Montevideo; Uruguay's armpit.

My study abroad program sponsors different activities for students to do throughout the semester. The lastest was a field trip to Colonia, Uruguay where the director of my program, Mario, and his do-rag wearing partner, Sergio, hosted us for an afternoon at their gorgeous bed and breakfast. We spent the afternoon strolling through Mario's lemon grove and eating asado, argentine bbq. Mario poured the wine while Sergio scolded us for eating from the fruit platter before eating our steak - apparently that is NOT how an asado is eaten. My apologies, Sergio, let's put this behind us, your do-rag and tight t- shirt have me wishing you were my gay friend forever. After a night tour through the cobblestone streets of Colonia, I was feeling excited aobut having a break from busy Buenos Aires.

Mario and Sergio's B&B


Mario was reppin Wisconsin on our trip - and you know that I was too, to the embaressment of my peers. whatevs.




Since we were already in Uruguay, My friend Katherine and I decided to take a bus to Uruguay's capital city, Montevideo.
Like Singapore to Malaysia (Michaela and Paul), as soon as we stepped off the bus in dirty Montevideo, shit hit the fan.
If the Asian men following and hollering at us through the city's main square or the perpetual smell of urine weren't enough to convince me that montevideo was nast, Katheirne being mugged by a gang of 8 year old boys in broad daylight pushed me over the edge.
Katherine chased little Juan Carlos and Co. down, though, after they had ripped the leather strap of her purse off of her shoulder. Her long legs and crazed eyes had the hoodlems wishing they had never been born. They tossed her purse to the side of the street and scattered. Katherine grabbed her bag containing all of her belongings back, and rejoined me silently on the street. Neither of us knowing what to say or how to feel after she had just rocked getting mugged - by 8 year olds.....
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed according to Montevideo manner, sketchy - including piropos (catcalls) from the bartender at the restaurant we had dinner at. umm?? we're in your restaurant...
We arrived two hours early to catch our bus back to Colonia the next morning.
Montevideo, see you never.


Mallory and Katherine, pre Montevideo

Dear Melanie

As an ode to my sister's upcoming visit, I've decided to create a blog post type letter, if you will, to let her know just what it is that she's gotten herself in to.
Melanie, baby girl:

1. I've stolen your identity. sorry. Apparently "Melanie" is easier to pronounce than "Mallory" in Argentina. My conversations with new aqcuaintances usually go like this:
Como te llamas?
Mallory
Melanie?
No, Mallory.
Melanie?
Mal.... yup, Melanie, perfect.
If Dad and Grandma Peggy don't know the difference, why would my spanish teacher?

2. Despite the fact that I have been here for 6 weeks, I still have no idea what I'm doing. I average 4 pretty embaressing things a day. Latest one? Not washing the fruit I ate and getting sick for the third time this month while I was out running. I had 3 construction workers laughing at me as I barged past them to use their port-a-potty.

3. They eat beef the way we eat chicken, wine and beer are both cheaper than water, and that's mayo that they brought you with your bread, not butter.
In fact, that's mayo that they brought you with everything you ordered.
Their concept of a vegetable is potato puree and you´ll be hard pressed to find something that they don´t eat with Dulce de Leche, their form of carmel.
My lastest purchase was Dulce de Leche Oreos, and that´s just the begining, my friend.

4. Please bring me the biggest jar of peanut butter you can find.

5. It´s winter here, pack a longleeve shirt

6. If you think you hear Glee or Mama Mia coming from the next room, you do, compliments of the CD I made for Mirta.

7. We now share a bathroom with our host brother who just got back from his vaction in California. He has longer hair than you, so a smart woman gets her behind in the shower before he does or risks bathing in agua fria. This lesson was learned the hard way. twice.

8. Foam party todos los viernes y sabados. It´s so wrong, but so right.

9. I miss you and love you and can´t wait to have you here!

La Semana Santa

To my delight, Argentina celebrates Easter starting on holy Thursday. To take advantage of the time off of class, I headed to El Calafate and El Chalten for some Glacier sightseeing and Mountain trekking in Patagonia. Two fellow Sconnies, Dan and Zach and our friend Emily and I headed for the South of South America where we had the chance to experience some of the greatest things of our lives.

El Calafate: Known for its access to glacier Perrito Moreno, one of the largest glaciers left on Earth (and still growing!). We met up with two of our friends from the program and spent the first half of our trip glacier loving and drinking cheap wine.





El Chalten: After a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived in El Chalten. Here we spent 3 days trekking and camping at the base of Mount Fitz Roy. For anyone who knows how much of a baby I am when it comes to the cold, you would not believe that I actually slept on the mountain in a tent in close to 0 degree whether. I did it in 8 layers and a hat, but nevertheless, I think I've made progress on conquering the cold!




This is the mountain we slept by! Our second morning, we got up to hike to the best viewing point to watch the sunrise.


Wanda, let the good times roll.


View of the town of El Chalten