We left late wednesday night on the bus and got to San Juan early thursday morning. The best part of the bus ride was when we were getting on the bus, Leo told us that he had a pajero in his bag. At first i thought, pajero meant bird, but then i just figured that my spanish was wrong. (something that is all too common haha) But no, I was actually right this time. Apparently his uncle in Cordoba breeds them and a friend in San Juan wanted one. So he had a bird, in a box, in his book bag. Good times
We got to San Juan early thursday morning and met his brother and sister. I am probably going to say it about 100 times in the blog, but I loved his family. They were so inviting, outgoing, and just plain great people. But anyways, We hung around the house, took a nap then went to this really pretty outlook to take matte and get a good view of the city.
We stumbled upon this absolutely amazing museum in a cave under the outlook. There really aren't words to describe this museum. It was only 5 pesos (less than $1.50) to get in, but worth o so much more. This man had obviously created it himself with fossils, stuffed animals, paper machie, rocks, feathers, and lots more. I think picture are the best way to do this museum justice.
(lawn chairs if you got worn out looking at all 3 the exibits)
(Had to make sure Daffy looked his best for the patrons) (when he had either lost or never had a part to his exibit, he would just draw it in. No big deal.)
(we never figured out why it was called the museo einstein....... Or why there were armadillos......)
That night we cooked and it was wonderful. We went to bed about 1 and woke up the next morning at 4 to go to La Valle de la Luna. (the people in this country never sleep!) La valle de la luna (valley of the moon) is this famous national park in Argentina that is pretty similar to the grand canyon, but on a much smaller scale. It was one of those parks that you drive through in your own car and see this sights. Every 10 or so minutes we all got out and the guide told us some cool facts about the rocks. (they pronounce rocks "sssshrucks" in san juan and we found that very funny this weekend) It was a very beautiful place, but in all honesty we just had fun driving, joking, listening to music, and not listening to the guide. Even Leo was ignoring the guide and when we asked him what was special about this particular rock we had all stopped to look at, he answered "no idea, they are all the same" jajaja but it was still really fun!
On the way back we stopped at the Disfunta Correa. To give a very brief history of this place: there is a old cuenta (story) about this woman and her baby who were walking through the dessert and the woman realized that she was not going to make it and was going to die of dehydration. She prayed that God would give her breast milk so that even if she died, her baby would live. And, according to legend, she died, and the baby lived. We learned about this story in class, and we also learned about the memorial for her. It is tradition for people to visit, and leave bottles of water (because she died of thirst). What we learned was nothing like what we saw. What I had in mind was this big alter, with a bunch of water bottles, but this place was full of people. There were tents set up everywhere and there was a huge market with tons of people selling clothes, gift, food, everything. Not at all what I had expected. Leo told us that during the weekend of Semana Santa people walk, bike, drive, ride their horse, get there somehow, give their offerings, and then stay overnight.
The thing that had the biggest impaact on me was the houses of gratitude. There were about 5 or 6 little "houses" and each was dedicated to a different aspect of life: sports, autos, marriage, houses, I cant remember the rest. Each house was filled with offerings of gratitude to this woman. Gracias disfrunta correa for helping me win this soccer game. Gracias disfrunta correa for helping me buy this car. Gracias disfrunta correa for giving me this house. The house for marraige was filled with peoples actual wedding dresses. It was incredible to see the magnitude of how of everything. So many shrines. So many people. So many offerings. We didnt go to the biggest one, where most of the water bottles are, because the line was incredibly long, but what was saw was still eye opening. So very different than everything I am used to.
That night we just hung out with his amazing family and watched a movie. Wonderful. The next day we went to the nearby dike to hang out and study a little but. (we tried to make ourselves feel like responsible students) Leo's brother Gabriel came with us, and they were our translators whenever we didnt know what our notes said. I don't think they got much studying done though! Gabriel speaks english and had a good time looking through my "español avanzado" book. which means advanced spanish. But I am in the lowest class and therefore the title is really just there to make us feel better. (the other levels are avanzado I, II, y III. :)
That night we went out to a club and had a great time dancing until 5:30 when they turned the music off. Yes, I said 5:30. Esther made some fun friends, and Cederic enjoyed a choripan at 6 in the morning. (pronounced like superMAN we were told. Very funny at the time.)
Leo let Esther drive us from the street to the driveway- I dont think he believed her when she said she could drive a stick shift. But we survived.
(yup, thats AM)
The next day was Easter. We woke up around 1 and hung out in the kitchen for a while drinking coffee, talking, and watching his sister cook. About 2:30 Leo's whole family came over for lunch. I absolutely love this aspect of spanish culture. We sat around that kitchen table for over two hours just talking. I had a really interesting conversation with his grandfather for about 15 mins of which I think I understood about 15 words that he said. No worries though, because I have become an expert in what I like to call "parroting". Its a skill that I have developed down here when I am in a conversation when I have no idea what is going on, but I don't want to be rude. The secret is to pick out word that you know. Por ejemplo: I hear this "alskdjfhlaksjdhflkjsdhf mucha lluvia aksdjhfalkhjdf" and I respond, "Si, mucho lluvia!"[which means a lot of rain] and shake my head like i know exactly what they are talking about. Works 9 out of 10 times.
In saying that, my spanish has gotten exponentially better since I've been here and I don't use this method often, but when I talk to older people with strong accents who love to talk, it is necessary.
Anyways, we ate lunch and then eventually ended up back at the kitchen table and took mate. Like I said, I love this culture and especially this family. We didn't do anything that day- but I enjoyed it so much. We played some Wii, talked, drank coffee, mate, Wii and then got on the bus to come home. One of the best things was the next day when telling someone what we did for Easter I told the story and about how we never even left the house that day but had a great time. Esther spoke up and said "thats not true, I left the house. I went outside to brush off the crumbs on my shirt from the cake we ate. Then I came back in and drank some more mate. :)
Got back to Cordoba at 8 am and then went to school. We had a test that day at 2. But hey, thats Argentina.
To recap: loved San Juan.
(Leo's two dogs Tony and Sasha. Tony liked to dance and was quite good at the tango. Sasha, not so much.)
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