The school year here goes from March to November, so my summer vacation has begun! I arrived in the middle of the school year, in the cold of winter, and went to school for a little bit more than two months. Now I am back in the heat of summer, and in vacation mode once again...and I am not complaining whatsoever! Although, the snow at christmas may be a little bit sad to miss...
Anyways, to start off my summer, my host family took me to an event that was really similar to a rodeo. It also felt somewhat like the fair in Bend because they were showing animals other than horses, like different types of birds, bunnies, ect.
And here you have the classic Argentinian cowboy...they definitely dress a lot different from the cowboys I'm familiar with. They also use somewhat different gear on the horses. To me, it seemed a little bit 'classier' than the American way.
Aside from the horses, there were lines of booths selling fun handmade things like clothes and jewelry. There was also a lot of meat being cooked and it smelled really good. Chorizo is really commonly cooked on grills in the parks on the weekends, during an Asado, or at events like this one. I ate what is really popular here called 'choripan' which is Chorizo and bread(pan). Simple but delicious. Argentina is known for it's meat...and now I know why!
We watched a national Argentina sport called 'pato' which is played on horses! It was one of the funnest things I have seen here. There are three people on each team, two goals, and a ball. The rules are pretty simple, I think it is a lot like basketball, except on horses. They just throw the ball to each other and try to score by throwing into the goal, which is this 'basket' type thing. But it was crazy to watch them move so fast and play so rough while ON HORSES! The cowboys here are really talented...Argentina is one of the best countries for horseback riding. Dilja, my Icelandic buddy, and I decided to go the park and have a picnic, and just walk around, so I took pictures because I figured I should put some on my blog if I am there running almost every day :)
This was our somewhat picnic that consisted of a Milanesa sandwich, cookies, and juice:) Three things that are frequently eaten here.So I have a lot of legal paperwork to do with my travel visa still, and it is frustrating, but at the same time, its not too bad because I have an excuse to go to Buenos Aires!
I went with Dilja again, and we walked through a part of the city together, just the two of us! I felt so independant, just walking through a huge crowd of people in a huge city without somebody 'watching over' me. It was a good feeling, I feel like independance is a huge lesson I am getting out of this year.
Anyways, we walked past a total Johnny Depp look-alike! I almost couldn't believe it wasn't him. We gave him a few pesos so we could pose with him and take a picture...it was AWESOME :)Then, after eating delicious pizza and ice cream, we went to one of the plazas and walked around. It was extremely hot so we ended up sitting in the shade for a while. But with the sun out, even though it gets unbareably hot, it make the city glow:)
Argentina, you get more beautiful every day!
