¡Bienvenido a casa Tommy!

Yesterday I arrived back in Spokane, WA after having been delayed two days leaving Buenos Aires because of the ashes in the air from the Chilean Volcano.

Walking through the security gates at Ezeiza (the international airport in BsAs), I felt my stomach and heart drop. I realized just then that I was walking away from a place that I'd grown to consider my home for the last almost 5 months. I would be leaving people behind, new friends, a routine and a lifestyle I'd become acustomed to, and a culture that I love.

On the flight to Atlanta, the flight attendants would try speaking to me in Spanish at first, and the man that worked in US customs, a man of Cuban descent, only spoke Spanish to me the whole time asking me the questions about my luggage thinking I was from Argentina, I feel like this was a sign that I pretty much adopted the place as my own! haha

While waiting in the airports (Salt Lake and Atlanta) I started to have this feeling of culture shock to my own culture. People would bump into me and I'd naturally respond with: "ay perdón" as well as hearing more English than I had been used to.

Back in Spokane it was different as well, driving again, seeing my friends, and the money situation. I paid with a $50 bill when I went out for Ice Cream with a friend and I asked the cashier if she could make change first. (She looked at me with a "duh of course" look). I'm so used to being asked for smaller bills or being told they couldn't make change for that. I kind of missed it in a way.

It's deffinately going to be a re-adjustment period back to life in good ol' Spokane.
But now I have this connection to another part of the world because of an experience that I would trade for anything!

¿Qué voy a extrañar Argentina?

What am I going to miss about Argentina??


So my time is wrapping up down here in Argentina, and I must say there are things that I will miss a lot.

1. Milka Chocolate. It is a GERMAN brand of chocolate like Hershey's, except 100x better than Hershey's chocolate (which they don't even have down here). I find myself buying a chocolate bar almost everyday.

2. THE BEEF. I mean it is Argentina. I don't even need to put a picture... look at my entry from Uruguay. 

3. Facturas! These amazing little pastries usually filled with dulce de leche and powdered sugar. They're addicting.

4. Dulce de Leche. 

5. Empanadas. These fun filled bread pockets have been one too many meals for me down here. And I still love them. 

6. Choripan. Chorizo between some french bread. Simple, easy, cheap, and delicious. 

7. The Political atmosphere, I love how EVERYONE has an opinion, and how people are constantly standing up for their rights and beliefs (even if I don't agree with all of them). They definately exercise their right to protest here, and they always speak their mind.

8. The Night Life. I'm not one to go out and party much, however the night life here is incredible. You can find anytype of bar or club that is playing any type of music, and they're all open until 6 am. 

9. The Cafe Culture. 

10. The lack of political correctness. The US idea of avoiding specific vocabulary or expressing certain points of views as to not offend somebody doesn't really exist as much here. In other words, Argentines will tell you like it is, and not make any excuses for it. 

11. The cheap and pretty efficient public transportation. Roughly 30 cents to ride the bus or the Subte (Underground, subway, metro etc..) 

12. The way to greet people (which might get me in trouble in the US now that I'm used to it here). Here people greet eachother, no matter who you are, even if its the first time you meet, with a kiss on the cheek. Even two guys. I think this is a much more personal way to greet someone, its friendlier. Sometimes in the US we just stand there and say hi, and its so disconnected and impersonal. 

13. The traveling. This country is HUGE (in fact the largest in terms of geographic size in the Spanish speaking world). It has such a variety of landscapes and things to see with in its borders. Tropical jungles, deserts, snow capped mountains, beaches and ocean coast lines, and even graciers, 

14. The Amazing people I've met from all over the world, Argentina, and different parts of the US and that I am now able to call friends! 

I will miss Argentina, very much so. 

Cataratas y Coatíes.

So me and Jessi hopped on a bus on Wednesday and took off for Argentina's Northeastern Litoral to the tiny city of Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina. After arriving at 6pm, it was dark out already so the first night we spent in the hostel, resting up for a day at the Iguazu national park, a jungle park where you can visit some of the world's biggest waterfalls.

The Park was amazing, there were paths that took you above and below the waterfalls and through the jungle, and it was beautiful and a nice 70 some degrees, (a great change from Buenos Aires that hasn't hit temperatures above the mid 50s for a while now).

While walking the paths you'd come accross these little Racoon-monkey like creatures called Coaties. They were everywhere trying to go through people's food and the garbage cans. Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys :(

And the grand finale of the day at the park was going to the Garganta del Diablo falls, or the Devil's throat. They're the biggest falls in the park and to get to them you have to walk on a 1100 meter metal bridge over the river leading to the falls, but it is well worth it. It is a complete hypnotic site, the amount of water falling is incredible and the power of the falls. 

The next day, we had a full day before getting on the bus to head back to Buenos Aires, so we walked down to the Hito de las 3 fronteras. Which is a monument site on which you can look over where the Paraná and the Uruguay rivers meet and on the left, you can look at Paraguay (and even see the skyline of Ciudad del Este Paraguay in the distance) and on the right you can look over at Brazil. And on each side you can see giant markers painted with the colors of their flags. 

In this picture, I'm obviously sitting in Argentina, on the right of me, that is Brazil, and on the left that is Paraguay. 

Now its back to Baires to enjoy my last 1 and a half or so and my last weekend in the city before I head home! OOH and of course final exams haha.