100 Days!

I realized today that four days ago I should have had my “100-day celebration.” You know, that party you had in kindergarten or first grade when you celebrated the fact that you had reached your hundredth day of school. Mostly a chance for you teacher to make you practice counting to 100 again, it was also fun to pick one particular object and take 100 of whatever it was that you chose to school. Cereal, race cars, jelly beans, POGS, marbles, stickers….of course the coolest kid was the one who chose the biggest item available in their house (of which they had 100) and toted them all to school. What did I take on my 100^th day of school? I haven’t the faintest recollection. Clearly this classroom celebration was an integral part of my academic formation and adolescent identity. 

I mostly note the benchmark of how long I’ve been in Argentina not because 100 days is significant in and of itself but, in fact, because I’m already nearing the middle of my eight month grant. My “Mid-Term Grant Report” is due to the Fulbright Commission at the end of next week, and I will be spending all of next week in Montevideo, Uruguay for our Fulbright-sponsored mid-term seminar (to be held with the English Teaching Assistants from Argentina, Uruguay and Panama). In three and a half months that I have been here (and truly in just over two months of teaching), I [think] I have: improved my Spanish (including learning plentiful Argentine slang), connected with new communities at my work, a church, an athletic club, a local town, etc., driven many of my students to think more critically, respect one another and their class environment, and explore a more diverse perspective of U.S. culture, ….However, I think my list of goals for the coming months remains much longer: sign up for a membership at the local library where I met a super-helpful librarian, figure out how my participation on this club team fits in with my original proposed project of organizing/facilitating team sports among girls and young women, get a bank account (?), conduct in-depth interviews with individuals about research questions that I have been developing, learn to cook a bit more “Argentine,”  travel to the southern reaches of the country (?!), continue meeting new people, see the sun rise a few more times after a night out of dancing, and not allow my students to remain in their “comfort zones” with the lesson topics I pick out for class (among a growing bucket list of other things…). 

Of course my “to do” list of things is much longer than the review of things that I have already accomplished. Since I was very young I seem to have had this sponge-like inclination of soaking up everything around me: facts to learn, things to read, ideas to consider, people to meet, places to explore and cultures to learn. A blessing at times, a curse only occasionally, it has inevitably shaped who I am today and the direction that my calle sin nombre will run in the future.  And yet, it is dangerously easy for me to get lost in this second list of things to be accomplished, without clear direction or purpose toward which specific goal(s) they should lead me. I guess that’s one reason that school/my undergraduate years were so great. There were dates for everything: my next exam, monthly Residential Life programming, term papers, turnover of academic years, internship applications, basketball seasons- you name just about anything I was doing, there was a benchmark for assessing accomplishments and progress. Welcome to real life where I seem just as much responsibility but fewer authorities looking over my shoulder to make sure I’m headed in the right direction. Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t babysat for at Denison nor am I free (or ever will be) of certain authority’s requirements. However, there is something to be said for the self-driven motivation that I was encouraged to develop during my college years and how I live out these same principles in different ways beyond the campus I called home for four years. I have the skills and knowledge, and usually the motivation too, to push forward intellectually, professionally, personally, spiritually, etc.; I only need to avoid the forgetfulness that can sneak in with the routines [and sometimes monotony] of daily life.

Anyways, my point is that I was kindly, if not humbly, reminded this week by my mid-term Fulbright report completion that revision of goals is so important in the process of assessing what I’ve accomplished and where I’m potentially going. Other exciting things that happened this week included having classes of rich discussions with students on Title IX and the evolution of the telecommunications industry, deciding for certain that my parents and I will travel to Córdoba at the end of July when they visit, and receiving a birthday card that’s been floating around in the mail system for nearly a month. As this week in particular had its share of lows rather than highs, here’s to my first 100 days full of minor accomplishments and, God-willing many more to come.

Feliz Día de la Bandera!

You might say "what?!" or simply roll your eyes at me or celebrate with me if you're reading this from here in Argentina, but yes, it's another holiday here (Monday, I mean) which means it was a three day weekend for me! Happy Flag Day from Argentina, and happy belated father's day which we also celebrated yesterday. What an awesome, awesome weekend it has been. I'd actually venture to say that it has been my best weekend here yet considering everything that I've had going on socially and all the wonderful people with whom I've had the pleasure of spending my time. Without further delay, I'll provide my update on the extended weekend and some of its memorable moments:

Friday night marked a huge game for our basketball team. We played against Villa San Martin, another club team in Resistencia who has apparently been the city's reigning champs for years and years. I could tell by the way that my teammates were conversing on Thursday (yes, we found out the day before the game that we would be playing the next day) that there was a nervous excitement building about the match-up. Friday evening we got to the gym and I could quickly see why this team is so well renown; we were clearly the underdogs in stature and age/experience. Nonetheless I was excited and enthusiastic about the game and for good reason. We came out and played quite well, leading for a majority of the game. Unfortunately, our youth got the best of us (as far as ball-handling and high-pressure, end-of-game situations) and we lost by a mere three points! I hope we meet again in competition while I am still here in Resistencia. Critically reflecting on the game, I'd like to note that it was the most "under control" game that I've played in yet here. That isn't to say that the game was "under control" as I understand and have learned the game in the United States. ;) With just seven seconds to cross the half court line and a twenty-four second shot clock like the NBA, you can imagine how much up and down the court action there is in a game.

Immediately following the game, we went to celebrate the birthday of one of the guys who is close friends with the team. To be completely honest there are some days that I love being a walking dictionary of English and other days that I rather dislike being the person everyone can turn to and ask ¿Cómo se dice ________? (How do you say _________?). Occasionally, I just hate being the oddball and wish I could blend in seamlessly with whoever I am spending the evening. However, the fact of the matter is that I always will be the foreigner and that, fortunately, I don't mind (most of the time) being the person who gets to share many linguistic and cultural nuances that come along with my ability to speak English. I say all this because it was a major part of this Friday evening that I spent with friends. As we talked about a variety of things, I often found myself answering questions about how to say particular words of interest in English, what my home is like, what the lyrics said for any particular song that we were listening to, what my family is like, etc. Of course I answered questions regarding the seriously, the silly and the downright make-you-double-over-with-laughter. On the sidewalk in front of Marcos' house, music blaring, grill with hot coals for hamburgers, a cold drink in hand, we passed several hours just talking, laughing and occasionally dancing. I <3 Argentina.

Saturday I had the pleasure of having lunch at the house of Mabel Novoa, UNNE history professor, with her family. Besides the fact that Mabel is a wonderful, wonderful cook and extremely welcoming, I always find family dynamics fascinating to observe. Thus, seeing yet another family in action here in Argentina was a real treat. Around our lunch table sat: Mabel and her husband, Mabel's daughter Nuria who was home for the extended weekend from Buenos Aires, two of Nuria's friends, Alejandra (the family's maid) and Mabel's son Peter (She also has a daughter who is studying Geology at Mississippi State). I won't go into any details here but gender interactions continue to fascinate me, especially within the context of family dynamics. Following lunch, I mostly enjoyed listening to Nuria and her friends catch up on life as they do not see each other very often. The three of them are all engaged in the profession of architecture. Nuria, already having received her degree, works in Buenos Aires (but noted that she doesn't especially like it) while friend number one just received her degree and is working on a variety of projects in Chaco and friend number two is still amidst her university studies. It was interesting to hear them bounce between a number of subjects but mostly return to discussing architecture-related things and then actually laugh at themselves and comment that they talked about architecture too much.

Saturday evening I went to church for what I knew was going to be a grand celebration. The church that I have attended was celebrating its 23rd birthday and all of the church's satellite campuses from the nearby towns had been invited to join in the celebration. If I had to guesstimate, there were probably over 500 people in attendance at the evening's service! About mid-way through the service, my friend Adri asked me if I wanted to accompany her to the church's nursery to prepare for the post-service social. Little did I know what my response of 'yes' would mean for the rest of my evening... There in the nursery Adri and a couple other friends were dressing up as clowns and there happened to be an extra outfit. You guessed right...I said, "why not?!" and grabbed the extra costume, pants, shirt, crazy hat and all, to join in fine fashion with the celebration. The post-church service activities included some food but also games such as a bat/stick spin race, a carry-a-small-ball-between-your-knees-to-a-bucket race, and a group ski race (imagine a single set of skis with four feet loops and four people walking together as their feet are constrained within the loops. hilarious!). My part in all of this activity included entertaining a small group of children who had gathered and were anxious to play the games that had mostly been designed for the older youth in attendance. The most hilarious moments had to be when the kids looked at me strangely and finally asked, "Why do you talk funny?" I just had to laugh at their question because it's amazing how, even at their young age, they recognize my accent to be different. Of course I briefly explained that I'm from the United States and why I am here in Argentina. However, the real topper for my interactions with the children was when one little boy asked me, "Sos salteña?," meaning that he was inquiring if I was from the Argentine province of Salta. That's certainly not a mistaken identity attributed to me thus far in my time in Resistencia! Ha! After the social I went out with a group of friends to get some ice cream. Not sure if I've made this commentary before, but ice cream here is absolutely divine. It more closely resembles an Italian gelato than typical ice cream made in the United States. I might be a little addicted; the family that owns the ice cream shop on the plaza where I live recognizes me when I come in. Guess I need to be lacing up my running shoes a bit more because I don't think I will be giving up my once or twice weekly visits to the ice cream shop anytime soon.

On to Sunday and back to Puerto Tirol! I celebrated Father's Day with Viviana and her family in Tirol, enjoying an asado of pig and lamb (and chicken that everyone was too full to eat by the time it was being cut). Another day of family interactions to observe, this time with many more older folks in the picture, I enjoyed a peaceful afternoon outside of the city. This was the second time that I had met Viviana's parents and I wish, I wish, I wish that her father and mine could converse in a shared language. Knowing the interests that they share and their personalities, they would end up being a real show. :) Vivi's father enjoys teasing me about any given subject of conversation and he's usually pretty on-point with the sarcastic comments that he decides to make. Yes, definitely an amusing afternoon of interactions with the grandmother, both sets of parents (of Viviana and her husband David), and brothers and sisters present for the asado.

Finally, today, Flag Day, I won't share exactly what time I finally pulled myself out of bed. I accidentally forgot to set my alarm (oops!) and didn't get up quite as early as I'd hoped. Nonetheless, I was definitely productive and went this evening to our weekly dinner with my referente's family. In addition to being the family's celebration of Father's Day, we also celebrated the birthday of one of my referente's nephews with a cake and singing (including the English version of Happy Birthday which I was asked to lead...). Conversation topics around the table ranged from pain killers to what time we have to get out of bed in the morning for work to if people in the United States know what empanadas are. Yes, we talk about a little of everything. Also, if you haven't noticed yet, a great deal of what I do, and what Argentine's do in general, revolves around food. Food and gathering around a shared table is sooo important here. Not only do I love the food piece, I really appreciate the sense of community that I see developed around a shared meal, or afternoon mate and merienda, or midnight ice cream with friends or family. Happy Father's Day (especially to my dad!) and Happy Flag Day, good weekend, and great people. I am blessed beyond words.

Sure, who doesn't want x, y and z?

In the last several years in the United States, urban revitalization has definitely taken center stage politically, economically and socially in many ways. Whether it's revitalizing specific neighborhoods that have somehow fallen by the wayside in a city's development or doing anything possible to resuscitate an entire city that seems to be lagging on many fronts (Detroit is the first metropolitan area that comes to mind in this category), urban (re)development is a buzzword for some great current events conversation. Closest to my home, there have been major efforts to renovate old venues and open brand new ones in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Columbus, Ohio is seeing major bridge construction on both the West Main Street bridge and the Rich Street bridge (to replace the old Town Street bridge) that will hopefully encourage pedestrian traffic in the city and reconnect neighborhoods that have been isolated for some time. And Ohio governor John Kasich has definitely weathered a harsh wave of resentment for turning down $400 million last fall, from the federal government, to be put towards a high-speed railway between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. Of course I learned about similar plans of action in Indianapolis when I lived there in the summer of 2009, and we can read about other economic and cultural renovations of other urban areas, large and small, every day in the news.

Thus, it didn't really surprise me when I picked up a sort of magazine that had been dropped off in my front lawn the other day that was titled Vecinos and featured Resistencia mayor, Aída Ayala's plans for full-city renovations. Inside I found general plans for Resistencia's urban development, supposedly all achievable by 2020, divided into four main branches: "infrastructure for development, a city of social inclusion, Resistencia as a city of culture, and economic development." I can definitely see good things happening as far as development in this city. With president Cristina Kirchner's recent visit there were some sorely-needed road repairs that were completed. Another recent project that I have noticed is the reconstruction of curbside corners to be more wheelchair accessible. Having worked in a center for adults with developmental disabilities just before coming to Argentina, sidewalk construction generally was something that I took note of shortly after arriving. Sidewalks here in Resistencia are generally very wide and thus, accommodating for several people to walk side by side. However, sidewalks here, which tend to be constructed with tile, also tend to be deathly uneven, both in front of a singular property where you might find tiles loose and in between properties where there might be up to a foot or foot and a half of height difference. So, while I'm ecstatic to see that the city is beginning to recognize the needs of its population with different mobility needs, I also am left wondering how someone who has mobility concerns or who is in a wheelchair could independently get themselves from place to place in Resistencia.

I'd also like to share briefly a section that had me close to laughing out loud in my room as I read it. I got to the end of this article (loosely translated below) in the "Resistencia: A City of Social Inclusion" section and thought, yeah, let's all just join hands and sing "Kumbaya" and life will be good here in Resistencia.  But don't let me influence your opinion; read it for yourself (i.e. read my translation) and see if you agree:
"Eco Clubs With the implementation of Eco clubs/communities, spaces of participation and citizenship formation will be created and expanded in neighborhoods, in which children, young adults, and senior citizens will participate in/carry out activities that allow them to go beyond being merely inhabitants to being citizens engaged with issues of health, society and the environment.
For children the Eco communities will offer recreational and cultural activities related to ecology, care of the environment, education and road/street safety. Additionally, the communities will function as childcare facilities that will allow their parents to carry out other activities with certainty that their sons and daughters are in a safe environment.
The communities will encourage the civic participation of young people with workshops in topics of their interests and through the organization of united activities.
Taking into account that reaching old age is the peak of one's life, the development committee also thought about/planned the Eco communities for senior citizens, where older adults will collaborate in the teaching of children and adolescents, as in the case of grandparents telling stories, and additionally they will carry out recreational activities and participate in discussions about their own interests related to being old."

There you have it, Resistencia's 4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Pee-wee soccer, community playground, nursery/childcare, special interest clubs for teenagers, community historical center, and senior citizens center all rolled into one! Don't get me wrong, I think theoretically this is a superb idea for a living-learning community, but I don't really see an infrastructure present right now that would support the construction of the aforementioned community. Nonetheless, accompanying this article is a computer-generated image of what one of these Eco communities might look like as well as a small map of the city with 13 small flags marking the proposed communities' distribution.

Other interesting things from this magazine that I have greater faith will actually come to fruition (if the people of Resistencia demand them of their elected officials): a costanera (a wide, paved walkway) along the Rio Negro (I believe in this primarily because of the Resistencia-Corrientes rivalry and that Corrientes has a pretty nice costanera), a second bridge across the river Panamá to Corrientes, many of the road construction projects within the city, and the construction of some additional industrial plants/areas in and around the city. And, of course, politics plays a huge role in the distribution of this Vecinos publication. You can see mayor Aída Ayala dominating the front cover here:

Yes, I think she's a bit scary-looking (and I think many of my students would agree with me) but that's a conversation for another day. My point to be made about political agendas is that Mayor Ayala's picture appears 7 times in the 18 pages of the publication (including the front cover) and 8 of these same 18 pages feature stories on development that she has headed or extended speeches that she has given regarding the importance of the development plans. For better or for worse, I have observed that politicians' vested interests in the community to win votes is much more transparent in Argentina, and legal in many more ways, than in the United States. I suppose we (Argentine and North Americans) share numerous desires for improvements in our quality of life; how we plan to get there is the culturally relevant, and truly fascinating, piece in the puzzle of our lives.

There are things smaller than "the little things" in life?

My points to ponder that follow might seem a bit strange but, I promise, they do have a point. Bear with me and just play along for a bit... :)
When was the last time that you thought seriously about: your mannerisms when you walk down the street? why you prefer (or don't prefer) your most normal forms of transportation, whether it be walking, taking a public or school bus or driving your own car? your mannerisms while in transit through these common, everyday routes? When was the last time you pondered why you brush your teeth before you get dressed in the morning but after you've put in your contacts? or why you seek out the company of select individuals in your life? or why you choose to put on one pair of shoes in lieu of another to run errands in town? When was the last time that you picked up the local paper and really thought about the political agenda behind the stories written within its pages? or where you can break a large bill so that you have change for the bus or a snack from a street vendor? or about how your education has shaped who you are today, and not only what you have learned but also how you have learned it?

At some moment in the recent past, I have been stirred to think about all of these things, primarily because I am living in a context that has plucked me from many familiarities of North American culture. I've been living in Argentina for three full months (seriously?! not sure where that time has gone!), and there are certainly some things to which I have become accustomed. I cooked dinner at 11 pm last night after talking with my family on skype and wasn't phased in the least by how late I was eating. Of course this cultural adjustment has included eating a post-siesta snack (also part of Argentine tradition) so I'm not dying of hunger at 10 or 11 pm. When I get dressed in the morning I remember not only to think about the weather outside but how warm or cold I might be in a cement block classroom. And I (almost) always remember to pay at the grocery store with a 100 peso bill so that I can have change for whenever I might need it next.

I find it kind of intriguing sometimes to ponder how difficult and/or less enjoyable my life could actually be here if I refused to let go of certain cultural habits that I have in the United States and embrace others that are waiting for me here. A prime example: purchasing bread. I realize this example might sound rather trivial, but if I refused to learn the various breads available at the local bakery and, instead, insisted on buying sandwich bread at the grocery store, I would be missing out on a HUGE part of Argentine culture. Anyone can tell you that the fresh-baked bread from a panadería tastes 100 times better than any packaged bread shipped to a store. Plus, with bakeries on every other corner, I have no reason to seek out the loaf bread that I am so accustomed to eating in the United States. If all of that wasn't reason enough, this delicious bread from local shops is dirt cheap. Thus, my decision becomes rather easy to frequent Panadería 9 de julio that sits just on the other side of the plaza where I live.

On to a second, slightly more serious, example of this cultural framework construction that is happening in my life: Recently I have thought about buying another pair of boots. I could actually use another pair in my wardrobe and I have no shortage of selection in the dozens of quality shoe stores found here in Resistencia. And then it struck me last week as I engaged in a discussion about gender roles in a Language and Grammar class at work, that even footwear in this culture makes a very gendered statement. I had a coincidental conversation the next day about this same issue with another woman (I'll call her Anna) who is not from here. Anna said she has a friend who told her that she needed to wear high-heeled shoes to a particular event. When Anna questioned why (because high heels truly aren't absolutely necessary for this event), her friend couldn't give her a definitive answer; the friend's response was something more like "well, well, you just need to do it." Anna shared with me that she realizes this perspective comes from Argentine women's general need/cultural habit of dressing in extremely feminine ways (of course there are always exceptions to cultural generalities too). I won't go too deep into the intricacies of the machísmo culture in which I live; that would take ages. However, I will say that my own expectations for the ways that relationships develop and function based on gender have been challenged in every way imaginable as I interact with men and women here on a daily basis. I have thought recently about why I value my individual independence and which gender expectations I might or might not be constrained by here in Argentina. I have thought about the ways in which I might be allowed to be an "exception" to the rule because I am the extranjera. I ponder how my relationships with men and women are constructed and maintained differently than those same types of relationships in the United States. Sometimes I try and stick to every principle of gender equality in which I believe, occasionally (unfortunately) doing so is just too taxing and I act according to norms that I wouldn't really say are my own, and sometimes I find a compromise somewhere in the middle. Truly, life has thrown me so many twists and turns related to gender that I would have a difficult time knowing where to begin if you asked me for a generalization of how I felt, being a woman in Resistencia, Chaco.

At the least I conclude that I must continue looking beyond "the little things" of cultural difference in my living-learning experiences here. You know, beyond those things that we can identify on first observances of a culture: the way people greet one another with kisses, traffic patterns, classroom rites and rituals, etc. In the nuances of life-- in the relationships, everyday conversations, random interactions in the street, and body gestures, we find encoded our most deeply rooted life values.


In other headline news: Teresa claims her first package from customs at the post office! My parents sent a package on April 25th, it arrived on May 26th and I finally had time to go pick it up today, June 15th. Yes, mail is slow but my delay in collecting the package was due to: one, the customs part of the post office is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 am to noon (I only have Wednesdays free in the morning...), two, because foreign mail is shipped to Barranqueras which is a town basically connected to Resistencia but still requires that I take a bus to arrive there, and three, Cassie was here visiting the last couple weeks. Anyways, I arrived at the Barranqueras post office this morning and gave the man at the counter my package claim slip. I then had to wait about half an hour at which point a customs agent arrived. I was asked to open my package for them to examine all its contents; they laughed a little when I explained that one of the smaller bags in my package said I wasn't to open it til my birthday (May 29th). I also laughed to myself as the mail attendant assisted a little old lady next to me with her packaging. She seemed to be sending through the mail a full package of candy and sweets. They shook one of the small candy boxes and asked her what was inside. She kind of chuckled and said, Candy of course. with a little prize inside the box. They proceeded to ask her if there were drugs; she sort of laughed again and responded with amusement, Of course not. you could open it and look if you want. Thankfully they didn't; I can imagine a grandchild of this little old lady opening the box full of candy with wide eyes and a sweet tooth. She basically made my morning. :-P  I would say that the only downside of my fairly smooth mail experience is that I was required to pay "half" the value of the contents inside to collect my mail. First birthday present I've ever been asked to pay for. hehe Oh well...I guess there is a first for everything.

Embracing the provinces that "embrace" one another

I know it's a great thing that my life is full of so many wonderful people and things to do here. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the frequency and depth of my blog and journal writing, and other note-taking for potential research, suffers as a result. You win some, you lose some, right?... I mention all of this especially in my blog entry today because I'm writing about my travels to the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, which I returned from...nearly a week ago (sheepish grin).

Cassie and I left Resistencia last Tuesday evening with plans to visit several places in the Northwest Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy. Before leaving, someone shared with me that Salta is commonly described as a province that "hugs" or "embraces" Jujuy, which you can see in this map. We anticipated doing the same in our travels, embracing all that these provinces (or at least the little that we could visit in our 5 days of travel) had to offer in the way of culture, history, natural wonders, food, and maybe even a little of the provinces' native ways of life. We arrived at our first stop Wednesday morning, the capital city of Salta in the Salta province. After checking into our hostel and leaving our things, we headed for the central plaza which seems to be the cultural/historical hub of Salta. Museums on the central plaza that we visited included the MAAM (Museo Arqueología de Alta Montaña, or, Archeological Museum of the High Mountain) that features exhibits, artifacts and history of Inca culture and the Museo Histórico del Norte (or, the North's Historical Museum). The first of these museums is especially notable for its collection of Inca artifacts that have been recovered from mountains of the province. Most remarkable, though, is that this museum features several actual bodies of Inca children that were preserved, frozen, for over 500 years in the mountain. Unfortunately, taking pictures was prohibited in these exhibits but you can see pictures of the children's unearthed bodies on the museum's page that is linked above. The second museum also has exhibits of Inca artifacts but has a greater focus on civilization in the Salta province during the periods of European colonization and revolution against the Spaniards. This museum is housed in the city's old cabildo, government house, and was really interesting to walk through. The view from the cabildo's balcony out into the city's central plaza is beautiful, and I imagine that this space to address the people of the city (who could gather in the plaza) was ingenious at the time of its initial implementation and construction.

Having had our fill of museums for the day, Cassie and I ventured next up the infamous Cerro San Bernardo. Not quite super adventurous and somewhat tired from our overnight bus ride, we elected to take a teleférico gondola up the mountain and return back down the 1,000+ steps on foot.

Beautiful teleférico station

It was a long, long way up Cerro San Bernardo. So far, in fact, that my ears popped.

"Squnity Mc'squinterson" and the city of Salta in the background

Primary statue atop Cerro San Bernardo

A bit of rest was definitely in order at our hostel before we went out again for the evening at one of the most well-known peñas in Salta, La Vieja Estación. What is a peña? (Glad you asked! ;) ) A peña is a show of Argentine folk music, usually including both dancing and singing. We certainly chose one of the best, after being referred to this particular place by both Lonely Planet and our hostel owner, and enjoyed an excellent performance and dinner. Our evening was topped off by the fact that two new friends from our hostel, Carla from the Buenos Aires province and Chyi from Malaysia, also joined us at La Vieja Estación. I personally was amazed both by the intensity of the dancers' footwork and the drumming done by both the dancers and a man in the band that accompanied the dancers later in the evening (note: neither of these videos linked above were recorded by me but they are from the exact peña that I visited). Photos of dance and music performances during the peña:

Purmamarca and Tilcara were primary destinations on our second day of travel as Cassie and I said goodbye to Salta and headed north to Jujuy. After a couple different colectivo rides, we arrived in Purmamarca and were lucky enough to quickly run into a reasonable and safe taxi driver who takes passengers daily to las Salinas Grandes, the Argentine salt flats. I don't have a lot to say historically or culturally about the salt flats, but I will share that the sheer experience of arriving at and exploring this natural wonder was pretty amazing. For as far as your eye can see, there is a hard layer of salt crust covering the ground. I have no shame in saying, sanitary or not, that I picked off a bit of the ground to have a taste. :) Apart from marveling at the vastness of the salt flats and looking at the "salt pools" that have been created to harvest this natural resource, we spent a solid hour in a paparazzi-like photo shoot. Two new friends definitely worth mentioning from this leg of our trip were Anne from Denmark and Nicola from England, both recently living and working in Buenos Aires. I'll let my photos speak for themselves for this gleeful hour of our lives...

Natural pentagons quilting the salt flats' landscape

The salt flat "pools" from which the salt is actually harvested.

After enjoying a late lunch in a tiny diner in Purmamarca, we trekked just behind the town to the famous Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colors) where the colors of this small collection of mountains are supposedly most vivid in the early morning and at sunset. And indeed, we enjoyed some beautiful views as Purmamarca's small corner of the world said goodbye to the sun at the close of another day. Life was yet again breath-taking as the mountains blazed with a rainbow of colors ranging from brilliant oranges to deep hues of violet.

Cassie and I traveled just 20 kilometers north to Tilcara to spend the evening and rose early again the next morning to hike along a path leading to Garganta del Diablo. Here, during this hike in Tilcara, was probably the first time that my body said: ALERT, ALERT! You're at an extremely high altitude! While I'm not in excellent physical shape, I'm not deathly out of shape either. However, Cassie and I had to stop every few minutes during our morning hike to catch our breath as we were probably at least 1,000 meters (if not much more) above sea level. With a tendency to see the glass as half full, I appreciated the gentle reminder to stop every few minutes as an opportunity to appreciate and photograph the sun rising amidst the mountains.

You can see tiny Tilcara off in the distance. We actually hiked quite far from the town!

Then, we did a bit of a travel frenzy, returning first to Salta and then continuing south beyond the city to the town of Cafayate. Arriving rather late, we did little more than browse in a few shops in town, have some dinner and enjoy a small peña before calling it quits for the day. Saturday morning we went in search of a winery and ended up finding much, much more. The small, organic winery we chose to tour was called Bodega Nanni and we were greeted by the bodega's tour guide, a young woman who happened to be from Boston! Jen not only gave us a very informative tour of Bodega Nanni's facilities, she also invited us to hang out with her and several other friends that same evening. The decision was tabled for later in the afternoon as Cassie and I eagerly boarded a small excursion van to tour the Quebrada de Cafayate, a 50 kilometer stretch of mountains and notable rock formations in the region just north of Cafayate. Admirable for their shapes, colors and sheer monstrosity, our visit through the Quebrada was definitely one of the trip's highlights for me.

Los Castillos ~ The Castles

El Obelisco ~ The Obelisk

Feeding a llama is sort of like feeding a horse; their noses are as soft as velvet! :)

Layers and layers of different minerals in the rock make these vibrant colors.

El Sapo ~ The Toad

El Anfiteatro ~ The (Giant) Amphitheater

Garganta del Diablo ~ The Devil's Throat (yes, if you've been following my blog you'll notice this is a very common name for natural elements of grandeur in Argentina)

Back in Cafayate following our afternoon excursion, we decided to jump at Jen's offer to hang out with her and her friends. As Cafayate is a rather touristy little town, it was a great opportunity to spend an evening doing something more "normal" rather than simply being among all the town's other visitors. It was our last night "unofficially" of traveling (the next one would be spent sleeping on a bus back to Resistencia) and Cassie and I certainly went out in fine Argentine fashion. Classic Argentine dishes were in the mix for dinner at a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant along with some great wine (only appropriate as Jen works at a bodega and it was the national day honoring Tannat wine), we played ping pong that was accompanied by many laughs and a night of dancing ensued at a local boliche. I couldn't have dreamed of a better way to bring our trip to a close; Sunday was a relaxed mix of gathering up our things and hopping in the car with Lucas and Laureano, two gentlemen from La Plata who stayed at our hostel and went out with Jen's crew Saturday evening. We rode with these new friends back to Salta where we ultimately boarded our final bus back to Resistencia.

Many people have shared with me that the culture of northwest Argentine resembles that of Bolivia: extremely, extremely laid back and very much in tune with the natural wonders that envelop an individual's everyday life in this region. I don't know if it's the culture, the people, the food, the natural wonders or the sense of tranquility that enthralls me about this region of the country, or a healthy mix of all of them, but traveling more in Salta and Jujuy is definitely on the running list of places I would like to (re)visit in Argentina. So many places and so little time!

Kudos to you if you have stuck with me through this long travel update. You must be a loyal reader (or just really bored. hehe). To these same loyal blog followers, just as Salta embraces Jujuy, I share with you that I shall try and embrace a renewed commitment to updating my blog more frequently. ;) Love to all.

Saber or Conocer, that is the question

*Written Friday, 3rd of June while traveling in Northwest Argentina.

While this won’t be posted until after I return home from my most recent travels, I write this entry from our hostel in Cafayate, a small tourist town of just over 10,000 people situated about 180 km south of Salta. My travels with Cassie have been amazing so far. In the first day of our trip we explored as much as we wanted to in the city of Salta. Then, being more fond of traveling that involves natural elements, we ventured north to the tiny towns of Purmamarca and Tilcara and the amazing las Salinas Grandes ,  the famous salt flats of Argentina. We spent the vast majority of today in buses, en route to Cafayate.  Our original travel aims were to travel back to Salta tomorrow around midday (after spending something like a mere 16 hours in the beautiful Cafayate), only to get on another bus back to Resistencia…

This extensive coverage of the Salta and Jujuy provinces might sound impressive on paper (or, rather, on computer screen) but today on the colectivo from Salta to Cafayate, the question hit me—no, this question, this dilemma whacked me over the head with a club: what do I gain by having this list of “places visited?” When I share that I’ve been to towns or provinces  x, y, and z, why do I derive such satisfaction from naming off the quantity of places? Shouldn’t the quality of my time spent matter more than the quantity of towns and natural elements visited? Do I make any sense asking these questions? [I’m laughing at myself a bit at this point, so I grant you permission to do so as well.] Let me explain, especially in relation to the beautiful cultures of Northwest Argentina where I have been traveling… 

Spanish is a charming language in that it has two distinct words that mean “to know.” The first of these is saber. We use the verb saber primarily in situations of factual knowledge.  For example, saber would be employed in a sentence like, I know that the bus leaves tomorrow at noon. The second verb, conocer, is utilized (primarily) when referring to knowing another person or a place. We use conocer when asking, Do you know my aunt Susan? In English, we most commonly ask, Have you been to Argentina? but in Spanish, we use this verb of conocer to express that we’ve been to, that we “know” a particular place. And so I arrive at my dilemma of this trip’s goals. Was I simply so excited with Cassie here that I wanted to show her as much as possible of Argentina in the few days that we had for traveling? Did I feel like I had to visit as many sites as possible in these two neighboring provinces for fear that I will not have a chance to return? Have I identified an American mannerism of pure drive and unwavering gusto that often still guides my thought processes and my actions, despite how I might desperately try to leave it at the roadside in lieu of a more “Argentine” perspective on life? I could probably articulate the results of our travels this week as a combination of all these things and a few others of which I haven’t yet become conscious. 

There are a couple of things of which I think I can be certain though: first, that there were some places this week that we were able to conocer and others, unfortunately, that we merely passed through to saber. Second, that I much prefer to conocer a place rather than vaguely saber the generalities of the same place. I am certain that I do not regret a moment of this week’s travel or experiences. Cassie and I have seen some amazing natural wonders, intricate architecture, numerous bustling bus terminals, fascinating cultural history, and diverse, compassionate and intriguing people from all over the world. Amidst each of these enriching experiences always lays the question of whether I have really participated in the culture in which I am visiting. I am a believer that it certainly takes much more time than any traveler has, even extended-stay travelers, in one particular place to truly know a culture, much less understand the culture holistically or be accepted by its natives.  However, I also believe that there is a distinction to be made between tourists and travelers that visit any particular place….and so the debate lives on in my thoughts and my actions.

More updates to come soon [with pictures!] on these recent travels. Love to you all reading this, near or far.