The day after the party we drove to Cordoba (7 hours from Tucuman). Unfortunately it was more of a pit stop so I wasn't able to see a lot, but to me it looks like another big important city. We spent the night and continued our journey to Villa Gesell (12 hours). We stopped to have lunch in the city of Rosario. Rosario is home to the Virgin Mary. People travel to Rosario from all of Argentina to visit the land believed to be touched by Mary. We stopped to visit the Church of Mary. I was in shock by the amount of people waiting in line, the elderly, pregnant women, the homeless and poor, etc.
After a realllllllyyyyy long day of traveling, we finally arrived at our apartment in Villa Gesell. Our apartment was in the perfect location, one block from the beach and two blocks from the center/boardwalk. Out of all the places we went, I liked Villa Gesell the best, which was great because thats where we stayed :) Its not too big or too small, It's just right. My favorite thing besides the beach, was being able to walk to the center. The avenue seams endless with stores, restaurant, and arcades.
Villa Gesell included many fun days at the beach. I even went swimming with the lifeguards. My host dad told them I'm a swimmer and they invited me to join them at 10am. It was the first time I really swam in the ocean. Once we got past the waves, we swam about 500yards out, then another 500yards with the current, then back to shore. It was really fun!! And I even shocked the lifeguards when I beat them, haha! We (my host dad and I) also played beach volleyball with some kids in there 20's. We played about 10 games until the sun went down, it got pretty intense.
The boardwalk!
On the days when it was raining or too windy to go to the beach we visited a new city/town. All of the cities on the coast are really close together. First we went to Mar de Las Pampas to visit some friends who were staying there.
It was nice to get to spend time with kids my own age. We had a lot of fun! They also have 5 kids.
Horseback riding is really popular in Las Pampas. They have some of the best trails on the coast. The trails led us through the woods and over the sand dunes. It was one of the best trail rides I've ever been on and I figured out why... Argentineans are so laid back they were like, Go ahead and gallop if you want, just be careful. Most trail rides the leaders are more concerned with safety, but I say, "forget that, who needs safety anyways?" So some of the other experienced riders and I got to gallop up and down the sand dunes :)
We finished our time in Mar de Las Pampas with a camp fire :) No smores, I'm pretty sure that's an American thing.
Our next stop was Carilo. We stayed at the beach in Villa Gesell in the morning, then went to Carilo to look around and have some coffee. Carilo is pretty much the Hamptons off the coast of Buenos Aires. It is where all of the celebrities have their large beach house get aways. Carilo is gorgeous! Walking around in the center feels like you are in a forest on an island, it's very rustic, yet still Modern.
There aren't any roads, just sand, and lots of it.
I loved the shops! They were a lot different from anything I've seen in Salta.
We finished off a great day with a nice cup of coffee and dulce de leche pastries. YUM!
Next stop was Pinemar. Pinemar is more of a city. We stopped at the pier which was lots of fun because it was a really windy day....
As you can see!
Our last stop before heading to Buenos Aires was Mar del Plata. Mar del Plata is a very important city. It reminded me of San Francisco, only the buildings were much taller. It is about an hour away from Villa Gesell, so we left in the morning. We stopped for lunch and went to the street with all of the famous outlets. My parents bought a lot of presents for their kids. After walking, a lot, we went to have some coffee in the center. And lastly, we stopped in front of the famous government building. You can see in the pictures that it was about to rain. The clouds were INSANE!
We got to watch an electric storm on the way home, no rain, but CrAzY lightning!
We stayed in Villa Gesell for almost 2 weeks. It was really nice to relax and enjoy the beach. We were there until the 3rd when we went to Buenos Aires. I was so exited!! I couldn't believe I actually stayed in Buenos Aires for 4 days when I first arrived in August, but all I saw was the airport. Buenos Aires is HUGEEEE!!!! I wasn't expecting that at all. It took us an hour to go 15 blocks, and 15 blocks is considered close. Buenos Aires is about 2 times larger then NYC.
I was lucky that my host parents had to go to Buenos Aires for a wedding, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit. Most of the people who don't live in Buenos Aires, hate it. I think BA is beautiful. It's a lot to take in at first. We were only there for 2 days so I didn't get to see much. Buenos Aires is one of the most unique cities I've been too. Every neighborhood or section of the city has its own downtown and center. Overall, BA was beautiful to visit, but I would never want to live there. I was also lucky that a good friend of mine, James Romanik, just got there the week before and is studying in BA for the semester. It was nice to see a familiar face. It will be something we will always remember, I mean really, what a coincidence! Buenos Aires was great, but after almost 2 and a half weeks, I was ready to go back to Salta. We hit the road at 8am and went strait to Tucuman (12 hours). We spent the night in Tucuman for my host sister's Birthday. The next day my dad had some business to take care of so we didn't actually end up leaving Tucuman until 10pm. We got back to Salta at 2am, this past Tuesday. I had already missed five days of school from the vacation so I had no choice. I slept for about 4 hours and went to school at 7am. It was a really long journey and really long day, but full of great experiences.
Tuesday was my first day back to school, FINALLY! I have had a lot of summer vacation recently... I felt like my brain was either going to explode or fly away. I switched my class this year which is a lot better. I'm surrounded by my closest friends and i'm taking classes i'm interested in. We're taking Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Computer Science, Ethics, Spanish (like English back home - literature), Sociology, History, Phycology, and English. Yeah, Its a lot! And this year, now that I understand almost everything, I actually have to do all the work, which I'm actually happy about. It's a good challenge.
I've almost been here for 7 months now, the time is going by SO fast. This experience has come with its ups and downs, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard. I miss home A LOT, I miss my friends and family, but that just comes with the experience. This has been by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm finally at a point now where I feel things are really good. Now that I'm in the home stretch, with only 4 months to go, I'm feeling the pressure. In these next 4 months I have to really perfect my Spanish, study and focus in school, and spend as much time as I can with my friends and family. These past 7 months have gone by reallllyyyy fast, so I can only imagine the next 4.
*The other day I got to meet the new exchange students. Two of them go to my school, a girl from Austria names Sofi staying for the semester, and a girl named Anki from Germany staying for a year. And I FINALLY have a fellow American! Tyler is from New Jersey and is staying for the semester. I'm really exited that our AFS family is growing again.
