Hiking

Rodrigo and I have hiked a number of places here in Córdoba's provence. One of the places we hiked is called "Los Gigantes" which translates to "The Giants." It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I thoroughly enjoyed the landscape and would love to go again. It was filled with giant rock formations which is where I'm assuming it got it's name. Los Gigantes is located in the "high sierras" here in Córdoba provence. We hiked to a little place within, stayed the night, and hiked out the next day. Here are some pictures you might enjoy...

Camp

Absolutely beautiful scenery!

One hike, we started in a town called "Los Hornillos" and ended in the cutest little German immigrant town called "La Cumbresita." When we finally made it to the town, the first thing on our mind was food! We shared some delicious German delicacies and wonderful beer. I really want to return to La Cumbrecita, so please come so I can have an excuse to go and show you around :o)

Restaurant with the German food

La Cumbresita

A Condor that flew right above us

Nice view of the "high sierras"

The last hike we did in October was called "Champaqui Extremo." Which is the extreme version of hiking to the highest peak in the "high sierras" here in Córdoba provence. It was quite an experience. We hiked up 1,800 meters in altitude... and completed the hike in 3 days. Rodrigo and I were accompanied by Andres and Matias. When we made it to the very top, there was some type of second wind given to us. I really want to do this hike again someday... it was absolutely delightful.

Matias, Andres, Rodrigo and I at the very top with the Argentinean flag

Rodrigo and I at the top of Champaqui

Enjoying the early morning

This was the most beautiful part, we were going down Champaqui, and right here we got just below the clouds.

Labbies

Labbies
Originally uploaded by metacke

My friends I made in the Parasitology Laboratory. This photo features Yerba Mate (the drink we shared during every break), the break room, alfajores (my new favorite cookie), and common bakery items we bought every day for breakfast! I just love this picture, it will always bring great memories of the lab to me :o)

The Parasitology Laboratory

I never really told you about how absolutely wonderful it was to work in the Parasitology Laboratory, at the Hospital del Clinicas, here in Córdoba. Not only did I make lasting friendships, but it was educational, exciting, challenging, comical, and absolutely positive. Every day I went I shared laughs and learned new ways of necessities in a laboratory. Rodolfo (my boss) is one of the leading parasitologists in the whole country. He is a walking encyclopedia, but even more so, he's genuine, caring, and passionate about his work.

I now have high hopes of running some type of exchange program between a future laboratory where I will work and this laboratory. They told me that I can only send people with a good sense of humor... haha, so that will have to be in the contract!

Here are some pictures of the Parasitology laboratory I'd like to share with you...

My co-workers Laura and Dani.

The new lab we moved to while I was there.

Our last day in the old lab... believe me, I was sad to let this space go, it was so antique... I loved it! Here is a picture of Tami, Rodolfo (my boss), me and Laura.

Grocery Stores

Grocery stores in Argentina are all together different than grocery stores in Chile and the States. You all know and are comfortable with a store like Albertsons for example. When you walk into Albertsons, you see an absolutely enormous building with almost every type of food in it that you would ever want or need. This is how they sell food in Chile too. They have two large grocery store chains there, Lider and Jumbo. Both of which sell things like electronics and school supplies as well as food, but I would say most people shop there for the food. Of course in Chile there are your smaller grocery stores too, depending on where you are and the size of the city. There are stores similar to Paul's (in McCall), Cash and Carry (in Cottonwood and Grangeville), and Riener's (in Cottonwood).

In Argentina however, things are quite different. There are grocery store chains here, yes, but the stores themselves are very small no matter where you are in the country. I haven't stepped in a grocery store the size of Paul's yet! I would say the majority of the grocery store sizes here are about the size of Riener's, and I've been in one or two about the size of Cash and Carry in Cottonwood. Now, this isn't bad necessarily, because it's pretty easy to find things, but rush hour in this town of 1.3 million quite overwhelming.

Also, what you find in a grocery store in Argentina is quite interesting. Yes, they have the normal produce section, meat section, cereal section, and all the other stuff sections, but each has their own unique taste of Argentina!

The meat section here is a lot like Rieners. At Rieners, you go to Gary and ask him to get you some ribs, and he does it with a smile. That's what happens here too. You go to the meat guy, tell him you want a certain cut of meat or some hamburger, and he grinds it up and hands it to you. (I guess there's a law here that states you cannot pre-grind meat due to businesses adding fat for bulk.) In the meat section, you can find already cut stakes... I usually get stakes this way to avoid the Spanish confusion. The cuts of meat here are different too, for example ribs. You know how ribs look in the States, but here they cut them like if you were to get a vertical CAT scan of your ribs. I still haven't learned all the proper cut names here, all I know is the meat here is excellent!

I usually don't spend much time in the produce section because you can get produce at the little fruit stands right outside my building. But, in the grocery stores, you have to bag all your produce while you're in the section, and hand it to a worker who weighs it and tags it before you go to check out.

The cereal section is not a enormous aisle like in the States, it's a tiny section of some imported, really expensive cereals and other cheap bagged cereal. Of course, I get the cheap bagged cereal, but I'd say most people don't buy cereal. For breakfast, normally Argentinians drink coffee or Yerba Mate and maybe eat some bread with a little butter on it... that's it. I remember when I was in Brazil, one of the girls almost gagged at the thought of eating eggs for breakfast! Very different here for breakfast than in the States.

Bread is another important issue. I don't usually buy bread at the grocery store either, because there's a bakery right across the street. The bread section usually consists of dirt cheap freshly baked, kind of like french bread, or expensive sliced bread like we have in the States. Now, because their freshly baked bread goes bad within a day after it's bought, you only buy what you need for the day.

The dairy section is all together different than the States. Packaging of milk is very different here. It's sold in cardboard like boxes, or plastic pouches. As you can imagine, the plastic pouches are cheaper than the cardboard boxes, so that's what I get, but milk in the cardboard boxes keeps longer, and is sold and stored at room temperature. I know, I thought it to, is that ok?? But yes, I'm sure it is. Every time I've gotten the cardboard box kind, it's been perfectly fine and safe to drink. The plastic pouches though, have to be stored refrigerated. They also sell yogurt like this. Yogurt in Argentina is like a thick flavored milk. People also drink this on occasion for breakfast. It's not sold in a big container, although they do have those little personal ones just like you're familiar with. On a sad note, they don't have cottage cheese, or whipped cream (usually, I found whip cream once in a spray can).

Argentina is huge on pasta. They love their pasta because a lot of the people here come from Italian decent. Therefore, in every grocery store, you can find gnocchi's, ravioli's, and tortellini's packaged, kept cold, and just need to be boiled before served and eaten! I think this is my favorite part in the whole grocery store. I just love how they have that here. I know in the States you can find dehydrated tortellini's that just need boiling, but it doesn't taste the same. The pasta here not dehyderated, it's freshly made and very easy to prepare.

The frequency of buying food here is very different too. I never thought I'd get used to this, but I go to the grocery store almost every single day to buy food (however, sometimes I just go to the bakery and fruit/veggie stand and call it good). They just don't have the highly processed things here that can be stored for a long time. I don't mind it because I live seconds from the grocery store, but I know it would be such a drag if I didn't. I think that's why Argentinians love to live in the center of town.

Those are the main grocery store differences... of course, when it comes to baking, that's a whole different story too, but I'll save it for a later time!

Torta de Hojaldre

For Rodrigo's Birthday, his parents and brother came. We had a great time eating way too much food! During the weekend, I wanted to surprise Rodrigo with his favorite cake, Torta de Hojaldre.

He has told me the name a million times, but I can never remember it. So the week before his birthday, I asked his mom to write me the name over our Skype conversation. When we were through chatting, I went to 5 bakeries before I found one that would make it for me. You have to order it in advance, because it's quite difficult to make. Finally this bakery said they could do it, and I said I wanted it by Saturday.

When Saturday rolled around, I came up with an excuse to buy milk for Rodrigo's dad in order to pick up the cake. When I went there, the lady said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, we didn't make it because we didn't have any of your contact information... and we weren't sure you'd show up to pick it up." HA! I had no idea what to do... I was frantic because this cake doesn't exist in the States, and maybe we won't be in Argentina for his birthday the next year... who knows?

The lady pointed me in the direction of another place. I went there, and they said... "No, but maybe across the street." I crossed the street with a prayer! When I made it in there, the ladies could tell I'd been through you know where and back about this issue... they said, "We'll make it for you for tonight!"

I was so relieved! Rodrigo was going to get his cake, and he did. It was so good. This cake is basically 6 layers of flaky, flaky pie crust and dulce de leche in between (dulce de leche is kind of like caramel, but has a different texture), covered with chocolate, whip cream, and cherries... yummm! What a nightmere, but I'm so glad it worked out!

Here's a picture of the half eaten cake, it didn't last long at all.

Site Seeing in Córdoba

The Tango dance we watched

There are lots of fun things to see in Córdoba, Argentina, which is the current city I'm living in... Rodrigo and I went the other day to his University's hospital, to see if they'd let me volunteer. Luckily they said yes! So, I'm going to be volunteering in the Parasitology lab for now. I really can't wait. I decided that since I'm going to be volunteering, it'd be great to learn interesting things like a refresher in parasitology while I'm at it. The boss of the Parasitology lab seems really friendly, and I think he also wants to practice his English with me. Should be great!

Also since I've been in Córdoba, Rodrigo and I caught a Tango Orchastra concert... and there were great tango dancers! Did you know that Tango was initiated in Argentina by the poor Italians who migrated there? Yep, Tango started in the slums of Buenos Aires. Evidently there are amazing shows almost every night in BA... I hope I can talk Rodrigo into taking me sometime!

Here's some photos of the city I've captured since I've been here...


Plaza San Martín

Córdoba's Cathedral

A different angle of the Cathedral

Many cities are settled because of rivers, this the Suquía River.

Argentina's defeat against Great Britain in "Guerra de las Malvinas"

Justice Palace

Romulus and Remus

Cerro San Cristóbal

Santiago from Cerro San Cristóbal

So, I'm a little behind... because now I'm back in Argentina, however, this was a great hike Rodrigo and I did back in Santiago, Chile.

There is a large touristic hill in Santiago called Cerro San Cristóbal, and one afternoon, Rodrigo and I decided to hike it. You can either walk up it (6 KM), or ride a type of rail cart. Halfway up the hill is a zoo (we didn't go because it was too expensive), and when you reach the top of the hill there is a beautiful church as well as an outside worship area.

There are gorgeous views of the city, and nice places for hiking if you wish. There also used to be a gondola, but it no longer functions. We decided to ride the rail cart up, and walk back down to town. There were tons of cute little gardens, and even a fancy car with what appeared to be a famous French Lady touring around. On our walk back down, we ran into a friendly street dog that accompanied us the entire way! It was fun to have a dog, even if only for 4 hours...

Plaza Italia

A view of what we climbed in the Rail Cart... yes, Rodrigo was scared.

Open air church at the top, with the virgin Mary statue in the background. The statue can be seen from every part of Santiago.

The virgin statue

The little church at the top

Some of the flowers on the various gardens on our way down

Cool pool we saw on our way down

The dog that followed us... don't worry, we didn't pet it!