Algunas observaciones

I went to Ushuaia this past weekend, but I'm waiting for some photos before I write about it. Instead, I'm going to share some observations of Argentina, Buenos Aires and Latin America.

• Don't tell anyone in Florida but Argentina has tastier orange juice. Baggio Pronto Naranja por favor! 
• Argentines are more politically involved than Americans. Nestor Kirchner, the former president and husband of the current president, died a few days ago. My host family is in total shambles. A friend's host family cracked a bottle of champagne. There is no middle ground. You love or hate politicians. Me parece que el mitad no existe con respeto al gobierno.
• Argentine women either wear make-up like it's cake frosting (not an exaggeration) or nothing at all. 
• Argentine men don't know what tweezers are. Ears, noses and of course eyebrows, well, you know. This gets me in trouble on the bus and subway. Guys think I'm checking them out when I'm really just in awe at the fluidity of their unibrows.
• I think listening to Spanish music has blown my speaking ability through the roof. Too bad I didn't discover this sooner.
• Argentina knows snacks. Argentina has to be the snack capital of the world. Kiosks (little stores about the size of a bathroom that prettttttty much only sell snacks and cigarettes) have impressive shelves of alfajores, alfajores, chocolate bars and alfajores. Finding cheddar cheese singles in a grocery store is next to impossible (and incredibly expensive) but there are aisles and aisles of jams, dulce de leche, cookies, crackers, dips, candies, chocolates, cereals, sodas and alfajores.
• Yogurt comes two ways: firme and cremoso. Cremoso yogurt has the consistency of milk and firme jiggles like Jell-O. 
• A guy told me in Ushuaia that if you understand Argentine Spanish, you can understand it all except maybe not Chilean. I believe it. Or at least I hope he's right. I'd bet my car that any one from back home with no knowledge of Spanish would think they were hearing Italian. A few reasons- they talk with their hands, including the little hand at mouth kiss thing thing; they put -issimo on the end of adjectives for emphasis, buenissimo, riquissimo, lejissimo; and there are as many Italian last names here as there are Spanish. My family's last name is Albergucci. Doesn't get much more Italian than that. 
• Alfajores and orange juice is my new favorite combo. If you've been living a deprived life and have never experienced an alfajor, I'm sorry. If you're family, no worries- I'm bringing back boxes and boxes. Alfajores are a cookie filled with dulce de leche, covered in chocolate and sometimes sprinkled with nuts. I love Terabusi, Milka and Negro/Blanco. Om nom nom nom!
• Pizza here has to be eaten with a fork. Hands not an option. 
• E M P A N A D A S.
• I think food is here a bit overrated but I will be living a sad life without empanadas, medialunas, milanesa napolitana, alfajores and queso untable. Luckily all but the last two can be recreated at home.
• Argentina is Latin America but the coffee sho ain't. I think good Latin American coffee ends in Venezuela. Triste. Por lo menos tenemos maté!
• Argentines get the most out of their things. This is one life lesson I'm super happy to have learned. They wear clothes over and over and over before washing. They reuse bags- paper and plastic- over and over again. They take care of the things they have and make everything last. My host mom's Fiat has 900,000 kilometers on it. That's about 600,000 miles. Yeah.
• After studying Spanish for a few years, I've come to realize that my Spanish speaking world is dominated by a 3-letter word. Que. It means what and that and sometimes how. It also triggers the subjunctive- a linguistic mood that doesn't exist in English. Que importante!

Ushuaia blog coming soooon!