May

May began with the North Trip, upon my return to Catamarca began the post-exchange student trip depression. Which I guess was worse this time round seeing that we knew it was the end and the last trip we would be spending all together.

Above are just some pictures of some of the highlights from the Trip. Then it was back to the grind and back to school. AS soon as I unpacked I was yet again packing to go to Antofogasta de la Sierra, a place in the province of Catamarca. The county has over 220 volcanoes and the world´s longest salt flat. I went with my geography classmates so that was an interesting experience. We went for a long four day weekend. It´s an extremely isolated place. with a small population. So another purpose of our visit was to help kids at the school there. It was a really cool trip. But it was so cold there, like actually cold and living in the Catamarca sun for the past year I´ve turned into a lazy cat and I can´t handle the cold anymore. The girls who I traveled with took a lot of pictures, which usually doesnñt bug me because it´s like on the North or South Trip everyone takes pictures and whatever, however they took too many pictures. They would take pictures of everyone eating, or just over pose for things, or just always beg for me to be in the picture because i was foreign or beg me to say things in English so that they can record a video, or just record videos of people saying hi to the camera. Which I handled for the first two days but by the end it drove me insane. I had to tell them, don´t take anymore suprise photos of me, or photos of me sleeping on the bus, please don´t. It may have been a little saucy to say it, but I explained I don´t like being IN pictures. Saturday we went to the museum and walked around, which didnt take long considering its size haha. We also did a four by four expedition to the Campo de Piedra Poman which are these rock formations form Volcanic rock, but these rocks are white. There were rocks of all colors in Antofogasta. The next day we went to The Volcanoe called Antofogasta and we climbed it. I was so proud of myself because usually I have huge problems hiking in high altitudes, but I actually felt rather comfortable during this one and we reached a height of about 3,800m above sea level. Then later we went to go check out some indigenous drrawings and artifacts. The next morning we went to visit the school and donate clothes to the children and just talk to the kids. It was really nice to give back, and these kids are so happy with so little. Antofogasta literally has no luxuries, they just have the soccer field. Once we got back to Catamarca Capital we went to work on Folklore. We were preparing a presentation for the Rotary District Conference as a group and we had to dance Folklore. We learned how to dance two dances and have the traditional costumes. It went rather well but of course I wish we had better planning because we had to learn everything in 6 classes and I missed one because of Antofogasta. So after preparing we left for Cordoba on Friday. We were invited to the house of our teacher where her dad prepared us some delicious traditional italian food. And that was also when I got to meet Sarah´s Family (from New Mexico) It turns out that her mom was actually born an Ohio girl, raised in Centerville. Then we went together to the bus to go to Cordoba and then our journey was so typical Argentina. We left the main plaza relatively on time, then all of a sudden we were going off in a weird direction, that wasn´t the way to Cordoba. So we ended up in the city dump (city owned the bus we were using) and we waited an hour for them to change the spare tire. Then we start heading back to the main plaza again, to pick up the insurance papers of the van, we were tired of waiting so we ran to go get ice cream at the corner. Then we finally get on the highway to go to Cordoba, only to turn around and for the driver to announce there was no fuel. So we went back adn filled up before ACTUALLY leaving for Bel Ville in Cordoba. So we had a crazy bus ride since it was so uncomfortable in there and i was sitting next to tall people so there was no extra space. Then we arrived in Bel Ville and met up with the exchange Student living in La Rioja, and settled into the Hotel. The next morning we were prepared with blazers and practicing our dance, and saying hi to all the exchange students. Then we did our Folklore Presentation which actually went fairly well. Then after some more presentations and lots of pictures we were preparing to leave. Then we had to say goodbye and go back to Catmarca. We were all a wreck. I was crying and saying goodbye to everyone. Everyone was saying "I´ll visit you" "I Can´t believe it´s over". Then someone said "I´ll see you off at the airport in Cordoba" and I said " but I´m leaving from Catamarca" and I cried even more! It was the definate end. It hit me like a wall. I couldn´t believe it, the year was ending, I had 7 weeks left in Argentina. After all of the Sadness and coming back to Catamarca, I watched the Boca game with friends (soccer tournament is going on here, and Boca´s my team) We won 2-0 against Racing. Which was good, then Monday and Tuesday I spent more time with Sarah and her Family going to cafes, and just chilling (what we´re best at here in Argentina). Then It´s the last week now of two of my closest exchange friends so we are doing a list of last things. Like last time going out to dance, last time going to this nice restaurant. I´m going to be a wreck when they leave. It´s hard to think about. I also changed families again this weekend since my other family went to Europe. I ended up changing to a completely different family than they had told me origionally, which is so Argentina, but They are really nice people and I hope I can stay at their house for the remainder of my exchange. :)