night we went back to tia Rosa's house to see tio Lencho (not sure if I'm sp his name right).  Mike got his lomo sandwich.  What that is a heart attack on a sandwich.  Its meat, ham, egg, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo, mustard I think that's it.  Anyways so that's all for now.  We'll mainly be visiting family this week so there may not be any updates for a few days.  And in regards to the title, there is a commercial down here for a supermarket and at the top of the screen its says VECINAAA! Which cracks me up because I imagine them saying it like GIRLFRIEND! check out these deals, haha! 

latest going ons

Sorry its been awhile since I posted, I have been just too lazy to post. Isn't that sad? Of course I don't think anyone has been missing my posts sooo there ya go, haha! So we went to the beach in the beginning of September. It was bittersweet. I really enjoyed it but it brought back memories from the last time we were there with my dad. Good memories, don't get me wrong. I just wish he we was still here to enjoy the beach with us, he loved it so.

We arrived on Wednesday evening at the beach house. Driving from Charlotte took for-eva! 6 hours all on backroads, no major interstate to get us there, boo! However we saw some pretty country roads along the way. We took ms. leela with us to the beach and she just loved. Mike spent most of the time fishing, poor guy, he only got a couple of fish on the next to last day. He spoke with a few of the local fishermen and they said the best time for bluefish is in October. So we were there too early since it was only September. Early Friday morning my mom and Thumper arrived. She was exhausted from her drive, so she ate breakfast and took a nap. She joined us at the beach later. Saturday morning Eddie got there sans Agustinque. They decided last minute to stay home which kinda sucked since I was looking forward to everyone being down but maybe next time :) That night we had crab legs with clarified butter (thank you eddie for making that butter) and potato soup and fruit salad for dessert. Was stuffed on crab legs after that. That night we took a moonlit walk on the beach. Sunday we drove out to one of the lighthouses but got there too late so just drove back into town and ate dinner at Mosquitos before Eddie headed home. We actually made s'mores at the table, how cool. Monday we packed up and headed home. All in all a nice relaxing time but I was ready to come home.

I'm trying to remember the rest of the month but its all a blur. Work is good. Everyday is getting better, they are giving me more responsibilities. Still a lot to learn though. Being busy with animals all day defin makes the days go by fast! Mike's sister, brother-in-law and our niece came down on their way to Florida. It was nice to see them, I wish they could've stayed longer.

Right now we are gearing up for Argentina. We are leaving in a little less than a week. Its coming up real fast and I feel so unprepared. But I know once we get down there it'll be fine. I'm really looking forward to the trip. It'll be nice to see Mike's family and then go siteseeing around the country. I can't wait. I'll try to keep everyone updated of our goings on while we are down there. So I hope everyone else is doing good. I'm sorry for this rambling post, I'm having trouble gathering my thoughts right now, I think I'm getting sick (practically all my co-workers have the flu or had the flu). Here's some pics till next time. Cya soon! 

One of the many pier pics I took

Thumper pretending he is either a wookie or an ewok

 

My mom all tuckered out

 One of my fave pics of Mike and Leela

 Enjoying our crab dinner

 Trying to look cool, fail! haha!

 Eddie showing off his table s'mores

 Just before we left the beach, one last pic with my mum

 Me and baby Patricia (I bought her the tutu, b/c all girls should wear tutus heehee!)

agosto

Sorry nothing new to post. I spent most of the month setting up the house and organizing everything the way I want it. I was also looking for a job and was beginning to despair. Didn't think I would ever find anything then Banfield emailed me for a group interview. I was like okay whatever they aren't going to hire me because I have no qualifications as a veterinary assistant. The group interview was interesting to say the least. Asked us questions, filled out a questionnaire that had weird questions like What's your motto? Really? I don't know. Then a couple days later they called me for one on one interview. I was like wow! This may be going somewhere. Well I aced the one on one and they hired me on the spot. Started on Monday. They just throw you right in there, had me running bloodwork my first hour. Reading fecals two hours later. By Wednesday I was holding animals and shadowing people into the rooms. I have orientation in two weeks and tons of stuff to learn and memorize. I'm really excited and quite enjoying it. If all goes well in the spring I'll enroll in San Juan College and start working towards my Veterinary Technician certificate and possibly degree. Who would've thunk moving to Charlotte would bring about a complete work change. A change that I'm very excited about it.

As far as travel we are going to the beach next week, can't wait. The whole family will be down on the weekend its going to be so fun. The next trip after that is Argentina in November. So stay tuned...