Salta La Linda

after over 5 beautiful months of buenos aires, i packed my argentinian life into my hiking pack, said my despedidas, met up with my sister and and begun our adventure through northern Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.

¡Sigo la joda!

Today I am in Salta, Argentina. Just got here, I`ll let you know how cool it is in a day or two.

iguazú falls: there was not much water, but the sights were still maravilloso. on day two we hired a taxi driver to smuggle us into brasil. his name was ricardo and i bought flip flops with a little baby brazilian flag on them. bárbaro.



how can you even breath looking at something like this? (plus, all of my pictures have a enormous rainbow running through the canyon)

GOOOOOOOOOAAALLLLLLLL

I present a haiku series in honor of La Copa Mundial.

On the game against Cote dÍvoire (2-1, Argentina) :

Boca and River
fans unite in excitment,
discrimination

oh, inverted world!
news reporters interview
housewives in the street

boliches will bounce
maradona taps his feet
we won we won we!

¿adonde van mis pesitos?

every week i withdraw the dreaded 100 pesos bills, which no one can ever break, and each week they dissappear without a trace. Unless reciepts are a trace. Or the objects themselves.

very recent purchases:

1 Tarjeta Personal Light: 20
7 video package from Blockbuster: 27 pesos (yes, they have blockbuster here. it´s weird)
3 scones (2 chocolate chip, one with raisins): 1.50
2 books about Nazis
1 new sketch book: 9.50 (i filled my last one! and then left it on a plane)
1 dress from an independant design fair: 80 pesos
1 glass bottle of Sprite Cero: 1 pesp (the glass bottle contains the perfect amount of sprite. perfect)

but some things come free:

2 hours cuddling with Ali, overreacting to the movie Happy Endings (the first I rented on my video pakage)

a goldmine of a class picture: Jardín de Enfantes Dailan Kifki, Sala 5A, Turno Mañana, 2001.This one photo, found laying on sidewalk in Belgrano, has inspired a series of drawings about strange kids and the people the turn out to be.

oh, yes i did.

The Phantom Visitor: Life A/Life B

hooooooooooooooola. ¡tanto tiempo, no?

my trip to the US was lovely. after a solid 3.5 months of buenos aires locura i reunited with suburban america. i´d forgoten the hidden pleasures of driving to the pharmacy, being able to get to a friend´s house in 10 minutes, and eating at the Stage Deli.

due to the fortunate circumstances of my trip, i was able to see nearly EVERYONE I KNOW in the short 5 day visit. i was especially glad to see señor autumnatic for an evening. he aptly concluded that i was a phantom visitor; i was not supposed to be home, i was supposed to be in Buenos Aires. That´s truly how it felt. Like in the middle of a new movie I had never seen before, a scene ended and changed to a scene from Newsies, or The Princess Bride or Fantasia. Maybe not Fantasia, but you get it, something I know by heart.

going back home provided a new perspective of my experience here, making me realize--becuase apparently i had forgotten admidst the city angst of unreturned phone calls and mean salespeople--how lucky i am to be here.

Here. Yes, I am back in the city hace una semana. Tales of boludeses soon to follow...

Things I brought back to Argentina:

1 Seven Layer Cake from Diamond Bakery
1 huge bag of Nestlé Chocolate Chips (unheard of here)
Orbitz Gum Variety Pack from Costco
New Socks
2 pairs of hiking pants (as Amy and I will be hiking through Bolivia and Peru during the upcoming month of July)
2 Packs of Big Red. (there´s really nothing like it)

southfest: daft punk is playing in my country

i don`t know why, but last night i went to an electronic music festival.

in spite of the autumn evening/morning air, and the relatively pricey entrance fee (85 pesos! how dare they!) it was bàrbaro.

my ladies and i hipster shuffled, roboted, and argentinian boogied to the recently-hip-again Ladytron and LCD Soundsystem, the kids who never left the cool table (although got looks for being on the OC Soundtrack). Also present, a plethora of international celebrity DJs and many people wearing sun glasses past midnight.

we left after LCD becuase, well, we weren`t on X, and a 4 hours of electronic music is enough.

when you`re 21, you`re no fun.