"Yo tengo 21 años...comprame un shot!"

Guess who just turned 21?? And I was fortunate enough to celebrate in one of the most amazing places in the world, with some of the most amazing friends. Callie and I decided to have a joint birthday celebration extravaganza, celebrating her 20th (May 26) and my 21st (May 25). We started out night with dinner at La Rosadita in Palermo Soho, this amazing fondue restaurant. (We looked like we were on a date, both dressed up to the nines sharing fondue in a candlelit restaurant haha) Next: pregaming a mi casa followed by a couple of drinks at Bar 878. It was one of those hidden bars in Buenos Aires that looks like a regular building from the outside, but they had over 100 different types of whisky. Callie chose Jack Daniels (cause she loves her some Jack) and I chose Marker's Mark for some KY representing. Final destination: AMERIKA club. 70 peso cover charge (free for the birthday girls and discount for friends), unlimited drinks inside and tons of FABULOUS TRANNYS. talk about a fabulous birthday. from taking a birthday picture with "Barbi" to eating someone else's cake to falling off the dance table...an unforgettable birthday experience that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. To my friends here in BsAs, thank you for a great birthday. May the next year be just as memorable :)

Montevideo, Uruguay :)

2nd south american country: Uruguay. cities: Colonia y Montevideo. purpose: weekend getaway :) Friday was definitely an adventure. First, Lauren and I had planned to meet outside my homestay at 8 am to share a taxi to the Buquebus station in Retiro and make our 9:45 ferry. Since Lauren has a tendency to be late (read: ALWAYS), we decided to meet extra early. Cue 8:50 am and Lauren's still not there. Since she doesn't have a phone, my best option was to book it to the station and see if something came up and she was already there. And wouldn't you guess the ferry is the ONE THING in Buenos Aires that actually runs on time. Making it there at exactly 9:45, I watched Steph and Callie board and then had to buy a second ticket for 12:30. Lauren finally got to the station a little after 10, having slept through her alarm. She was so upset with herself I couldn't be mad. And at least I had a friend for the ferry :) One hour later, arriving in Colonia, we met Steph and Callie who were waiting for us. REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOOOD. We rented a golf cart (yes, really) and made our own sight-seeing tour of the small town of Colonia, stopping for lunch, merienda and a full-on photo-shoot at the coast. We then hopped our bus to Montevideo, our real destination. Lauren's friend from home,  Amy, is actually studying in Montevideo this semester and has been here since March, so she already knew all the great places to take us. We hit up a huge outdoor feria (which was totally different than the ferias here in BsAs), visited Ciudad Vieja, the old part of the city, and had an unforgettable parrilla experience. Steph literally almost died sampling cow intestine. There are pics to prove it. Sunday was rainy, so we traded a tour of the park for a movie at Montevideo Shopping, the huge shopping center. We saw Pase Libre (Hall Pass), which was equal parts entertaining, raunchy and stupid. Love it. We caught our ferry back to BsAs at 8 and were welcomed back at 11 by freezing rain and biting winds. But I'm not complaining. No matter how much I travel outside the city, Buenos Aires always has a way of calling me back :)

Boca vs. River

Boca Juniors. River Plate. The biggest sports rivalry in the south america. Strike that - in the world. Both teams hail from the región pobre of La Boca, but when River relocated to the more wealthy district of Nuñez, Boca Juniors became the working class' team. From what I've seen first hand, and what I've heard from my friends also staying with host families, the majority of Buenos Aires supports Boca Junior. It must be the appeal of the underdog. The Superclásico is the biggest game in Argentine fútbol, where these two rival teams are pitted against one another. Sunday, May 15th, 2011.

Graffiti Mundo

If you've seen any pictures of Buenos Aires, you know that it's full of this amazing graffiti. It's colorful, it's political, it's some of the most talented artwork I've ever seen (and I'm not that easily impressed.) So today, to fully experience all of the incredible graffiti BsAs has to offer, Lauren, Callie, Stephanie and I went on the Graffiti tour through Graffiti Mundo - http://graffitimundo.com/en/ . The tour last 3 hours (3 to 6 pm), costs AR$90 and it's mostly in Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho. The cool thing about this tour was that our guide, Ana, personally knows most of the graffiti artists. She's actually dating one, and his work was literally EVERYWHERE. She knew the stories behind the artists and some of their pieces and to actually know what an artist is thinking as they're painting a certain piece completely changes the way you, the spectator, view that piece. Today was a great day for the tour, the air had a fall crispness. Near the end of the tour, the temp. started to drop and we all decided it was time for a café and a cupcake from MUMA'S (I'm obsessed!) The girls got a Lady from NY cupcake (Steph), Patagonia (Lauren), and Carrot Cake (Callie). I'm kinda ashamed to admit this, but I've already tried ALL of those flavors! And they're all delicious, trust me. This time I tried the Café Ole (Tiramisu) and it was just as good as the others. yummm :) 

Play Shodaka

Happy Mother's Day!! Truly, every day should be about cherishing and loving the mother's that God graced each of us with. I especially feel that blessing; I couldn't ask for a better mom. She's my best friend. She's my counselor. My cheerleader. She's teaching me how to grow into the woman I want to be. I literally cannot go a single day without talking to my mom. I skyped her earlier to wish her a happy mother's day (so sad I'm not there to celebrate with her in person!) and I was so saddened to see this wonderful holiday was passing like any other day back home. Michaela's at work, dad's on a work trip and Tanner doesn't really spend much time thinking about things like Mother's Day (he's 9 though, so that's expected). This is the first Mother's Day I've missed. And it's really hard. Not even being able to bring my mom flowers and a card makes me sad. She never expects a lot; family dinner, a sweet card and flowers is her idea of happiness. I hate missing out on things like this while I'm gone; but I fully intend on making up for every single thing i've missed once I get back. birthdays (ep's, dad's, mine, tanner's), mother's day, father's day, my parent's anniversary (25 years, yay!) I've already started collecting a small pile of gifts, getting them all back is going to be the tricky bit.

iguazú

Twenty hour bus ride. That's how long it takes to get to the northern part of Argentina known as Puerto Iguazú. We left out of the Retiro bus station (sketchy as hell) on thursday afternoon and woke up friday morning in San Ignacio Miní, a Jesuit Missionary town. There are these amazing ruins in San Ignacio where the indigenous people of the region used to live in long adobe houses with a school and a courtyard area. Most of the foundations are still there and the front structure of an old church still stands as this great piece of history for the indigenous people. Just outside of San Ignacio, we had a great asado for lunch (asado is ALWAYS what's for lunch, not that I'm complaining). And we got to see how they harvest the yerba mate plant to make mate. And, instead of drinking the traditional hot mate during the blazing hot summer, many people in this region drink mate made from the yerba and cold juice. I may have found a the Iguazú version of southern sweet tea. But it was Saturday that was one of the most amazing experiences of my still young life. Standing under the Iguazú Falls of the argentine, brazilian and paraguayan border, there is this beautiful balance: the simultaneous serene beauty of the cascadas and the unyielding, sheer power of the rapids. The mists from the rapids were so thick I had the sensation that I was walking through clouds. Seriously, Niagara falls has nothing on Iguazú. Pictures can't even do the falls justice. There's just something about the mist engulfing you and the deafening roar of the waterfalls that can't be captured on film. It drowns out the rest of the people around you and it's just you and the falls. And, you can literally ride under the falls; we took a speedboat through the cascadas and emerged resembling something like drowned rats. But it was an amazing experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. This morning, before we flew back to the hustle and bustle of BsAs, we visited the Guarani village, the indigenous people of the Iguazú region. It's sad to see these indigenous people, who have nothing, and we just come in and snap photos and intrude on their lives like they're some amusement park attraction. But they welcomed us so warmly. They loved having us there, taking pictures with us and looking at the pictures on our cameras. We walked through the selva with our Guarani guide and saw the different types of traps the village uses to catch animals and a group of little  kids sang to us to thank us for coming. Cara literally had to hold my hand to stop me from trying to steal one of the Guarani toddlers. I am obsessed with babies and toddlers. Someday, I want nothing more than to be a southern housewife, baking and cleaning and raising babies; and I want boys and girls so i can buy bows and bow ties :)