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!
No comments:
Post a Comment