So after leaving Cordoba we made our way once more to Argentina’s capital. Due to many factors (most of them being severe mind overload) we didn’t get a whole lot out of this gigantic city the first time around. Determined to do better we got into town bright and early after a long bus ride and checked into our hostel. After a little rest we set out into the city and wandered around for a bit. Later that evening we had dinner with this woman named Fara (sp) who just happened to be from Seattle. We talked and laughed and bugged our waiter to death with our constant ordering of desert, and it was a good time. Really awesome steak by the way for less than $3 American.
The next day we made our way on the metro to a close barrio and ending up going to the city zoo. It was a good size zoo with a good variety of animals. Jordan’s favorites were the monkeys. Mine will always be the large jungle cats. This zoo had a good number of both, although I thought the monkey cages were a little on the small side.
Later that evening we managed to meet up with our contact here that we missed the first time. Jordan’s friend Dani who he met in Gautemala has a brother named Hugo who lives in Buenos Aires. Originally from El Salvador, he came to this city to study medicine and be a doctor one day. After a fun game of email and phone tag we were able to get ahold of him and go out for a couple of beers with him and his friend. They were really nice and very helpful in getting us a cab when the night was done and making sure the driver didn’t rip us off.
The next day we met Hugo again and went to La Boca district. This is a lively section of town with little cafes and artists on cobblestone streets and people dancing the tango for entertainment. We really wished we could have bought some souvenirs but we really didn’t want to carry them around or mail them home at the moment. Later that evening we were going to go see a professional tango show at this good restaurant. We’d made a reservation and everything, but when we got there the place was closed. This was mostly due to the insanely huge parade of people coming down the street. Turns out March 24 is a national holiday in Argentina, set aside as a day of remembering the start of the country’s democracy after one of its worst dictatorships ended just 30 years ago. The “Dirty War” was marked by thousandsof civilian kidnappings and murders which led to many children being left without parents and identities. And now for the first time ever the day was declared a holiday and the people set out to celebrate. And boy do they know how to celebrate! Mobs of people everywhere in bright costumes, waving flags, dancing to the beat of dozens of drums. The streets were a madhouse and yet it was all peaceful and joyful with people of all ages immersing themselves in the spirit. It was incredible to watch as I’d never seen anything quite like it.
The next day we’d planned on leaving and making our way to Uruguay. We checked out of our hostel and went to the bus station only to find that the next bus leaving to Montevideo, the country’s capital, was at 9:30…roughly eight hours away. So we called up Hugo and met him and another friend of his and wandered around the neighborhood where he lives. We got to see his apartment and watch the end of “When Harry Met Sally” to boot. After that we said our goodbyes and went back to the bus station one more time, quite effecient at finding our way around by subway now and left the city. We got into Montevideo at 5 in the morning and found the nearest hotel and crashed until about noon. Now were off exploring this city on quiet Sunday, taking in the sights and figuring out what to do next. As always hope things are good with all of you.
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It has been exactly 10 weeks since the start of our journey, the length of a full UW quarter, and we find ourselves in the same place we began, Buenos Aires. The city we could not wait to get out of the first time is the place we find ourselves in once again. The city seems more bearable now, after everything we have seen and done. We are no longer novice travelers as we have taken countless busses, hiked down rivers, hitchhiked many kilometers, been stuck in places with no money, hopped on ferries, backpacked through rugged wildnerness, and most recently jumped out of an airplane. Yes, it is safe to say that this monster city no longer intimidates us. In the span of one UW quarter, I have learned and grown up so much more than I would have in a whole year at college.
After taking the night bus to Cordoba, we recovered at the nice hostel we found, and then went out to see the sights. We had not seen too much when we decided to watch a couple movies at the local movie theater. The movies: Brokeback Mountain and Pride and Prejudice. Both of these movies I would not have even considered seeing in the states but our options here were somewhat limited and after all the buzz surrounding Brokeback, I felt like I had to see it. I liked Pride and Prejudice a lot more than I thought I would. I am still unsure if I liked it because it was a good movie or because Kierra Knightley was in the lead role. It just seemed like her character changed a lot throughout the film and it was interesting to see the gradual realization that she had a blind perception of Mr. Darcy who became more likeable as the movie progressed. Brokeback Mountain on the other hand, I just don´t get it. While I do think it is a solid movie, I do not think it was as good as people were making it out to be. The actors´ performances were good but I did not like the story line, and it is not only the gay thing (which makes a few scenes make me want to cringe and close my eyes, I know, I know, I´m a homophobe). I don´t want to spoil it for people who have not seen it but I was hoping there would be more character change. It does not seem like the characters change or learn anything. Also, it seems like the movie tries to paint them as victims of societal pressures and pushes aside the fact that they cheated on their wives and were terrible parents.
Anyways, after sitting over 2 hours through Brokeback Mountain, we felt like jumping out of an airplace, so the next day we did. 
Our hostel is connected with this skydiving outfit and for $130 we got to tandem jump (hooked in with an experienced skydiver), got a video of our jump, and a cd with video and pictures…a much better deal than we could swing stateside. We arrived and watched 2 Israeli girls do their jumps first. The plane was extremely small and barely big enough to fit the pilot, the guide, the camera man, another random guy from Holland that likes to jump out of airplanes, and of course the client. Therefore, only one client could jump at a time. We waited for the first girl to jump down and we thought we saw her but it was the random guy. He dropped from the sky, made a hard landing, dragged his parachute across the grass, told us good morning, and dragged his parachute inside the hangar. I just thought I would mention this because that was the coolest introduction I have ever seen in real life. I later found out he was from Holland and did a tandem jump once, became hooked, and has been skydiving everyday for the past 3 years. Anyways, we watched the 2 girls do their jumps and then it was Adam´s turn. We received brief instruction on technique (arch your back while free falling, legs up on landing, and that was the extent). So Adam took off and did his jump and when he got down he had a big smile and was visibly shaking. The scariest part for him was when the parachute opened and he realized how high up he actually was. I am sure I did not do Adam´s jump justice, but I wasn´t there. After watching 3 others before me, it was finally my turn.
I put on my jump suit and then my harness thing. The guide dude put it on me and made sure everything was tight as the filming dude filmed me. I got on the plane and was surprised at how small it actually was on the inside. We were packed in there like sardines. During the plane ride, I gradually got more and more nervous. I think my primary thought was making sure I was hooked into this guy before jumping (he did have the parachute after all). I watched as the random dude from Holland jumped out. The guide dude held on to me as the door opened and the random dude literally dived right out of the thing. The door closed and the plane went higher. That plane ride felt like it lasted forever…that was the scariest part for me…the anticipation of jumping. Finally, after we had climbed a considerable distance, it was time. The camera dude got out first and held on to the side of the plane waiting for us to jump. We got in position and then we were falling. We twisted a couple times in the air through the clouds before stabilizing and then we fell with faces looking straight down. All of a sudden the camera man appeared out of nowhere and was flying right next to us, filming us. It was absolutely incredible and confusing. After a 10 second free fall or so the parachute was deployed and I watched as the camera man continued falling. He finally deployed his schute also. The parachute ride down took about another 5 minutes or so. We were just hanging there, gradually coming down, the whole city of Cordoba and a billion farms within view. I think I said mierda a few times. We eventually glided down to the bottom where he told me to lift my legs up for the 100th time, and we landed. What a ride! That was defenitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had, the feeling is indesribable.
Anyways, after falling from the sky we decided to go see another movie that night: Derailed. It was a solid movie but not great. There were a couple of twists that threw me which is always fun but other than that it was your average thriller movie. We took a bus out that night to Buenos Aires where we are now! So in Cordoba we basically watched 3 movies and went skydiving…so much for sight seeing!
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Puente del Inca sits atop the Andes right next to the mammoth Aconcagua. We arrived to this little mountain town on thursday afternoon. The bus ride was longer than expected because of a fatal car accident that blocked the road for over an hour. We arrived into Puente del Inca (about 9000 feet elevation) and found a refugio to stay in which was one of only like 10 buildings in the entire town. The refugio sat directly next to a natural land bridge crossing a river with an Incan site built into it…increible. The refugio was basically empty the first night because it is the end of the climbing season there. Only two other people stayed in the refugio and Julian (the guy who ran the place) treated all of us to free pizza the first night. Throughout our visit to this small town, we of course kept flirting with the idea of attempting to summit. Aconcagua is one of those mountains that I have read and have known about for quite some time. It is on my dream list of mountains to climb and here we were, sitting right at the base of it. It was especially tempting because the mountain is actually doable for anybody in decent shape because the main route is basically a walk up. The toughest part about the climb is the altitude. Seven climbers have died this season on the mountain and four of them died of altitude sickness from poor acclimitization. Another one died by falling in a crevase while attempting to climb a more difficult route, another died by falling off something, and another died by having a heart attack on the top. Apparently that guy got to the top, sat down, and had a heart attack right there. Anyway, I have no idea why I am talking about fatalities but I think the point was, we were really tempted by this giant mountain but sanity won the day. I think we finally decided for sure not to climb it when Julian was telling us how cold it got up there this time of year…although we still ran into a few attempting it. Julian lives near Buenos Aires but in the climbing season runs the refugio and spends time climbing the various mountains nearby. He is also a guide and holds time records for peaks in the area and has climbed Aconcagua numerous times. I thought I heard him say he has climbed Aconcagua 100 times but I think I misunderstood him since it takes about 2 weeks to summit. On Friday we went scrambling up a peak in the area and at the top (about 12000 feet) we had a beautiful view of Aconcagua. Since a lot of the climb was loose scree, we got to basically run/ski down for a portion of the descent…fun times. On the last part of our leg down I chased a wild horse down the mountain…in the heat of the chase I got to the bottom in no time and realized that Adam was still way up on the mountain…so I let the horse get away…or else you all know that I would have caught that horse…ok, maybe not. Anyway, today we caught a bus back down to Mendoza and are waiting around for a night bus to Cordoba. I hope everyone is doing well…love to all of course!
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