June 29, 2002
29 Junio 2002
We took another trip to Paraguay on Friday. This time to take a long bus ride to San Ignacio Iguazu to see some Jesuit mission ruins. Had to wake up and be ready to go by 8am, which I was, with one thing and another (crossing borders and with papers getting checked missing bus connections) it wasn't until 11:30 that we arrived in the town where we were going. Since it was such a long bus ride we were much farther North and it was considerably hotter, making a grand choice of my black t-shirt let me tell you.
Everything shuts down for siesta which happens, oh, right around 11:30 and doesn't open for another 2 1/2 hours. That includes old ruined Jesuit missions AND their museums. We were in Paraguay and Argentinean pesos weren't working here (however they work great in Encarnacion, the Paraguayan border town just across the river from Posadas) and none of the banks would change our money into Guaranis (Paraguayan money). So no food, damn hot and nothing to see, we got on another bus and spent two and a half more hours in hot misery heading back to Argentina.
But we finally arrived at the border crossing. Usually, if you live in the area you just need to have a travel document with you that guys who hop on the bus check and usually let you pass through. If you have a passport however, you have to hop off and run into the immigration office. Having done this one time before (see notes about missing buses earlier) I jumped right off and ran over to immigration. Luckily I was the only one in line and the guy was really cool, even gave me the thumbs up sign when I got stamped. Oh one silly side note, every time you enter or leave a country here you get a stamp, so with 2 trips to Paraguay in one week I ended up with about 8 extra stamps in my passport. However I was so speedy that I was able to hop right back on the same bus.
However, when we came into Paraguay that morning, Teresa hadn't received a little piece of paper saying that she had entered Paraguay, therefore she wasn't able to leave. Huh???? Anyway, we both had to get off the bus while she dealt with that beauracratic hassle. No biggie, 10 minutes later a new bus arrived. Then they drop you all off at the entrance to Argentina. You get your docs checked and then they let you back on the bus. Well, we were last in line and the when we got there that guy just had a thing for us. First, my passport is green, not the usual blue and that got the once-over. Then he saw all the stamps in and out of Paraguay. More suspicion. He asked how long I was staying in Argentina, Teresa answered for me, "Two months," which wasn't entirely true as it was a tad longer but, whatever. He stamps the entry back into Argentina and the days allowed to stay (the norm for USA citizens is 90 days, and my 2 other entry stamps had that designation). After getting the passport stamped and initialed we walk over to a gendarmerie and he gives the passports the once over, suddenly I notice my passport is marked for only 60 days in Argentina and I needed at least 70. CRAP. Talked the army guy about it, and he said, "Well, why did he do that?" Which is what I wanted to know. So I had to walk back to Mr. Official and discuss a change. He wasn't too happy about it, but in the end, after missing our bus yet AGAIN, I got the 90 days I needed. See if I ever go back to Paraguay.
Today we drove to San Ignacio Miní (more Jesuit ruins but completely in Argentina) and I finally got to see some ruins. They were immense and beautiful and I got LOTS of pictures. Really, really super fantastic. Then by accident I agreed to go see the house of Horacio Quiroga, a famous author who lived near the Jesuit ruins in the early 1900s. It was great, I got to see his house, which had a gorgeous view of the Paraná river (the one separating Paraguay and Argentina). I even saw an avocado tree!!! Celso saw several avocados (aguacates in Spanish) on the ground and he picked them up, he asked permission to take them and the guide said it was cool. As we were driving back to Posadas we went past a farm (campo) and Celso said it was theirs, we are going to go see it tomorrow!
We got back to town and I was bushed so I went to take a siesta and (no surprise to Kevin) as soon as I laid down I wasn't the least bit tired, so I just read. An hour or so later, Cecilia and Sergio arrived and I got up and we all just hung out and talked. Just as they were about to leave I suggested trying to hook up the laptop to the ADSL modem. We hadn't really even tried yet, we got stuck at the "Do you have this pc program that links you to the modem?" stage. Since I didn't, I thought we couldn't proceed, but later, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Mac had its own program to hook to modems, all I needed was a user name and a password and VOILA! I was connected!!!! So simple. Now I can fully utilize this great tool and write all my journals on here instead of straight to an email. Plus I have more chances for correcting when I have to re-read between writing and sending.
Then Teresa and I went back to the Institute of Music and saw a choral spectacular. There were four different groups who each did about 4 songs. Because it is a school, 3 of the groups were kids/teenagers, not much older than 13-14. Only one group was adults, and clearly they had been singing together for a long time. It was interesting because each group sang one song in English and I was really looking forward to understanding all the words. However, I found that because they were native Spanish speakers, they mispronounced the English slightly and it was more annoying than not knowing the words they were singing! However, they all did a great job with special emphasis on 2 different groups, these groups seemed to have more joy, they moved with the music and smiled more. The other groups looked a little nervous, but I guess that is normal when you are younger.
When I used to go see choral groups I would always imagine myself up in the group singing, probably doing a solo (am I the only one who is so ego-centered???) but this time I wanted to be the director, stand this way, smile, enjoy yourself!!!! Of course, I would have done a great job, what they need to do is have me as a consultant before the shows, that way I wouldn't have to go to school to learn how to read music or conduct.
After the music, we picked up Celso and went to dinner. It was at this great restaurant called, Fausto's. My dinner had so much garlic I can still taste it this morning! Up on the walls of this restaurant was an exhibit or paintings by an art teacher of Teresa's. This very interesting oil paintings on hard plastic that appeared as if he had tossed some paint on and used a straw to blow the colors outward. But, so clearly, in the paint, there were figures of people and motion, it was amazing. These paintings were backlit. One or two of them I didn't like but for the most part they were really interesting. Here is the kicker, they are only 120 pesos each, which amounts to about $35 and there is one I want SO bad, but getting it home would be a royal pain the butt, so I am going to wait to make that decision.
Here is where the night got fun, after dinner a space was cleared on the floor or the restaurant and there was a Tango demonstration, or rather, exhibition. This man was the Argentinean equivalent of Wayne Newton!!!!! Soooooo cheesy and in red poly slacks and a white dinner jacket with silver lame (the stupid computer won't accent that e for me, it keeps auto correcting so it looks like the wrong word, picture it with an é) he had the hands-off mic and everything!!!! There was also a beautiful woman who had danced with him. After each dance, she would leave the floor and he would sing a song while she changed. It was all kind of cheesy and silly. They were both good dancers but clearly it was a working relationship, only. I couldn't actually tell, but it seems the Tango is supposed to be a dance between people who hate each other but love each other so fiercely that they can't stay away from each other. These two were merely bored.
During the whole dinner, outside there was a spectacular lightening storm, coming more rapidly together than I have ever seen lightening. Then the promise of the storm came through during the dancing, a HUGE downpour of rain. I was so strongly tempted to rush out into the rain and spin circles in the streets like I did as a child, it was so spectacular, but I barely refrained. I felt like these people were being shown up by the tempestuous weather. Whenever I am at a show that is of mediocre interest to me, I always want to leave early. Every time I end up staying, I never regret it (I have to say in my defense, when I have left these shows early, I never regretted it, either). But these two pros had something to show the cynical. Towards the end, the Wayne Newton guy asked the men in the audience if they knew how to dance the Tango and tried to get anyone to get up and dance with the woman. Finally, finally the owner danced with her and he did really good!! He certainly wasn't Wayne Newton but he did an admirable job, then the two pros danced again and they were spectacular. They had done several different versions of the tango and this last one I liked the best. The whole audience begged for more, and they did one last dance which wasn't a tango but was fun and joyous and I loved it. LOVED it, I was so glad that we stayed.
This culture has so much respect for music and dance, everyone here, even the teenagers respect the older music. EVERYONE plays an instrument, or dances or sings. Then I think back to some High School music functions in the United States, where you practically had to beg people to attend. This is the beauty of this culture. These people have so much respect for these things, they aren't even high culture, just normal. I promised to say something about Posadas but this has already gone a tad longer than I expected (Norton genetics, again). So next time. Plus we will have gone to the farm!
June 25, 2002
25 Junio 2002
Arrive in Buenos Aires at 8 something am, then go through customs, wait for my bag (I think it was the last last last last LAST one on the plane) and then get my bags scanned one more time for contraband and then onmy way out of the airport. I had spoken with Celso (the husband of the two people who are hosting me) the day before and I wasn't sure if he said that Teresa (the wife half of the duo) would meet me in Buenos Aires or not. She was there because Alma, the girl who came down a term before me, had her passport stolen and her flight back was delayed. So I am walking out of customs, trying to decide where to change some money to catch a bus to the other airport...HA, I just realized I left one part out, the other airport.
Well, Buenos Aires has 2 airports, the large one for international travel and the smaller one for national travel. They aren't near each other and neither of my Argentina travel books gives good advice on switching. Oh did I mention that my flight to Posadas isn't until 7pm? Yup, 8 or so hours to kill before being at the other airport. Oh goodie! It turns out it didn't matter because Alma and Teresa met me at the first airport. We took a taxi to the little hotel where they were staying while Alma sorted out her passport problem. I took a shower and changed clothes (nothing better than cleaning off froma long flight) and then we went out on the town! Lunch and sights and everything! Then we went to the embassy and Alma was able to get her new passport (she had to go at 3p) while we were there, I decided to register with the embassy, just in case anything went wrong, like losing a passport. Ooops!! Only in the morning, too bad. At least I have a few copies of my passport in various places in my luggage. After seeing the town I barely had time to get on my plane to Posadas, where I was met by Celso and his daughter (Cecilia who is married to Sergio, they have 3 daughters Antonella 16, Selene 15 and Tania 13) and Selene. We ended up going to Cecilia's house and I got to meet all the girls and Sergio. This is where the trip becomes PURE Karri.
Had a great time talking (as much as was possible) to all the people and we stayed up pretty late. I got a chance to show them my laptop (showoff, I couldn't even wait one day, I had even told myself that I wouldn't bring it out about 20 minutes before) and pictures and it was a very pleasant evening. They showed me the room I would sleep in and the little bathroom just off of it. I was made to understand that the little bathroom was only for when the other was occupied and it was emergency status. One note about Argentina, and most likely any other South American country, no one EVER sleeps. Everyone in the house was up past midnight and I finally said I had to hit the hay.
One thing about flying, there are always people waiting in line for the bathrooms so it is kind of embarrassing to stink one up, plus I have performance anxiety, so it just isn't even possible for me to, to, ummm, well, YOU KNOW. Then I was whisked right away onto the sightseeing journey and then another plane and THEN a house full of strangers, none of whom would go to bed. There was not a chance to go, as my friend Gareth said, "Oh lord, just say it..poo!" So I woke on Saturday at 6am having not gone, ummmm, you know, poo, for a good 2 days. Well, a small private bathroom that no one ever uses, early enough in the morning for it to clear up of smell, sounds like just the right kind of emergency for me. Afterwards I felt sooooooooooooooooooo much better. Until I went to flush. Hmmmmm, where the hell was the handle? For that matter where the hell was the tank? It was just a toilet connceted to the wall. I found several faucet handles, but upon further inspection none of them were for flushing. There was a hole in the wall above the toilet and I looked into it, hmmm the tank! Behind the wall and seems to be missing its lid. It looked like it had been made in 1899 but at least I was onmy way to a solution. However I haven't ever flushed a toilet without the handle before and didn't have a single clue as how to operate one. I kinda pushed and pulled at some wires. No go.
I see the foater thing that goes down when you flush the toilet (you know the thing that measures the water level and shuts the water off when the tank is full?) well I was exausted of other ideas so I pushed it down. Hard enough to make it stay down, not too hard though, remember this is an antique. Well it stayed down and the water in the tank turned on and no big surprise, the toilet didn't flush. What brilliance! I mean, if I had been thinking about, I would have known that would happen. Who was thinking though?
So the toilet doesn't flush and the tank is filling up, oh SHIT, literally. What to do now? I try to pull the floater thing up, to shut off the water, nope. Mess with a few of the wires and this has the exact same response as before, nothing. And now the water is starting to overflow!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT. What a great morning.
So I give in and go out into the living room. It is my one lucky break that Sergio just happened to be awake (didn't I tell you these people never sleep?). So I asked him for help (actually upon reflection I realized that I said, "I need to help" but he got the idea). The first thing Sergio does is pull some little wire sticking out in the front that any sane person would have realized was the way to flush the toilet. Then he spends about 2 more cyucles of flushing and filling getting the plunger thing to come back up. Apparently there used to be a full wall and a little button to push to fllush the toilet, but it broke and they had to break into the wall, probably the reason few people used that bathroom. Anyway, I couldn't have been MORE embarrassed, but Sergio was really really cool about it. I have the suspicion that he doesn't realize that I shoved that plunger thing down, or maybe he does. This is already quite the letter and I am only on the second day so perhaps I should just sum up from here:
I was very surprised by Argentina, it is less clean and maybe more run down than I expected, but also they have a lot more culture and are soooooo friendly. So it was opposite from my expectations on both sides. My first night with Teresa and Celso we went to a classical concert and then to a folklore thing (these two 60 year-olds kept me out until 2:30 am, I was ready to drop at midnight AND then they both woke up before me the next day as well), the next day we went to a festival of San Juan which reminded me SO much of the Spokane Fair. Things to eat and buy and dancing and music and crazy games. One was a greased pole with names of gifts at the top, little boys took turns trying to get up the pole, it was great fun. Another was kicking a ball lit on fire around and I didn't quite understand the purpose of it. I had some Yankee money on me (everyone is an American in South America too, so you can't use the term American for people from the USA) and I ended up finding something absolutely perfect for my sister (please note how I am not saying what it is) and was able to talk to the lady a little and she said she would take my money! Apparently it is hard to deal with U.S. dollars and many merchants won't take them.
I just love Teresa and Celso and Cecilia and Sergio and their family. They are SO nice and so accomodating (I am not allowed to wash dishes, or clean, I am made to sit in the front of the car, my every wish is catered to, I am not sure I want to go home!) The youngest granddaughter is a big fan of English and is taking a course in the evenings at the local Institute and I might volunteer there.
Another odd thing, these people do NOT drink coffee, except after dinner and in demitasse cups and it is instant AND there is soooooo much suger and milk in it. Really, it isn't coffee. However, Teresa does have an electric pot and makes me a huge cup of drip coffee every morning. I do miss good coffee though.
Monday found me changing money and contacting some of the English schools to see if they want a volunteer. Today, Teresa, Celso and I went for a walk followed by lunch in a café. Ever since Celso found out I work for a winery we have a glass of wine with lunch and with dinner (SUCH a hard life, let me tell you). We started talking about the language and how English doesn't have masculine and feminine forms and I launched into my, "what makes morning masculine and daytime feminine, shouldn't they be the opposite? And bottle, what is it about bottles that is feminine? Nothing!" At that point, Celso pointed out that bottle are completely the opposite of feminine and we had a very amusing conversation about how monuments and such are clearly designed by men, and planes and rockets and tall buildings while we are at it. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. Celso said one other thing that really got me, "There are good moments, good moments that you need to remember, and this is one of those."
I will leave you with one other quote from Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik, "We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second." (Respiramos en nuestra lengua primera, y nadamos en nuestra segunda.)
June 20, 2002
20 Junio 2002
All my quotes are set on random and I have to say the one at the bottom of this email is so fitting, amazing how life works. So tomorrow I set off for Argentina but I won't get to my final destination until 8:15 Friday night, but I think that Posadas (the city I will be staying in) is about 4 or 5 hours ahead of Pacific time. I will be in Buenos Aires about 7 hours while waiting for my flight to Posadas...YUCK!
This is such a great opportunity for me and I am really lucky to have a spouse that is SO supportive! Everyone keeps asking Kevin what he will be doing all summer without me, and while I know I will be busy and my life is going to completely change, I know that I will miss him so much that it is beyond comprehension to me (kleenex break). I know that I will miss so many fun things this summer, the Kendig family reunion, Ellen's wedding (consider changing the date to one week later! ;-), bar-b-ques, everything. At least think of me, or raise a beer or send me an email :) I finally get to become fluent in Spanish, a long long long long time dream. Thank you Kevin and the Nortons and the Ormes for being supportive and making my dreams come true (wow another kleenex break). So don't forget about poor Kevin, give him a call every now and again, ask him if he is keeping up on mowing the lawn.
I hope to get the chance to send out a weekly newsletter thing, telling what I have done and weather and things like that. I will also email the people who email me (you know who you are). So that is the hope and I might slack a tad from time to time, procrastination is key, after all.
This week has been fun and busy, trying to get in visits with everyone (partying like a rock star) and still get everything together by tomorrow at 7am. I doubt I will sleep very well tonight. However, after this email it is likely that the only way to reach me is electronically. I do promise to be safe, to be careful, I have copies of documents in different places on me and luggage and at home. I won't carry much cash with me at any time. I will try to send postcards to you all (some people I don't have addresses for so iffin you want one, email me). I guess this has been a really boring email, hopefully they will get better, if not and you don't want to get them, let me know.
love you all, see you after September 7,
karri
"There is nothing harder than being given your chance."-Deborah Chiel