Argentina Week 2

I had to read my last post to pick up where I left off, but now I'm back on track.

So this past weekend (August 9 and 10) was pretty exciting for me.

On Saturday the 9th, I went horseback riding for the entire day through "La Cordillera de las Sierras", or Las Sierras mountain range in English. I was supposed to be at my school at 7:45am (UGHHH) to catch the bus for the trip. I learned that was much easier said than done. I'll confess that I was out late the night (morning actually) before, so I guess I did not get much sleep. Therefore, I simply slept through my alarm which was set for 7am. I awoke to my surprise at 7:40am. We've all been there I think. You look at your clock for about thirty seconds when you're half-conscious and you wonder how this happened and/or if you're looking at the clock right. Or perhaps you forgot about Daylight Savings and in fact the actual time is one hour behind.

After considering all of those possibilities, I realized none of them were true and that I was in fact screwed to say the least. So, I literally jumped out of bed, grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and shirt along with my watch, passport, etc. In about 2 minutes I was out of the house sprinting like Jesse Owens down the street to my school. As if I didn't stick out enough already as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American teenager, every single Argentine citizen on that sidewalk gave me that distinctive look of confusion and surprise. I arrived at the school only 5 minutes late, gasping for air, while my female classmates joining me on the trip laughed. I fell asleep immediately after my buttox hit the seat on the bus.

So, we arrived at our destination about about 9am. I am not sure of the name of the nearest town, but I do know that it was located in the province of Cordoba. It was a rural and mountainous. Even though it is winter here and there isn't any green vegetation yet, it is still very beautiful. I wish I could post some pictures but due to technical difficulties I can't. We mounted our horses, learned the basics of how to turn and stop, and then we were on our way. We rode through some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen and we actually saw WILD HORSES! I thought that simply did not exist anymore. We've all seen or heard about those movies about the Old West or the prairie with wild horses, cows, and buffalo, but that was just surreal to me to see it in real life.

After riding for about an hour and a half, we dismounted and walked for about 10 minutes into a small canyon in which there is a small pond complete with a waterfall. There, we set up a fire and had the best lunch that I think I've ever had outside. It even beats a barbecue at a neighbor's house! With loads of soda, pork, sausages, and chicken, this lunch was very memorable.

After taking a few photos and eating lunch, we began our walk back to the horses. Once we were mounted once again, we took a slightly different route back to the bus. This time, we rode through the open hills rather than the hilly woods on the way over. Also during this trip, some of us, including me, learned how to gallop. My horse was lazy, but I eventually got him to use those legs.

Finally, we arrived back to where we began our day and we were shortly back on the bus to the city of Cordoba. After I arrived back at my home in the city, I had a short rest and then I went back out to a sports bar with some buddies to watch the Olympics (women's) weight lifting competition. And I must say, those women are BUILT! I admire them for their hard work and abilities, but yet it's just a little strange to me.

On Sunday, the only productive thing I did was walk through the entire city with some buddies and then walk/run in the park for about an hour. Combined with the horseback riding the preceding day, my legs are not exactly my best friends right now.

Today (Monday 8/11), I went to school where I switched to a more advanced Spanish class. It definitely got a little harder because I was a little frustrated when completing activities regarding Spanish pronouns. After school, I went out to lunch to a place called "The Vieja Esquina", meaning "The Old Corner" (situated on a corner, as you might've guessed), with three of my classmates. There I had three empanadas filled with chicken. Put simply, empanadas are similar to pierogies except without the potatoes inside. Instead, the Argentines often fill them with a meat like chicken or ham, and maybe something else like cheese as well.

Tonight, I plan to go to a tango class and then I'll probably call it quits. Expect another post from me by next Sunday, maybe earlier.

Again, if anyone has any questions relating to this trip to Argentina or aviation, please e-mail me at mike_stangy@msn.com. Comments are also appreciated which you can fill out below by clicking the "Comments" link.