And then some.

These guys were pretty chill for sword-wielding enforcers.

So I have a few photos and some explanations as to what I have been doing with myself this past week:

To start, the weather has been the absolute best--I really don't feel like coming back to sub-zero Detroit. But as they say here: Que vas a hacer? Anyway, I have been mostly just walking through the city and enjoying not being in school ("enjoying" is an understatement haha). One of the cooler places I went to was the Museo de Armas (Arms Museum). In the museum, there was a gigantic collection of swords, various large arms, and guns--it was any card-carrying NRA man's paradise. The building that the museum is part of is actually quite amazing; being that it is almost identical in style and obscene luxuriousness as the Palace of Versailles in France (this is another large story in itself) but there was an interesting array of weapons from virtually every century from virtually every country that ever made a weapon. I just kept thinking of Bradley Whitford saying "Big guns is all I carry" The following are some pictures my friend took...

Central display 

 

 

This is the same building where the museum is. It is in terms of style and obscene luxuriousness almost equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, France. It was constructed during the late 1910's when Argentina was the 8th richest nation in the world. It is truly a feat of construction given the time. It's is not possible to take a complete picture from the street.

 This came from the box of a set of dueling pistols. Conflict resolution was so much easier in the past, no?

Here is a clock-tower donated by the British after the Malvinas War as a token of good faith. This was taken while were sitting in a nice park in a place called Retiro.

 This is a massive statue of General San Martin--he is a figure that is basically the equivalent to George Washington to us. He was mostly responsible for the liberation of much of South America from the Spanish.

They are throwing paper and confetti--it gets so messy. Nothing really compares in the USA.

 Ok. As some of you may know, futbol (soccer) is a HUGE deal here--it is the only thing that people truly care about. The fans and atmosphere of these games make the Superbowl look like a geriatric home on bingo night. Seriously. I had the opportunity to go to a game between River Plate (one of the most popular teams here and part of one of the biggest rivalries in the world--Boca/River) and San Lorenzo--also a very popular team. The game I went to was in the stadium of San Lorenzo (one of the shadiest and more dangerous parts of the city...I went with a group, no worries).
You have to understand, the fans here are nuts; they shoot flares, light M80's, play music, chant, shout, throw almost anything, and have banners that literally cover entire sections of people. Also, people here cuss like sailors that just got into port. Unfortunately these pics are not from THAT particular game, but they basically show what I saw at that stadium--SL is red and blue. Mind you, this was not a special game--people are nuts for every game. Also, I was fortunately in the kids/old people section so I was not caught up in one particular side. Futbol here is also very political and plays a major role in the culture. Moreover, I counted atleast 60 cops in uniform and like 20 riot cops there--just as peace keepers.

I think the craziest part of the experience was not the game, but the bus ride home: I took the bus to the end of the line to get there and I needed to take it again to get home. Unfortunately, EVERYBODY else had the same idea. So I was waiting in a crowd of hundreds of people just to get on and they would only let women and children on first. When I finally did get in, I got stuck in the middle. There were people everywhere; hanging out windows, out the door, standing on seats, and just generally packed in. Everybody during the whole ride was chanting, singing, and banging on whatever they could just to make noise. Some people filled their coke bottles with beer while others were just chucking stuff out the windows as we drove. It was absolutely out of control. But keep in mind, nobody was violent, just pumped up for their team. Los Argentinos are serious about their futbol--it was one hell of an experience.

Just over a week left...

Well friends, I am at 8 days and counting before my departure home. Nonetheless, I have reached a milestone today: I have finished out the term! It has been unbelievably challenging, but I made it through. I haven't really been up to many cool things lately, mostly because I have been finishing up school, but in these last few days I plan on doing some things that I haven't had the chance to do before.

It's strange to think i will be going back soon, but I will have some final reflections later. As for this week, I am going to post some updates about places I will be going to in the next few days and hopefully a nice picture of me with my host-family.

Cover and seal of the university

In the meantime, here are some photos of all of my assigned readings for class just to prove that I am not a total whiner. (Just to clarify, they aren't Spanish adaptions of Dr. Seuss or Batman--it's actually scholarly material).

The 2 things on top are books.

Thought my chair was going to break.

Memorable Quotes

I would like to take a little time to write down some of the more interesting/funnier things that I have heard from various people around the city. These range from things that my host parents said to things are just heard on the street that I seem to remember for some reason and think I should share.

“¡Che! ¡Pelotudo con el paraguas!”

"Hey! A**Hole with the umbrella" -random guy after he got hit in the head

“Awww…¡Qué lindo perrito! ¿Cómo? …oh, está muerto…”

"Awww...What a cute puppy! What? Oh...he died." -woman referring to a picture of a puppy that her friend showed her.

Rodolfo: “Los gays son como el Highlander”   "Gays are like the Highlander."

Me: “¿Cómo?”    "What?"

Rodolfo: “Solo ellos saben quién es gay entre ellos”    "Only they know who is gay amongst themselves."

“¿Qué pasó con la operación de Kirchner? ¿Él está bien? Ay…una lástima.”

"What happened with Kirchner's operation? He's fine? Ah...a shame." -Marta

 “Es mejor que votes.” 

 "It's better that you vote." -Maria, in reference to what the Chilean president would say after he was thanked by one of the miners.

“Well, that’s a first.” -my friend Alex in reference to us walking over a hobo who had passed out in the middle of the sidewalk at around noon.

Me: ”¿Por qué ese no funciona como otros lugares?”  "Why doesn't that work like in other places?"

Marta: “A ver, estamos en la Argentina—bienvenido al tercer mundo.”  "Ah, but look...we are in Argentina. Welcome to the Third World."

“¡Ay! Por favor, ¡No somos animales!”

"Puh-lease! We aern't a bunch of animals!" -random guy commenting on people pushing to get in the subway.

“Si no tuvimos un líder, la Argentina sería el superpoder numero uno en el mundo, en serio.”

"If we didn't have a leader, Argentina would be the number one superpower in the world, seriously" -Rodolfo

“Compre un Argentino por lo que vale, y lo venda por lo que piensa valer él.”

"Buy an Argentine for what he is worth, and sell him for what he thinks he is worth."  -Old Spanish saying

Part 2: Córdoba (Not that funny, but really, really interesting--so read it!).

Alright, after a few "cultural" events and school work, I am fulfilling my promise to talk about my time in Cordoba. Like I said before, the city that Oktoberfest was located, was Belgrano--a pueblo 2 hours out of Cordoba. While we spent the first two days there, we spent Sunday going through Cordoba--a truly beautiful and fairly tranquil city. Cordoba is in many respects is similar to Buenos Aires--except with less people, a different accent, and less insanity.

Instead of giving a chronology, it will be more informative for me just to give descriptions based on the pictures I have here. So starting with the first: The city is quite clean and has a really...relaxed feeling. Granted, it was a Sunday, but i could feel a much less stressed vibe. I snapped this photo (left) on a main street; buildings similar to BA but with some more modern bricking--overall a nice walk.

These next two shots are of the University of Cordoba. This particular university was founded in 1613--so one of the oldest in the entire hemisphere. The University of Cordoba (where I actually know a girl from Albion who is currently studying here) is located centrally on streets that are dominated by pedestrians and cafes. The history here is pretty overwhelming.

t

This next photo is of an old cathedral in a central plaza. It is even more impresionante in person. One thing to note here is the architecture: Cordoba has heavy Spanish influence whereas BA is more French. Why this is--well, frankly, I just don't know haha. But it is nonetheless very pretty.           

 The next photo I have is a sign regarding the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands). Some of you may remember that in 1982, there was a 2-month war between the Argentine Junta and the British for the "true" possession of the islands just off the eastern Argentine coast. The reason that I even mention this is beacuase to this day, the theme of the Malvinas is still a sore spot for the Argentines. Back then, Argentina was in its last dictatorship, and the military leaders used the old soverignty debate of the islands to distract the public from the other serious domestic problems that were going on at the time. In short, the Argentines did not really believe the British would actually retaliate, but as we know, they in fact did, and Argentina lost. The sign reads "It is prohibited to forget them. They are not negotiable".  There is more to it than this, but it is a recurrent theme in their culture which I find ivery nteresting.  

 This next photo is extremely intereseting, but very sad. Argentina was not technically a democracy until 1983--and before that existed only military leaderships or the Perons (Juan, Evita, and Isabella). Especially between the years of '55 to '83, many horrible things happened like the "Dirty War" and the "Disappeared". This particular sign reads: "Memorial in homeage to the people from, the Province of Cordoba between the years 1969 and 1983 who were kidnapped, tortured, and executed by the repressive forces of the state. Their names are written in public (to see)". The picture below shows a building--only a BLOCK from the university where people were kidnapped and tortured! They were taken below the street and kept from anywhere from months to years--most were killed.

The idea of the government at the time was to battle the threat of extreme liberalists, communists, and anyone who they "perceived" as a threat to their power. My host parents lived through all of this--their perspective is absolutely interesting/unobtainable anywhere else.

  This next picture is a mosaic of names of people who were kidnapped--some freed and other killed by the government. In Buenos Aires, there are colored tiles on sidewalks with names inscribed on them that say at this particular spot, someone was kidnapped (ALWAYS In a lime green Ford Falcon [super famous here]). There is a tile that I see everyday to my walk to school--one of the busiest locations in the entire city.





Finally, I will end on a sweet note (seriously, no pun intended--I hate them). Grido is an ice cream place that is really good. Not only is it cheap, but they have tasty ice cream and desserts--what else do you want?

Living History

Once again, this semester has thrown another curveball: as you may or may not know, this Wednesday, ex-president Nestor Kirchner died of a heart attack--he had already been in poor health. His death was also strangely on the national census day.

The white dot is where I live--about a 15 minute sub ride to the Plaza de Mayo.

To put things in perspective, he was: President of the nation, chancellor of UNASUR (SA international alliance), head of the current day Peronist party, former governor of the province of Santa Cruz, and past husband of the current president, Cristina Fernandez Kirchner. Additionally, Nestor's presidency was considered the first truly stable democratic government that Argentina has ever had. The power that this man had in this country is tremendous and his influence was a major factor in the current administration (he was basically quasi-president).
 He was still nonetheless a very controversial politician with many, many allegations of corruption. Like most things in this country, people either hated or loved this man. But his passing is reflective of a tremendous space of power and politics that he has left--the government will be making the rounds over the next few months.

I went Wednesday night to the Plaza de Mayo and La Casa Rosada (presidential palace) to see the events that were happening, and to be honest, I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. Thousands upon thousands of people with banners, fireworks, chants, floats, and graffiti everywhere--the scene was anything but quiet. Argentina is a place of passion, they are a people of extremities and when there are things to either morn or celebrate, they are anything but somber.Sure, maybe there have been larger gatherings that have happened and perhaps Nestor isn't going to go down as one of the most famous people in the world, but to see and feel what I felt, is something that very few countries in the world produce from their culture. Whether the Argentines were crying for the tremendous loss or cracking champagne to celebrate his death (many reasonable people really didn't like him--including the family that I live with) it cannot be denied how much of an influence he had and how reflective he was of this country--we can only guess where this place will take me next.

I call it living history.

"Pirates of the Customs Bureau: At World's End"

 

Before I finish the second segment of my trip, I just thought I would take a few minutes to briefly explain an experience that I had with Argentine Customs.

Remember when I said I had lost a contact? Well, my parents were nice enough to send me another set that I planned on having arrive to my building here. Putting contacts into an envelope and sending them to a home address sounds simple enough right?
WRONG

Because they fall under the "medical/cosmetic" category, my package literally got detained with customs in the international airport. "Why?" do you ask--I still do not have an answer. So what I had to do to retreive them was:
1. Go to DHL in another part of town on a Monday
2. PAY DHL $72 American JUST to release paperwork containing the shipping documentation
3. Go to Ezeiza International on a Wednesday by taking a 2 hour bus to get there...and back.
4. Return home Wednesday because for whatever reason, I needed to have my visa forms to prove that I was legally allowed to be in Argentina.(dumb)
5. Return on a Friday to complete the process which took 4 hours of going through various offices and costed me an additional $100 in taxes and storage fees.

Customs is literally a huge facility of multiple hangars that contain packages (like at the end of Indiana Jones--I'm not joking) that are withheld by the pirates of customs. There were hundreds of people there from various parts of the PROVINCE just to collect small packages. The process was literally something you would see in a movie where they make fun of huge paper-pushing bureacracies. It makes going to the secretary of state look like an all inclusive Caribbean cruise--I'm dead serious, I wish I was joking. Also, I could ONLY pay in cash, apparently the National Bank of Argentina won't take Visa cards at that location. Oh yea, it also may have been difficult because everything was in a different language, maybe.

It was seriously one of the worst things I have ever had to do. I love this country dearly and I hate talking about negative aspects, but that whole facility should be carpet bombed. As a wrap-up, I met a German woman sitting in line next to me. She told me that she had done this before a few times and gave me a pamphlet detailing all of the things I had to do. Before she left, she looked at me and said in English: "Welcome to Hell".

But hey, it's all part of the experience right?...

La Fiesta Nacional de la Cerveza/Oktoberfest /Cordoba Part 1

I really wanted this sign for my dorm room.

 As promised, I lived through Oktoberfest to tell you all about it. While you might think that passing the better half of an entire weekend in a fenced in park full of kegs and giant mugs may be a breeze, I beg to differ. On the contrary, it was quite a lot of work to enjoy myself.

From Buenos Aires, the beautiful city Cordoba is roughly a 9 hour ride away by bus. The ride isn't as bad as it sounds but for someone that is not used to going to a massive bus terminal/station, it can be very confusing. Buses are common here because it is generally more expensive to fly--so 16 hour rides to other parts of the country are not uncommon.

This place was good and super packed. Caja=cash register

From the beginning of the trip however, everything was turning out to be an uphill battle. Upon our arrival in Cordoba, we had forgotten the hostel detail sheet and had to go to a locutorio (computer/internet service place) to re-print the information. When we finally got to the hostel after a long walk, we were surprised to learn that although they can use a terminal to charge a $7 deposit fee, they can't use it to charge for our actual stay--cash which we did not bring with us for obvious reasons. Additionally, only one of us actually had our debit card with us--so that was pretty cool. Anyway, it was mid-afternoon and we were ready to get dr--...errr, I mean go to the festival /Festival Nacional de la Cerveza. Now Oktoberfest was actually in a smaller town 2 hours outside Cordoba in a small German, Tudor-style town nestled between a pretty lake and a grassy mountain. The ride was pretty to look at the first time, but the other times I was forced to sit on the floor the whole time because some French dudes in the front of the ticket line bought the remaining SEAT tickets. I can't really explain how uncomfortable that was.

Nonetheless, we finally arrive and find ourselves in the middle of a HUGE crowd all carrying mugs and ready to party. Now when I say "carrying" mugs. I mean people (including myself) had bought buckle straps and were literally carrying their mugs around like Samsonite handbags.
Furthermore, people were dressed up in goofy outfits and cheers-ing (Salud!) one-another.The town is very quaint and a large fenced-in park was set-up for all of the festivities. In addition to beer and weiner schnitzels there was a full program each day (October 4-11) with music, parades, and various German/Argentine celebratory shows that took place either in-town or on a big stage that was set-up in the middle of the park. All the beer stands (Isenbeck, Heineken, micro-brews, etc.) were located in a mulched area away from the initial mug/trinket stands (my mug can hold a liter!).

One hoppin' fiesta

Now we went on Friday and Saturday, but most of the action didn't happen until Saturday night. The real big crowds didn't show until about 10 at night which was when things got a little out of hand. At about 9 at night was when some German bands came on stage and started playing old school German drinking songs. There was actually a german rock band that yodeled which was pretty awesome. As the bands were playing their ridiculous songs in laterhoosen, people were storming the beer lines and downing beer like sailors that just got into port. Through the evening I saw various things that I won't mention here, but one noteworthy/moderately appropriate encounter was with a group of Argentine guys who thought that my friends and I were the coolest people on Earth because we are American (or Northamerican as they say). For whatever reason, my memory seems to be cloudy at this point in the evening, but I do remember one of these guys wearing a huge afro and the other without a shirt. As we talked to them, they told us that they only knew 2 phrases in English "How are you?" and "Suck my b----" which they proceeded to chant in unison. After a while they took some photos with us and before they left to make the rounds, one of them had his (female) cousin with him that he kept trying to basically give to us as an offering. As absolutely hysterical as that was, she wasn't having any of it, hahaha.

These are some the beer vendors. The rest are attached to these and out of view--forming a big circle of well, beer..

By around 2 a.m. the party was winding down and we needed to catch our bus. 2 things happened however that made the ending a bit sour: As I walked to the urinal area (Think of the Joe Louis Arena men's troughs with a couple hundred drunk people and less than perfect aim) and did my business, I was returning back towards the entrance when a guy who was running very quickly, collided into me and caused me to lose one of my contacts. As you all know very well, that is especially bad for me. So I had to run back to the bus terminal in the dark, only being able to see out of 1/2 of my head. I am still missing a contact as I write this post.

 The second thing that frustrated me was a bad interaction with some "cultured" Americans. To my fellow countrymen abroad: 

STOP ACTING LIKE DAMN FOOLS

Seriously, the ONLY bad interactions I have had with people in Argentina have been with other Americans. These guys were drunk like everybody else, but yet the only ones who felt a need to act aggressively, arrogantly, and try to start a fight with my friends at the bus stop. I won't go into details, but these guys were just plain embarrasments. No wonder the world gets tired of our crap sometimes.

Overall a good time. I will have more on Cordoba for "Part 2" later--this post is already really long. I don't have many good pictures of the fest (mostly because we were having trouble holding the camera for some silly reason) but I have some great one for Cordoba.

Buenas Noches y Hasta Pronto!

Stage in the park

Larger than life.

Road sign on the freeway

Hola, everyone! This last weekend I went with my program to the most northwestern province of Jujuy (look HERE) (Hoo--Hoowee) from Thursday until late Sunday. This province is nestled around the base of the Andes Mountains on the borders of both Bolivia and Chile. I would like to say I have a lot to say here, but there are few words I can use to describe the intensity and beauty of landscapes of the region.

I will say however that it took 2 hours by plane and 3 by bus to get to our cabanas nearly 2 miles above sea level in the puebla of Tilcara (got burned pretty good by the sun that high). The environment is very dry--so it gets very hot during the day and cold at night. Most of the houses constructed there are made of adobe and are constructed attached to one another (similar to what can be characterized as Mexican architecture). The bus ride was amazing because it was a vertical ascent up a mountain which took us through the clouds. I couldn't help but keep thinking about Misery during the ride however, where James Caan flips off the side of the road and gets 'rescued" by Kathy Bates, but anyway...

Fun Fact: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was actually filmed primarily in Argentina--I did not know that.

Different from Sonoran cactus, but very cool.

Took this on the bus when we were covered in clouds.

Check it out!

The ground is like this for miles.

Unbelievebly bright outside

man-made pools to form usable/consumible salt

We met these guys along the way--here they are drinking beer at least 80 feet above the next flat surface.

At one point, each mountain contained 7 colors a piece

Shot this at the end of the hike--what a rewarding view!

Moving on, we spent a great deal of Friday visiting ancient ruins of a native settlement around the time of the Incas--which was miraculously preserved despite the rampant and brutal takeover at the hands of the Spanish hundreds of years ago and on Saturday, we took an absolutely stunning hike into the mountains and a visit to the great salinas or salt flats. I was most impressed by the salinas not only because they are so striking, but because the surrounding area looks like someone placed a large square over the earth and hit the "delete" button--it's a very strange area that was once covered by the ocean. Again, I think I will end here, these pics are gorgeous.

Half my program--notice I am front and center. Alright!

P.S. I have a real treat for next weekend, here is a hint: it starts with an "O" and ends in "Ktoberfest".  I will be going to the beautiful city of Cordoba to celebrate BEER<

P.P.S. (P.S.S.??) The students at UBA are STILL on strike--we'll see what happens.

Where the Wild Things Are

This lion is REAL and yes, I am petting her.

I have always known that I was among the 10 coolest people in the world, but this past weekend solidifies my spot at Numero Uno. However, I am going to explain this story at the end--so you have to read about my (really fun, but comparatively less interesting) weekend that happened 2 weeks ago.

Sarmiento's House

Tigre

For about a month, a few of us had been planning on going to a riverfront city called Tigre about 1 hour outside of the capital. We however had been postponing it and finally managed to
find a Saturday that worked. To get there, we had to take a train out to the more suburban area. We were also duped
 into buying the more expensive "coastal route" tickets which turned out to be 2 stops of coast, and 12 stops of graffitti covered walls. Nonetheless we arrived on a beautiful day in the early afternoon. Tigre is a city that is known as a tourist/getaway destination for many people that live in Buenos Aires. It is located along the various other tributaries of the Rio de la Plata and has a theme park, a very large market, and many docks for boat rides. We decided it would be fun to take an hour ride on a catamaran which had a terrace on top in addition to dining services below. We nestled in below deck and grabbed a bottle of vino tinto--you know, to curb any potential sea sickness. We disembarked from the dock and got to take a nice, easy ride down the Rio Sarmiento--aptly named after a former famous Argentine president who has the house of his childhood located (in a glass cube) on the banks of the river. As we floated downstream we saw an assortment of things like people's houses, a semi-sunken ship, and some other places to vacation. The area is very similar to the watershed area around Alganac (you are mostly MI people right?) where it is connected to the lake, but is inlet and people need to use boats to get to their houses. It was very chill and everybody would smile and wave at us. The waiter we had was also a very amable fellow who had an extra nice personality to make-up for his lack of teeth.

Rolling down the rio

"Rio Sarmiento"

Afterwards we made for the markets and shopped around for a bit. The vendors sold all kinds of things for relatively low prices. What I liked most however is that although there were many people, everything was very tranquil and slow-moving--it was a very nice break from the big city. While we didn't have a full itenerary, this took up most of the day and we headed out at dusk. Overall, it was a very nice place with nice people. The photos do more justice than my words, but it was a very relaxing time.

Now we move on to what I did on this past Saturday. One day I was going about my usual business of being an interesting person when my friend said ran up to me and said: "Oh my god, dude! We gotta do this!" while pointing to a computer screen. I responded: "What are you talking about?" My friend: "Duuuude, we can go to this zoo where you can pet lions and tigers, f&%$ing TIGERS, man!!". I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing, but I decided to go with him and another guy. So we took a bus from a street 20 minutes north of me and we headed the 2 hours out to the ciudad of Lujan. After a weird and uncomfortable ride, we made it to the city. The plan was to grab a bite and then head on over to the zoo. Lujan itself is a very interesting city. It was built out from a main plaza and in the center sits a monsterous basilica that in my estimation, is several hundred feet tall. We wanted to take a tour (it also has a museum regarding certain aspects of Argentine history) but were pressed for time. We got our lunch--I ordered a milanesa napolitana (breaded lamb cutlet covered w/ cheese, ham, and marinara sauce) of which I have provided a beautiful photo.

Look how big I am!

Plaza Lujan

(Let me preface the rest of this story by saying everything that happened next had a very shady aura to it) We head back over to the zoo by bus from where we came, but the driver for whatever reason didn't stop there and kept on going. So we had to tell him what we wanted and he dumped us off on the side of the highway about a quarter-mile from the entrance.After our little walk we make it to the entrance and pay our way in--40 pesos or about $10--and we were given a map detailing the "park". So we start walking towards the tiger pen and stop at this open area where there was a mix of goats, llamas, pigs, horses, and two really big camels. One camel ran over to this lady and licked her face in the funniest way possible. But we were on a mission, a mission to find the tigers--and we finally see them. Now you know how in any other normal secure zoo the potentially lethal animals like lions and tigers are behind serious metal cages and dug-out motes? Well, all this small pen consisted of was some metal chain and 2 guys armed with nothing but a camera and milk bottle. As we enter the pen I notice a total of 7 tigers--3 of which are awake and waling around. All are fully grown. As it was my turn, the guy told me to pet the tiger's back while he got a photo. It was a truly beautiful animal. When my time was up, I went just behind the other guy to wait to get out, at that time however, one of the tigers decided to take a little stroll next to me and check out what was happening--it was a mix of terrifying and really funny because the whole situation was so ridiculous.

Camel Love

After a quick of check my drawers, we walked through the rest of the park. We saw some sea lions begging for fish, and I got to feed an elephant (which was really cool) and a bigger pen of even bigger tigers. By the end we made it to the lion pen which is where the first picture comes from. What you DON'T see in the picture however is another equally large female lion pacing around the fence just a few feet from me. I'm not sure what was more distracting: the lion that I was petting or the other one moving about the pen. Anyways, by the end of the day I got to experience some things that I could definitely never have done anywhere else--pretty cool huh? Which one of you can say you did that? Haha.

Feeding an elephant!!!

Look at those chompers

As much fun as it was, it was nonetheless a fairly sad zoo--the animals were overfed, cramped, and I believe a few of them were probably nipped-out. So I am a bit conflicted over the experience--but it was nonetheless EXTREMELY unique.

This is the coolest goat I have ever seen.

Milanesa Napolitana w/ fries

The bus ride home was pretty ridiculous as well--it was packed and I was forced to stand nearly against the windshield for roughly a half hour while the driver was flying down the highway like a maniac. It was certainly a day that i will never forget.