Hacer Fiaca

I am haciendo fiaca. That means I’m taking a day to myself to do NOTHING (besides wedding planning, homework, communication, and thinking of course) ❤ It feels so GREAT! ❤

If you want to say “I’m doing nothing” you have to say “estoy haciendo fiaca!”

Yet Another Strike

All banks, schools and public transportation are shutting down this Thursday to participate in the next big strike. This means…. no classes again.  Check out the links for more information. I’m here in Mendoza at an incredibly politically interesting time.  

http://www.losandes.com.ar/article/los-taxis-tambien-se-suman-al-paro-general-del-jueves
http://www.losandes.com.ar/article/el-paro-en-mendoza-sin-micros-bancos-y-escuelas

The Argentine Way #1

As Estadounidenses (People from the United States, for we can’t say Americans because both North and South America consider themselves to be Americans), planning anything from day trips to the mountains or week long treks through Patagonia is incredibly challenging. We are accustomed to finding all the information we need online, buying our plane and bus tickets, and knowing exactly the equipment we will need at least two weeks in advance. Here… no.

Most wilderness tour sites do not have webpages. This means we have to just go and trust that campsites/hostels/transportation will be available to us. This is a scary thing for estadounidenses. But, we’re doing it! It’s crazy!

What I’ve found to be incredibly helpful is to dig through the internet to find other people’s blogs that talk about the places we want to go, for they usually talk about the amenities and how they got around and what time of year they were there. This is a LOT more work… BUT this is the Argentine way.

After more budgeting, we all sadly decided to cancel our backpacking trip to Peru and Machu Picchu, for the flights that we would need are REALLY expensive. On a happier note, we’re thinking that might be our reunion trip in a couple years!

So what are we doing instead?

We are going to spend holy week in Valle de la Luna (valley of the moon). This is a desert. We are geeking out about how amazing it will be to spend our last days of lent CAMPING in the desert and then to return for Easter Vigil. AHHHHhhh I can’t wait!!!! [PS: the constellations here are different from the Northern Hemisphere!! We get to stargaze and see things that we will never be able to see in the norther hemisphere!! I’ll blog about this later.]

What else are we planning?

We have a break in may in which we will be backpacking in PATAGONIA!!! This will be our biggest trip of the semester. We will be camping 4 nights in the southern Andes mountains, then we will cross the country and camp 3 nights on the ocean. This trip will include BARILOCHE (One of the most beautiful cities in Argentina), Whale watching in Puerto Madryn (a beautiful Peninsula in southern Argentina) and Penguin watching just south of Puerto Madryn!! ❤ ❤

I’m so thrilled about our group dynamic because it allows us to learn so much about our surroundings. We have an anthropologist, a biologist, international relations (focus on human rights), a language/linguistics teacher (me), and an english/literature major. These different types of wisdom allow us to have such amazing conversations about all that we are seeing in Argentina!

La Bodega Zuccardi (The Vineyard!)

Vinyards are sacred places. I say this because they hold stories from many beautiful experiences from the hands that have worked its soil and lips that have tasted its fruit. The walls of this beautiful vineyard were painted with the wine itself. The smell as you walk in is of old wine-soaked barrels mixed with a very nice wood. We wandered, admiring the local artists’ works on the walls and followed this with a fabulous wine tasting. We tried a very sweet Moscato, a stronger sweet Moscato which is made to be mixed with other things, and a dry vino tinto (red wine) which was Malbec. AMAZING. I usually prefer nice and flavorful red wines but that first Moscato was INCREDIBLE.

Then we passed through the space where the grapes are processed and set to ferment and separate. (I don’t know how to describe this process in English… so if I’m using words that aren’t what you would use to describe the process I apologize…) This bodega (vineyard) is considered very modern in their processes, for all of their equipment is of metal and they focus on mass production. However, two steps in their process include manual sorting of grapes in order to select only the best to make the more intensely flavored wines and the more intensely sweeter wines. The following photo is one of my favorites! At an antigua bodega the women would jump in and stomp the fruit with their feet! In this modern bodega they use a nice fancy machine. I just LOVE the color of the grapes!!

We then had the opportunity to enjoy a wonderfully prepared lunch in the field! We sipped on a fabulous glass of Moscato and wandered through the vineyard embracing its beauty!! ❤

 

Migrations and Charla

Today was fabulous. I spent about 4 hours in the migrations office working towards my student visa! Luckily, we had a deck of cards on us. I taught everyone how to play old maid. The guys were not too thrilled… but we had to pay attention to the directions from the migrations officers, so I figured something as simple as Old Maid was appropriate for the occasion.

Fingerprints. Passports. Numbers. Signatures. More fingerprints. Directions. Addresses. Firmas. Signatures. Questions. Applications. More signatures. Strange questions about home universities. Old Maid. Passports. Goofy mug shot photo that we took downtown. Coffee was way overdue.

 

SO when we finally made it through migrations we wandered to a lovely cafe called “El Oso.” There, we chatted about our religious affiliations and shared our differences and excitements about Lent, Easter, Jabad, Mexican Jesus, and whatever else came up. It was really neat. Between the four of us we represent Catholicism (me), Baptist, Lutheran, and Jewish. We also have Protestant, Evangelical, Agnostic, and Shinto who were not present at the cafe. These backgrounds make for some incredible Bible studies!!!!

We love learning about each other’s faith lives and visit each other’s sacred places. I’ve been to three different Jabads in Argentina which I’ve found to be incredibly interesting. They’ve all been to NUMEROUS Catholic churches with me and have learned so much about the beauty of the Catholic community. I’ve seen the outside of the others’ sacred spaces, and they are very lovely! It’s so neat to have these differences but still be able to have deep conversations about our faith journies. This is something that I wish we could have in the United States. This is quite rare and so beautiful. We care about educating each other so that we are informed about each other’s beliefs.

I’ve learned that people have a very limited understanding of the Catholic community, faith, and practice. They only know what politics and media have told them. Many of them tell me that I’m the first Catholic they’ve seen who is happily devoted to the faith. They are appreciative of my love for the Church and for the people in the church.

It surprises me that people don’t know the Catholic community as a loving, devoted, compassionate, and honest Church. This saddens me… I ought not be the first person they come across to radiate the beauty of the Catholic faith.