Matt En Argentina

Book Update

2008-10-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

So I have working on the book that summarizes everything I learned in Argentina. I was using a software program through the publishes, making it easier to create, but 1. The books were going to be $25+ each & 2. There is no way to have an ebook format. I have switched to using a new publisher, however, there is no application so I will have to use OpenOffice or something of the like to create to book. They also offer an ebook version, which is very useful for people that don't want to spend all the money for the book.

The America Experience

2008-09-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write about several recent experiences and I have been forgetting lately until another one happened to me today. And I made it a priority that I write about this.

For the past month now I have had problems...things that trip me up from time to time.

Here are a few examples:

I saw a building way down the end of the road today and I thought to myself 'that building is in the wrong place' and visualized where it "should have" been. The image imagined was a similar building in Godoy Cruz, Mendoza, Argentina. It was strange to catch myself.

I was sitting on my friend's couch and we were talking about food and I started talking about Mendocinian beef and I said "Hey I know of a good place to go eat" I again visualized the place in Mendoza, caught myself and finished saying "Rosa's, which is a little Mexican chain restaurant here in Waco. What a let down.

One morning I woke up planning my day as I had so many times before in Mendoza (literally I visualized my schedule every morning)...I would go to the city and walk around the plazas and the shops. Of course I would then catch myself thinking that would be one heck of a day trip...

Another day I had a major chocolate craving and I thought to myslef that I would go to a 'local place' on Las Heras, visualizaing it the entire time..which always ends up the same...the realization that I am not there anymore.

Sometimes it gets really annoying to me and upsets me. It's weird the upset feeling is part annoyance that I can't things staraight (Ironic huh?) and other part "homesicking," like I want to return...

I am not sure why this is happening to me, was it because it was my first time abroad? Was it because I had such an amazing time ther? Was it becuase I had (and still do) such an amazing family there? Was it becuase I learned so much? Was it because the amount of time I was there? Or was it a combination of it all?

Update

2008-09-17T18:24:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted here. I am still sorting through my Argentina photos for my photo book. For the photo book that I want, they are so expensive, so I am looking at other options to go on. I also want the books to be available to others for a relatively low price ($20-30) because right now it looks like its going to cost me about $60-80.

As for the other book I am working on (Lost en Argentina), I am slowing moving through it. I am have been extremely busy with class that I am have had very little free time, and what free time I have, I just want to relax and dream that I was back in Mendoza...

I will send out an update soon (newsletter).

PHOTOS GALORE!

2008-08-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

I have uploaded over 3500 photos, that over 22Gb of space!

There are some that are erroneous and need to be deleted, I will be doing this very soon. Over the next few days I will continue to re-upload photos that need correcting (crooked, spots, etc, on the photos.). If you find a photo that you want, but there is some type of spot or it's crooked, then tell me the album name and photo number, so I can correct it before the others. Prints can be ordered straight off the site (I am not making money, they start at $0.20 each). All the albums are completely uploaded except for a few from which I will be uploading to over time, which includes the panoramas album and the HDR images. The "other camera" album are the photos taken from Samya's (unsure of the spelling, please correct me) camera. If you wish to download a whole bunch or an album(s), please e-mail me so I can give them to you by other means.

The pictures are free to download, however, I ask that if you decide to post them somewhere, that you let me know or give credit, it's just nice to know where things end up.

The web address is:

http://arphotos.msbaylor.com

Password: e-mail me if you do not know.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Photos, Videos, & Blogs Oh My!

2008-08-15T14:22:00.001-07:00

As you may have noticed I am still keeping up my blog even after I have returned to the States.

Below you will find that a panorama I have created. This was from the Coast of Puerto Madryn in Argentina.

Panorama of Puerto Madryn, Argentina on CleVR.com

I have uploaded hundreds or photos, and still have hundreds to go, there are also a pelethera of videos that have been uploaded. I am also working on a newsletter rounding up my expirience in Argentina!

Now, in Texas

2008-08-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got in about 8:30am into the Houston Airport. I got home to
Victoria late last night. I woke up today sick, so I suppose I am just
allergic to Texas, and need to return to Argentina. Who knows, but it's
nice to back, however, I would have rather stayed in Argentina longer.
I have been greeting everybody in Spanish here as it is a natural
reaction for me, to reply in Spanish language. these are my reaction
phrases(in English):

Hello
How are you
Bye
See you later
Nice to meet you
I am doing well
Thank you
Thank you very much
big
small
I don't know
I know
No Yes

There may be more, I am just not as aware of them. I ordered a Subway
today an when asked what I wanted on it, I pointed to each item saying
it in Spanish, after I got a stupid look from the guy and realized my
mistake, I apologized (in Spanish) then apologized in English again,
and then repeated my order....ah Argentina...

Stay tuned here or my blog
as I am working a photo book highlighting the places and the things
that I experienced. I am also working on a textual book of my
experience. So look to my blog to see updates about my Argentina expirience.

The Begining of the end

2008-08-02T21:55:00.001-07:00

So today is basically my last day in Argentina. Its really quite sad. I am going to miss catching the bus early in the morning and going to class (seriously). It has been quite fun.

Today I went to the zoo with my friends.

I was supposed to go on my special adventure (which, this is the 4th time I have tried to do it,) but the weather was not sufficient. So it basically looks like I will not be able to do it. My special event was to go Parapente (Paragliding) but the first time I made it up there, they did not have the right size harness, so I was not able to do the jump. The other 3 times the weather has been bad. I still have an album on all my pictures I took of others while I was up there that day and many videos (which can be found on the photo & video sites). So there you have it, my special adventure has been foiled. However, I start an "new" adventure tomorrow, when I travel solo to Puerto Madryn.

Tomorrow I get on a bus to travel to the Patagonia region of Argentina. I am going to visit Puerto Madryn & Valdez peninsula. The whales are down there right now so I am very excited about what I will be doing there. The bus ride is about 24 hours one way, so I am definitely going to be ready to get off the bus once I get there. I arrive there on the 4th at 9:30 am and I leave there 7th at about 11:30am, returning to Mendoza about the same time on the 8th. I basically have a little over 24 hours to spend in Mendoza, until the 9th, from which I fly out of Mendoza and leave Argentina at 6:30pm.

So this is the beginning of the end of my blog for Argentina. I however have decided to put a book together of all the things I have learned while being here, so even after I return to the states, I will have to upload the rest of the photos and videos and finish putting the book together (I have already started.) So stay tuned as I travel to Puerto Madryn.

P.S. I am currently uploading the pictures for the zoo today, so some of them are up, but not all...at least for now. :)

My Speech for My Oral Exam

2008-07-28T09:28:00.001-07:00

For my oral final I had to write a speech in Spanish to present in class. This is my speech, given I knew very little Spanish before I came to Argentina, there are mistakes in here, some of them probably becuase I missed spelled it when I typed it in here:

Durante estos tres meses, yo viaje por Argentina. Desde Mendoza a Uspallata a Parque Nacional Aconcauqua a Buenos Aires.
He estado en Mendoza por 3 meses. He comprarado a Mendoza con todos las ciudades que he visitado.
Visité Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires es una ciudad muy grande y ruidosa y la gente en Buenos Aires no estan amistosa como en Mendoza.
Su discurso es diferente que Mendocinos. Allí ¨"sh" en vez de "j" acá, por ejemplo "llama" (shamo) allí y "llamo" (sjamo) acá.
Despues tres días allí, yo quería regresar a Mendoza. Para mi parace como se fuera "casa" o extrañaba Mendoza.
Durante mi viaje a Buenos Aires tuve expiriances interesantes, por ejemplo visite La Boca. Fue a negocio para turistas. Quise decir a una chica. "Busco remeras para mis sobrinas y sobrino." Pero dihe "Busco remeras para mis novias y novio." La chica trajo una remera mas grande que para niños. Luego me di cuenta del error y me disculpé y dije: "Lo siento es para mis sobrinos, no novios." Y ella rió. Entonces yo compré las remeras y me fuí apurado.
En Buenos Aires hay siempre algo interesante para ver. Me gusta Buenos Aires pero poco tiempo.
Cuando regrese a Estados Unidos, creo que tendré un choque cultural pero tengo mas fotos que me recoraran mi familia y amigos de Mendoza.
Mismo Jorge Luis Borjes dijó:
"Vivo en Estados Unidos pero mi corazon está en Argentina."

Plans Might Change

2008-07-27T14:09:00.001-07:00

Had a friend on my bodega tour tell me yesterday not to go to Iguazu because there was a yellow fever outbreak going on. I confirmed it with the CDC, and was told it is okay to go there if I have had the vaccination and have had it at least 10 days in advance. So my plans to go there might change...

The Beginning of the End

2008-07-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

So today I had my written final, tomorrow I have my oral exam. After that the other two girls that are in my class will be leaving and I will be the only one that will remain. I have 2 weeks left here...2 WEEKS!!! Time has literally flown by. On that note, I have filled my weekend with all sorts of things. I will send out a newsletter on Monday letting you know what I did, mind you, it will be interesting. Remember my mention of the extreme activity I spoke of a while back that I wanted to do??? Well I am doing it this Friday :D
I am in the final stages of preparing my final week in Argentina and where I will be traveling. After spending long (really long) hours at the travel agency, I have finally decide on my destination....Puerto Iguazú and Iguazu Waterfalls! The bus ride is going to be excruciating....34 hours on a bus, I am not sure how I am going to deal with it. I hope to completely square away my bus plans tomorrow. But I think I will be in the nicest seat possible offered for the trip...hopefully. I have looked into staying at a hostel while I am in Puerto Iguazú and it looks like its only going to cost me no more than $15 USD per night!

On a completly different note, I have been uploading pictures rrecently. If you visit the photos, you will notice that some of them have "- C" after the album name, this means that the album is complete and that no more pictures will be added to the site.

More updates to come, stay tuned in...

Plaza Independecia in Uruguay

2008-07-16T17:45:00.001-07:00

)))Edited 7-22-08(((
I realized I put the wrong panorama here, so I have updated it, this image is 365º (you´ll see the accidental duplication...) Also to view the panorama, use the magnifying glasses in the corner of the panorama window to zoom in & out. Also Click and drag with your mouse on the picture to rotate the image.)))(((

If you haven´t seen any of my panoramas, here is one for your viewing pleasure. You´ll notice the horizon is not straight in the photo, the computer I use is to slow to handle the editing program to do that, so for now, this is how it will have to be. Also look for "short bus"...

¡Hola!

2008-07-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

It´s been ahwile since I have posted a blog (a true blog) so I felt that it was time to do so. In my classes we have been screming through the material, with a mid-term this friday and my written final next Wed.

My last day of class is the first of August, and soon after that I will travel to either Perito Moreno or Peninsula Valdéz (area) for a few days.

After which I´ll return to Mendoza, and ultimally return to the states.

Recently I have not been doing a lot (other than school that is). I am hoping to do a wine tour this weekend. Every Monday the local english vine magazine hosts a wine tasting at a resturant called The Vines. Everybody that is there puts $90 (U$D 30) in the pot and they buy the tiop shelf wines, and nobody leaves until everything is gone. So I am thinking about doing that this monday or the next.

On Julio 9th, it was Argentina´s Independence Day, and I went with my host mother´s sister to some of the event. Before we got there, we had to stop to get gas. What intrigued me (and why I am writting about this) is that the gas system is quite a bit different here. If you ever come here, you may notice that some of the cars have yellow tanks in them or in the back of trucks, these are their gas tanks. And I mean gas, like as in not liquid. Many of the cars have been "upgraded" to this (as there is also the liquid version here). I was told that it was a little less than half the price of the liquid gas. So anyway that is a little more for you to read about concerning Mendocinos.

I haven´t really uploaded that manypictures nor videos recently, but I may have the chance to do dome tonight. It really slows down the internet when you upload them, and frankly, it is just tiring after ahwile. (not a joke, files are huge!)

I have been wanting to mention a group of friends from Baylor (now somewhere in Canada), that started the Alive Campaign. It is an organization that was created in order to bring awareness to suicide prevention. They told a friend that there was more to life, like riding on their bikes from Waco, Texas to Ancourage, Alaska...and that´s exactly what they are doing...biking something like 9000 miles this summer. Take a look at their website here to see more info about them. Their blog is very intresting and can be found here as well.

Changing my blog look

2008-07-14T20:59:00.001-07:00

If you check my blog regularly you may have noticed that I used to change the picture at the top of this blog every so often. Well I have been searching for a cool looking template to use, and well I have it down to 5. One of them is displayed currently. I however am leaning toward number 1. or 2 or 4. You chose...either comment here, e-mail me, sign my guest book and tell me, whatever, just tell me which number you like. So here they are:

1.

2.

Preview it here!

3.

4.

For this one, it would have an Argentina picture or some sort at the top.

5.

This one as well would have the picture changed.

Do let me know what you think!

Solo in Buenos Aires

2008-07-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

This should have been posted a while back, but it has taken me some time to type it up and post the pictures...

When I go solo anywhere, I tend to review and write everything down, so here it is:

From my Journal on July 1st 2008:

Today I took the subway from our hotel down to the stop on Florida street. I then walked around a bit until I arrived at Pacifico Gallerias (corner of Florida & Córdoba).

I mainly came to the Gallerias to find some friends that were in one of the Gallerias. I however, was in the wrong place, as they were not there. I decided to have lunch there as well. I ate at a place called the "Tea Gallery" to have a baguette de pollo (Chicken baguette) & a Coca Lite.

(Here they call Coke-a-Cola, Coca. And Coca Lite is Diet Coke-a-Cola. If you say I want a coke, you are meaning something entirely different if you get my drift...) The baguette had tomato, lettuce, chicken, and mayo. I thought the sandwich was a bit dry and coka lite was expensive for the price. The baguette was $19.95 and the Coca Lite was $7.50. The place itself is open & sit down. It sits on the second floor of the Galleria and you are able to see many parts of the Galleria.

Since it is sit down, there was a waitress that served me (like in most places, there are very few places to get something to eat where there isn´t a tip involved...)
Food - 3/5
Service - 2.5/5 it was hard to get my waitresses attention.
Price - 3/5
Overall 3/5
Total $27 + $2.70 tip

After lunch I headed to level 0 (what we call the first floor in the states is seen at floor 0 here. And what we would call the 2nd floor is seen as the 1st floor.) Floor 0 (zero) contained some stores but was mostly a food court. I spotted a Sony Style store and made my in. I found a Sony FX1 Camera on display, I had a bit fun playing with this camera quite a bit. After the store, I got some ice cream at Freddo (only found in B.A.)

There ice cream is very good and worth a try if you find one. After eating the ice cream I left the shopping area and took the subway to Independence & Lima(?) Then took a Taxi from there to La Boca (a suburb of B.A.)

I went into one of the shops with the intention of buying some gifts for my nieces and nephew. I told the lady that I was looking for a shirt for my "novias & novio"... The lady immediately went over and got a large shirt, it is then when I realized my mistake, I apologized and corrected myself and asked for shirts for my three sobrinos. Whoops... After feeling stupid and quite embarrassed, I left with some gifts and headed to a store that sold leather goods across the street. I ended up speaking with the owner for a little over 30 minutes about why I was in Buenos Aires. When I told her that I was studying Spanish in Mendoza, she first told me that I was crazy coming all the way over here to learn Spanish. And she asked why I needed to learn Spanish & that English was the universal worldwide language and that English was the only language I needed to know. I wondered to myself - then how were people supposed to by her products if the couldn´t communicate to her in her language...
Anyway, I proceeded to say (intended to say) - Thanks. I need to return to my hotel. Nice to meet you. Bye. What I ended up saying was "Gracias. Yo nesecito regresar a mi hotel. Me gusta. Chau." Which means - Thanks. I need to return to my hotel. I like you. Chau.
I realized my mistake after she laughed and said jokingly your too young for me but thanks. I literally wanted to just walk out. But I restated the part that needed to be corrected, then left quite quickly...

I returned to the hotel via Taxi, since I had not had Lunch, and I still had several hours before dinner, I decided to pick up a hamburger at the Burger King next door to our hotel, yes Burger King is here too. Their Classic burger cost me $15.50! I was starting to think that that Chicken sub I had earlier was worth it! (I guess it is somewhat the same price as it is in the States or a little more. Divide by the current exchange rate and it is about U$S 4.50.)

Shortly after inhaling my burger, some friends that would be leaving that night, invited me to go have a drink with them at a nearby restaurant. The restaurant is called BRICK, which sits on the corner of Corrientes & some other street i can´t remember . We found the menu to be quite hilarious! It looked like they typed their menu into one of those internet translators and hit "translate" then copied that onto their menu. The video above is from the restaurant as are the following pictures. There is a whole album on my pictures website in the Buenos Aires folder. The first few are my favorites. But here is my absolute favorite foto:

The Remaining 7 of us decided to go to a steak restaurant. I had a steak. I had yet to have a good piece of meat in B.A. The steak was cooked perfectly. I went to bed one happy camper.

P.S. Here is a panorama I stitched together today from Uruguay, sorry it´s not that wide, I think I would´ve crashed the computer if I had tried. Download the picture to see it better.

Uruguay!

2008-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Uruguay. I had to wake up at 6am to be at the boat station by 7am. Julie & I made it throughcustoms within 10 minutes. Then we boarded the boat. Do realize we crossed a river and not another body of water. The river at this point is the widdest in the world. The river is called Río de la Plata, which is Spanish for Silver River. The seat oin the boat were not all that fun... They were really just airplane seats, but at least the ferry was not full that day, so we had one seat inbetween us. Sleeping on the "water bus" was not exaclyt easy, the lights were very brigh, so I guess having a sleeping blindfold you have helped greatly.
We disembarked after a 3 hour ride (about 11am now) and went throughcustoms and immagration fairly quickly. In the process we also met a guy that was from Illonois.

After immigration and all, we hopped on a bus for our city tour...first stop - Plaza Independencia.

Julia & I in Uruguay

(Their mainstreetis 18 de Julio, which is when they signed their Constitution.) We then stopped at a giftshop which everything was in U$S dollars, which was quite annoying, as there wasn´t anyone on our tour with US money, it was however very expensive to buy anything there unless you were from Europe. So nothanks, didn´t buy anything there...) We then all hopped back on the bus and headed back to the boat port. At the resturant our meal was included, but drinks were not, by the time we got done, our bill was at $270 pesos....Uruguayan pesos that is... The conversion from Argentina Pesos to Uruguayan pesos was $1 Arg. to $5.8 Urug. Pesos. Everythin was jutified though because, ice cream ranged from $26 - 86 Urag. Pesos. For our actual Lunch, we bothe had Potato Salad and Turkey Breast slices for an appertizer. This turkey breast was the first turkey I have tasted since being abroad! It tasted wonderful to me! We also had Media o Media, a typical uruguayan drink, which is like half Champagne and half white Wine. It had a very buttery taste to it, with a very strong Dulce de Leche after taste, overall very different and worth it to try. For our main plate, we bothe had Spinach Ravioli with "Alfred Sauce" at least that was what the English translation said... For dessert I had Misini? not sure of the spelling. It was very good, it had a thick light tasting whipped cream layer with that thin cake bread on top and bottom (I talked about this in an earlier blog). Then on the very top was some tye of very sweet marlamade. Overall, very good. After Lunch we boarded the bus again and continued our tour. At one point I fell asleep and Julie took over taking the pictures. We at point stopped at the highest point in Uruguay which is 516 meters and has a maritime museum on top of it (we didn´t have time to go in it) There were also cannons that we took pictures with.

After we left the hill, we headed to a shopping area. I exchanged 50 Argentia Pesos for Uruguyan money. We got some ice cream and I bought a beanie (the hat that keeps your head warm). After about and hour there, we got back on the bus to take us to the port to catch our boat. During the day Julie took at least half (really more than half) of the pictures, so there are A LOT of good pictures!
Our "water bus" left at 7:15pm, and we arrived in Bs. As. at about 11:15pm, everything went smoothly until we needed a taxi. All the taxis were charging $30 pesos from the terminal, it should have only cost $10 pesos...

Uruguayan Sunset

Pardon my spelling errors...

Days 2 & 3 in BA

2008-06-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a Tango Show which was very good. Except the food the... the wine was a disgrace and the meat was overcooked, o well...

Sunday was a free day. I took the Subway and a train out to San Isidro, which is a suburb of Buenos Aires (B.A. or Bs.As.) and had a large market going on in their central plaza. After returning to the city, we went to the Recoleta, which is where a HUGE market is on Sundays. Artists of all natures gather and sell their products.

Today we had another tour and was by boat after the boat trip we took a train to San Isidroa and were there a bit before returning to our hotel. I have not had much time to upload pictures, but I will soon enough. This weekend is the weekend before I start my second set of classes, so I have nothing planned and in which I will probably spend the days uploading pictures and videos (I have lots of videos too).

Today I went with a friend to make travel planes! I am going to Uruguay!

I will be taking a boat from BA to Montevideo, Uruguay, which should take about 3 hours and we leave Wed. morning at 8am and return about 10:30pm that same day. (oo, bad grammer, my old english teacher would kill me...) We have lunch scheduled and a 2hr city tour.

Hopefully I will have a bit more time tp write and post pictures tomarrow.

Stay tuned...

First day in Buenos Aires

2008-06-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

We just got into BA this morning about 7am, we have a tour at 1pm of the city. On the tour I know we will be passing by Evita´s grave. We are also going to a Tango show tonight that includes a dinner.

I thought I did poorly on my exams, but came out with an 80 of the written and a 100 on the oral, so my final grade overall grade was a 93. So it was a great way to start the weekend :)

I cannot post videos or pictures yet, as these computers do not have USB ports on them.There are about 8 pèople that are staying to take more classes.

Stay tuned...

Termino!!!

2008-06-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

I am done for the first half of the summer, I will get my grade on Friday, hopefully it will be good :) ...

Fader Museum Pictures have been uploaded in it respective library.

This past Saturday we went to a National Park near Cerro Arco and did a hike there.

It was very foggy and as we climbed in altitude...

well it was just cloudy...

(Our tour guide making Mate)

After the hike we had lunch at a resturant at the foot of Cerro Arco, then us Baylor students went Cacheuta Spa. We spent the night there. On Sunday I went walking around (take a look at the videos on the video page)

I am having problem with uploading pictures right now, so I can´t show you what the spa looks like, maybe later

More Pictures Are Up

2008-06-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

I have uploaded several more pictures to my collection of Argentine pics. All the winery & Museum pictures are up. There are several pictures of sculptures that were within the winery. In Argentina, the dominating religion is Catholic, that being said, the sculptures depict the harvest of wine and in some way represent each station of The Stations of the Cross.

See if you can determine which ones are which. I will eventually label them in the album.

Vino Tinto y Museo Casa de Fader

2008-06-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today we visited a Bodega (Winery).

The name of the winery was Luigi Bosca Winery, it has been a family rum business since 1820.

I also boght a bottle of wine (yes mum & dad, to celebrate my completion of the exahusting studing I am doing here...)

We also visisted the Fader Museum, which contains several painting by Fader within his house (the museum itself).
(Sorry havn´t had time to upload the museum pictures)

Tomarrow we have the "hike" then the Spa trip.

I have finished uploading all the pictures from the Córdoba trip.

Argentinians Become Vegitarians

2008-06-19T18:06:00.001-07:00

Take a look at lunch...

Okay so for the explanation on the title of my blog:
Or so it is begging to look like it. Because of the problems with the farmers and the government, there is no milk in the stores and meet is becoming hard to get or it is very expensive.

I have to be brief on this blog, so the Condor information will have to wait for a later blog.

In about 2 weeks I will have finished the Baylor in Argentina program, and will be on my own as an exchange student in Argentina, therefore, I do not have any plans made for the weekends as I have had in the past. Therefore I have come up with several ideas of things to do on the weekends and will list a few below. but which should I do on which weekend? Well that is up to you! You decide where I will travel on the weekends!

Weekend Options:

Visit all of Mendoza´s Plazas (1-2 Days)
Wine Tour - Several wineries across a couple of days
The Extreme Adventure - can´t really tell you what this is, but I think it is extreme...
Visit the Serpentario (Snakes)
Go Whitewater rafting
Church tour in Mendoza
Church tour in surrounding towns
For a whole day travel on the Mendozian buses from one to another and keeping a journal for the day (more details later)
Climb Aconcagua (Don´t pick this one, I can´t do it anyways :( )
Stay at a winery for a couple days (tour, stay, eat, etc.)
Visit El Palmar National Park in Entre Rios province (long trip)
Ischigualasto Provincial Park in San Juan Province (easier trip)
Valdés Peninsula in Chubut Province near the city of Puerto Madryn (medium trip)
The 7 Lakes Route (unsure of trip duration) http://www.welcomeargentina.com/paseos/sietelagos_sma/index_i.html
Perito Moreno Glacier (Very Long Trip - would require a plane trip) would really like to do this one, but I will probably save it till right before I return home.
A trip to Ushuaia and the Beagle Canal and to watch the Penguins. This is the world´s 2nd southernmost city. (Very Very Long trip, this would also require a plane).

I will add more to the list as I think of them, if you have any ideas, please write to me and let me know about it. At some point I will have ya´ll vote for my first weekend, but for now you know what I am thinking of doing...

Time for me to go, next post will likely be next Sunday or Monday.

I have also been steadily uploading Córdoba pictures. So you might want to take a look at them. I have also made updates to my http://www.msbaylor.com website which now includes a calendar that reflects what I am doing in Argentina. I can be found a http://calendar.msbaylor.com.

As always: photos : videos : website

Also here is a quick video tour of the hostel that we stayed in, in Córdoba.
Sorry for the shakiness.

Buzzer Sounds

2008-06-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

No extreme adventure today, unless you count having to follow the girls around while they shop, then that is a different story... Well, know I shall vendture into the worl...who knows what Córdoba will reveal to me...

Day 2 in Córdoba

2008-06-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

We had an excursion at 9am this morning. We were told that it would be a hike along a river and stop in small town along the way. However, there must have been some confusion, because we took a van throught the mountain and stopped at a few places. The first place was a coffee shop, which was very nice, but

after that, it wasn´t all that great. We got back around 8pm, So most of the time we were driving around. We then headed to the Supermercado, which was very hard to find due to the fact that everthing but like 4 places were open today(el Supermercado, la Pizzaria, McDonalds, & el cine), since it was Father´s Day (Feliz día del Padre!) and we grapped a pizza. The pizzas here are a bit dirrefent and in most cases have ham on them.

Para mañana, nosotros vamos a ir en el tour de la ciudad. Estan bien? Tomarrow we are going to go through the city and basically do a self tour. Hopefully I will be able to do my "special activity" we shall see... I probably will not be able to post till Tuesday, so, Ciao! Ciao!

Pictures from today:

Some look-out point.

Where we had lunch....

P.S. The girls I´ve come with are horribly negative and it´s driving me nutters, so tomarrow I am one my own...hopefully

First Day in Córdoba City, Córdoba, Argentina

2008-06-14T19:11:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! First day in Córdoba. We arrived nearly 2 hours later than we supposed to (10:30am) . We had a road block so we had to back track and go around. But we finally made it here. We walked through the city and looked at some of the Cathedrals.

Tomarrow we have an excursion in the country which will most likely last all day. On Monday, since it is Father´s Day weekend, there isn´t a whole lot going on; however, I am going to try to see if I can do an "Extreme activity," something I have never done before and have always wanted to do, if I get to do it, you will know all about it right here at Matt in Argentina Central :) I got very lucky, the Hostel we are staying at has an internet connected computer which allows me to right this blog and upload pics. Here are a few more pics I took today (there are more in the Córdoba folder on my picture webpage):

Fountains that move to music near a museum

Side view of a Cathedral

Farmers Protest

Palace turned into Museum

Soy Infermo

2008-06-12T18:37:00.001-07:00

No not a soy bean fire...

I finally got some medicine today, so hopefully I´ll begin to get better.

Yesterday we wen to the zoo here in Mendoza. It is located in west Mendoza at the base of the mountains, so it begins to overlook the city.

I took a lot of video, some of which are posted throughout this blog.

We met a horde or "wild" monkeys within the zoo, and apparently they were hungry...

Another monkey video...see if you can tell what went on in the video...

The Condor (bird) stands for a a lot here in Mendoza, I´ll explain why in my next post.

This weekend we are heading to Cordoba. We leave tomorrow at 9pm to take the overnight 8 hr bus ride there. We then return Tuesday morning at 7am...take a taxi straight from the bis stop to class :/

My next post should be on Tues night, so readable by Wed ;)

PS I have posted several more videos on my video page.

Sorry to be brief its late, and I didn´t have too much time to type...till next time :)

P.S. Michael, you made a good choice of picking Spanish class you did. I don´t recommend taken it at Baylor, well maybe in Argentina...
Señor Venegas does a great job of teaching the culture in Mexico, take it to heart. I was bummed when I realized I could not go to Mexico, because I had learned so much about the culture in his class.
I just realized your class won´t be able to do the Día de los Muertos project, bummer...
Take Care.

-Matt

Week 4 Into Winter

2008-06-10T16:46:00.001-07:00

I did not do much this past weekend. Somehow the Jordan Family Plague made its way to Argentina through me and surfaced last week...imagine that... So I slept most of the weekend.This past Sunday there was a 11 mile run through some of Mendoza´s most famous vineyards. I intended on doing it, but when I attempted to register, I could not pay for the entry fee (I kept getting an error). However it was good thing I did not, because Sunday was the day I felt the worst... o well....

Yesterday we went to a fùtbol game (soccer game), let´s just say there is nothing like a fùtbol game in the states compared to here. He paid a bit higher seat prices so that we could get safer seats. It is extremely unsafe in the "Hooligans" section. There were fireworks when the home-team came out (courtesy of the Hooligans...) especially when we scored a goal. We won 2 to 0. Goody Cruz was the home team and San Martin (which in another province in Argentina) was the losing team. Also they through a lot of toilet paper (which could last a normal family at least 2 years...) There was security out the wazoo, at least 250 policia , 30 of which had dogs. After the game is when those policia come into play. I had trouble watching the game because I was watching all the other things going on during the game. I hope I can get to another one before I return, maybe I will have my camera on me the next time :)

Yesterday after the game I took a remis (like a Taxi but safer) with two other girls and they told
their addresses first and he replied in English (which usually make me
laugh, because they know you can´t speak their language :/ ). I then I had to explain (I did it in Spanish) exactly where I lived, since he did not know where the street was. He replied to me in English "You speak Spanish very well, you said everything perfectly. Ah, finally, recognition for the language, I am finally doing something right! We then talked about the Argentina national soccer team playing the US team and how we tied them 0 to 0. It was quite nice to finally have a conversation in Spanish that I could do.

Last week an Argentinian jet showed up on the Peotanal (a no motor vehicle street in the center of the city). Just thought it was random, you never know what might show up...

Everyone was asking each other why it was there and where it came from and when it appeared...no one knew...

When I was going to school at Victoria College, I had a Spanish professor, Señor Venegas. I must say all hose weeks he spent drilling the alphabet and the pronouciation of the letters into us (ah the days...) was quite helpful. I might not be able to speak the language off the cuff, but I sure can pronounce words that I read even if I have never seen the word before and it has been extremely helpful here.
We were required to have a dictionary with us for the class, it was small, nothing big, but I still have it, here in Argentina. I keep it with me at all times, and it it has saved my butt on multiple occasions (especially when telling my host mother what I did at school). Those of you who are reading this in his class, hold on to it. Trust me, you don´t want to be walking around with huge book that is bright orange or yellow and screams "I am a tourist." Which you might be, but hey, if you can pronounce their words, what does it matter :D

This coming weekend is a 3 day weekend. Myself and 3 others are traveling to Córdoba city , for the weekend. I´ll update more on Thursday and of course on martes o miecoles.

A bit about Mendoza:

Mendoza´s motto
-La Tierra del Sol y Bueno Vino (The land of Sun and Good Wine)

Here in the city we have these massively large gutters. They funnel the water that comes from the mountains (after the snow melts) into the city. There are water gates everywhere. Each day someone goes out and opens one of the gates flooding a certain section, then the next day, the same happens further up and closes the previous gate, and so on. Here water means ¨Life¨and is very important to Mendocinos. So why I am I telling you this? I do not really know, it just came to mind on my bus ride home. However, I did fall in one onetime trying to straddle it. They are very deep (3-4 feet), so yes, I felt like an idiot...

Another day in Argentina

2008-06-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

At some point I will be taking pictures of the city with my good camera, but I am having to go with a group just for that purpose because it is a safety concern. Unlike some places where you can just take pictures, in Mendoza, theft is the highest crime here, so you have to be very careful.

There are numerous smokers here, and it is throughly impossible to avoid it. I think I am going to have the smoke smell permanently attached to the inside of my nostrils by the time I return home!

In the past few weeks I have have "contracted" an addiction. And that addiction is to Dulce de Leche (what did you think I was going to say?). Is somewhat comparative to caramel back in the states, but not as hard and it tastes much better.

I think if I had to list the top 3 edible items consumed by Argentinians it would be:
1. Mate (Somewhat comparative to strong green tea)
2. Asado (Beef)
3. Dulce de Leche

Speaking of dulce de leche, one of our coordinators asked us if we knew what "alpha whores" were (at least that is what we all thought she said.) What she actually said was alfajores, which in an Argentinian pastry (only found here in Argentina), which is usually 2 or 3 layers of a shortbread cookie with dulce de leche in between the layers and then covered in either chocolate or white chocolate. Mmmm. Ever since I took a bite into one, I have been determining (trying) to figure out how to make them. I have even looked on the Internet, however, there is no recipe for the ones found here in Mendoza. I might have to create one....
The best one to get here is from a place called HAVANNAH, which is like a coffee shop. However they are usually the most expensive (2.5 pesos for 2 layers), I however like the ones from cafe Dün Ken which are also 2.5 pesos, but are much much larger. You decide... I´ll be bringing some home, that´s for sure...along with a vat of Dulce de Leche...

I think one of the coolest things here in Argentina is everyone (really EVERYONE) drinks Mate(dried leaves of yerba mate). This is a cultural thing here. They take a hollowed out gourd or a piece of wood shaped in the form of a vase, a metal straw is inserted into it, which has a strainer at the bottom of it. They pour mate in (relationship to green tea via the holly family), add a small amount of hot water and sugar if they wish, and sip it up through the straw. It is very bad (and rude) to move the straw, as this moves the tea Mate leaves into the straw, which is a bit unpleasant. I hope to later post pictures of all the things mentioned in here, just haven´t thought of it till now.

Hope you have enjoyed my posts thus far.

Photo Link Updated

2008-06-04T17:37:00.001-07:00

I have updated the photo link: http://arphotos.msbaylor.com so that it opens into a collection of albums. I have taken so many pictures at some events that I have created separate albums for them to upload those pictures (will take some time to upload them all, most likely I won´t finish until I return to the states).

Day 16 or something like that

2008-06-04T17:00:00.001-07:00

So here I am, week 3 of my Spanish education. It´s about 40-50s during the day and in the 30s at night. This weekend was the usual - Spanish speaking weekend, Snow trekking, zip lining in the Andes, Rock climbing... you know the usual...

I went ahead and embedded the videos in this blog, I hope they work. If not, click the text link above them. Also, the pictures link to a larger image, so you can see it better. So on to the news...

When we arrived on Saturday we got to the hotel and grabbed our snow shoes then headed out to the hike. If was really quite beautiful out at Aconcagua National Park.

However I do not think anyone of us thought it was going to be as hard as it was to walk in the snow. They told us about a foot of snow should have fallen, no, it was a meter of snow...

Every step I took I sunk down to my waist....it really sucked, defiantly was not my favorite activity, I think I am gonna count this as one of my 10K´s only because I was much more tired after doing this than I was after I did my last 10K.

Snow Video

After the trek we went to Puenta de Inca, a natural stone bridge and Inca runes. It was a very quick trip there, did not spend much time there, just enough to take pictures. We then hopped back on the bus and made our way back to the hotel for dinner and a night´s rest.

On Sunday we went rock climbing, repelling & zip lining in the Andes mountains. I however I did not do the rock climb, and I have no pictures of the repelling. So only proof I have is the zip line, which was the coolest anyway.

Rock Climbing Area Video

Take a look at my zip line video below. I caution you though, if you just ate, then don´t view it, wait till later ;) Also I scream like a little girl in the video, namely because I am scared of "high heights" or as a friend told me "it´s not that your scared of heights, you are scared of falling" so yeah, whatever I am scared of falling off... There was a ladder with a safety rope that you had to climb up in order to get to the platform above (my guess is 60-70 feet above the ground). Thinking back, the ladder was the scariest part, because there were rails that were a bit worn, so they were slippery, also the ladder was not straight up & down, it leaned against the face of the rock. Once I got to the platform and the guy attached me to the zip line, I looked down & flipped, I thought I can´t do this, then closed my eyes and jumped from the ladder. :P

Zip Line Video

After we did all that, we hiked out to a road so that a bus could take us back to the hotel, and then we packed up and headed back to Mendoza.

By the way these are not the only recent videos I have posted, there are more on my videos page!

That´s all for now, tuned in...

Day 12

2008-05-29T13:58:00.001-07:00

This week has gone by much faster than last week! I am currently uploading pictures, so if you see this within 40 minutes of me posting this, then they may not be up, but after that they should. Also posted a video from last weekend. Apparently I need to learn how to hold a video camera... You might get motion sickness watching some of the videos...hopefully not.

http://arphotos.msbaylor.com

e-mail me if you do not know the password.

http://arvideos.msbaylor.com

no, password needed ;)

I had a list of all the things I wanted to write about, but I forgot to bring it with me to the cyber cafe, so for now, I´ll just write what I remember. I apologize, I am quite scatterbrained, so this blog if really all over the place with my thoughts.

It is basically freezing here, yesterday was the first day to have snow. It snowed most of the day, but it did not stick to the ground, however, the mountains stood out this morning, but the snow had melted by midday. I should have taken a picture, but I forgot. It´s about 8* C here (46.5* F). It is much warmer today than it was yesterday, so it is quite a nice day.

I am really excited about this weekend. We are spending 2 days in the Andes mountains at a hotel which is in a national park. Apparently it has been snowing there for 2 days now. We are having to rent snow boots in order to take a hike in the national park (sorry can´t remember what it is called).
I must find a pair of gloves here, otherwise my hands may become a wee bit frigid...

Well I must go, I have several things I need to do before dark. And I have a quiz tomorrow I have to study for.

Chao!

P.S. the picture above is the sunsetting this past Saturday,
silhouetting the Andes mountains. At the bottom of the picture is the
silhouette of a vineyard.

Day 9

2008-05-26T16:29:00.001-07:00

Not that I am counting the days I've survived Mendoza or anything, but I just don't know what else to put. This past weekend was really awesome. Saturday we went to "el campo" (the country) to a true Argentinian ranch. The view was amazing, it was like looking at a postcard or more so, like being in one. I rode a horse for the first time in 10 years so that was pretty cool except for the fact that the horse walked half a slow as I do....
I took a TON of pictures on Saturday. I found a Cyber cafe nearby so I will post the pictures as soon as I have time to get there.

My school is going well, it's super intensive, so I sometimes have very little time. I must go now, apparently we're going to a party for a cousin's birthday...these "parties" are killing me.... I am so tired from the day already....

Day 5

2008-05-22T18:40:00.001-07:00

Estoy bien. Argentina es fenomanal! Autobus pado, viaje a universidad es muy dificil hoy.

Enough Spanish, it´s hard for me enough...

Tuesday, we went on the city tour. I didn´t take my photo camera to school today so I wasn´t able to take any pictures. I still have been unable to get to a ¨ciber cafe¨so I haven´t been able to upload any photos or video. I did take my pocket video camera with me on the city tour so I will be able to add those later.

We visited numerous areas including Plaza de Independencia. Mendoza has a main plaza, then four satellite plazas. I also visited Plaza de San Martin and Plaza de España. You have to be very careful in the Plazas as it is very easy to get pick pocketed. We have already had two people who nearly got pick pocketed!

I called mom the other day and she said "you sound like a foreigner¨ and in a sense I did. Because after only a few days being here, I was constantly thinking in Spanish. So when I would be talking to here, I would be pausing because I has trying to figure out how to say something in Spanish then I would catch myse3lf and say it in English. However I still said many things in Spanish in talking to her. I am told after awhile you start dreaming in Spanish, but I haven´t remembered a dream yet, so I can´t say i have had one yet.

Classes are going well, so far the stuff we have been learning has been the easy stuff...or the stuff I already know, well maybe one thing I don´t know...how to use the verbs "estar" & "Ser" There are a total of 4 people in my class. I am the only one from Baylor and the other 3 are from Hawaii (what a heck of a trip eh?). Also one girl in my class is doing the same as me, taking all four Spanish credits during the summer.

I think my 5 most used phrases are
Sí (yes)
no entiendo (i don´t understand)
yo entiendo ( i do understand)
?Que? (What?)
!Hola! (Hi!)
I will have to say my pronunciation has gotten better. The pronunciation here is a bit different here than it in in the states. Like the "ll"pronounced in the states sound like a "yu" sound here "dj" also "yo" sound like "djyo"

I have been getting up about 7:30 in the morning and I am in bed by midnight, so I am nearly on a regular schedule. During the day I am still searching for things to do, especially today. I got bored because of a bus strike so it make transportation very hard here. You can take a taxi, but they are more expensive and hard to find today because so many people are using them.

There is a car that picks up a group of us each morning and takes us to school because the bus is never on time (no schedule really, the just come so many times per day). The bus would normally take about 40 minutes of so to get to class, but the car takes less than 10 minutes, plus when it gets cold here, it will be much warmer. I take the bus home which is about a 30 minute trip and it only costs 1.4 pesos. (1 USD = 3.15 pesos). Everything here is relatively cheap. I purchased a cell phone for $46 USD yesterday to use here in mendoza. It is prepaid and only about $.20 USD per minute & $.04 USD per text message.

One last thing, vehicles DO NOT STOP for pedestrians! Unless the driver doesn´t want a hood ornament, you WILL be hit!. It´s like playing Frogger in first person!

I must go now, so till next time, my adventure continues...

Salud,
-matt

Day 2

2008-05-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of school. I got my schedule and every day I start at 9am except Tuesdays which I start at 10am. I took the bus for the first time, which was interesting. The roads here aren´t exactly organized, meaning people just drive and ignore the rules here. I think that riding the bus or a taxi is the safest. They tend to have their own sort of communication. After running to the catch the bus I stepped on the stairs and he took off!. Here the bus leaves whether you are hanging out the door or not, it is up to you to let go or not :)
Today I missed my bus stop returning to ¨mi casa¨ and ended up walking 7 blocks back.
Tomorrow we have a group tour of the city. So I´ll have more to speak about later.

Day 1

2008-05-18T17:23:00.000-07:00
Hola! I have arrived, at my house. It is very beautiful here. I have to learn Spanish very quickly otherwise I might be stranded in a lake without a paddle. My "mom" doesnt speak any english, however, the son speaks a little and the daughter is fluent. I hope that this is not going to be too hard on our "mom." Mum, dad, i will be calling you later. My large bag didn´t make it to the plane from santiago, chile to Mendoza, Argentina, because our flight was late in arriving in santiago. but it is supposed to be in Mendoza later today: The other 3 guys that are with us, didn´t recieve any of their luggage, so i suppose iam better off than they are....

By the way I am 2 hours ahead of Tx time.

I am going to try to get a hold of the others that are near to me and discuss tomarrow, I am suppose to take the bus tomarrow, but I am not too keen on taking it by myself :/ Apparently there is a guy down the street that is being hosted as well, he is from Hawaii, if I am right about who he is, then we is also missing his luggage :/

Also my "mom" she is self employed. She basically sells all types of accesories for dogs - leashes, toys, beds, etc.

There is a computer at the house but it is dial-up, so I won´t be able to upload anything from here, but I can send e'mail from here.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes, the keyboard here is very different.

Early Morning Goodnight

2008-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00
Headed to bed. My parental units & I got a hotel room in Houston near the airport since my flight is so early & to avoid traffic. So till my next entry, this is the last one I'll be typing in this country for ahwile...

Hello World.

2008-05-16T11:59:00.000-07:00
This is the place where I will be typing my journal entries here. I want to say that I will update this 2-3 times per week, but I am unsure if that will happen till I am there. It might be more, it might be less.

Here is an e-mail message I recently sent to everyone following me in my life:

Hello Everyone,

Here is my first Newsletter for this year: "The Life of Matt Sawyers." Numerous things have happened my life in the past 5 months. And one major thing about to happen in my life - studying abroad in Argentina. At this point I have yet to create an actual newsletter, but my website contains a lot of what I have been doing. Namely I wanted to write about my trip to Argentina.

I am leaving this Saturday (May 17th) out of Houston, then I have a 9hr layover in Miami (yuck!) then I fly to Santiago, Chile, then on to Mendoza, Argentina. I will be spending the next 3 months in Mendoza with a host family; I will have a mother, sister & a brother. My "brother" is 28 years old, and my "sister" is 25.

I will be taking a total of 14 credit hours (4 Spanish courses). Hopefully I will have some sort of working knowledge of Spanish by then... The first 6 weeks I will take a Spanish 1 & 2, then the last 6 weeks, I will take Spanish 3 & 4 (which are mainly literature classes).

Being a video/photo person I was a bit disgruntled when I knew I couldn't take my video camera. But I am going to take the risk and take my photo camera. I will post my pictures online here: http://arphotos.msbaylor.com , the password for the site is ****** . If you have an RSS reader such as RSSOwl or Firefox Sage plugin (recommended. If you don't have Firefox, shame on you...) you can click on the little icon to the left of the Copyright notice at the bottom of the page within the album to receive updates on when I update my photos (then click on your choice of feeds. I recommend the "featured" one).

I am also keeping a blog which I will update as often as possible (at least 2-3 times/wk). The blog is located at: http://argentina.msbaylor.com also below the blog you will find that you can also subscribe to the blog using one of the feed readers I mentioned before.

And finally, I have decided to take a very compact video recorder with me. I will be able to upload the videos straight to the web with ease. You can visit the folder here: http://arvideos.msbaylor.com . Currently there are not any videos up, but once I start posting them, you will also have the ability to download them if you wish.

Happy Reading!

~Matt Sawyers

A Little About RSS & Atom Feeds

From Wikipedia: "Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or "channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs (Like RSSOwl) or filtered displays (Firefox plug in)." By clicking on an icon similar to this one: . Atom feeds are just an alternative to RSS feeds. They are usually more compatible. To read more about RSOwl click here or the Firefox plug-in here.

Side Note: My New Year's Resolution

My new year's resolution is to run 4 half-marathons this year (In no less than 10K sections). So far I have 2 down & 2 to go. I did the Disney Half in January & the Austin ATT Half in February. I have also did a 10K with my Dad on April 1st. I am planning on doing the San Antonio Rock & Roll Half in November. Click on the picture to be taken to see all my pictures from my running event. Again the password is: ***** .