Halfway through Argentina adventure!

Pizza & wine night - Argentina student residence

COUNTRY: Argentina
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Anna Craven (with Emily, Natalie, Sophie, Jess and Kelly)

To say that we've fallen in love with Buenos Aires would be an understatement. Already having seen 6 weeks fly by, it's saddening to know that the next 6 will come and go equally as fast.

Over the last weekend of April, we packed our backpacks for a long weekend in Uruguay, as the Argentines had decided to announce yet ANOTHER long weekend! We headed down to the port, went through customs, got our passports stamped and jumped aboard the 'Buquebus' to cross the Rio de la Plata. The trip took one hour and we arrived mid-afternoon in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, which is a beautiful port side town, complete with a historic quarter who boasts a place on the UNESCO world heritage list.

We spent the afternoon exploring the quiet, cobblestone streets, the lighthouse and jetties, and sipped on a free glasses of wine in a picturesque laneway. In the evening, we enjoyed strawberry daiquiris whilst watching the sun set over the water, before eating traditional home-style food and listening to live music in an old plaza.

We enjoyed a cosy stay at 'the Oriental Hostel' before heading to the bus station the next morning, where we boarded a bus to Montevideo. The trip took 3 hours and we arrived mid afternoon in the much larger, and louder city. The weather was cold and wet, but we braved the elements and explored the downtown area of Ciudad Vieja, walked by the sea around the point, and stood in awe of the dozens of open-parillas, bars and restaurants that are crammed into the meat market that is 'Mercado del Puerto'.

That evening, we went to dinner at a local Parilla and enjoyed some of the Uruguayan nightlife. On our final day, we got lost in the maze of streets that makes up the Sunday Morning Markets, where you can purchase anything from fish, puppies, and peacocks, to toothpaste, mannequins and saxophones. That afternoon, we decided to splurge, and treat our rumbling tummies to a 4 hour lunch at the mercado del puerto, including bottles of the traditional and on-the-house 'media y media', before sleeping the whole 3 hour ferry journey home. We absolutely loved that weekend, and it still feels strange to say 'we popped over to Uruguay'. I cannot stress enough the beauty of Colonia del Sacramento, and know that one day I'll go back there, where everything will still be stuck in a time warp, looking exactly the same as it did hundreds of years ago.

In the more recent weeks, we've really settled into our routine of Spanish lessons and volunteering. Currently, myself, Natalie and Jess are continuing Spanish 9 hours a week, and we have found ourselves speaking with more and more confidence as time passes.

Everyone absolutely loves volunteering, particularly now that we've all found our own favorite centers to go within the villa. Emily likes el Alba, where there are less kids, who are quiet and eager to learn more English. Sophie and Kelly and Jess like Ejercito, which is an outdoor centre, with a lot more kids who run absolutely wild, but are always eager to finish as many worksheets as possible. Nat likes Los Angelitos, as the kids there love learning English and mathematics, and never turn down piggy back rides or skipping. I like Las Horas, as I'm friends with a lot of the kids there, who love to spend the whole time drawing and painting, before they loose their concentration and become really cheeky.

The birthday parties once a week are different from usual, as the arts and crafts, dulce-de-leche cakes, soccer and face painting are such a treat for the kids, who for a lot of them, have no other opportunity to celebrate their 'cumpleanos'. As for us, it's always fun to come home to giggles from our housemates who love the face-paint creations plastered to our faces.

Within the city, everyone's got into the spirit of the Buenos Aires nightlife, and have danced until sunrise at some of the city's famous boliches and bars. Sophie, Nat and Jess rode bikes around the Ecological Reserve at Puerto Madero, whilst Kelly and I took Emily to our favorite place, Plaza Serrano in Palermo Viejo, where we sipped cocktails and ate Empenadas before weaving through the indoor and outdoor markets that cram the main intersection.

We've also danced for hours amongst the Argentines at the 'La Bomba del Tiempo' drum show. R2A hosted another pizza and wine night on the terrace, where some cooks came and made delicious fresh pizzas for us, which was fun as always, despite the bitter cold that has recently swept BA. Just yesterday we all got the subway to Chinatown for a change in cuisine, before picnicking with some housemates in Palermo parks nearby the markets, with Alfajores, pastries, buckets of dulce de leche and champagne. Today, we took Kelly to La Boca, San Telmo markets, Plaza de Mayo and cafe Tortoni, whilst tonight we've been getting excited about our upcoming trips.

Next Wednesday, 5 of us board an overnight bus and head to Peruti, an indigenous village in the province of Misiones, where we will be volunteering for 3 days, before heading to Iguassu falls, Paraguay and the San Ignacio Jesuit Ruins. We will the return to Buenos Aires for 4 days, before heading to the Mendoza Wine region next to the Andes for 4 days. During this time, Jess will be visiting Rio de Janeiro and the Brazillian side of the falls.

As I said, we can already expect time to go ever-faster as we get increasingly more busy, and travel out of the city a couple more times. We are all loving this experience so much, and attempting to cross off wishes from our bucket lists before time slips away. There's still so much to do and see, and I can't believe we still have the energy (despite frequent siestas).

- Anna (with Emily, Natalie, Sophie, Jess and Kelly)