Mid-Semester Review

It is mid-May, and I am officially more than half way to the end of my study abroad experience. At home, my friends are on their way to their homes, and the warm summer weather that awaits them. Meanwhile, here in Argentina, we still have quite a lot more to go.

So, my program and I joined together in an apartment in Palermo to discuss. Marcelo our program leader, who is very popular with the ladies on our program, sat in front of us, as various breads and croissants were passed around the room. He handed out a sheet of paper, we filled out when we first got to Argentina, which listed the goals of our trip. He asked us what we have achieved and what we have not while we’ve been abroad.

I took a look at my sheet, and made a quick analysis of how much I’d achieved.

1 - Eat everything. Check. (My host mom literally told me that she thought I had a Earth worm today because I was eating so much).

2 - Have fun and experience nightlife. Check.

3 - Stay in my long distance relationship. Check.

4 -  Take more than 500 pictures. Check. I underestimated the amount I would be taking. (I’ve easily taken a couple thousand photos already)!

5 – Travel to 5-10 places. Check. (Mar del Plata, Uruguay, Iguazú, and I will go to Salta, Mendoza, Bolivia and Chile in July).

6 – Speak at least an hour of Spanish a day. (Between my host mom, my classes, basketball and random interactions on the street, I easily do that daily.

Then I took a look at the expectations I didn’t quite meet:

1 - Do community service once a month at least. Nope! I haven’t even gone once.

2 - Work out five times a week. Nope! (Granted: That was an ambitious number to expect, but I’ve been here 3 months, and I joined a gym just two days ago…)

3 - Skype with friends every one or two weeks. Fail. I’ve Facebook chatted sure, but I’ve not had many long skype conversations with my good friends. I’m sure they understand, as I’ve been very busy here in Argentina.

4 – Have many Argentine friends. Unfortunately not as many as I hoped. (I have made many Argentine friends on my basketball team and through my classes, but for the most part I have gone out at night with just international students. This is expected since they speak the language, but for the second half of my abroad experience, I hope to increase my amount of Porteño friends.

As I took a bite into the passing croissant and took a sip of my burning maté, I evaluated how I have done on my trip so far. I am definitely having fun and improving my Spanish, but I wonder if I am culturally involving myself enough while abroad. My friends from my program and I all agree that maybe we’ve spent too much time together, going out and speaking English. As I look to the next two months, I hope to break myself from this pattern. I will make it my goal to spend more time with random Argentines I don’t know. Not only will this improve my Spanish, but also I hope it will allow me to learn more about this complicated Argentine culture.

So what do I rate my trip so far. In the level of fun, I’ll give it an A. In my Spanish growth, I’ll give it an A-. With my Cultural knowledge acquired, I’ll give it a B+. Clearly, all I need to do, is live like a Porteño, and I know I’ll leave with an A-rating.

Lazy Sunday

With all the postings of life-changing trips to marvelous natural waterfalls and spectacular beaches, it may seem hard to believe that a study abroad experience in Buenos Aires ever has a dead moment. For this reason, I am here to delineate what the average lazy Sunday looks like. Far from the extravagant excursions of some weeks, this Sunday morning started where most begin: my bed.

           

Gliding out of bed, shortly after noon, I opened the window, to look out at the city shining under the bright sun. Checking my phone, I was happy to see that it was still 65 degrees, despite the fact that it is supposedly winter in Buenos Aires. After a quick shower, some fresh fruit, and a cup of coffee, my host mom gave me a kiss on the cheek and sent me out the door.  

After meeting up with some friends, I headed to a world famous bookstore, with a name I can’t remember. Getting to the store, we found that it was closed for the holidays, so we settled on Burger King coffee instead.

After gobbling down the coffee, we then headed towards the Buenos Aires Book fair, a festival we were urged to go to by our Spanish teachers, who was sure to ask about it in the following class. Expecting a small outdoor book sale, I was shocked by the actual enormity of the event. There were literally thousands of books and a few thousand people spread throughout more than 4 massive buildings.

Inside the buildings, there were hundreds of bookstores, selling novels, biographies, poetry collections, magazines, children stories and every other imaginably readable document Buenos Aires had to offer. There were stores sectionalized by region and author. There were others separated by publishing company or genre. There were a plethora of authors, reading their books and taking questions. Children were sprinting after friends, couples were holding hands and going from store to store, and in every direction, all I could see were books. After a half hour or so, I left the momentous event, and headed towards a park to play Frisbee.

This park, located at Plaza Italia is massive. Located by the Zoo, this large green area is filled with people as it always is on Sundays. From fishing to fútbol, to paddle-boating and drum circles, this park is always packed with men, women, children, and dogs. Lot’s of dogs. On any given day, this park probably has anywhere from 50 to 100 dogs, of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Many of these dogs, would be delighted to chew on our Frisbees, so we try and throw away from them.

This afternoon, we met up with a group of people who come to the same area every Sunday at the same time to toss the disk and drink Maté. This group of people, part Porteño, and the rest foreign, is a collection of couch surfers, who plan events together.

Jumping in with them was an positive experience, as we got the chance to meet many different people of distinct cultures. At the same time it was a good opportunity to get a small escape from the constant Spanish, since there was a large group of English speakers in the group. From the unfairly tall Minnesota student to the Irish girl who thought we were hilarious for saying “trash can,” the eclectic group offered a unique opportunity to meet other people from a variety of cultures.

After a few hours of playing, my friends and I then made our exit for a bar to watch the Knicks-Heat game. Televised basketball games, even during the playoffs, are hard to find in Buenos Aires, so we had to go to one of the few places we know to find it: The Alamo. This bar, typically full of Americans, and preying Argentine men, is a fun bar, full of cheap beer and delicious nachos. Even better, there is no cover charge on Sundays.

A devoted Boston Celtics fan, I’m usually anything but a Knicks supporter, but when they’re playing the talented Miami Heat, I can’t help but root for them to ease the path to the championship. Much to my delight, the Knicks got their first win of the series. As the game came to an end, we all paid, and went home to “study,” eat, and in my case stream the Celtics game. As if to add to the great day, my Celtics not only won but annihilated the Atlanta Hawks.

As I got back into the same bed I arose from that morning, I thought back on my day. No magnificent waterfalls. No splendid forests of spectacular greens. And yet, I felt like singing Ice Cube’s “It was a good day.” It was just another day in Buenos Aires. I closed my eyes sad to see the lazy Sunday come and go, and went to sleep. In seven days, I’d be at it again.

Cultural Differences

When I first arrived in Buenos Aires, I was told to wait in the main terminal for a driver to bring me to my hotel. While waiting I saw a police officer dressed in full body armor. He had a large gun and multiple sticks, which I was sure he could use to beat me down in a moments notice. He walked past me in a slow stagger towards another officer of a similar height and complexion. This second officer had a tattoo on his neck and wore glasses straight out of the Matrix. As the two men neared each other, they looked at each other in a masculine way, and then all of a sudden, gave each other a kiss on the cheek.

Shocked at first by this interaction, I was soon to learn that kissing was just a way of life here. I got to my hotel, and my administrators gave me a kiss on the cheek. I got to my home a few days later and my host mom practically picked me up and launched a kiss at my cheek. A month later, I showed up for my second basketball practice, and was shocked to find a teammate sending me a kiss after I entered. This is just the way it is here. And after I got over the initial shock, it was actually a nice gesture.

This is just one of the many cultural differences that I have encountered while being here. What I’ve found to be the solution is to think with an open mind, and embrace whatever comes my way. Fighting it, and trying to stick to U.S. traditions will just make things harder.

Another cultural difference I noted the first day of school was clothing. In general, Argentines dress better than people from the U.S. On the first day, I show up with one of my friends from the program, and as we run down the steps, a security guard flags us down with a yell in our direction. As we turn around, we see a man pointing at my friend yelling, “No podés entrar sin pantelones y zapatos.” My friend who was wearing shorts and sandals was breaking a dress code we had no idea about.

Beyond these defined rules though, there was also a norm of dressing well. To this day, I’ve still never seen an Argentine wearing sweatpants. They hardly ever wear sneakers and they rarely even wear T-shirts that aren’t expensive and trendy. The average man wears designer jeans, tight button up shirts, and enough gel in their hair to appear as if there is no gel. The average woman wears tight jeans of every color, but the traditional ones, and high-top boots. After a few days dressed in the GW attire of Jeans and a T-shirt, I made the change to button ups and blazers at school. It’ll be nice to return to GW, and show up to class in shorts, sandals and a hoody.

Another cultural difference, that I’ve wrote about a little bit in past entries, is the culture of coffee and dining.  On one of our first nights in Buenos Aires, my program and I went to a restaurant with our administrator, Marcelo. We ate plate after plate of delicious meat for more than an hour and a half, and when we were all prepared to then pay the bill and go, as we would in the U.S., we were shocked to see Marcelo just sitting at the table calmly, demonstrating no signs of expecting to leave. We drank some more wine, and sat for another half hour for so, and then he asked if we wanted coffee and desert. Obviously not turning this down, I ordered a Café con Leche and a desert. In total, we sat there, for way more than three hours. I would learn that this is the norm in Argentine dining. They enjoy dining for the experience, and making a night of it. Granted, Argentina is a developed nation with McDonalds Burger Kings and TV dinners, but on average, the norm is to enjoy a long dining experience.

The coffee places follow the same logic. When you order a coffee here, it comes in a tiny cup, which you are meant to drink with friends in the café. Expecting the same type of service I get in U.S. venues, I was at first upset that I couldn’t just grab a coffee on the go. Although, Buenos Aires still has many Starbucks cafés, which can provide this service, the majority of the other places, find the practice of “café para llevar” or coffee to go, to be an odd concept.

As with the kissing and the clothing, this cultural difference was best dealt with when I embraced it as well. Once I opened my mind to the change, I started to appreciate the new way of dining. When I sit down and have a coffee with a friend, even for just five minutes, it is a much more satisfying experience, than simply grabbing a coffee on the way to work like we do in the U.S.

These are just three of the many cultural differences I’ve encountered here in Buenos Aires. Many of them, I’m definitely going to be bringing back with me to the U.S.

Top Three Local Businesses

Buenos Aires is home to many of the traditional international stores and restaurants from around the world. From McDonalds and Burger King to Starbucks and Fridays, you can find many of these institutions present. What makes the city most interesting though, are the distinctly Argentine “tiendas” that you can’t find anywhere else. When asked to name the top three of these small Porteño stores, I have a plethora of places fill my mind. Supreme amongst these three though are the local markets, the Parillas and the restaurants with live music and dancing.

The local markets of Buenos Aires are truly unparalleled by anything in the United States. These events, usually just on Sundays, are tremendous gatherings of local jewelers, artists, photographers, junk-vendors, farmers and musicians. All of them get there early in the morning, and line the tables with colored cloth and fill the sides of the wooden tables with various ropes and designs to draw people in. They then unload their product in neat, filed lines so that passerbys can see the items.

Walking down these narrow pathways, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful artfully designed products. I’ve also seen a lot of crap. I’ve seen delicately, hand crafted maté glasses and I’ve seen weak, mass-produced cups with cracking wooden sides. I’ve touched soft purses of shiny, smooth leather, and I’ve felt hanging bags of rough, fake furs. I’ve seen sparkling necklaces of silver and gold chains, and I’ve seen bulky, ugly bracelets of hideous bland rocks of plastic. It’s a peculiar mix between a wonderful artesian fair of beauty and a tacky, touristy center of junk.

One of the best of these markets is in San Telmo, the oldest, most historic part of the city. In this region of the city, there is a large center full of markets. When I first went there, the warm air was rich with the smell of sweet nuts being cooked in a sugar sauce by local vendors. It was loud, as the sound of acoustic guitar filled my ear drums. I walked toward the source of this music and found a pair of guitarists playing with a hat in front of them and a set of Tango dancers behind them. The male dancer had a thin beard traveling from his chin to the tip of his ears and he wore a fancy suit with pin stripes and a silver pocket square. His suit was finished off by a pair of fly, black shoes and a top hat.

In his hands, he twirled a woman, in a bright red dress, around his back, and she elegantly flipped back over on her feet. As the two glided across the small wooden stage, tourists flashed their cameras and vendors looked on with boredom at the everyday activity going on. As I walked past the hundreds of vendors in the area, I felt myself immersed in the wonderful stone pathways.

The food of these markets were always cheap and tasty, but they don’t compare to another set of local businesses in Buenos Aires: Las Parillas. These restaurants, which translate to steakhouses in English, are home to traditional fine dining of amazing meat. There are hundreds of these parillas in the city, and I plan to get as many of them as I can before I leave.

Last week, I went to one called “Estrebe” in Recoletta with my parents. My parents who were visiting for two weeks, were ready to try the scrumptious Argentine beef I had been telling them about for so long. We walked in, and were greeted by a waiter, dressed in the traditional Argentine outfit, with a pointed black hat. He placed us down at a sturdy, wooden table in the corner where there were tall, bright candles and three thick menus placed in front of each of our shiny, white plates. We didn’t get bread until nearly twenty minutes in, and my dad was already growing unsure of the place that took so long to deliver what Bertuccis could, in just a moment. That all changed when the meals came soon after.

The steaks were so juicy and tender, that it melted in our mouths, and the Malbec wines were amazing, neither too dry nor too sweet. When the meal was over, and we were paying the check, my parents agreed. There is nothing better than a parilla in Argentina. I have grown an addiction to red meat while being here. While in Uruguay this weekend, I visited a restaurant that oddly had no red meet, and I felt lost and confused. Unable to order a juicy lomo, the tender bife de chorizo, or even a hamburger, I ordered some fish. As I chowed it down, I started to miss the Argentine meat that has defined the past couple months that I’ve been here. It was at this moment, that I realized that I’d be in some trouble when I go home to the United States. It suddenly occurred to me that the GW Deli and FoBoGro just aren’t gonna cut it anymore once I get back. At least I will lose some weight though.

The last of the local establishments I’ve grown to love here are those that are home to live music and shows. These are all over the city, but to find the best ones, we must return back to San Telmo. While here, I’ve seen shows of Tango, Flamenco, Rock N’ Roll, and classical acoustic guitar. These shows that usually start at around 10:30 at night are meant to be background noise that you can calmly enjoy while eating food with friends and family.

The Tango show, I saw in an upscale restaurant by the old streets of San Telmo, was amazing. Four men, wearing the same classy suits matched up with four women, wearing long, red dresses and high heels. They were accompanied on stage by two older singers. Behind them were five musicians playing piano, accordian, a bass, and two violins. The music and the dancing was incredible. Then, a man with darker skin and long, black hair entered the stage. The larger man, who already had his eyes passionately closed had in his hands a small, traditional guitar, that looked like a mandolin. He peacefully strummed in violent strokes that filled the room with piercing, soothing tones. After a few minutes, another man entered the stage, holding two long whips and dressed in full Gaucho (cowboy) attire.  The whips had small, hard surfaced rocks on the bottom, and as they banged against the ground, it created a loud beat. He started to twirl the whips to his side, faster and faster, until the stage was suddenly filled with a complicated beat. As he banged them on the ground, along side six other musicians, the crowd cheered and raised their glasses.

Shows are not always this fancy, but all around the city, events like this can be found. There are restaurants with live music in the US, but they are not nearly as common and they are rarely of such traditional music as Tango or Flamenco. Not to mention, the wine is never as good!

Mar del Plata

I felt like I was lying in a pillow-coated, oven paradise. Lying on a small, white towel, I stole from the hostel, I put my head back on the soft, grainy sand, and listened to the sound of the rocking waves. I took in a deep breathe of the clean beach air, and closed my eyes, falling asleep to the sound of seagulls and men yelling “Churros!”

I awoke not too much later with redder skin, and a calmer sense of the world. I was in Mar del Plata, a wonderful beach town to the South of Buenos Aires, and I was starting to get accustomed to the pleasant lifestyle.

I left Buenos Aires at 2:00 a.m. on the Saturday of the long weekend, and didn’t look back. Five hours, three Alfajores (Argentine cookies), and one drunken passenger later, I was at Mar del Plata, and I was excited to get to the beach.

First I had to drop my bag off at the hostel. This temporary home, the Quercus Hostel, was a quaint little building in a quiet, suburban part of the town. Owned by a lovely elderly woman and her son, the hostel was home to countless international students at the nearby university, who hailed from countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.

Nobody spoke English. Travelling alone, I was forced to communicate entirely in Spanish, and I liked it. Despite being tripped up by the occasional Mexican slang-word, or the rapid paced jabbering of the Colombians, I found my self fully capable of speaking to them, and it felt good to know I could interact with someone from another part of the world.

After a couple cups of coffee, I then jumped on a bus for the beach. Looking around on the packed bus, I realized something. I was surrounded entirely by college students and the elderly. These two groups, almost exclusively dominated the population of Mar del Plata. After thinking about it, the two seemingly different groups, actually have a relatively similar goal in life. Separated from the real stresses of life, the fortunate college student and the retired old people have relaxation and enjoyment as their top priorities. With this in mind, it suddenly made sense why these two populated such a peaceful, wonderful place.

When I got off the bus at the beach, the first thing I noticed was the elephant. Standing tall and large, the elephant was next to a giraffe, three monkeys, two cavemen, and a man on a computer. Together they made up a large ceramic statue in the center of the town. What I didn’t know was that they would later be engulfed in a blazing bonfire. More on that later.

The second thing I noticed was the large casino that stood in the center of the Miami-like boulevard that sat in front of the beautiful ocean. It would be the next day that I would enter that building to play a little roulette. Standing by my table, 100 pesos of chips in hand, I was surrounded by an interesting group of Argentines. To my left was a little old lady, who was aggressively pushing me out of the way so that she could get to the number, that she just knew would win. To my right was a tall man in a suit who was using the “place chips on every single spot technique.”

As for me, I did the same thing every single round. I would place one chip on 13 (my favorite number) and one on 31.  Each time, the ball spun around the circling wheel of fate, the entire group would watch with suspense and hope. “No más,” the man would say, and the bets would stop as the ball came to a tumbling finish. The first spin landed. “29, negro,” he yelled. The majority of the people gave out a frustrated sigh. One mischievous little old lady let out a shout, and collected her winnings, as everyone glared at her angrily.

A few rounds later though, that ball did land on 31, and I collected my first round of winnings. A few more rounds later, it hit 13. Two after that, it hit 13 again. And then 13 a third time. Soon enough, I reached in my pocket, and found 500 pesos of profit. Holding my money in hand, I felt the old ladies staring at me with resentment and anger. I collected my winnings and celebrated with an expensive bottle of wine.

Outside the casino was a large skate park where Argentines from ages 4 to 40 were skating around, doing spins off large ramps and grinding down poles. Beyond that park, was a market that lined the side of the beach. This traditional market had everything you could imagine from maté glasses to shot glasses to scarves. On the beach itself, red, leathery old ladies could be seen relaxing on beach chairs with oversized glasses over their eyes. Children could be seen running through the freezing cold ocean waves as young couples quietly laid together reading or talking. Shouts for “agua” or “Churros” could be heard from all directions as men walked through the beach with food that smelled amazing. Every where you turned, African men would jump in front of you with boxes full of crappy jewelry as shiny as they were fake. 

For three days my life was nothing but sitting on the beach and visiting the casino. On the final night, there was a holiday, dedicated to the memory of the war for the Malvinas Islands, the disputed land by Argentina, currently owned by the British. This island has been the source of a lot of anger from Argentines, who are upset with England’s possession of the oil-strong island close to the Argentine coastline. In Mar del Plata this holiday coincided with another one, which celebrated the end of all that is bad in life. This is where the elephant comes in.

To celebrate this transition away from all that is negative in life, the city gathers in the center square to join together in a unified bonfire. After watching an impressive show of fireworks, a man with a torch lit some firecrackers that headed for the statue of the before mentioned animals. Each of these statues represented something wrong with society, and as each of these symbolic manifestations of evil crumbled, people cheered in joy and sang out the Argentine national anthem. Red smoke sifted through the sky, and the bright fire filled up camera rolls from all directions. I took a picture and felt connected to the country more than I had ever felt before.

As I got onto the bus to go back to Buenos Aires the next day, I felt renewed. Calm and relaxed from my trip, I lied down on the comfy bus seat, and closed my eyes. Thoughts of that burning statue filled my mind, and I felt sure that I too would have all the bad things in my life disappear as well. With thicker pockets, a fuller stomach, and a calmer soul I drifted to sleep. 

Basketball

Disclaimer, this posting is about basketball. If you are not a fan, you might want to skip this excerpt.

When I first got on the plane for Buenos Aires, I expected to find basketball courts on every corner. With players like Manu Ginóbili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino and one of the best national teams, I was sure that the country would be full of basketball fever. Much to my surprise though, that was not the case. Landing in Buenos Aires, it took me a month to find a suitable court.

Everywhere I went, I would be met by confused grimaces when I would ask for directions to a basketball court.

“Fútbol” my host mom would ask. “You wants find Fútbol?”

This was a common reaction. Nearly every park, road, dirt patch and school was filled with goals made of flag posts, backpacks, shoes and cones. It seemed like everywhere I’d look, I’d see an Argentina jersey of Messi or Higuaín. This country loves soccer. And yet, basketball was nearly impossible to find in Buenos Aires.

Curious about this, I asked the head of my program where all the ballers were. I asked him why it was that there were so few courts in Buenos Aires. He said that the answer was mostly due to social aspects. 

He said that basketball was entirely based on clubs in Argentina. Unlike the United States, where local courts were the norm, in Argentina, they were mostly indoor arenas, where you had to be on a club to play.

These clubs are most prevalent outside of Buenos Aires, he said. In the smaller neighborhoods where the community can rally around the clubs, basketball becomes a way of life. Meanwhile, the immense size of Buenos Aires makes community commitment to a team more difficult. There are clubs in Buenos Aires, but these clubs are typically less able to mobilize the community around them.

I searched the city, and found only one outdoor court, all the way on the other side of the city in an area called La Boca. This area, which was more than an hour away by bus, was simply too far to travel to consistently. It looked like basketball was going to have to wait until I got back to the United States.

That’s when I became a varsity athlete. Not quite sure what we were signing up for, my friend and I decided to put our names down for my university basketball team. In my eyes there were three options. Option one was that the skill level was similar to U.S. schools, in which case I would find myself a permanent spot on the bench. Option two was that the team would be of varied skill levels, where some would be much better than me, but I’d still be able to play. And three was that it would be a league of soccer players, dabbling in basketball, where I would be the Michael Jordan of the league.

Much to my disappointment, it was not option three and I am not the Argentine MJ. Luckily though, it wasn’t option one either. When I walked in for my first practice, I was met by a terrifying man with a stern face and a thick accent. This mammoth of a man, Trainer Horacio, was our head coach.  When I went to introduce myself, he gave me a grunt, and sent me on my way to warm up.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped on the court was the size of the hoop. It was a full half-foot shorter than a real hoop. Trying to set a good impression, I grabbed the provided ball, and dribbled towards the hoop. I took a jumper, and of course it was over shot, banging against the back of the tiny rim. Looking around, nobody was looking, so I grabbed the ball and tried again. This time I took a layup, and used the small hoop to my advantage. I slammed my hand against the backboard as I laid it in. 

Practices since that layup have gone well. Usually, we do a series of drills, followed by a relaxed scrimmage at the end of practice. This team that meets every Monday and Wednesday for two hours, already seems like a great experience. I recommend it to any future students at UCA. It’s laid-back, it’s good practice for basketball and Spanish, and it’s a great way to meet Argentine students. Not to mention, I get to say that I am a varsity athlete.

Next stop is the GW Basketball team.

Iguazú

“You might get a little wet,” a stout Argentinian tour guide yelled in broken English, over the roar of a boat engine. “These waves get a little crazy!” As the tour boat flew down the canyon filled steam in Iguazú, the water glistened and rose into the faces of the passengers. On either side of the river were two humongous walls of tropical green moss and bright red rocks. On the left side was Brazil. On the right was Argentina.

“Everybody get ready!” the man yelled as the boat neared a corner. Suddenly, as the boat turned the corner, a humongous waterfall jumped into sight. As the boat set course and headed straight for the momentous falls, tourists started yelling in excitement and grabbed their cameras to take some pictures.

“You might wanna cover your cameras,” he yelled. The boat neared closer and closer to the forceful waterfall. 300 feet. 200 feet. 100 feet. 50 feet. Much to our surprise, the boat just continued on towards the waterfall without stopping. As we stopped nearly under the fall, the boat got drenched with water, as pounds of water fell upon our heads. We were immersed in the fall. Hidden under the forceful hand of nature, everyone started laughing in nervous excitement.

We then pulled out of the fall, and looked back at it as it gracefully and beautifully fell in the distance. As we got off of the boat, in the small trail nearby, we were drenched in water and ecstatic from the adrenaline-filled boat ride. After rinsing our clothes and taking a quick breath, we then began our voyage to the top of the waterfall. After about 20 minutes of zig-zagging through the Jurassic park – like trail, we reached the top of the waterfall.

I recall looking down at the wilderness from this high viewpoint. I imagined what it must have been like for the indigenous explorers who first saw this place centuries ago. I could imagine them walking upon this paradise, before it had built in walkways and fat tourists with cameras. I could imagine the way they looked down the waterfall, and saw the abundant power of nature’s streams. Standing above the waterfall, in the same place as they once stood, I could understand why people believed and still do believe in god.

After taking in the beauty, we then took a trolley to the most famous waterfall in Iguazú, called la Garganta del Diablo. This site was astonishing. This waterfall was a large oval canyon where water fell down from every direction. The entire area was full of rising white mist, due to the pressure of the water. Looking at the magnificent hole in the ground, I felt as if humans were very small weak.

The next day, my group ventured out to the sub-tropical jungle. The characteristic of this trip that jumped out at me first was the bright red soil that lined all the paths in this area. As we drove down the path towards the jungle, we passed various Indigenous communities. Outside of the small, impoverished homes were families sitting outside in the warm weather, eating, drinking, and fighting off the heat.

Once we reached the woods, the first stop was a Zip Lining course. As I walked up the wooden stairwell and stood under the metallic line, I felt my hear pounding and my nerves growing. I looked down at the large drop to the ground, and felt my head start to shake. I suddenly felt as if I had forgotten how to stand, and thought I would undoubtedly fall over myself if I tried to walk. But my legs stood strong. Suddenly it was my turn. The guide took my harness and attached it the line.

“Estás listo,” he said.

“Pienso que sí,” I responded.

“OK,” he nodded. And then he pushed me off. A wave of excitement hit me as I started to glide across the wire.

“HOOOOLLLLLLYYYYY SHIIIIIITTTTT,” I yelled as I passed over hundreds of trees. “I AM THE CHAMPION!”

After stopping after the first round of zip lining, I then began the second. On this trip, I took a moment to look out at the wilderness that surrounded me. As far as my eyes could see was the jungle. I felt like I was on the island in “Lost.” It was amazing to be in such a different place than I had ever seen.

When the zip lining was finished, we continued on the trail towards a running river, which lead to a small waterfall in the jungle. It was in this environment, where we did some propelling. Connected to a harness, we slowly climbed down the waterfall, jumping from rock to rock, trying not to slip on the smooth, wet rocks, and avoiding the water as best as we could. Not surprisingly, we all got pretty wet, and the guide holding us up with the rope got a good work out.

We then headed home, tired from a long voyage, and content with the new experience. As I sat down in the van to go home, I closed my eyes and thought back to the great sites I had seen. I put in my headphones, and relaxed as “Welcome to the Jungle” played in my ears.