Another City: Rosario, Argentina

Rosario was my first time outside of Capital Federal Buenos Aires, so I was super excited to see a different aspect of Argentina. Rosario is the second largest city in Argentina, the birthplace of Messi (one of the greatest fútbolers of this time), and the location of Argentina's flag monument (which we got to watch a 10 minute tourist/advertisement video on).

Our entire group of ISA students rode to Rosario in two Semi-cama Omnibuses (nice tour buses that are common for distance traveling in Argentina). We all stayed in the same hotel, and within the first ten minutes of check-in we all were sticking our heads out of the windows of the building and yelling to our friends in the different rooms all over the hotel... we weren't used to being surrounded by all of our friends, so the close proximities were a nice change.

We were only in Rosario for two days, so our first day we spent just walking around and exploring. We saw some of the city, the main shopping areas, the overly-advertised flag monument (which was admittedly pretty impressive), and some ferias near the water.

On our walk home, we were walking back through the heavily crowded shopping area and we saw a street performer beginning an act, so we decided to stop and watch for a little bit. Guess who got selected from the crowd to participate in a Spanish-spoken magic show??? THIS GIRL. So I nervously join him, in front of the crowd. He starts talking to me and asking me questions, after having him repeat a question he realized I wasn't a native speaker... but fortunately I answered his questions accurately and followed his directions for the first part of the trick. He then selects another girl from the crowd, she was an Argentine. He gave her instructions for the second part of the trick, unfortunately for her, she didn't do it the right way. He called her out on it and made fun of her in a way that didn't seem like it was that funny to the crowd. When she didn't laugh at his joke at her expense, he accused her of having "malas ondas" (literally bad waves, but it means she didn't give off a good vibe). He then lectured the crowd that they had to be having a good time and have "buenas ondas" in order to stay and watch his show. Everyone started to get uncomfortable, and people started to leave since this guy wasn't in the least bit enjoyable to watch and he had basically brought one of his assistants to tears. I sooo badly wanted to get out of this, and I could tell that my on-looking friends did too. So I asked him if he wanted to start the trick over. He did. So I returned the cards I'd been given and at the first opportunity, my group and I ran for it. I guess I'll never know how that magic trick turned out... good thing I don't care. Meanest street performer I've ever seen. Actually, the only mean street performer I've ever seen.

After our nightly entertainment, we went to dinner (nothing special), had some drinks, and went out to this club that we'd heard about all day. There were only a few places to go out to in Rosario, so everyone had been buzzing about this club... we heard that it had something like 11 different stories, an indoor pool, etc... Turns out it only had like 4 stories, maybe 11 rooms, but only a few were open since it was off-season, and I never saw a pool... Besides all of that, we had a blast. The club was really fun, good music, and to top it all off we were with all of our friends.

The next day, we all went to the beach. Well it was technically a beach. It was the sandy coast off of the river Paraná. Way different from any beach I've ever known, but after about 3 months of winter in the city, I'd embrace it with open arms. The water was freezing, I didn't have a towel or blanket to lay on (so I strategically laid on my sun dress), and the sand was weird, but the sun was warm and the friends were there, so I enjoyed it. We spent the entire day out in the sun before heading back to Buenos Aires, a little bit happier and a lot more sunburnt than when we had left.

...More catch-up posts to come pronto!

Chau!

The Great Cell Phone Adventure

On Sunday, September 11th, I lost my second phone in Buenos Aires. I had just sent a text message before collectivo 15 pulled up right outside of Barrio Chino, slipped my phone into my pocket so I could pay the toll, and got on the jam-packed bus. With no room to move, I wedged myself into the crowd, and didn't pay much notice to the others bumping right into me and squeezing by. When my 20 min ride was finally over and I released myself from the sardine tin of a bus, I look for my phone and realize its gone. Not much to be done at that point.

Electronics in Buenos Aires are expensive, the pay-as-you-go mobile phones are no exception. It costs $50 USD to get the cheapest Nokia phones at the stores. I was not about to shell out another $50 dollars of my (parents') money to get another phone, that has a pretty good chance of being stollen, so I decided to check out the Argentine e-bay, called Mercado Libre. I found a guy selling a pay-as-you-go samsung phone for about 75 pesos, I bid on it for about a week and ended up winning it at about 90 pesos. Saving $40+ USD was a pretty exciting feat for me, but little did I know of they journey ahead.

I researched online how to get to this guy's business because it was in an area that I didn't know. Then that Friday I set out with my friend Kaylen to find the bus we needed. We searched all day for a stupid bus stop but could never find the bus going in the right direction!!! We are both really directionally challenged, so looking back its not too surprising, but I was on the brink of full-on rage that day.

The next day I set out on my own and finally found the bus I needed, pulled out the handy bus Guia and followed the route of my bus as we went along. Everything was going swimmingly, until (just like the bus 111 incident) my bus took a turn off of the said route. I decided to sit it though since I had no idea where I was going/where I currently was. I rode yet another bus to the absolute end of it's route, in the middle of nowhere, past slums, past countryside, to the end. I then bought a return ticket, hopped back on the same bus but going back in the other direction. I followed the Guia until I got to what I thought was relatively close to my phone's whereabouts, got off the bus, hailed a taxi, and made the rest of the trek the easy way, getting dropped off right at the doorstep.

I get to Juan's (owner of the phone) apartment building buzz his apartment number, and............. no answer. SERIOUSLY?!?! I then avoided a major break-down, turned around, and headed toward the subte that the taxi driver told me about. As I'm walking down Juan's street, guess what I see... THE BUS THAT I HAD TAKEN TO THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. It obviously wasn't the same bus, but apparently only some of that bus number actually stay true to the route that the Guia says it follows. At that point I could do nothing but chuckle at my ridiculous life.

The next week was parciales (midterms) so I had to wait until Friday until I could re-try the phone journey. I took the newly discovered subte route (required taking two different subway lines until the very end of their routes) to Juan's place. I go back to the apartment building, buzz up, and........... no response. So I show the address I had written down to a maintenance worker and asked for some help. He explained to me that there were other apartment complexes behind this building that had the same exact address. So I ventured into the complex, buzzed on a few apartments, and had no luck finding Juan. I reluctantly continued wandering around the complex, until I finally tried one last building. IT WAS JUAN'S!!!! I finally made a decision that resulted in success.

With phone finally in-hand, I go to the nearest corner store, to buy a SIM card. The woman working there inserts the card, goes to activate it, and......... apparently there is something called a SIM block, that doesn't allow you to activate a new SIM card without a certain password (probably to avoid making whoever stole your phone's life easier). I then make my way back to Juan's. I wait as Juan finishes selling two (yes TWO) laptops for 500 pesos a piece... that is two laptops for about $250 USD... I never said Juan's "establishment" was very legit. He then brings me and my phone into his office, looks up online how to de-activate the SIM password, does some crazy trick with the phone battery and a piece of paper, and voila! My new phone is ready for action.

That was the most satisfying subte ride home.

I blissfully enjoyed life with a phone for about a week and a half. My new phone died. No longer accepting a charge, I accepted defeat.

The good news is, though at times it is inconvenient, I've been enjoying the last month even without my phone. With only a few more weeks in South America ahead of me, I know I can make it without a phone.

Chau!