MENDOZA

holy cow. it happened: my parents finally made it to argentina!!!!!! and it was glorious.

on friday, october the 24th, I (over)packed a suitcase and excitedly took a cab to the Jorge Newberry airport to reunite with my parents. I anxiously waited for a few minutes, pacing the floor of the main terminal, eyes glued to the automatic doors on both sides of the large room.  it felt like an hour, but approximately five minutes later, I saw my mom, stylishly put together, wheeling her giant bags with my dad suited up walking right behind her. Instinctively I sprinted with more purpose than usual and of course tackled my favorite mother and father, possibly startling them just a bit.. From there, we boarded our plane to Mendoza City. Upon our arrival, we piled into a tiny little taxi. Well really it was a normal taxi but it seemed much smaller with both parents and 5 large suitcases with us! We rode through the neighborhoods to reach the heart of Mendoza City, where our hotel was. I remember my dad saying "this is just like the bahamas!" when we drove through the shantytowns and rural areas. I couldn't help but laugh at his first impression of South America.

for my 21st birthday, my mom gave me my great grandmother's engagement ring. We shared a birthday (sapphire is our birthstone) and I always loved this ring on her. My mom was thoughtful enough to give me a piece of my Mimi that I'll cherish for the rest of my life and pass down for generations! she brought it for me just while they were here so I could wear it for a few days. (ignore my stumpy fingers)

We arrived late in the afternoon at our hotel. It was in the center of town with its front yard being Plaza de Independencia (main plaza - the city has 4 satellite plazas for earthquake relief due to their totally destroying natural disaster back in the 1800s). After a quick walk about the property and a running-start belly flop on my fluffy white bed, the three of us, as great minds do think alike, decided it was wine o'clock. Our hotel has a little wine bar called The Vines, where we hungrily ordered just a light snack of empanadas, a cheese plate, pizza, meats, mixed nuts, and of course, malbec. After a moment of confusion seeing that there was no option to taste flights of wine, as we had originally read about The Vines, we resorted to wifi to investigate. As it turns out, the hotel was conning us. 'The Vines' is a hotel bar with overpriced meat pockets. 'The Vines OF MENDOZA' is a separate establishment to taste wines by the flight. We picked up and set off for the real vines of mendoza and I tasted my first malbec! Well, in the sense that I took little sips and tried to find "the notes." Lol.

After that, we were obviously not hungry for dinner, and my parents were exhausted from having travelled across the world, so we retired to our rooms, where I filled up the bubble bath (!!!!!!!!!!) and then mom and I watched modern family in our matching bath robes. Life is really, really hard, y'all.

The next morning, we enjoyed the beautiful bounty that is the Park Hyatt's buffet breakfast. Nom. At 9:30, we were introduced to our sweet driver Diego. Diego speaks perfect English, Spanish and Portuguese. He's married with three children. He's tall and wears hair gel. We liked him because he kept it real. We set off for the first vineyard of the day -and my first vineyard EVER- Viña Caro. It was conveniently just a few minutes away from the hotel, which was a major plus. The building itself didn't seem special, but as soon as I entered, I knew the exterior deceived me. Our guide (I never knew her hard to pronounce name) was a tiny little brunette who couldn't have been much older than me. She led us into the super humid room filled with oak barrels. It was a big dome lined with bricks. Kinda reminded me of an old medieval chamber.. but maybe that's just me? It is underground, and was built in 1895.

And the smell! The smell was divine. That yeasty, winey delicious smell. Nothin' betta. The vineyard was pretty tiny compared to the next one. We then moved from the underground chamber to the upstairs, a much more modern area, with beautiful wooden floors, walls lined with photos of friends of the vineyard, and a giant table set for four, with paper placemats, glasses, pens and a basket of crackers. The room was a magical sight. We were seated, Diego chilling with us as well. Our guide let us sample three malbecs. The first wine was 100% malbec - keep in mind that a malbec doesn't have to be ALL from the malbec grapes in order to be considered a malbec wine. I'm not going to bore you with each type of wine I drank, but at this point in time I knew less than nada about tasting wine, especially malbec. However, our guide taught me how to begin.

1. Eyes: Take the glass of wine and tilt it slightly so you can see it in the light. Look at the lightest/outermost color. Some wines are redder or more purple than others. Some are sort of brown, which means do NOT drink dat shit.

2. Nose: Smell the wine. Memorize the smell, noting the hints of whatever it is you may smell in the wine. Then, swirl the wine around to oxidize the wine. Smell again: it will change!

3. Mouth: taste that delicious wine!! She told me in order to properly taste it, you must literally slurp loudly, to a) get the oxygen in there and b) to make sure the wine gets to the taste buds further back in your mouth that are capable of tasting things the tip of your tongue cannot. As my friend Sonia says, this is precisely why it is just plain silly to spit when you're tasting.

Of course, I liked all three wines? But with my inexperience, how could I not? (Plus...It was 10:30 in the morning) :)

After our three wines, my dad purchased a few bottles to take home with him. Argentina only lets you take 6 bottles per person back to the states.. #buzzkill #literally. He tried to pay with a credit card, explaining that he had not yet exchanged his USD for pesos. Then, the credit card machine ~magically~ broke.. so she let him use his USD kindly at the worst exchange rate possible.. somewhere around 8 to 1. Where I exchange my bills I am able to get 14 pesos for each dollar, so that was a rip. Diego had our backs and very kindly lent us some pesos to buy wine at our next stop, Viña Cobos.

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We arrived at Viña Cobos at 12:30. Gosh, was it beautiful. A big modern chunk of building amidst miles of grape vines. Weirdly enough, a guy from my 12 person film class was there with his parents! Hi Adam! Soon, we were seated at the big wooden table in the middle of the large open space, complete with two tasting tables, a sitting area, and two enormous and super clean windows to admire the scenery - not just the vines, but also the Andes mountains in the background. Diego decided to taste with us this round, since he'd have to wait a few hours while we lunched without him. At Cobos, we got to pick our flight of wine, so Mom and I picked the trio of Malbecs, and Dad & Diego picked "The 4 Musketeers," 4 different vintages of the same Bramare Malbec. Again, I liked them all. In reality, it will probably take a much longer time for me to really be able to understand the differences between different wines their characteristics. Then again, we definitely were tasting some fine wines. And these people gave us cheese with our crackers.. now that's service! Malbec, as we know it in the States, is traditionally very fruit-forward, so it was definitely interesting to taste a whole lot of them and learn about the process of making wine. A few more wines purchased and we were on our way to Ruca Malen for lunch.

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At 2:00, we got to our table in Ruca Malen's little restaurant. Things began to be a little hazy at this point. You can only taste so much wine in one day until they begin to run together. Here was the first place we tasted Torrontés, a traditional Argentine white. We had Malbec, Cab and even some bubbles. We took zero notes and just enjoyed ourselves.. or maybe that was just me. The food was the main event here. We had several courses: a delicious whipped beet appetizer, a little pot of locro, which is an old indigenous stew, a beautiful filet of beef with roasted veggies and balsamic reduction, and lastly a picturesque dessert of lavender-honey ice cream, quinoa puffs and liquid toffee. Om to the nom. We had officially been overstuffed with both food and drink and happily/sleepily enjoyed the hour ride home, with purple teeth, ready to NAP!

That night, we of course were again too full to dine, so Mom and I walked around Mendoza City and its main plaza. In the plaza was lots of park space, a modern art museum underground, a huge fountain celebrating the industrial revolution, and a street crafts fair, where vendors sold incense, spray paintings and jewelry, among other little "treasures."

The following morning, Sunday, we enjoyed our breakfast at our usual table and headed out
for our final day of tasting. First, to Clos de Los Siete. Basically this means 'club of the 7' because seven different famillies have properties that are scattered among this IMMENSE PIECE OF LAND. It's in caps because it is MASSIVE. This is one of the reasons Malbec is so cheap, aside from the exchange rate: they make tons of the stuff. There's simply wayyy more land here to grow grapes. Seriously though, it was like mondo.  Our guide was young and very sweet, but had just starting working there last month and therefore knew zero of our questions for her which was frustrating. We had to move around the property via car because it was so immense, but when we got to Monteviejo, we stopped. There we toured the large building's many rooms full of giant steel tanks - it reminded me a lot of my dad's hair gel plant in Frazier.. just.. bigger. Much bigger. We stepped outside and snapped some photos of the breathtaking view.

Then we entered the tasting room. We had malbecs mostly, but we also had a cold malbec rosé that mom and I really enjoyed mainly because there was no AC in there and it was hot as ballz. Our guide had clearly just taken some half-empty bottles from the fridge and served them, which made my dad pretty unhappy. However, the Seven teamed up to create a perfect blend, approved by some famous french wine guy named Michele. It was delicious. We didn't end up buying any wines there, but at each place we purchased a corkscrew as a souvenir... which got confiscated in security at the airport.. lol. We left the laaaaarge vineyard and set off for our last vineyard - and my, did we save the best for last!!!
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Gimenez Riili. I love you. Google it. My current profile pic on FB is there. It was magic. Pure magic. The weather was perfect- dry and warm, but with a cool breeze. Our guide was actually a member of the Gimenez family which was pretty sweet. He took us through the tiny space of steel tanks, where we tasted a very very recent batch of wine straight from the tap that still tasted like grape soda. Then, we tasted a scrumptious cab that I really enjoyed. When we walked out of there, we walked through the door and were instantly taken to another world of beauty. I wish I could teleport here every day. No description I write will do this place justice, nor photos. There was a little porch with a coffee table, a bench and a linen hammock. Behind it were the thousands of grape vines, in front of the Andes and the cloudy but blue sky. I immediately knew: this is my happy place.

Our guide was so incredibly friendly and warm. He welcomed us with a glass of champagne as we followed him up the gravel pathway to our table, one of four, where we would lunch. We had empanadas - not like Elena's, but flakier and smokier after having been cooked in a mud oven. We also enjoyed some parilla style pork, beef/steak and some killer quince ice cream (mom ate the flan). Everything really was delicious, and amplified by the grandeur and beauty of our view as we enjoyed each other's company at our happy little table under our happy little wooden canopy. Everything was right with the world at that moment in time, and my memory will always remain of that precious place. As soon as we put our forks down, the skies opened and it began to pour. We took refuge in the little tasting room in between the porch and the tank room, where we met a pair of Brazilian men. Tipsy Neely and her mom decided they were fluent in Portuguese, even though I have only taken two semesters. Surprisingly enough, they did understand what I was saying, but it was at preschool level. But if you know me, you know I'm all over that kind of stuff. Understanding people sure is cool! A few minutes later, Diego rolled up and we rolled out, saying our fond farewells to the Argentine wine country.

i'm so so so glad that i took this 2.5 minute long video - we'll always hold on to this special memory!

After, I taught my parents the true virtue of patience while experiencing true Argentine service at a normal restaurant for dinner (this is why a 10% tip is nice). After a solid night's sleep, on Monday afternoon, we set off for the city!!! The three of us sat together in our brand new LAN airplane, excited for what was to come. I'm so happy I got to spend some quality time with my favorite people in the world! Stay tuned as I work my brain for more details :)


b e s o s s s s s <3

mothers day etc

happy tuesday boludos.

What a beautiful weekend that I spent inside!! Sadly, for 4 days I was glued to my bed with the flu (self/Elena diagnosed). It was rough. My whole body hurt. I don’t recommend it. I was sad to miss the entire weekend, but I needed to recuperate. It’s weird being in a foreign country by yourself feeling ill, especially without my mom, my bed, or my bathtub to aid me. But of course, I’m in good hands. And the “foreign country” isn’t so foreign anymore. After a few days with no appetite, Elena had had enough. She burst into my room without knocking (we’ve learned not to do this unless it’s an emergency), hands full with the classic Marilyn Monroe tv dinner tray filled with cereal, milk, fruit, coffee, cold water and yogurt (Elena is just very convinced that yogurt has healing powers… love ya girl but Activia isn’t going to clear my sinuses). 

She sat in my swivel chair and watched me eat - let me tell you: living with a 78 year old Argentine is like a constant  struggle of convincing here I’m not anorexic or something… if you don’t have lunch, she WILL fire up the toaster oven. Be warned. After a few more hours of sleep, she kicked me out of my room and put me at her spot in the living room on her red couch with the little mini pillow. She made soup and let me watch tv. Who knew she had the NBA channel???? Seriously. Game changer. 

Somehow, Thursday and Friday rolled on by. On Saturday, I finally felt well enough to step out to the great outdoors… the sidewalk… where I hailed a cab to Palermo. I met Cass, Jordan and Delfina at Magdalena’s for brunch, where Cassidy swears by the breakfast burrito. After talking about it for weeks, the three of us ordered it (and were NOT disappointed). Real(ish) cheddar cheese, veggies, potatoes and eggs.. sold. When we parted, the girls went on to Terrazas del Este, a boliche that opens up their terraces in the springtime for day parties on Saturdays. I’ll make my way there eventually! While they were gone, I shopped in Palermo for Elena’s Mothers’ Day gift. Since it’s spring here now, Argentina’s Mothers’ Day is October 19th. Elena had mentioned it once because the family was to come over on sunday night for EMPANADAS! Om nom. I really wanted to show her my gratitude for her taking care of me, sick and well. My findings included an “E” mug, chocolate truffles, a calendar, and a giant tissue paper flower I found at an adorable stationary shop. I wanted to bake cookies, but this  country does not know what brown sugar or baking soda are…. kk Argentina. When I got home, she was at her routine Saturday night movie date with her daughters, Claudia(Clo) and Ani. If you know me, you know I love a craft. Combine that with cabin fever and boom, here’s what you get!

When she got home -  at like 1 AM !! - I was asleep. I woke up to the sound of her excitedly, loudly calling her daughters and her friends on the phone. ALWAYS on the phone, that girl. Landlines… so 90s. When I woke up for cornflakes Elena hugged me for probably 45 seconds without letting go, which is funny because she’s such a nugget, seriously like 4 feet tall. She said I had made her cry, and how hard it is going to be when I leave her… but let’s not think about that yet.

The evening commenced, empanadas on empanadas. We pushed all the furniture in the house together for a family fiesta. Elena, me, Clo and Ani, Elena’s son Daniel and his wife who I LOVEEE-Silvia, Elena’s cousin/person I still don’t really know who that guy was, and her two grandsons, Mati and Ale. The nine of us sat down to eat, first for bruschetta that Elena took a stab at for the first time, then a greek salad Ani the flower child made, then of course the empanadas. Yum. Let’s talk about Silvia. She sat next to me at the table and after each discussion, she would speak to me slowly, making sure I was included in the conversation. She’s also super chic and I love how level headed she is, especially because Daniel can be a little much at times! I definitely enjoyed my time with them, but towards the end of dinner I was so uncomfortable.. I haven’t mentioned it before, but Argentines are extremely racist. In Argentina, after being here for three months, I have seen three, maybe four, black people. Triste, our friend we made at Magdalena’s a few months ago who owns that hotel in Palermo, provided us with the history lesson. He told us that there are very few black people (note that black people in Castellano is “los negros” which is even worse) in the country because Juan Manuel de Rosas, who was this crazy rich dude who ruled over Argentina in the early 19th century, either had them killed or exiled from Argentina. Also, during colonization, African slaves went mostly to either the Caribbean or Brazil, because they were the easternmost countries to reach. Also, Argentina is totally full of European immigrants from the mass immigration that occurred from the late 1800s until 1930. Because of the lack of diversity in this city, the people are filled to the top with ignorance and hate. I had heard that, but never experienced it first hand. At dinner, they got to talking about racism in Argentina. At first, it was a healthy discussion, but as it progressed, man did it get sour. However, they thought nothing of it the entire time, Elena included. One family member said that she once stayed in a hostel in Germany and was put in a room with two super tall African men. She described them as if they were not human beings, and added that she immediately thought, “Do I have to sleep in a room with them?” She requested a new room, too. All the while the family continued to laugh and share similar stories, saying “ooooh you’re so bad!!” and holding up the hitler mustache and extended arm. Meanwhile, I sat there completely in shock, without any idea as to what the hell I should do. It was heartbreaking, frustrating and just so concerning that so many people in this world are still living SO ignorantly. When Elena asked me my opinion, I, red-faced and still in shock, managed to explain that skin color is no way of determining the character of a person. That’s when Ani chimed in, “yes, but the only experiences I’ve had with black people have been bad ones.” I felt defeated. Thank GOD for Silvia, who seemed to have more than twice the brain of everyone else. She understood me. Mati asked me what would happen if my friend dated someone of another race, or how my family would react if I did. God be with these ignorant, ignorant people. 

 It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t fair, and it still makes me mad, because I love Elena and I love everyone here incredibly much.. and I truly believe that they are really good people, but that mentality is not “so 90s,” it’s the damn 50s. I’m thankful to have Rebecca, my friend who lived with Elena last year, to talk to about this, because she felt the exact same frustration, confusion and discomfort. Racism is never okay anywhere. The world has come too damn far for that.

I had hesitation about posting that part because I don’t want the people taking the time to read pages and pages about my life to be discouraged. But, as we all know, life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, and neither is being abroad. There are challenges. That’s part of it, which isn’t anything to hide.      hashtag growth.

ANYWAYS, I spent my Monday studying for my FINAL EXAM for my History of Argentina class. Y’all. I’m done with one of my five classes!! There was a midterm and a final (today) and attendance was taken. Boom. My Tuesday mornings just got way better. In my tuesday night class, where I am writing this as we speak, we had a midterm and for our final will have a simple essay, due November 4th. Boom. Another class soon to be kaput. The three that will remain finish before Thanksgiving, then we leave for Uruguay! Yay travel! Yay South America!! I’m so pleased with my scholastic experience thus far. I’ve actually learned a ton about Argentine history and culture- not just in my short term memory. And I really have enjoyed my professors, too. My Castellano teacher, Celina, is the sweetest of them all. Last week, she tearfully shared with us that her mom is very, very sick and she ended class two hours early. I almost started crying right then and there because I just can’t even imagine what that feels like. But I sure do miss my mama! But... it’s just my luck, because FINALLY the Sammons pair is joining me to frolic and vineyard hop in Mendoza THIS WEEK!!!!!!! THREE MORE DAYS OMG!!! I keep thinking my brother is going to pop out of nowhere, but that’s just pushing my luck, isn’t it. I meet them in Mendoza on Friday and we come back together on Monday to hang out in BA for a few days, finish up their trip with yet another empanada party (!!! never too many) and I’ll send them off on Halloween. It’s surreal how quickly time is flying. It’s been three months living in Argentina… in two months I’ll be in Memphis wrapping Christmas presents.. that’ s 48 days to be exact… not counting down, but rather trying to savor every day I have left here. Hope y’all have a fantastic week! I’ll be sure to document the heck out of my weekend.

OH! and i sent some snail mail today - gimme your address if you would like a surprise! 

Besossssss

Mar Del Plata

Our sweet porteña friend Delfina invited us to spend the weekend with her and her six friends in MDP, a big city right along the Atlantic coast. (sorry this post is photo-less)

On Friday morning, I woke up at 10:36.

"Shit."

Our bus was it leave at noon all the way in Retiro, aka the other side of the big city. I threw a handful of clothes in my backpack, inhaled a couple bites of yogurt, and set off running to hail a taxi to Jordan's house. No luck. I took the subte instead, luggage in hand, blasting the new music I'd downloaded the night or two before, sans headphones, shamelessly. When Jordan and I united, we quickly hailed a cab to Retiro, terrified we would miss our bus to MDP. Funny enough, we beat Delfina. Ha. Argentine time... Jordan got us the best seats in the house, front row on the second floor of the bus. That way we got to see the excellent view of green grass and cows chillin in their pastures. 

Six hours went by quickly and the three of us (cass spent the weekend in cordoba for Oktoberfest) arrived at Julie's house. Julie is Del's forever friend. They've known each other for ages. Julie has her own apartment there because she goes to school in MDP. She lives alone on the sixth floor in a one bedroom apartment, complete with a kitchen, a bathroom and a big living space with a dining room table, a tv and a trundle bed. That's where Del and I slept- Jordan and Julie slept in Julie's big bed. We settled in just in time to get ready to go out. Julie hosted a previa (pregame) for her friend Jose who had just turned 21. The party was the four of us, Jose, Tina, Tili, Luz and a few boys. The girls spent the entire weekend with us, which was wonderful because we got a chance to speak and understand true Castellano in the way that our peers speak. 

Post previa, we went to a boliche right on the shore for a pizza dinner first, then dancing of course. Unfortunately, I had a persistent migraine and could no longer tolerate the electronic music and strobe lights (basically every chronic migraine sufferer's worst nightmare)! It took a while, but at about 3:00, I rounded up Julie, del and Jordan and we went home. I can't even express the joy I felt to put my head on that pillow! The next day was gorgeous, but unfortunately just way too cold to beach it up. Apparently beachin' doesn't properly take place until January. Either way, we spent the day walking about town. Julie showed us the center of town, as well as the coast. I was warned that it resembles New Jersey much more than Florida, but I still found it to be lovely, especially seeing the waves crash over and over again against the big boulders that dotted the coastline. 

We met up with the rest of the crew in the afternoon to shop around and enjoy each other's company. Each girl was so kind. They all went out of their way to ask me questions about myself and to really get to know me as well as they could in a short period of time. Nelly this, Nelly that. Jordan this, Jordan that. As much as you know how much I enjoy living with Elena, it was awesome to have an immersion experience with girls my age. If anything, it made me want to stay even more than I already do. Tili is this teeny tiny ball of fun with giant eyes and pale, perfect skin. She, for god knows what reason, decided that instead of Nelly, y name should be Popi, the. Popiz (pronounced pop-peace). We laughed every time she said it and I would answer her without a question. Tina, short for Augustina, had already met me months ago, briefly, outside of Rosebar in BA. Of course, I was the only one who remembered this fact, so she found it extra funny when I reminded her that she'd taught me how to say "entiendo" without sounding like an idiot. 

I loved how she was constantly teaching me correct pronunciations and little sayings, while still being hilarious and friendly. Jose called me her baby- she was constantly looking after me, making sure I was content. She ran to me with napkins when I spilled ice cream on myself, she comforted me when we lost Jordan at the boliche that night and dove into the crowd and didn't come back until she had Jordan on her arm. But I haven't gotten to that yet. Before the boliche, called Sethai, also on the water, we met up at the other girls' apartment for a little dinner party. Tili and Jose prepared the fanciest: Lay's potato chips and ham&cheese pizza.have these girls ever seen a vegetable before? Who's to say... Either way, it was a ton of fun, all 7 of us seated at the table, laughing and telling stories. Of course, Jose tried to shove cupcakes from her birthday in our faces, just as any maternal argentine would do. We continued the fun with some super loud Cumbia music, and the girls taught us how to properly dance lie argentines. (See my fb page for a tagged video... hint: it's all in the right arm).

So we set off to Sethai to continue the fun. It was empty when we arrived at 2, and overly packed when we left three hours later. There was a great band that played, and as the people filled the empty space, Jose tugged my shirt sleeve. "Mira, Nelly!!!" (Look behind you!) sure enough, every single person was shaking that right arm EXACTLY as the girls taught me. I couldn't help but laugh! Another hour passed. I decided I really didn't want my beer, so I gave it to the drummer. Typical me move, and a terrible mistake, as he proceeded to follow me around the entire night, whispering to Tina that he "likes" me like my middle school "boyfriend" would have in the Paradiso parking lot. But I couldn't be preoccupied in tha matter, for Jordan had gone missing in the gigantic, three-story establishment. Thank god for Jose running into the crowd as if it were a house on fire and saving my beloved pal. 

The next morning was our last full day/night in MDP. As soon as we woke up we walked over to Luz's apartment for homemade ñoqis (gnocchi) made with love by her mama. Dat meat sauce doe. There was especially plenty to go around because one of us (anonymous) had a moment of weakness on the street corner on the way. I won't go into that but JEJE we lolled. But my poor pal was sick all day long and the whole crew, Luz and her mom included, decided to chill out in the park by the shore. We concluded our night with empanadas and great conversation, going over the same story about the profession of my faces when we lost Jordan. Oh how we laughed and laughed! It felt so great to be able to converse with these girls, many of whom do not know a lick of English. Although MDP itself isn't that special, or gorgeous, or distinguished, I'm not lying when I say this has been my favorite trip so far. I can't wait to see my new friends again when they come to BA for a visit-or maybe I'll just have to make my way to them. Look Mom!! I'm experiencing things!! 

The next morning (Monday afternoon) we all said our sad goodbyes. Jordan and I hoped on our 6 hour bus ride ready to get back home. Unfortunately, someone on the bus had some sort of a medical emergency (NOT Ebola don't fret) and we were forced to pull over to the nearest hospital. And wait. For three hours. Phew. At least they kept the engine running. I thought Jordan and I were going to lose it. We maintained our sanity though the majesty of wheat crackers and Snapchat, just like any resourceful girl would know to do. We finally arrived in BA at midnight, and I was welcomed by Elena with a big mama bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. Life ain't so bad.

That wraps up my travels until my parents attempt to visit me (part II) on the 24th when we go to MENDOZA!!! Sluuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrpppppp. 

Stay tuned for more very very soon! 

Un abrazo,

Nelly

El Norte

This is going to be difficult because from Thursday to right now, SO MUCH has happened. This will also be unapologetically lengthy. 

Two weekends ago, the three of us (usual crew) decided to plan a weekend trip to Salta & Tilcara, aka El Norte. This is the Tierra del Sol, the always (almost always) sunny, warm and absolutely breathtaking mountain range in the north of Argentina, very close to Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.

 For transportation, we booked an overnight bus for Thursday evening (bravely) and a return flight on Monday. Right after our Thursday classes ended, we hopped on the bus and were on our merry way. Now, this bus is nothing like the iguazu bus experience. Oh no no. This wasn't some janky-ass semicama, this was a cama servicio ejecutivo. Oh baby. So much room for activities!!! Our seats did indeed double as beds, as they reclined almost all the way back. Shoutout to the poor lad sitting behind me as I was horizontal as soon as we boarded... Gracias dude. 

As you should know by now, we gals love to eat. Understatement. That's why we came super prepared with our favorite salads from Baking BA, a healthy to-go place dangerously close to our Wednesday classes. Little did we know that it just wasn't necessary: exhibit A, our first course... As seen on Instagram :O

Yes, it is as sketchy as it looks. On the bottoms left we have an authentic roll up made with yellow cake, ham, cheese & mayonnaise. SOS. We were then served chicken milanesa, which is just like a big flat chicken nugget. Our little "ejecutivo" server came to us frequently with refills on agua and continued to offer us more food. With a movie playing in front of me, Jordan sleeping to my right, a big, beautiful night sky view to my left, and some good country music in my ears, I was quite pleased. In fact, 21 hours felt like nothing but a short commute. I woke up rested and ready for the next move. 

We arrived in Salta, Argentina the following morning, with confident hopes to be able to find and rent an automatic car for our travels. 3 cab rides - bus station, airport, town square - nothin' nada zip. At first, it was incredibly disappointing, since I had relished the idea of finally getting back behind the wheel after 10 weeks. Oh, forgot to mention, I am officially at the halfway point of my life as an Argentine! Time, stahhhp it. So after we spent about three hours car hunting, we bought a bus ticket to take us to Tilcara. Tilcara is where you'll find all the neature. Pretty neat. We had a few hours to kill before the 10PM bus, so instead of sulking, we turned water into wine. Literally. After checking our bags at the station, we took a gondola ride to see the gorgeous view of the entire city of Salta. Who doesn't love a gondola? 

I hadn't a clue how big Salta actually is. Most people who came before us told us not to waste any time in salta since there's "nothing there," but I think we successfully proved that theory to be falso. After our gondola ride and a fantastic dinner with a ..smidge.. of wine, we bussed it to Tilcara, the star of the show. The main appeal to travel to this area is twofold: the Andes mountains & the Salinas Grandes, aka the world's 3rd largest salt plains. Of course, at 2am, the three of us were the ONLY ones to get dropped off at the little town of Tilcara. The station seemed to be made of Adobe. It was pitch black. There was a dimly lit dirt road ahead of us. "Here we go," I thought. Frantically trying to find our hostel, we were surrounded by little shops and such on both sides of the street. Stray dogs stared us down with hungry eyes. A few groups of men and some women were hanging out on the dark street, said nothing, but obviously stared at the three helpless gringas. With a little help, we found our cute casa and prepared for the morning. When we stepped out the door the next morning, we couldn't help but laugh. This is probably the safest, cutest town in the entire country, UNDOUBTEDLY with the kindest people. Across our I little dirt road was a sweet yellow lab posted up and ready to greet us. Behind him, the mountainous scenery immediately swept us off our feet. At the crack of 9, we set off to find adventure. 

This is when it gets good. 

Retracing our steps from the night before, we found ourselves in the middle of a parade. People from this area are of indigenous descent, so their deep brown skin and long, black, tied-back hair greatly contrast the appearance of the average Porteño we see on a daily basis. These people came from different pueblos of the Jujuy region, all donning their local ponchos of vivid colors. When the sound of drums and those pipe music thingies finally died down, we were able to book our Adventure #1 with a sweet man wearing a Messi jersey and nike shox. He took us right up an uphill road, one that unbeknownst to us would become very familiar. He led us to Tilcara Hostel Mística, another soon to be familiar place. Before we knew it, we were piling into a little grey Fiat, complete with the hostel's owner as our tour guide. Her name is Elba Cristina. I adore her. 

Adventure day 1 seemed almost too good to be true, especially because we had no idea what to expect. Elba drove us to Pumamarca, my Elena's favorite part of the region. This is where Elba let us out to explore for an hour. The mountains are like nothing I have ever seen in my entire life. The "Hill of 7 Colors" is the backdrop of this sweet and quiet little pueblo, mostly made of red dirt adobe homes (but don't worry y'all...many have direct tv) lining cobblestone roads. The 7 colors is not a lie by any means: the mountain looks like God dipped a paintbrush in red, purple, green, gold, grey, blue and pink, and then went to town. Observe:

Our next stop was up, up and away. Elba drove us up the mountains, one dangerously curvy road at a time... Don't look down!! The mountains are nothing like a Tennesseean would imagine. Lush greens and trickling water, you ask? I say nay nay. In fact, It's probably as close to Mars I will ever get. The higher we escalated, the more my head began to pound. Luckily for me, Elba came in the clutch with an ancient remedy: the coca leaf. No, she did not administer drugs, this is the coca plant in its original form. She instructed us to roll up one dried leaf and stick it between our teeth and gums. Strange, but hey, when in Tilcara right? Elba showed us typical music of the region, then switched it over to an Enya CD as we admired the indescribable view out the backseat windows. Elba is quite a woman. She runs her hostile with the help of her son and daughter, both of whom are fully grown, probably in their thirties. Elba claimed to be sixty. Elba herself is a short and stout rubia. Her wavy blonde hair, wrinkled skin and bright brown eyes told me that she had spent her life happily and simply under the argentine sun. She speaks rather good English too, so not only did we never had an issue communicating, but we also taught and learned from each other each I time we exchanged our knowledge. 

At the top of the mountain, we found what we had come for: the salt plains. In the distance it looked like several football fields covered in snow. Up close, it looked like several football fields covered in snow. Elba parked the car and gave us time to wander and take pictures. How weird it was to walk on the rigid plain of super concentrated sodium bicarbonate! I tried to pick up a chunk that was firmly stuck to the ground and yelped in pain as I discovered how sharp salt really is. 

After several photos with the strong, chilly wind blowing our hair all about, we hopped back in the car. Elba took us to a quaint little restaurant overlooking the mountainous hills and the salty plains. We shared fresh veggies (A RARE DELICACY) and tamales as we enjoyed God's untouched creation. Afterwards, we drove all the way back down. Truly a humbling experience seeing such a different backdrop. That night, we had dinner at a peña, a restaurant that doubles as a folklore dance hall, aka dinner and a show!! Super cool to watch, but we were pretty wiped out.

The next morning, we embarked on our mini journey up a mountain, on foot, to see La Garganta del Diablo, aka the devil's throat. 4 km up, 4km down. Once we got up there, this is what we saw. Not half bad, eh?

Once we reached the summit, we paid ten pesos and were granted access to the Garganta. We walked down two sets of stairs cut out from the mountain, all the way to the bottom of the canyon. The terrain was of rocks of every color, along with a stream of cool, clean water. We walked upstream until the path ended. That was when I had to get creative and jump from rock to rock, climb a little, maybe slip and fall once... But eventually, we reached the beautiful Garganta: a giant waterfall that instantly cooled me off. A few couples were seated nearby, sharing a picnic. 

A selfie and a few minutes later, we began our trek back to town. Because we had originally planned on traveling to Cafayate, we only booked two nights at the hostel. Luckily, since we decide to stay in Tilcara, Elba had space for us to stay a night in Hostel Mística. Even before we had made that decision, Elba had invited us for breakfast at her hostel, and before the peña she had us over for mate and homemade biscuits with dulce de cayote, a cactus jam. She refused to let us go hungry, thirsty, or needy in any means. She truly went above and way way wayyyy beyond to make us happy, and I will forever be so grateful to her for showing us that unconditional love. 

Our final night in Tilcara was fantastically argentine. We dined at Tilcara's finest restaurant, where we enjoyed delicacies such as llama carpaccio, tomato tart and llama tenderloin. Llama for days. I swear, if I could pick that restaurant up and put it in Nola without making a single change, their earnings would multiply by twenty, easily. It was an incredibly lovely place, with exposed brick walls and rustic wooden tables, with brilliantly bright, abstract paintings to contrast. The owner was helping his son do his homework when we arrived, which reminded me how compassionate the people are in this country. Later on, when we came back to the hostel, I swung in the pink hammock out on the terrace, admiring the starry sky that I rarely get to see. The other men and women staying in the hostel invited us to drink wine and sing three of them played their guitars. It was a lovely, peaceful way to end the trip.

At the crack of 5, before the first rooster crowed, we woke and loaded up the car. Instead of taking a bus, Elba offered to drive us through the scenic route to Salta, where we had our flight back to BA. Man, it really was gorgeous. Unlike the mars-ish mountains, these were covered in mossy trees. Elba pointed out different animals and flowers, including their bright red national flower. We passed at least 10 cows, too. Finally, we reached our destination and bade our foster mama Elba farewell, promising to keep in touch. What a perfect time to get away from the city for a breath of fresh air! I came home feeling refreshed, energized, and most importantly, ecstatic to see Elena!! Stay tuned for my next excursion with Jordan in Mar del Plata! mooooo

viviendo

hi!

i'm gonna try something new and categorize all the things i've been up to in these past two weeks.

OBLIGATIONS:
ha. as if..
but actually though last week we did indeed have one very, very important task, all sarcasm aside. IMMIGRATION... gasp. it was pretty rough. cassidy and i had appointments at the same time so we made the trek together, two connecting subte rides and a confusing cab ride away. pros: we got to skip our argentine history class. cons: the warehouse looking establishment seemed to be low on oxygen and smelled of vomit. we waited for an hour, submitted our photo and forms, waited another hour and paid 500 pesos, then another 30 minutes for a little piece of paper. we finally were freed and continued with our duty free life!

HOMEFRONT:

honestly couldn't be better! here at Aguilar 2190, elena, mimi and i are doing great. we have decided to turn over a new leaf and become super organized, put together betches. so far that just hasn't really happened.. well i did clean my room (with a little help from our maid)! also, after scouring my local Disco grocery store, I found PASTA DE MANI (natural peanut butter)!! here in argentina, the magical goo that is crushed peanuts and salt just is not a thing. they do, however, have an entire aisle dedicated to dulce de leche alone! priorities, people. here's the happiest breakfast i've had in weeks: 

except to be honest the pb here is almost a liquid.. eh. As for my original home front, I was so happy to be able to facetime with so many of my homies this week! I surprised my sweet Granna & Papa with a call - Papa got a hipster haircut, you know, the kind with longer hair on top and shaved on the sides, LOL! They were babysitting my sweet puppy Pip so I got to see all three of my favorites! Last night, I facetimed my brother, just in case he forgot what I look like. aren't we cute?? 

and of course, i talk to my mom and dad frequently as well. in a month we'll be chillin in mendoza!! can't come any faster. To continue the chronicles of neely living with her worst allergy, here's a loving family photo of me and mimi... update: she enjoys sitting on my shoulders while i walk around - yesterday morning she scratched me SO HARD that i thought i might become some sort of mutant superhero.. catwoman II? but alas, I remain in the same form, with just a bit of cat DNA in my bloodstream. thanks, cat.

But speaking of communicating with my memphians, I GOT SNAIL MAIL PART II!!!!! my wonderful best friend/neighbor/cousin (?) Hannah sent me the sweetest letter all the way from Fort Worth! When I get letters sent to the house, Miguel the doorman hands it to Elena, who takes it and runs (literally) around the whole house yelling "CORREOOOOOOOS!!" (letters!!) If you liked Blues Clues' 'mail time,' you would LOVE Elena. Who doesn't love mail, though? Be expecting some un-monogrammed letters soon, friend! (why am i so weird)

THE CITAYYY

SPRING HAS SPRUNG PEOPLE. and not a moment too soon. I'm a pretty shitty photographer but check these out - we have a park in belgrano pretty close to cass' house that's full of people playing with their pups, picnicking, and most importantly, drinking mate tea. The beautiful warm weather is finally upon us!!! stay tuned for the purple flowers bloomin on the trees that canopy over the old cobblestoned streets.. ah, basking in the beauty. maybe i'll come home not looking like a total ghost?? o and yes, I am indeed representing all y'all fellow cowboy boot wearers down here. 

  

As for BsAs' economy, take a look at the front page of Clarín last week.

to translate, the exchange rate via the blue/slightly illegal rate has increased to 15 pesos per $1 USD. dang. keep in mind that when we got here it was barely at 12 pesos. this is madness. although i am at the benefitting side of this, I still pray for this city, this country, and all the citizens during this instability. and yes, they are blaming the "vultures" of the USA for not letting them pass go & collect (much more than) $200 post-default. Goodness. If only my friendly neighborhood exchangers would accept ANY of my american bills - they're pretty picky about bills that aren't crispy, or bills that are tainted with any visible tear or pen markings. sheesh.

SCHOOL:

I passed my Argentine history exam!! Yahoo!! Cass and I had another exam on Tuesday in 'History of the Ideas and Processes of Argentina.' Oh, how we studied, and oh, how we ROCKED IT! Leaving that classroom at 9pm has never felt so glorious, let me tell you. We even celebrated our hard work paying off by sharing a bag of peanut M&Ms, which to our dismay only yielded about 8 pieces. My favorite class is on Thursdays from 3-5:30. I love it because our teacher is not only super chill/lets us out early, but also because he takes us to museums and treats us to coffee! This Thurs we went to the MALBA, the modern art museum. We had to pick one piece to write about for homework due next Thursday. I picked this one - it has a real live aquarium in it, which is pretty cool for a piece painted in 1968! it's gotten pretty nasty since i've last seen it... SMH malba workers...

I really liked our museum trip though, because cass/jordan/i decided to lunch beforehand in their adorable yet swanky cafe. a caprese salad and two bottles of chardonnay later... we were extra ready to enjoy the art :) Our professor is such a sweetheart and took our whole class for coffee and sweets afterward.. in the same cafe.. with the same wait staff that just laughed at the three us for returning so quickly.

SOMETHING NEW:

So for the first time in Argentina, I got a mani pedi! Pretty exciting, right?? It was delightfully cheap, just 20 american bucks. It was also kind of terrifying: my nail technician put a POWER TOOL to my feet... as if they were that bad!

See that magazine i'm reading? It's called Hola. It's the biggest, most legit magazine Argies read. I opened it up, expecting to see the lady president doing something lavishly annoying, or maybe even that hunky actor everyone loves. What i actually saw was far cooler: MY COUSINS!! what the f?? Here they are, Rachel, left, and Molly right, sandwiching Molly's pal, business partner, and birthday girl Hilary Swank. Why I can't be as cool as them... argentine magazine, seriously??

Another cool thing we tried out this weekend was Thursday night. After our predictable pregame at ex-pat owned Magdalena's, along with a couple creepy encounters with some older men, our friends Ben and Ponzi joined us to San Telmo, home of the Sunday street fair and the HIP HOP CLUB! It was so cool y'all. I felt like I was in a movie- a mass of dudes dressed as thugs (or maybe they are real thugs, but who's to say) formed a circle for a dance-off. Some of these guys had some serious moves, from smooth footwork to head spins! Definitely a different way to spend the night/morning.

That's just about all the news I've got for y'all today. I'm about to go to spin class (which is pretty much the same anywhere in the world). Keep in touch, people! Love you all!

besos!

happy monday to you and you and you

me again, comin atcha live from my pink twin bed!

I don't have anything really specific to report but I thought I'd update.

This past week flew by so quickly. On Monday we spent all day studying for our Historia de la Argentina midterm, for which I believe I studied adequately, but that remains to be seen. Our classroom on the third floor (really the 4th but their 1st floor is their 0th floor) has white tile floors, cream colored walls that could use a re-paint job, a chalkboard in the front of the room with a table/desk for our professor who really just prefers to wander about the room and lecture. It's fantastically old school. The small, wooden desks are engraved with the clever musings of students past. Above the chalkboard is a small wooden cross. I can almost hear the nuns slapping wrists with rulers....almost. 

Our class is divided; half of the students are porteños and the other half are we Americans. The Argies had a harder exam than we did, thank the lawd.. but they were both in the same format. Profe Nuñez stood at the front of the room and listed three questions/themes for us to talk about. Unfortunately, as a result of the language barrier and his horrible mumbling problem, I mistook "Agroexportador" for simply "portador," which means "carrier," so I can only imagine his reaction to my 3/4 page of complete BS. At least I had the right answer on the previous page... Oops... lo siento, soy Americana...?? 

After that, I once again returned to the life of no obligations. Oh, what a sweet life it is! This weekend, my beautiful friend Nikki came to visit BA with some of her Valpo Chile frandssss. She's the best! We all hung out and explored the bar scene this weekend. One of my favorites was Ferona, a closed-door bar that used to be a big house with a bar/chill-zone on the first floor and a big dance flo on the 2nd. Here's Jordan and I snacking on some carnations for your enjoyment:

On Saturday, I finally met up with Seth Carson, my fellow Memphian, who is here for the semester through NYU! We caught up over a bottle of vino tinto and some queso, of course. No better way to pass the time, amirite? He should consider being a cheese model, no? Love ya buddy.

I find myself spending a lot of time at home. I love to go out and I love some good 'splorin, but Elena is such good company and with the recent rainy, yucky weather, I've really enjoyed my down time during the day just watching the rain from my bedroom window/door. The only way that those moments would be more enjoyable is if I weren't allergic to the 14 year old feline monster that is Mimí... the dang thing is in love with me!! She waits on me to open my door in the mornings, then waits on my bed while I'm eating my breakfast. When I return, she makes her move. "RAAAYR!!!" is all I hear before my life flashes before my eyes and she is hanging on my neck like a scarf... except this scarf breathes too loudly and has ten claws digging into my skin... más Benadryl por favor? If you don't believe me, here we are just before a catnap... ~besties~

Today I let myself sleep in, as usual, until noon. After I bought myself some new tennishoes aka zapatillas, I hit ze gym. If any of you are looking for a new workout regimen, I highly recommend "Way of Gray." It's a $10 eBook with a month's worth of intense HIIT workouts, along with a healthy food shopping list. I'm happy to have found Sophie Gray on instagram because she's super cute and motivates me to keep moving every time I check my feed. I will refrain from showing my embarrassing post-workout "i wanna die is this the end someone help uuuuuuuuuggg" selfies.. lol. Although being abroad calls for lots of good times and indulgences, it's important to remember that this isn't a 5 month long vacation! (although don't be mistaken, i'm still totally living the dream). 

Cassidy and I met up at Le Pain Quotdien for a healthy lunch. I've been craving avocado toast forever, which is really just not a thing in Argentina (along with brewed coffee, ice water, salad dressing and soft cookies... hashtag sacrifice). Anyway, today I asked the waiter if I could order the serrano ham/tomato/avocado toast without the jamón serrano. Of course he looked at me with a pensive, shocked face and said no, because let's be honest, special orders are sooOooOooOoo American. One way or another, I got my toast (the delicious instagram version):

even if it cost me 90 pesos of "innovation" ...... (proof that foodstagrammers are full of shit):

Today was finally gorgeous after LOTS of lluvia (rain) this weekend. Ever had one of those days when you're walking on the same street, going in the same direction, just like you always do, but it all looks totally different and new?? ...No? Just me?... lol. Well either way, that was definitely me on my way home today. I was walking and thought, when did that cafe get there?? Since when was it two blocks from my house? I love that I'm constantly discovering and falling in love over and over again with this place. It's days like these that remind me how God has blessed me with the most incredibly cool opportunities throughout my life, especially in the past few years. Speaking of which, how cute is the Pope??? I just love him. Coolest Argentine in my book!

translation: Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace.

I hope this post has been a little more pleasant on the eyes with my pics jejeje~~~

For your entertainment, here's my awkward moment of the day: who can come up with a more appropriate caption for this photo because I'm really at a loss for words . . . . ? (frank's is actually a really cool speakeasy that requires a secret password upon entering. snooty mixologists in suspenders making delectable concoctions. more info next time).

Annnnnnnnd that's really about it! I hope you all are having a marvelous Monday!

BESOS Y'ALL

:)

21

hi everybody!
sorry it's been a while.. too busy havin fun!

Yesterday was my 21st birthday. i really cannot believe how quickly time has flown by! unfortunately, due to a tennis ball to the eye, my poor daddy-o damaged his retina the night before my parents were supposed to fly over to me for my birthday week. because of this, they were not able to be with me on my big day, which sucks. howeverrrrr, they are looking into rebooking ASAP so we can taste wine and frolic in Arg's wine country, Mendoza! Slurrrrrrrrp.

It's super weird and sad not being with my family on my birthday, but I have the next best thing - Elena. Although I've only known her for a month and a half, we have become so close and I feel like she's been in my family for my entire life. She put together a mini Ladies' Night for us, Cassidy and Jordan, my babes. Seriously I'm so lucky to have made two awesomely wonderful, caring friends that I can hang out with when we get back to the US of A as well! :) #blessed, yall.

feliz cumple! 21 años! que sigas siendo tan buena y linda. un gran abrazo, elena //// happy birthday!! 21 years! Here's to you staying  just as wonderful and beautiful forever. A big hug, Elena. (tears)

This weekend has been so fun - we started celebrating on Friday - we went to one of our favorite spots, Magdalena's Party. It's an ex-pat owned brunch spot by day and a fun bar by night. We love it not only because they speak English and have decent drink specials, but also because they are the only ones in this country that understand what a vodka soda is! (whitegirls of the world, you may now gasp!) Weirdly enough, we ended up sitting with two Argentine men who were super nice and interesting.. one owns two hotels in the city and we ended up going to check out the terrace on the roof of his Palermo b&b. Not too shabby. Free cider didn't hurt either. Although Triste (hotel owner's nickname) kindly offered to throw me a party on the roof, we didn't make that one happen. Y'all should have seen their faces when we told them we were 20... and then ours when they told us they're 30 & 34.. LOL.

Anyways, after that lovely immersion experience we got home at the average hour of 05:00. Saturday was the real celebration. In preparation I bought myself PLATAFORMAS!!!! They're so beautiful... :')

I was going to take my parents to a puerta cerrada (closed door/secret restaurant) for dinner and decided to keep the res and bring bae 1 and bae 2 instead. This one is called Casa Felix. It's owned by a couple and the restaurant is actually their apartment decorated so adorably with colorful, rustic antique furniture and lit by lanterns. They focus on fresh, local ingredients (even herbs from their garden) and serve pescatarian (did i spell that right) dishes. Kind of refreshing in the country of carne, carne and more carne. Good lawd was it good. But demasiado! There were like 10 courses, más o menos. Not to mention some damn good wine pairings. I guess the three of us like food sometimes..

So after the fantastic meal we shared, we set out for Sugar Bar, home of the 75 peso jarra (pitcher.. tryna teach yall some español you're welcome) of vodka lemonade. Splendlidly deadly. Sugar bar (another American spot but I promise we go to cool argie places too) (i use too many parentheses) (sorry) is in Palermo too, just like every other establishment to which we give our business. It's dark in there, with some red lighting.. very punk rock. They play AC/DC music videos on a projector, which of course the inner rocker in me loves. jeje. We sat at a table with all of our guy friends from Tulane who never fail to make me laugh until tears form. Although turning 21 without my family and closest friends was daunting, I had the best company I could have asked for!

Although this morning was a bit of a struggle bus situation, the evening made up for it x10000000 because of LADIES NIGHT III :) ! We had malbec, yummy salad, the best empanadas you will put in your mouth in this entire country, and of course a cake. Actually 2 cakes, thank you friends. The 4 of us got along swimmingly, even Mimí joined the party for a while. Before Elena brought out the delicious tres leches cake, she cut the lights and played a birthday song sung by the minions of Despicable Me!! The cake was adorable - she decorated it with chocolate covered espresso beans, some sparkly decorations and a neon-rainbow"21" candle. When she brought it out, she sang "Happy Birthday" in English. Of course, my heart melted. In that moment, I really thought I was going to burst into tears. That woman would walk to Patagonia and back for me if I asked her to. In that moment I was just so overwhelmed by her love and so happy that she filled in the shoes of my sad mama 5k miles away! Like I said, Ladies' Night just can't be topped. I'm in good hands, y'all.

I know in my last post I mentioned a parilla and never posted about it but i didn't take any pics so you'll have to wait til next week when my lovie friend NIKKI comes to visit from Chile!!!!!!! Yay!!! This week will be super wonderful after we get through our first midterm on Tuesday.. pray for us. Much studying to do! Weeeeeeeee.....


Anywaysssss, I'm super thankful and humbled by all yall's well-wishes and embarrassing pics (lol) today and I send ALL of my love and care from my little casa to yours! I'm one lucky gal.

besos xoxo