Semana Salta Part 1

Last weekend for Semana Santa (Easter) I went to Salta. The province of Salta is located in the north of Argentina; a 22 hours bus ride! It basically takes a day to get there but it is so worth it. We left on Wednesday afternoon at 5. The omnibus was suppose to leave at 4 but, as usual, the bus was delayed in arriving to the station. I, traveling with 5 of my friends from IFSA boarded the bus with trepidation and excitement. How glad we were to arrive at our hostel, 7 Duendes, after that 20 odd hour bus ride. The rest of the day was spent figuring out what to do/walking around.

The next day, we went to San Lorenzo, which was 15 mins away, where there was hiking and zip-lining in the mountains. It was an amazing day to hike. The views were gorgeous and the hike was perfect, although I was a little out of breath during one or two parts. I blame the thin mountain air. ;)







The view at the top was totally worth it. We could see the whole of Salta from the top.

Stained Glass Windows at Recoleta Cemetery

Empanadas

How could I not mention empanadas, the snack food of argentina???? ridiculously cheap and on the go food, it is the preferred choice of everyone for a snack. at first i didn't like them bc a lot of them had hardboiled egg in it and they were cold.

(The flavors are usually chicken, meat, veggie, mozarella). Empanadas can be baked (Salta style) or fried (Tucuman style). They may also contain ham, fish, humita (sweetcorn with white sauce) or spinach; a fruit filling is used to create a dessert empanada. Actually, just go read the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanada. I didn't even know there was a dessert empanada. i know what my next quest will be: find that dessert empanada!

I got the chicken empanadas below from a italian place next to the ifsa office. warm, they are the empanadas i like the most so far.




This is a potato tortilla that my host mom has made a couple of times before. it is really yummy, kind of like the spanish tortilla.

First Man in Space

Although this has nothing to do with Buenos Aires, my attention was caught by today's Google drawing; a video picture of a rocket blasting off into space with a astronaut in the foreground. At first I thought it was Neil Armstrong or somebody but i was wrong. It is celebrating the achievements of Yuri Gagarin, the first man who successfully entered space and came back alive.





Before Gagarin, no-one knew for sure if a human could withstand the conditions in space, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow; some believed weightlessness would induce madness, that the G-forces on take off and re-entry would crush the body, and there was concern over the effects of radiation.

On 12 April 1961, to the cry of "Let's go!", Yuri Gagarin embarked on a voyage lasting 108 minutes in a tiny two-metre-wide (6ft) capsule, then ejected and parachuted down into a field in central Russia.

But when Gagarin's face and voice were beamed down from space, the world saw that the cosmos was not to be feared - it was to be explored.

"The most emotional moment was when we heard he was walking and waving; his arms and legs were whole. We understood in one sigh that our five to six years of hard work had paid off and we had achieved something huge," said veteran cosmonaut Georgy Grechko, now 79, who worked as an engineer on Gagarin's space capsule. (BBC News)




Gagarin was hailed as a hero around the world, except prolly in the U.S. back then because of Cold War tensions, and was feted wherever he visited. Unfortunately for the world, he died in 1968 in a plane crash. Even the famous U.S. astronauts and NASA have realized his important contribution to the world of space travel. (see plaque above) Many say that if it wasn't for Gagarin's successful space travel, the U.S. would have lacked the impetus to send a man to the moon in only a decade.

So today i am commemorating this very important day in world history, one that everyone should celebrate.

Mar Del Plata Part 2!

So this post is NOT of a product of late night ideas that morph into something cringe-worthy once seen in the light of day. aka i just realized my last post was a really dumb filler post.

This is a continuation of Mar Del Plata, Part 2! Most of the pictures are from the 2nd day, which was forecasted to be rainy and cold.


The day started all overcast and gloomy!


Since it was too cold at the beach, we decided to visit the aquarium!


My friend Marissa and I with the Penguins. She knew a lot about penguins!


Wants to go swimming with this penguin!




The last thing we did at the Aquarium was go see the Dolphin Show!!! Each trainer had 2 dolphins that they controlled, with 4 trainers in total. It was a really fun show because they had music to go along with the dolphin's acts.


Here they're jumping over a rope.


I liked when they jumped out of the water to try to touch the balls! they were all successful! My favorite part by far, although not shown, was when the trainers were propelled through the water by their dolphins so it looked like they were speeding on top of the water by magic. Dolphins are just so smart!


There was also a seal enclosure when you could buy a fish or two for the seals to eat. this baby seal was just sitting on the rock looking forlorn. He didn't even attempt to eat any fish, even when it was thrown directly in front of him. But he was photogenic.


A beautiful sunset to a perfect day.

Late at night

So i was trying to find watermelon shoes bc i saw this girl on the collectivo today wearing the most amazing pair of watermelon print shoes but now i can't find them. what i did find is below.






Now that is a diaper/chair that any baby should be proud to own! actually that would be a nasty diaper

Alfajores y other Goodies

Today I went this this confiteria very close to my house ad bought 2 pastries. My host mom had been raving about the pastries and this place. She said it was rich and kinda pricey which equals even better taste. So i duly went and checked it out.

I bought a Alfajor, which is a type of dessert which has its roots as a traditional arabic dessert. In most American alfajores there are two layers of cake, and a filling in between. In Argentina its basic form consists of two round sweet biscuits joined together with dulce de leche or jam and covered with powdered sugar. Another popular feature of the alfajor, although not always present, is a coating of black or white chocolate (many alfajores are sold in "black" and "white" flavours).

The one that you see below is a white alfajor.Look at that dulce de leche in the inside!


YUM!!!


I also bought a Cañones rellenos con dulce de leche. I haven't tasted it yet after going into that diabetic coma after eating the alfajor but it will be eaten.

Japanese Gardens

So I can't believe that I didn't post about this already. I thought i already did but it turns out i posted only to facebook and not here. I just saw that i put in a one liner in a previous post about going but then i never uploaded. Fail. So about the 2nd weekend here in Buenos Aires, a group of friends and I met up to go the Japanese Gardens. Here are the resulting photos.