South American Adventures

Here are some of Bergit's latest adventures in South America:

1 - Argentina - I got locked in a hotel bathroom and couldn't get out. When the maintenance man finally came he had to use his wrench to break the handle and get me out. Now I know why they all have phones in the restrooms.

2 - Argentina - We got a flat tire on the way to a meeting but were fortunate to have some people around who were able to help us put on the spare and drive to a place where they could patch the tire. Unfortunately, the next day as we were on the highway, it went flat again. So we had to change the tire again on the side of the road...thank goodness the spare tire still worked!

3 - We were lucky to find a GPS with maps of Argentina, Paraguay, and other South American countries. Unfortunately, Eva (as we fondly call it) has not led us to our exact location on a few occasions. Two of these times, we were looking for our hotel and she either has us on the wrong side of a one way street, or on the wrong street all together. Luckily we were still able to figure things out in the end.

4 - Paraguay - We ended up taking a 12:30 am bus from Argentina to Paraguay. This was not our desire, but it is how it happened. Once we crossed the border at 4 in the morning, we arrived at our hotel at 5:30 and requested our room. Well since early check in wasn't until 9:00, we had to pay for an additional night or stay on the couch for a few hours. Thank goodness we took the room. Big fluffy beds and lots and lots of pillows. I was out very quickly!

5 - Paraguay - We went to an open air market in Paraguay where there was a lot of things for sale. We found food (pineapple, every other kind of fruit, beef, etc.), shoes galore, sunglasses, watches, backpacks and lots of clothing.

6 - Argentina - In the streets we have seen a lot of fun things including protests, spray painters who make amazing art, a man laying on glass and having people step on him and even some tango. See the video for a taste of what was seen here:

More fun to come as Bergit continues on to Brazil and Iguazu Falls!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

OK, so I am currently in Buenos Aires and it is a much different city that which is found in the United States. As I mentioned before, the traffic/driving is amazing yet complicated (we will be driving later, so wish us luck). I am constantly surprised that we are still alive after the number of the times it seems like we were going to be crushed or even bumped from all sides. Just to show you some of it, I took a short video:

Ok, so you can't really see the crazy traffic in this video (I had a better one, but it is too big). But let me assure you that it is real!!

Not only has the traffic been an barrier, but the language has been also. I think most of us have experienced not understanding someone when they were out and about, even if it the person was not talking directly to them. This trip I have found myself in this exact situation. My Italian has helped my out quite a bit as it is also a Latin language. However, in attempting to respond to what I think I understood, I am not having as much luck. Although I attempt to drop or add a vowel to the word or even change my accent, it is still not Spanish. But, all in all, I am at least glad that I understand some things.