Los Chalchaleros

A really cool Argentinian band of gauchos that has been in existence for 60 years..of course the members change, sons of original members take their father's places. Never have they performed not wearing their gaucho uniforms. Really awesome.

Today was a great day. We went to San Telmo, a really great little bohemian district with amazing antique shops and little cafes. Every Sunday in San Telmo there is a street fair where vendors sell items that range from beautiful vintage lace to antique guns to pieces of old chandeliers to crazy antique telephones. Needless to say I was like a kid in a candy store. There was also a great vintage shop where I bought some little wonders including an amazing Italian jumpsuit and a gorgeous red vintage robe that makes me feel like a 1950s show girl.

The great little store:


The Awesome Jumpsuit:

A Day at the Estancia

Yesterday our program took us on a trip to an "estancia," a kind of countryside/ranch place. It was very beautiful, and actually looked a lot like Texas. There were plenty of horses, cows, even some llamas. And on this particular estancia there was a hotel. We arrived, were fed amazing home-made empanadas de carne, and then walked around the grounds. It was so relaxing and peaceful. Gauchos were cooking meat on huge outdoor grills, and others were taking groups for rides on horses. After a while we ate lunch, which included blood sausage. I was almost positive this was a kind of scare-tactic, you know calling it blood sausage when it actually contained no blood. So I asked the gaucho what was in it and he replied, very nonchalantly, "Sangre." I laughed and me and Ariana decided we had to try everything, so why not. It had a very unpleasant texture to say the least. After that we saw a series of traditional Argentinian dances performed on stage and then the dancers came out and chose different people to come up and dance with them. I was chosen by one of the gauchos to dance a polka which was pretty fun. After that we were taken outside to a kind of short race-track which just spanned up and down about the length of half a football field. there was a wire suspended across the end of one side of the track, and from the wire hung two small pipes with little rings attached to the ends. We had no idea what these were for, nor were we warned about anything, when all of a sudden a gaucho came running on horseback at light speed and stood up in his stirrups, and attempted to put a pointed metal stick through the tiny ring. His first try was a fail. :( But after he and his fellow gauchos succeeded at removing the rings from the pipes every other time, we realized that this fail was probably just for show. It was incredibly cool to watch and at the end, the gauchos gave their little key-rings to different girls in the audience. haha, never to the men which I thought was funny and probably custom. After this bit of entertainment we were free to lay in the grass or play soccer or ride horses again for a while before we boarded our bus and took the two-hour ride back to Buenos Aires.

Some Lovely Sites on the Estancia:








The Crazy Races:

Wolves are On My Mind

Little Red loves Lavish Cloth

A recent spread in the September issue of Vogue made me a little nostalgic for storytime and jealous that I wasn't sitting next to a Big Bad Wolf of my own:

Protests and Pudding

Today was another very long day. It began when we woke up at 7:45 to get ready for the beginning of our orientation week. Our building where classes are given is actually very beautiful. It looks European-ish. It's very small but then there are only about 60 students in this program. Anyway we had a routine "This is Buenos Aires. These are the rules" kind of talk which made Ari and I very sleepy. So, we went home, took a nap, and then ate some chocolate pudding. :D That was nice. Then we went back to school for a tour of the city..which is now tour number two. The cool thing about going on this tour is that because it was during the week there were protests in front of the Pink House. There was one going on for the veterans of wars that went unrecognized by the state and we were told that every thursday there is a march done by the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. I really need to go into detail about this one because it's something that I hadn't known about before and thought was incredibly sad and interesting. The Madres de Plaza de Mayo is an organization of women who work to find the identities of their children,(thought to have been political dissidents) who were victims of "forced dissapearance" in the mid-seventies during the "Dirty War" in Argentina. These people, who were mostly students, were believed to have been heavily drugged by the military and thrown alive out of airplanes over the Atlantic Ocean. Without a body, the government could easily deny that these people had been killed or had ever existed. There were thousands of disappearances during this time, and this organization of mothers pulls for several causes that they believe their children were fighting for. Learning about this was probably the most interesting part of my day. A new friend told me that there's a movie that's all about this time in Argentina called "La Verdadera Historia" or something of that nature. I'll double check tomorrow.

signs from the veterans' protest:




One location under a now-highway where many bodies of "the dissapeared" were recently found buried. It has now been decorated to mark the spot and honor those found:

Unpacking is Hard to Do

Thought I'd just post a little diddy about our wierd unpacking experiences. Ariana and I brought way too much...about 3 suitcases each. Miraculously, we managed to maximise space enough to where everything fit in our various drawers and cool little closets :D here are some pictures documenting the event:


Ariana discovers my fur beanie:




Creeper in the closet:

Street Fairs and Cemetaries

Yesterday was a very very intense day. We had a quick tour of the entire city that took about five hours to complete...and yes..that was the "quick" tour. It was actually incredibly cool. First we went to the famous cemetary of mosoleums. It was crazy! The guide told us that each mosoleum was about the cost of a nice apartment here in Buenos Aires. Each one was so lavish and huge, and you could see inside some of them because they had windows and there were coffins literally lining the walls! Each mosoleum looked like a small chapel, and the architecture was amazing...they looked like the churches in Europe and had steeples, mosaics, and beautiful statues on them. After we left the cemetary we got back on our little bus and saw several important buildings that I can't remember the names of..except one! We saw the Pink House...which is Argentina's equivalent of the White House. It's where Eva Peron (Evita) made her speeches from and lived for quite some time. Very cool. There were guards in front of it like the kind in London that can't move. haha. I like those. Then we went to different parts of the city. My favorite part was San Telmo, the bohemian/artisty area where there were amazing stores and a street fair! There were men doing beautiful little puppet shows with actual marionettes, and there were stands where women sold antique lace slips and dresses and table cloths..so pretty. We then went to the hotel to pick up our bags and move into our new apartment with our host family! It was a lot of fun to say the least. The family has 3 boys, one is 14, one is 9, and the youngest is 8. The two little ones are hilarious and busted out their flutes, roller blades, and Korn cds all at different parts of the night...yes korn. hahaha so that was my yesterday. I'll post again soon!

A hall in the cemetary:


Some of the Mosoleums:




The Pink House:


The Puppeteer of Wonder:

An Argentinian Cabaret

Tonight was a wonderful night! Both our families (The Morenos and The DiLorenzos) went to a cabaret-style tango show called Rojo Tango. The decor was amazing, mostly red velvet and sexiness. They actually performed the Moulin Rouge style rendition of the song "Roxanne" as their finale...Amazing to say the least. There was a live band and singer..it was phenomenal.




Afterward, my brother, Ariana, and I ran about town causing havoc.

Sucre

The restaurant we went to tonight was called Sucre. It was surprisingly New York-ish in its atmosphere..dark, trendy, wine bottles line the walls kind of thing. Our waiter had the best pompador on earth and sharp, enormous sideburns. He did have a really high voice though which was kind of awesome in juxtoposition with that hair. I met my host-mom today! She's amazing. So pretty and nice and she's got great style! I'm excited to meet the rest of the family tomorrow. :)

Adventures in Buenos Aires: The Beginning

So today was my travel day..well today and yesterday. I took an overnight flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires which was about nine and a half hours long. The cool thing though was that I had my own little module-like area with a footrest and my seat reclined all the way into a bed! haha it was pretty cool. Since it was an overnight flight I woke up in time to see the sunrise. It was gorgeous. So red. I'm now sitting in my hotel room with Ariana and can't believe today is finally here.

My little module:


The gorgeous sunrise:

My Summer of Kickass Cult Flicks

This summer's been full of little adventures for me, but perhaps one of the most memorable things about it has been my immersion in crazy cool underrated movies thanks in part to a very wonderful film loving friend of mine. Here are a few of the films i've seen lately that have inspired, intrigued, and sometimes just disturbed me...in the best way possible

True Romance

Mulholland Drive (kind of frustrating but still way cool)


Legend (an awesome 1985 Labrynth-esque flick featuring Tom Cruise at his finest)


Natural Born Killers (which i've always loved but just gets better every time)


Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas


Bundy (hilariously kitchy and way fun)


Hocus Pocus (gotta love Bette Midler's rendition of "I Put A Spell on You")


Punch Drunk Love


Children of the Corn (kind of awesome)

How Do I Love Chloe? Let Me Count the Ways

Just thought I'd pay tribute to one of my style icons:

The Knife

I know this song isn't new, but I just love it so much and haven't been able to get it out of my head lately. Also, the video is completely wierd and cool:

French Makes Me Giddy

Here's a really really cool little diddy by the girl who inspired April March's "Chick Habbit"

And in case you haven't heard "Chick Habbit," here you go.

A Second Set of Ears

We've all seen Louis Vuitton's new Bunny Ears, a tribute to the French coquette and Playboy Bunny


But check out these sets of sexy little ears:


and lets not forget the original: