University of Buenos Aires

As our time here is winding down, we figured it would be a good time to write about a place we have spent a lot of time over the past few months: our school. For the past four months, Holly and I have been taking classes at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Our particular classes are held downtown in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, but UBA has campus buildings all over the city. It was pretty easy to sign up for the Spanish classes. Before each semester starts, there are a few days of diagnostic testing. You just show up, fill out a little test, have a chat with a teacher, and she places you in your level (all the language teachers are female). Then you pay for your class and are good to go. The students in our classes really do come from all over the world. I am the only American in my class right now, but we have also had classmates from France, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand, Korea, China, and Japan. Our classes are held in an old building that I'm sure would have been spectacular when first built. These days it is a bit grimier and a bit dustier, but still provides a charming and elegant atmosphere to study. (We will have to put up some pictures before we leave.)

The campus culture is really nothing like that of US universities. I'm sure the fact that it is an urban school doesn't help, but there really doesn't seem to be much in the way of student activities or campus involvement. They supposedly have a sports complex, but I don't think there is much in the way of intercollegiate athletics. I don't know what UBA's mascot is, but it would probably look something like a fighting mate gourd.

World capital (with a lower-case "c")

I realized that we have some catching up to do on some of the places that we have visited and never blogged about. Montevideo, Uruguay is one of these cities. After we arrived in Colonia a few weekends ago, we realized that a half of a day was sufficient to cover anything that you wanted to do. We could have stayed and continued to drink cheap whiskey (about a dollar a glass) and kick butt in pool, but we thought Montevideo might be worth seeing instead. Especially, considering that the two cities are only about two hours apart.

We were traveling with a couple of friends, and when we got off the bus in Montevideo we realized that none of us knew anything about the city or had any idea where we were going. We pulled out our trusty guidebook and chose one of the recommended hotels. As the cab driver drove through the city on Sasturday morning, we noticed that everything appeared to be closed. I became a little concerned and asked the driver if it was a holiday. He replied that the holiday was on Monday, but that people started to take off of work on Thursday or Friday. I could not believe how empty the streets were around the area. I could only assume we were not in a residential part of the city. This may have been a time where a little research would have come in handy. The girl at the front desk of our hotel re-informed us of the problem, and did her best to recommend some things we could do that day (most of which consisted of walking around and looking at architecture).

The city has some great old European architecture, like that of Buenos Aires, but also has other interesting styles, including art deco. Many of the older buildings were in disrepair and, combined with the deserted streets, it felt like a haunted city. If I had the means, I would have wanted to start buying up properties and restoring the old city area. It has so much potential and could definitely be a much larger tourist draw. On our walk through the city, we also stumbled across the Buddy Bears in the main plaza. (*Editors note: See the "Buddy Bears" post if you don't remember who they are.) We could have been Buddy Bear groupies at this point.

After walking around and seeing all the points of interest on the map, we decided to head indoors because it was freezing . We heard about a mall with a theater and thought that a movie would be the best course of action. It was not. "Un Plan Brillante" with Demi Moore and Michael Caine is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. I don't even remember the name in English, but it probably did not last long in the U.S. The movie trip did give us the chance to find where all the people were hiding: the mall.

It looked like a mall at Christmastime, except for the fact that everyone had brought their mate along. Uruguay seemed to take the mate obsession to a whole other level. It is one thing to bring mate to the park or to the beach, but it is not exactly a convenient to-go cup. First, one has to carry an open, non-disposable cup or gourd filled with mate leaves with a silver bombilla (straw) sticking out. Then, one has to also have a thermos under one's arm filled with hot water for frequent refills of your tiny mate cup. The hot water is not an issue because places are accomadating to the obsession, but all the extra paraphanalia seems inconvenient to me. I was trying to think of the equivalent in the U.S. and pictured people walking around with their "World's Best (fill in the blank)" coffee mug, and a pot of hot coffee.

The older area of the city where our hotel was located seemed to pick up at night, particularly, on our street. The music was going long after we had turned in for the night.
I think when you are only in a city for a day, it is probably best to do a little research ahead of time and know where you should be when.

This was one we actually timed right and we were eating Saturday lunch with the crowds. In this old terminal were several restaurants and a great atmosphere.

These are some of the buildings that reminded me of haunted houses.

Some more interesting architecture.

Photo Shoot! They were shooting right next to all these guys fishing for river fish. It was very glamorous.

The Little Prince

Living in the city is definitely not a deterrent to having children here. Passersby are generally quick to help out parents with small children. Bus seats are offered up to pregnant women and women with small children. Kids are everywhere in Buenos Aires, and they appear to be running the show.

Children are more than welcome at all restaurants, and it is not uncommon to see kids out at the usual 10PM or 11PM dinner time. On the weekends, there are families with kids walking around just as late as couples on dates. Movie theaters have the late, late show for kids movies because there will be children there to fill the seats.

The attitude toward children here is refreshing. People are very understanding, and it creates a laid-back and calm atmosphere that is contagious. No one complains or gets disgusted when kids are playing a game of tag around their parents' table. Parents may fuss when the shrieks get to the top of their kid's lungs, but otherwise everyone is content to let the kids go. When no one else is even batting an eye, how could you be the one scrooge to complain?
One day, I started getting irritated that a little boy was continuously blowing a whistle inside one of our favorite cafes. Then, I looked up and saw him marching around the restaurant with an umbrella over his shoulder like a gun. It was the day of the former president's funeral procession and he was imitating the soldiers on the TVs above us. I couldn't help but laugh, and the whistle became more of a cute affectation than an annoyance.

My personal favorite parental allowance here is the wearing of the costume outside of the house. We frequently see Batman or Spiderman being pushed around in his stroller or playing in the park. Sometimes the costumes are a little more interesting. One night, we walked past a fancy white tablecloth restaurant that had a family of four seated for dinner. One of the little girls at the table was wearing bunny ears. These ears weren't just the kind on a headband, but the kind with a hood with ears that velcroed under the chin. They were all having a lovely time and acted like it was perfectly normal to have a bunny at the restaurant table. The one that takes the cake (and I'm sorry I missed it) was the little boy strutting around the park wearing a top hat and a cape, and carrying a cane. I can't even imagine who he was pretending to be.

Three Borders

In the town of Iguazu, there is a point called the "three borders" where you can overlook the rivers Parana and Iguazu and see Brazil and Paraguay. The proximity to these countries meant some of the tightest bus security we have encountered. For the first time, we had to have our bags x-rayed by a mobile x-ray van before we boarded the bus. I sat next to a guy from Portugal who told me that this was an effort to prevent drug trafficking because of the proximity to Paraguay. My sister talked to him as well, and he apparently made one too many jokes, leading her to believe that he may have known from personal experience.
The bus made multiple stops at customs check points along the way. Sometimes agents would board the bus and look around, other times the dogs would inspect some of the luggage. I was always surprised after we drove for twenty minutes or thirty minutes when we would come to another check point. Judging from our fellow passenger, however, it may have very well been necessary.
The following pictures are Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay (respectively).

Bait and Switch

Once you get outside of Buenos Aires, a lot of the smaller Argentine towns give off a very different vibe. Buenos Aires has a very European look and feel to it. Some of the smaller towns are little more than muddy roads and cement buildings.

In this photo, the developers of an apartment building are selling the image of a classy highrise building. The poster shows a clean, paved street with luxury sports cars in the cobblestone driveway. Reality yields a slightly different image.

Water, Water Everywhere

Iguazu Falls are on any top ten list of things to do in Argentina. Now, I understand why. The Falls are my favorite thing that we have seen in Argentina. The enormity of this UNESCO World Heritage Sight first hit us during the plane ride into Iguazu. During the plane's descent, we looked out the window and could see the mist from the Falls rising out of the jungle from miles away.

We were trying to catch a bus out of the town that evening, and we wanted to beat the crowds to the Falls, so we woke up early and caught one of the first buses to the National Park. A public bus leaves every half hour from the town center and the ride costs $5 pesos. We took the second bus of the morning out to the park at 7:30AM, and the workers were still opening up the ticket windows and stores when we arrived. There were a few other foreign travelers on the bus, but it was too early for Argentines. As we entered the park, and rushed to find the train to the falls, I felt like we were in Wally World. All the information booths and stores were empty and no one else was around.

The park cost $60 peso for foreigners to enter and, once inside, we were happy to see that those pesos were being put to good use. Everything in the park was very well maintained. From the train, to the extensive walkways leading to the falls, everything was first rate. Because we arrived so early, we had the park practically to ourselves for about an hour or so. This isolation made it easier for James and I to speculate about what it would have been like to stumble upon this sight when the Americas were first being explored. We imagined a European explorer being guided down one of the rivers and hearing the rumbling of the falls getting louder and louder as he approached.

A train takes visitors to the starting point of trails where the waterfalls can be seen from various angles. The falls can be viewed from both Argentina and Brazil. Apparently, Brazil provides a panoramic view of the falls and Argentina's side has more vantage points and close contact views. I do not know this from experience, because the visa to enter Brazil was pricey (for citizens of the U.S.). However, I was more than satisfied with the Argentine angle and did not feel like I was missing out on anything.

Credit should be given the the National Park Service of Argentina. Iguazu is an enormous tourist attraction, but the Park is able to maintain the natural wonder of the area despite the large flow of tourists. Restaurants and cafes are simple and there are few tacky or gimmicky aspects of the experience. I was later told by an overzealous tour guide in the city of Santa Fe (that's a story for another day) that President Reagan had the same observation of the Park. He apparently appreciated the nature surrounding Iguazu Falls and made a comparison with the lack thereof surrounding Niagra Falls.

Now, for some pictures: one of the resident birds, a coati (which roam freely about the Park), and the Falls:

New York's Finest

We just got back from a long trip up to Iguazu in northeastern Argentina. There is a lot to say about the trip, but I wanted to start off with a quick post about the cab ride to the airport. Because the journey is so long, and we didn't have tons of time, we decided to fly up and take buses for the 20 hour journey back. Our cab driver to the airport was a nice guy, probably in his late fifties or early sixties. When we got close to the airport, we started making small-talk about where we were going, where we were from, etc. When I told the guy that we were from the U.S., he looked at me in the rearview mirror and (with a sraight face) told me in Spanish that he was from New York. Not one to question an elder, I simply replied, "cool." He then went on to explain that his family had left the U.S. because of the Vietnam War. I didn't want to get into it, but I was pretty surprised that he had managed to forget all his English considering he had to have been in his teens when he left. Anyways, the incident provided us with a few laughs on the short LAN airlines flight between Buenos Aires and Iguazu.