Let's Do the Time Warp Again!!!!!

So sorry that I have not been diligent with the posting. This one should be a very long one since I have much to tell y'all. I'm going to start with the most recent ending with what's happened a few weeks ago.

Right now I'm writing to you from a hostel in Córdoba! Woohoo, took a trip to another place with my friend Logan. She's this cool chick from my school, who has been traveling for awhile now. She's a very living in the moment type kind of the person. I've got mad respect for her because of that. We arrived here on a Sunday, and let me tell you this bustling city was nowhere to be seen. It was very much a ghost town. That night you would not believe how many people came out and were walking about. I convinced myself and I also think Logan that we were surrounded by vampires. We went to a cool restaurant where a few couples were doing the Tango. I was very pleased to be able to witness that. The next day we took a trip to an outside city Alta Garcia, so we could go see the house Ché Guevara grew up in. It was very interesting to see some of his artifacts, and many pictures of that Good Ol' Boy Fidel. We also walked a little ways to see the Jesuit Ruins. Tonight we are going to help Córdoba begin their celebration of Argentina's 200 years since the Revolution.

I don't know if y'all have seen much in the news, but Argentina is partying it up. Well really Buenos Aires. The other parts of the country I'm sure well come around by Tuesday.

I did not watch much random television before I came to Argentina, but now that I'm here I'm a die hard channel surfer. I've got a t-shirt and everything. One thing that's different is that there's a lot of stuff I would never watch, but since it's either Spanish voice overs or subtitles I'll let a lot of things Slide. For example I watched Pearl Harbor, Mona Lisa Smile, and The Four Feathers in Spanish or with subtitles. There is also the other great aspect of watching movies I love in Spanish. For example The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pride.

So I have found myself saying "surely" a lot. For example 'Surely, you can get change from this place.' or 'Surely, they would have different types of shoes in these stores.' Surely, for me, has become the word that subconsciously tells me that I'm in the wrong. The things that the Argentinians are inefficient or efficient about are completely ridiculous and backwards. For instance I have to take a ticket for a EXTREMELY small fresh fruit stand on the corner, when there are no people around, and on the other hand they have gates up along side the roads that even cover the walkways,therefore, making it hard to get on the other side of the street! Craziness??? I think that would be a resounding yes.

Rotary News, I've meet up with my counselor, Francisco Perez Diez. He's probably the warmest Mendocino that I have meet. I have had dinner with his family, and I've attended my first meeting. The Rotary meeting was very different to say the least. To begin with it was at 9:30 at night therefore making the time I left around midnight. Only me, except for Paulita, who is Francisco's daughter, were the women there. The men there were some extreme flirts, but it was all in fun. Most of them wanted to practice their English. I got a poem, "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Honey is sweet and so are you!" I cackled like usual. He could have been my great grandpa. The dinner was very elegant, a lot of wine and a ton of utensils. But I must say I held my own. The man that I sat next to was the exact replica of Stacey Keach. Hopefully, I can get a picture next time.

So let me give you a little bit of fact about the Argentinians. They are fanatically crazy about soccer. And, you don't joke about soccer or go to the games wearing the wrong colors. It's extremely dangerous, especially in Buenos Aires. So dangerous in fact women and children really don't go anymore. So you can only guess what I did when one was occurring in Mendoza. I went of course! Nothing like getting the heart pumping like being near death! Anyhoo, there were a ton of people, and you were shuffling your feet to get to the check point or what I'm calling a check point. The check point was this gated area with police, and I mean police with dogs, on horses, etc. The crowd splits in to men and women. The women go through really fast because there weren't many of us there. I would say the ratio of men to women had to be about 40 to 1. Not even exaggerating. So you get through the gate then there's another wave of police who pat you down. And my female officer enjoyed herself, a little bit too much in my opinion. Then we women had to wait on the guys of our group, the group is a group of students from the school. It was crazy to watch the men trying to force their way through the gated area so they could get patted down. Now I'm in a country that loves their alcoholic beverages, but drinking is banned at all soccer games here, if that tells y'all anything. We get in the stadium, and I'm anxiously waiting for the game to begin. When the team comes out confetti is thrown into the air. There's so much confetti that it actually feels really heavy when it hits you. There are so many chants that I really don't understand, but I know they were full of profanity. Then comes this huge banner that the fans were covering our side of the stadium. So you stand there a good ten to fifteen minutes with a banner that covers thousands of people that basically blocks the sky. It was the creepiest feeling I've had in a while, and I was glad once it was finally lifted. The fanaticos as they were called have their own section, which I was aware I was really close to it. They were lighting fireworks like crazy. Fireworks are prohibited, and the reason we have a pat down in the first place was to keep fireworks, weapons, etc. from entering the stadium. Guess there were some sneakies. The soccer game was as boring as they usually all are for me. I'm so glad that our team won though because walking out could have been.....tricky. Once we won, the fanaticos flood the field and the police dogs were let loose on them. It was one of those moments when I said "Surely, they wouldn't let those dogs on people!" I can only shrug now. LOL Our team came back, Godoy Cruz, just to wave at the fans, kind of like a thanks for coming. There were a couple of kids that got on one of the players and tour his uniform off. "Surely not!" I just shake my head now thinking back on it. When it was time to go we had to hang back, and let all the really crazy fans get way ahead of us. It was intense, but not as horrible as it could have been.

This post is coming to it's end. I'm just wanted everyone to know how I was doing. I'm getting better with my Spanish, talking a lot more. I have cravings for the craziest things, for example, I would give my left foot for a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit from Doug's. Umm...the breakfasts foods here are dry toast and tea, not filling at all. Welp, that's it for now!

Peace, Love, and Chicken Grease
Ciao

Kolby