Vacationing Like An Argentine

It has officially been one month since the beginning of our adventures in Argentina. Hard to believe huh? 

Well, this weekend was the first national holiday that we got to celebrate. March 24th represents the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice  which is connected with the anniversary of the 1976 coup that ruled the country for 7 years, pretty serious stuff. Back in Buenos Aires, there were demonstrations and gatherings held to support or protest things happening in Argentina (especially because elections are coming up), so most of us IES kids decided to head south (or north- its warmer up there) for vacation. 

On Saturday and Sunday, a very well- known music festival across the world was occurring in a suburb of Buenos Aires, Lollapolooza. Having bought our tickets months in advance, we were SO excited for this festival. Famous bands and artists like Calvin Harris, Bastille, Pharell Williams and Jack White were the headliners- how cool. It was actually pretty funny because we didn't feel like we were in a foreign country anymore- almost all of the bands were from the United States or England and were speaking English or extremely bad Spanish. It was especially humorous when bands would ask the audience questions or give them directions to repeat after them (you know, to rile up the crowd) and there would be dead silence because, well, we were in a Spanish speaking country and they were screaming English. Its okay though, the Argentine audience reciprocated the awkwardness by chanting their "Ole ole ole ole ollle ollleee" cheer after every performance which usually put the bands in some sort of confused panic. Only one band actually acknowledged it with a simple response of "Uhhh, I have no idea what you guys are saying, but okay" with a slightly sheepish smile. Lets just say there was more entertainment than just the performances at this Lollapolooza. So really the point of this whole paragraph again is to iterate that there is ALWAYS something to do in Buenos Aires. 

After Lollapolooza, a few of us decided to take a trip south to Mar del Plata (I know, not Uruguay) , a well known beach town about 5 hours from Buenos Aires. Before I get into the details about the actual vacation, I really want to mention the bus trip. First of all the bus terminal, the train station and the boat port are all within a mile of each other- how convenient! Next, there is a thing called semi- cama bus (you know, half bed) and to anyone reading this- promise me that you will always book the semi-cama. Don't think "Oh, its only five hours, I don't need that" or "Maybe I should save money"- No. Book the semi-cama. It is the ultimate luxury transportation complete with delicious snacks. Alright, off my soapbox to now talk about Mar Del Plata. Such a beautiful town, with a beautiful ocean and beach, what more could you want? I do want to mention my particular point of pride from that trip when my group of 5 friends and I decided to save money (you know, because we put it towards the semi-cama) and bought eggs, hotdogs and cheese to make omelets for dinner. I know its not the classiest of meals but come on, we are still college kids- and we somehow made it ourselves. Thank you Dad for making me learn how to make eggs last summer. The dinner was a success and we then spent the rest of the night listening to our friend play his guitar and playing cards in the hostel. The next morning we immediately went to the beach and enjoyed our first vacation with Matte and sunshine until our bus ride home. 

Vacationing like an Argentine: Check.