As you all have heard (or are just learning) My uncle and aunt from New York came down to Buenos Aires to hang out and take me to EASTER ISLAND!!!!!!!! Increíble! But first they came to Buenos Aires, so I gave them a tour of parts they haven't seen (they have been before... but four years ago) They were also invited to dinner with my family (host family) pues traducé todo! It was fun to have them with me in Buenos Aires. Usually, I only see them once a year or sometimes every other year. It hard when I live in Chicago with my family and they live in Upstate. It was nice to talk to them about my family (on my dad's side) cause my dad rarely tells me about his family. I learned so much in one week then I did in 21 years of my life. It was nice because Monday fue un día feriado por Argentina. It was a remembrance day for the Malvinas. The Malvinas is a very sensitive topic in Buenos Aires. If you don't know what you are talking about, don't bother contributing en un conversacion con los porteños. (Las Malvinas= Faukland Islands) As you many know, England owns them know and Argentina is not pleased. They want them back, las Malvinas son Argentinas! They had a war 30 years ago para obtener las malvinas pero la Ingletera ganó. Esta guerra es como la guerra de Vietnam en los Estados Unidos. We all know how people about that in the States.
Anyways, my Uncle and Aunt came over again on Monday and shared Maté with my family again and it was amazing to have two different dynamics in the house.
The next day, I went to my grammar review then off to Chile with the family. We flew from BsAs to Santiago first to spend the night and make the trek to Isla de Pascua the next day (if you don't know, Isla de Pascua is 5 hours from Santiago, and since we didn't want to miss the any connections, spending the night was the easiest). We stayed in the Hyatt in Santiago and let me tell you, this was the first time I have stayed in a beautiful, expensive hotel with my own room.. I was in complete shock... Just amazing... Porque estuvimos en Chile, cenamos en un restaurante de pescado (porque no hay restaurantes para pescado super en BsAs) After that dinner, I thought I died and went to fish heaven. Such good salmon!
We woke up early the next day and we were off to Isla de Pascua. First in our car to the airport, my Aunt had me ask the driver to take us through Santiago so I could see the city for a bit (my first time in Santiago). One BIG notice, it is much CLEANER then BsAs. Un mónton! But then again very similar. When talking to the man, he thought it was rare to hear a North American speak spanish with in Argentine spanish. He was impressed, but still gave me a hard time for not studying in Chile... sorry man, Argentina won my heart.
But can I just say that Isla de Pascua is a close tie to Buenos Aires. I AM IN LOVE!!!!!!! Such a gorgeous island! With 5,000 people (a little more than Hope College's campus) and 6,000 Horses!!!! Que raro!!! So much beauty, cleanliness and MOIS *those heads out of stone everyone associates with the island. I think I was meant to be an islander. However, everyday on the island we hiked (LOVE LOVE LOVE) saw beautiful naturaleza, learned so much about their culture and got to know cool people. Mis tios y yo befriended the waiters, guides and other workers in the hotel (just taking interest, learning names and para mi, hablé en español con ellos) They became my friends and invited me out with them to their only club on the island (I will get to that later). Our guide, Roberto, was the coolest. He loved to tell stories about this grandfather (his grandfather was the mayor!) and practicing his English. His English was very broken but getting better! I spoke with him in Spanish and helped him with any doubts he had for the language. Re bien! I just realized from this trip how much I love being outdoors with no care in the world. If I could move right now and teach English to the natives with perfecting my Spanish and learning Rapa Nui (the indigenous language) I would in a heartbeat! We were so busy all the time. On our last day after a 5 hour hike, we went on a boat in the ocean to see a smaller piece of the island. When we were in the middle of the ocean the guide and I jumped in and swam around.... so refreshing! Later that night was a dance show called Kari Kari that we went to! It was so fun kinda of like a Hawaaiin feel! When they called people to dance with them, my uncle and I were chosen with various others and danced with them. Sorry guys that is not on tape. After I went out with the workers and had a lovely time hanging out with them!
However, I didn't go to sleep and had to be at the airport at 6 am con mis tios.... I fell asleep in every location... but made it back safely and made my connection with only an hour in between! But when I got to Buenos Aires and took a cab, the high way se cortado (cut off) because there was a storm on Wednesday and it was bad.. a lot of damage which meant no lights on the highway. Meaning we took the long way home but he did not charge my more (it was a flat fee). Bendiga a dios! Happy Easter to me! It was an exhausting trip but I had a lovely dinner with Hernán and Mariana (my host mom) and fell straight asleep.
When I mentioned Sube the in beginning, it is because I FINALLY obtained my sube card! It has been 7 weeks and I finally did it! No more buying single tickets or scrounging for monedas! FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been super nice to only use the card!!
Bueno, voy a escribir más luego.
Besos!!!
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