For more photos... visit flicker!

I have posted (and mostly organized) my photos on a flickr site. If you want to see more photos or print out the adventures you were apart of (hi kate!) then check it out here:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/22522343@N07/

And then I fractured my foot...

I was climbing a sick 11a on friday and sweat off the holds right below my next clip. Taking a 15foot whipper, I landed foot into the rock wall. After getting lowered to the ground, I got a piggyback down the mountain and then a boat ride across the river to a hour car ride to a public hosptial in Bariloche.

I wish I had pictures of it, the paint was peeling and there were stray dogs, splattered blood and homeless men sleeping on the floor. But I did get to see 2 doctors, got 2 xrays and a cast all for the price of $18. So, that was nice.

And the care was good - they found a fracture on my talis bone (the bone that is responsible for lateral movement in your foot) and told me "surgery. go back to the United States." Though I am disappointed, as Mario saidm "tranqa, Liz, vas a regresar." (calm down, you´ll be back). And I will...I plan on coming back to the Valle Encantado... where the climbing community is small and friendly. the climbs are amazing, and for real, in 16 days we had only about an hour of rain.

And so I am home... much thanks to Stacey. Back to the land of a big bed, temperature control and my besties from high school... I am disappointed but at least home is a happy place to return to.

And I am getting surgery on monday in NYC and then I have 10 weeks of crutching around before I am released to continue on my adventure.

We'll see where I decide to go in April - it depends on finances. I have committed to work for Outward Bound again starting in early June, so it might not make sense to go back to Buenos Aires until Septmeber.

So alas, the blog, and the adventure, is put on hold for the next 2 months. I will resume writing when the adventures resume... chau chau, suerte!

Climbing in The Enchanted Valley

Flew back to BsAs, partied with my friends for a couple days before heading down to Bariloche... the entrance to the Patagonia.

Valle Encantado is a sport climbing spot that is hidden on private land about 40minutes north of Bariloche by bus. You have to ask the bus drivers to stop at the ¨virgin¨ (a roadside alter) and you yell across the river to have someone come and pick you up on a small inflatable raft. Using hands or oars, row across the river to the main campspot... tons of tents in a small areaa of climbers from around the world - french, brazilian, argentine, canadian, american. All told about 30 people camped along the river near climbing.

Most days consist of an 11am wake up, 1pm climbing with whoever is around (for me this consisted of a kick ass Canadian chick about my age and 3 men from alaska). You work some of the 100 odd routes, eating lunch in the sun, bathing in the river afterwards, and drinking mate until the sun goes down at 11pm and it´s time to start dinner. The wine usually comes out around 1am and the party can go until 5 in the morning. I love it. And I improved a lot in climbing, leading my first 11A and loving camping for 16 days...

And sometimes I miss the States...

Sometimes I miss the snow, bagels, good vegetarian food, ethnic food (of an variety), helmets, the ocean, christmas decorations, boys that are more subtle...

My spanish is improving, I found that after a day of climbing (and speaking only spanish) with an argentine boy, I could joke in spanish. Being able to retain even a small part of your personability is really important, and nearly impossible when you are learning a second language. I have realized my naitivity in thinking I could be highly converstant in 4 weeks of spanish classes, I have so much to learn still it´s daunting.

I will be home in 6 days. And my life here hasn´t really changed, I went paragliding. I played in a underwater hockey tournament against Chile and have been studying. But it´s been the same, study, eat, swim, climb, sleep. I´ve found the rhythm and anti-socialness relaxing. I´m going to miss it.

I´m in CT for 10 days but fly back to BsAs on the 3rd and then down to Bariloche and Chalten to climb for January and February.

Life in Mendoza

Mendoza is like suburbia. A lot like Greenwich in fact. But really, if Buenos Aires is like the NYC of Argentina then Mendoza is like Boston. It thinks it is a city, it sometimes tries hard but really... it ain´t nothing special. It is quiet, there is only one street of bars and they close at 2am and the clubs close at 5:30am.

There are a few muesems, a few good resturants (even 2 veggies ones!), and a couple neat parks. Mendoza is really all about what is around it - aconcagua, rafting, paragliding, vineyards, etc. I swear there isn´t a building over 5 stories tall. And when I asked for ethnic food I got 1 mexican resturant and 2 Italian resturants... when I asked specifically for Indian I got: Indian? What type of food do they eat? Chinese? Bueno.

I am living with a family - Mother Estella, Father Hector, youngest child 21 yr old Santiago. Another exchange student, Brett of Oregon, is also in my house. It´s a nice house, complete with pool. sweet.

I am also studying spanish and today listened to college radio for 2 hours and cursed whoever thought talking over music was a good idea.

I found a climbing gym... equally as poor in quality and safety as the one in Buenos Aires. I also found a swim team to train with and might have even found a underwater hockey league (yuhs!!)

My plan is to not make friends, study a lot and go on sweet adventures on the weekend. (stay tuned for boring pictures of the park near my house)

And it was an epic trip (Aconcogua)

Despues de drunkbiking, Kate and I decided to go trek in Aconcagua National Park for 6 days. This was both a brilliant and absolutely awful idea. The good part: This is where Brad Pitt filmed 7 years in Tibet. (go figure) The bad part: It was incredibly difficult. Below is a quick recap... photos will be posted around christmas time.

First night was Campo Criminal (as dubbed by Kate) - a poached site nestled a 15min hike inbetween both the road and the ranger station... The next day we hiked up to Confluenzia, which looked like a space station and stands at around 11,200feet. Kate got altitude sick. awesome.

We cook an absolutely horrendous lentil meal and headed to bed, and set up to head to Plaza Francia, the base camp for the 4 most technical routes - on a good year, 2 teams attempt the south face. Most of the time, they are french. Plaza Francia was sick, and also a 9 hour day hike. ouch.

Day 4 we headed up to Plaza de Mulas - named for the endless mule trains that bring wealthy older white American/European´s gear up the long trek. To summit the 21,700foot mountain you need at least 14days. But almost anyone can do it - we met all sorts of people. The extremes being a 19year old German boy who decided to solo the ascent bringing only 20 kilos of pasta and a 65+ year old man and his son from Italy going with a guide company.

Day 4 was death... imagine 15mile an hour head winds, a slight incline on a rocky beach for 4 hours. And then you are told you have 6 more hours to go. By the end of the ascent Kate was practically in tears. The last 1/4mile took over 1.5hrs and we were walking at about 3 seconds a step, straight up the side of a mountain. brutal. It was Camp Collapse for me. After crying in the Medical Office, I spent 14 hours in the fetal position while Kate made us dinner (I ate 2 spoons and went back to sleep).

We both slept for 12 hours before deciding NOT to summit Cerro Bonete (at 16,400feet) but instead to hike another 9 hours all the way back down to Campo Criminal. Liz nearly cried at the last part of Day 5. And we both drank soup broth for dinner before collapsing for another 12 hour sleep.

In other news, we were slightly early to the bus on Day 6 and got to see the Puente Del Inca (bridge of the Incas). There used to be a spa in the rocks, but the crazy bright yellow minerals are eating the building. sick!

Anyway, the non-ascent of Aconcagua was probably the most epic trek either I or Kate have done. I have decided I love the color green and hate high altitude mountaineering.

bunkdriking

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina... you can rent a bike for $45 (about $15) and bike around the vineyards for a day getting free samples at each stop. Kate Huyett (my first official visitor from the US!) and I biked around the dusty streets and the town of Maipu on our way through a small family run, organic vineyard, a large industrialized vineyard, a chocolate factory and a vineyard with a winemaking muesem. It was delicious. Fine family fun. (except for the lack of helmets and the free alcohol part.)



*pics will be posted when I get home and get access to a computer again*

Bien robbed

And as traveling can teach you, ultimately all you have is yourself. So, vale la pena to invest in that.

On friday I was having a beer with some buddies when two girls came up to the table and started asking about the resturant, they were nicely dressed but one of them seemed out of it. Attempting to help them, I leaned forward in my chair trying to understand their slurred spanish. When they finally walked away, I looked down at my feet and saw that my backpack had been taken.... with my computer, my wallet, my cellphone, headphones, 3 spanish books, and a scarf from a dear friend...

With no way of getting money, having lost all my photos from Argentina thus far, and no way of getting in touch with anyone, I cried. Cancelled my credit cards within 24hours, but still incurred $500 of fake charges to a perfume store and sports store. Awesome.

I'm getting over the loss of the stuff, still lamenting the loss of my photos and scarf... live and learn I guess.

Funny add-on is that a friend from the states sent me down a package 2 weeks ago, and it actually contained a wallet from Hanover. Would have been great, except that it got taken from the mail. Robbed twice, in 4 days.

Bariloche with the fam...

We headed down to Bariloche for 4 days... we went horseback riding (cabalgatos), trekking, sailing, and even got some shopping in. We ate at the 1 vegetarian restaurant and walked the streets of the San Francisco like town.

It's a cross between a developed Colorado ski town and a Swiss mountain town... but the population is 150,000 people. It has 3 ski resorts within 30min and more cabanas/hotels then could possibly be tourists. Many people speak English. There is an aggressive 15yr old boy skateboarder scene and a number of St. Bernard's that wander around with their owners who try to get you to take a photo with them.

The chocolate was truly incredible, as was the beer from the cities 1 brewery (Blest). A little touristy for my taste but a nice small city nonetheless. Fue divertido.

On Argentine men....

It is a refreshing change from America. Argentine men are direct. I have had conversations that go like, "Hi. Where are you from? You are cute. Want to have sex?" I answer no and usually the men stay and dance with me anyway.

They love to dance. They love to tell you that you are attractive. They love making out in public. Everyone does. There is almost no game-playing here and therefore no weird pressure to do something you don't want to do.

The men here seem, somehow, to be less slimy, less interested in just sex (or at least they are very upfront about it), and seem to exert less I-hung-out-with-you-all-night/bought-you-drinks-so-you-need-to-come-home-with-me pressure. Though it is still masochistic (men do most of the initiating), women seem to have considerable control. All in all the heterosexual club/bar scene here has been liberating to me.

Blunt. No pressure. No sense of indebtedness.

There also is a lively gay bar scene. I have yet to check it out myself, I have heard it is similar in tone and viarety. More dancing, less pressure. Let's hang out and if I want to hook up, I'll be sure to let you know, directly.

The old never die...

It's 3am, a bald, 70 year old man is asking me to dance tango at a Milonga. I'm thinking to myself that 70yr old man in the US would be asleep by 11pm at the latest. But here, in Argentina, everyone has the freedom to live. Old is elegant, active and respected.

You don't stop and wait for death - you dance until 3am on a friday night.

The tango...

Argentina is famous for tango but, like most things, Hollywood takes the tango and makes it flashy, a true bastardization of what it was.

Tango is subtle. It started with prostitution rings where men would enter a dance hall and dance with multiple women and then choose one to take home. It reeks of sex and closeness - the very opposite of Americanism. It is all about subtlety, about always moving and about following the lead of the man. If you see people dance tango it looks rather boring. Their body doesn't move up or down and if is just the complicated gliding of the feet that is impressive.

At Milongas (tango night clubs), couples dance 5 songs in a row together on a small dance floor. They glide effortlessly, not bumping or touching. After 5 songs, everyone goes back to take a quick sip of their red wine, find a new partner (men ask women) and then dance 5 more songs. And this starts at 10pm, at 4am the crowd switches from the old to the young. Punk hipsters, prepsters and others in their mid-twenties crowd the floor dancing until 7am.

It's beautiful and amazing and communal. I love it. But I tried it and was awful. totally awful.

Some things I've noticed...

- - there is dog poop all over the sidewalks, but the dogs don't bark and are the happiest in the world. seriously so excited.
- they don't speak spanish here, they speak castillano
- there are a plethera of fraternity looking boys who speak in spanish
- they kiss on the cheek to depart and greet
- people come in on public transport (they are called the cartejeros) and dig through the garbage at night. They wheel around big canvas tubs and take anything that could be redeemed. It's the cities recycling system.
- There are bottles of wine for under $1
- There are no variations of tampons. It's OB or nada. people here prefer the diaper technique (but at least they don't have bleach in their feminine products)
- the grocery store will deliver your groceries for a tip of 2 pesos, or less than a $1
- On friday night I went to a 9pm African-drumming show, that started at 9:50pm and went until 1am. I then went to dinner, got drinks at 3am and went out at 4:30am.
- School starts at 10am, and people complain that it is early.
- boys are boys everywhere
- an ice cream costs the same as it does in the US, a cellphone costs more. And you can get an excellent steak dinner for around $5.
- a beer is listed as 9 pesos ($3) on the menu, but then it arrives and it is a full liter (about 3 glasses)
- There are many dog walkers (hence all the poop). I see about 15 to 150 dogs a day
- There is a club called "The museum of the officeworkers"
- There is fake money everywhere - a friend changed money at the airport and got $100 of fake pesos.
- You can find salad, people go running, and there is quinoa.
- There is not tofu, nor peanut butter, nor brown sugar
- They are into drinking 1 cup of coffee, 1 beer or 1 glass of wine for 3 to 4 hours.
- they chain smoke cigarettes
- if you have big bags under your eyes it is a sign of toughness, coolness and general sweetness... you party really hard.
- there is pick-up soccer on monday nights, games start at 11pm.
- I still haven't figured out my cellphone voicemail
- The people are generally welcoming, beautiful, and happy to help
- They are also generally pretentious, the whole city is. One of their favorite jokes is: Why do Argentines smile at the sky when there is a thunderstorm? They are sure god is taking a picture of them.
- Fresh flowers are $3 to $6
- There is vietnmese, thai food and a gay bar scene
- people are not religious, but there is no (well, limited) birthcontrol or abortion clinics
- there are markets in the city every saturday and sunday
- there are ninos and foreigners everywhere
- I saw my first female cabdriver. ever. in any city.
- there are 20 fatalities a week on Buenos Aires roads - the 2nd most dangerous city in the world (behind Beijing)
- All Buenos Aires seniors (in high school) go on a senior week in January to Bariloche where they "ski" and drink, mostly drink.
- They sell underwear and socks on the street
- They have their fair share of hippies
- They use the VOS form - Como sos? yeah, I don't know either
- shoes and handbags are really popular
- as is chocolate, ice cream and those terrible/cheap italian pastries... gross.
- They know, and talk, about the fires in California. Yet, no one has mentioned Bush or Iraq to me yet
- they love blonde hair
- they do not buy each other drinks or rounds - mostly because 1 beer will last the whole night
- just because they don't really drink like americans doesn't make either gender less aggressive
- they like to sunbathe, listen to music in the park and play futbol. they also like rugby and paddle sports
- the government heavily subsidies the public transportation and they have a subway rail from 1912 that still runs (original cars and all)
- it is not truly democratic
- buying an apartment here would be a really good idea

Why Pura Vida?

It's the name of one of the only vegetarian lunch places in BA. It has wheatgrass shots and fresh fruit smoothies. My mom and I have eaten there everyday since we've been here. That's almost 3 weeks of solo pura vida.

It also means the good life. And this is exactly that, a very good life.