The Eye of the Tigre

It is strange to think about having traveled from Tennessee to Texas to Miami to Santiago, Chile to Montevideo, Uruguay to Buenos Aires, Argentina in only a month.  Now Miami and Santiago were just stops on an airplane, but it is interesting to think that I have set foot in each of these different places in such a short amount of time.  I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have an opportunity to see these things and experience this type of lifestyle. 

Being back from Buenos Aires gives me a great perspective on life here in the city.  Going from a city of 1.5 million to a city of 17 M makes the 1.5 M seem small.  If Abilene is Montevideo, then Dallas would be like Buenos Aires.  But there are even more people speaking Spanish down here!  Surprise Surprise.  Anyway all that is to say that I am comfortable here in Montevideo, I walk and ride the bus everywhere.  The people are welcoming and kind. They smile when you ask them what time it is and occasional one of them will ask me for directions or a bus number.

Buenos Aires was fun and I promised you return readers a few funny stories so here are two (keep reading there is a picture bonus for you at the bottom of the blog):

Tigre was an amazing experience.  I loved it there.  I could have spent months there exploring the ins and outs of the little river town. Little is a loose term; it took us about an hour just to get out to the island where we stopped to explore.  At Tres Bocas there were restaurants, dogs, a tiny hotel, gas station (on the water), and tons of houses.  It was an amazing place where we saw some beautiful flowers and colorful houses.  The best story of the trip was the way I decided to entertained some of the locals as I tried to take this picture.

Let me just sum up the story by saying that trying to stand on a slippery river bank is hard, even harder with an expensive camera, and that I still believe in miracles.  I am positive that God grew a tree within arms length, and that it is the only thing that saved me from a cold and wet boat ride back to Tigre and certain demise at the hands of my Dad whose camera I was holding. Anyways at least these two Argentine fisherman got a kick out of it.

Tigre was great because Argentines vacation there too.  I didn't feel like a tourist with my camera flashing every two seconds. I felt so comfortable that on the boat ride to Tres Bocas, I offered to take an Argentine family's picture. They smiled and laughed with us the rest of the boat ride.  It seems that my good friend Wade Davis was right when he said on a high school mission trip, "that a smile is a language that everyone speaks."  We enjoyed each others' company until we arrived at Tres Bocas and we got off the boat.  I guess they were headed somewhere else because they stayed in their seats.

Later that night, as we headed back towards the train that would take us back to Buenos Aires, this smiling boy walked up to me and asked me to take another picture of his family.  You can guess how surprised I was when they asked me to stand in the middle of their family for the picture.  I wish I would have had my own camera out. Or, that I would have exchanged names with them so I could see what that picture looks like.  But sometimes things are the most beautiful from the perspective we imagine.  I guess it might be a gift.  If I had that picture, I would think about how it could be better, if the light was different, the river closer, or the sun higher in the sky.  The perspective I imagine is perfect.  A pink sky, smiling Argentines and a big American right in the middle having the time of his life.

Buenos Aires- Part of the rest of the adventure

It is difficult to type on an iPad; however, if you will excuse my typos and abbreviations, I would love to tell you about the adventure we've been having in Buenos Aires. Ever since arriving on Friday evening, we've been adventuring around the big city. On Saturday we went on a bus tour with the BEST TOUR GUIDE IN BUENOS AIRES!!!! We had a blast getting to explore the city with her. She took us to places like the Plaza del Mayo, The National Cemetery,San Telmo, and Caminito street in La Boca (the art district where thousands of artists display their work and you can watch people Tango in the street). I can say as a former, professional tour guide this was the best tour I've ever been on. Maria Angeles Fernandez-Best Tour Guide in Buenos Aires. After the tour we went to an art museum and saw art from all over the world. It was the first time I had seen a Degas or a Monet. It was a pretty amazing free museum. After the museum we explored a nearby artisan market where vendors are required to make their own goods. It was one of the best markets I've ever been too. They had everything!
The Rest of the Weekend Summary (more to come later)
Sunday started with church and ended with an Opera. Pretty much the perfect day. In between I did some serious shopping and found some amazing souvenirs in a market in San Telmo that lasted for hours. I walked in one direction for an hour and a half and didn't make it to the end.
Today was also exceptional. Spent all day at an hour in Buenos Aires called Tigre. It is a city built on a river delta. It was awesome. By far my favorite day of the whole study abroad experience.

I have a lot of funny stories to tell and some awesome pictures, so check back soon.

Colonia/Buenos Aires

 We are spending this weekend in Buenos Aires.  Needless to say it has been amazing!!!! Buenos Aires is one of the biggest cities in South America.  15 Million People.  It has been absolutely amazing to be here getting to experience REALLY BIG City Life.  We left on Friday from Montevideo and took a bus to Colonia. Colonia was the first settlement (by Portuguese Smugglers) in Uruguay.  There are still parts of the original wall in the city which was amazing.  It was amazing to get to walk on the same cobble stone streets as the smugglers in the 1680's.  We took some great pictures of churches, ports, and lighthouses.  Here they are.

Great Restaurant

The Light House at Colonia

Cobblestones that probably came over on a boat from Portugal in the 1600's 

Down By the River

I want one please

Sail Boat's are cool

Awesome

My Kinda Car

1680 Church Column

1680 Catholic Church

Small Town/Big Church

1941 Studebaker

One misconception about Montevideo, Colonia, and Buenos Aires is that these cities are on the ocean.  They are actually on the Rio De La Plata.  But this river is as wide as 10 Mississippi rivers (give or take).  It took us an hour to cross the rio on a ferry.  We got to Buenos Aires and checked into our hotel. After that we ate dinner and went to bed because we today we had a full day of sight seeing and shopping ahead of us.  The hotel had the best breakfast ever and then we dove into an awesome day of sight-seeing around the big city.  Here are some pictures... more stories to come later on... We will be in BA until Tuesday, so check out the blog Monday to hear the rest of the adventure, and see all of the pictures I took today.

Pictures Only

I hope no one got too worried about me since I haven't posted in about a week.  It has been an amazing last week that has culminated in the resurrection of my computer from what appeared to be near disaster. And it is just in time because this weekend we are going to Buenos Aires.  I will be able to post all the pictures as soon as we get back on Tuesday, but don't expect too many updates and definitely no pictures until then.  The next weekend I am running the Montevideo Reebok 10K it should be a blast, but right now training is not.

These are some pictures from the Prada Expo. Martín took us to check out what I can best describe as a state fair for the entire country of Uruguay.  Cowboys, Cows, Chickens, Sheep, Tractors, and Special exhibits from the Agricultural Departments of Brazil, Argentina, and tons of other countries.  It kinda made me feel like I was back home again at the Lincoln County Fair.  I had to include a picture of some of the HUMONGOUS Angus Bulls that farmers brought down for the livestock show.  It was a really great experience to be there, but everyone's favorite part had to be getting our picture taken by La Copa America. Uruguay won La Copa America for a record 15th time.  Which means that they have won the Championship one more time than their rival Argentina.  You should have seen the look on our friends' faces when they saw the trophy there.  It was awesome!!!

But I guess I better keep the Anti-Argentine chatter to a minimum I will be on my way there in just a few hours.

La Copa America

Kubota Tractors in Uruguay

The Black Sheep

Purple and White Cow

Peñarol Crest that one of our friends (who will remain nameless) painted in the street

The Peñarol Fan section

Climbing the Fence

It's Football Time in Uruguay

As football season gets rolling back in the states I thought I would take a second to tell you about my first real adventure here in Uruguay.  On Sunday, our friend Martín took us to one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  An Uruguayan soccer game.  Martín is a big fan of one of the local teams here called Peñarol.  In Uruguay this would be the equivalent of a team in the MLS like the LA Galaxy or Seattle Sounders.  But these games are a huge deal, even bigger than high school football in Texas.  Teams like Peñarol and Nacional (Peñarol's rival) divide the city into neighborhoods where fights and violence are associated with the big games here in Montevideo.  Luckily for us, Peñarol was playing a smaller team called Racing so violence wasn't going to be an issue.

Yeah, there was yellow smoke.

Martín took us to the stadium about 30 minutes before the game started.  The stadium, Estario Centenario, was built to house the 1930 World Cup (which was the first World Cup ever)(which Uruguay also won). (Quite a way to break in a new stadium if you ask me.)  Another fun fact about Uruguay football is that Uruguay is the smallest country to ever win a World Cup.  Anyway the stadium seats 70,000 but has been recorded to hold crowds of up to 90,000.  There were only about 20,000 fans at the game on Sunday, but they had closed several sections of the stands and so the stadium was full.

Martín loved telling us about Peñarol and I loved hearing about it.  To make a long story short Peñarol was formed by the train company in Montevideo, whose workers were yellow shirts to work.  After a day of shoveling coal (carbon in Spanish) the workers shirts would turn black.  Thus the colors yellow and black and the name Carbonero became associated the team.

The Carboneros (notice Peñarol's number 1 fan in the middle).

As you can imagine the game was a blast.  I thought I could heckle referees, but the Carboneros were alot funnier than I have ever been. And I am pretty sure that Martín's little sister was the loudest one of them all.  The game ended in a 2-2 tie, which doesn't reflect how well Peñarol played, but it was fun to watch Peñarol battle back from being down 2-0.  It is definitely FOOTBALL TIME IN URUGUAY.
So there are all the details of my first big adventure here in Montevideo.  I'll have to tell you about some new adventures soon.

Thanks for reading.

Trying to Tango: Learning to Walk in Montevideo

When Jessalyn Massingill introduced me to yerba mate (pronounced ʝerβa mate) two and a half years ago, I remember thinking I would never have a chance to try a drink like that again.  I never dreamed that I would be sitting here in Montevideo, drinking mate and studying for my Spanish and Greek classes tomorrow.  But, before any rumors start flying about what I am drinking in Montevideo, I guess I should  tell you what all we have been up to in our first week here.

 All week long we have been trying to get our feet on the ground here in the big city.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that things are different here, but I have to say big city life here is nothing like anything I've experienced before.  Taxis and motorcycles fly by our house all day long and any false step when you are walking somewhere could end in disaster.  And everyone seems to be going somewhere very quickly. People hustle and bustle to the bus stops and little street stands that sell everything from sunglasses to hamburgers, to fresh cut flowers.  It seems like everything moves faster, including their language!!! It is a whole new world and we have had to dive in to this language learning craziness to keep our heads above the water.  All of a sudden ordering a pizza (muzzarella) or buying ice cream, fruit, or flowers takes two or three members of our group to figure out.  So, between trying to figure out this big city life, going to different markets and stores around the city, and going to class it has been a really busy week.

Over the weekend, we went sight-seeing alot.  It seems like everywhere we go there is some new historical event that happened here or this building has special significance.  But, I guess that is to be expected when the city was founded in the 1720s.  Even our house is a recognized historical site, but more about that later. 

Here are a few pictures I stole off of different people's facebook pages, these will have to do until I can upload my own from the cameras.

One of my favorite experiences so far was getting to lead a conversation club at the Alianza.  The Alianza is a center designed for native Spanish speakers to learn English.   One of the programs they offer allows students to interact with native English speakers.  So, once a week two of us go to the Alianza to have conversations in English with some of the intermediate students enrolled there.  It was so much fun to get their perspectives on American culture and the English language.  We talked about everything (TV, food, education).  Amelia and I had a blast.  It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the week.

Last night marked our one week anniversary in Montevideo and we celebrated with some (ACU approved) tango lessons.  It was an experience of self realization for all of us.   (I realized that I dance more like Bob Strader and less like the tango master I always assumed I would one day become.)  I will definitely remember learning how to tango with Eduardo and his wife (pictured on the right) as a humbling experience. 
We started the lesson with an in-depth look at the history and evolution of tango in Uruguay, and then we stepped out onto the patio to try out our skills.  It was alot of fun, but before we got to dancing away like Eduardo, we had to learn how to walk.  They told us that this was the most important part of the lesson and I was surprised at how hard it was to tango walk around the room. 

I am definitely still in the Tango Walking Stage of figuring out this whole Montevideo experience.  Looking like a local and learning (VERY SLOWLY) how to speak like one is the first goal (maybe the second goal to passing my classes and graduating).  It is definitely easier said than done; but lately, some Spanish words have even been sneaking into my emails and notes back home.  I am guessing that might be the first baby step towards this Uruguayan Tango.