The Big Apple

Before we begin, I need to explain something of the utmost importance: PRUSSIA. So, here in Montevideo we are actually learning things, not just traveling and doing awesome interesting things. We are learning about healthcare in one of our classes. In this particular class we were studying the Bismarck Model, which is implemented by Germany. It all began because of a very fat, large man named Bismarck. He united countries together and named it the Kingdom of Prussia, which is now modern Germany. 

Bismarck, our national fattie. He gets much fatter in life than this, but I couldn't find a picture online...

Well, because I’m me and a Wilkins, I of course sometimes/mostly speak in a Russian accent. The stars are aligned because so does this girl Megan Kriger, who I met on this trip. That was our first bonding realization: we’re both avid Russia fans. Anyways, through many jokes and laughs, we decided we were going to bring Prussia back and make it a new country of which we would rule together. I know what you’re thinking: what weirdos. I agree. 

But, everyone else is a weirdo here too because now we have the entire group of seventeen people talking in a Russian accent and they refer to us as Mother Prussia. Boo-Yah. WFP (win for Prussia). Anyways, through many other jokes and laughs, Paul is our fearless leader, lovingly referred to as POFL. We have the glorious and majestic chinchilla as our national animal, droobles are our national currency, and citizenship is based off of quirky things a person does or says if they are rich. Ashley is somehow Megan and I’s mother even though I’m the oldest on this trip, and megan and I are sisters due to the fact that everywhere we go (literally) someone asks us if we are sisters. People say it’s our eyes (which I agree is weird that they’re the exact same, because I’ve only ever known my mom to have my eyes that change and are predominantly green), but it’s probably our awesome Prussia-ness. So from hereforth, if I refer to “Prussia” I could be referring to Megan and me or Megan, me, Ashley, Paul, Lauren L, and Kelsie and/or the entire group here. If you’re not laughing or at least smiling, just chalk it up to one of those “You had to have been there.”

Onward!

The journey began with frantic packing and bus buddy choosing. After Prussia had successfully claimed seats, we immediately fell asleep. We are so much like sisters in spirit that we even sleep exactly the same way. 

Once we woke up we found we were in a strange little town with the strangest little knick knacks. One of these knacks of course, was an awesome merry-go-round, which we of course took full advantage of.

This little farm was actually really cool and totally random. It has the world’s second largest collection of keychains. It also has the world’s smallest pencil. Basically, we all decided, it housed (literally in a house) a ton of random objects extremely organized = organized hoarding. It was insane. Granted, it was pretty cool, but also something I would expect to be the stage of a Twilight Zone episode. I’ve no idea why. 

In addition to the lovely collections, this little farm also made and sold their own jams. Jams you would can expect to find are blueberry, grape, apple, apricot, peach, tomato, banana, sweet potato, and onion, to just name a few. Oh! And dulce de leche. Which I’m pretty sure is the ambrosia the Greeks were talking about their mythical gods eating. We got to try all of these amazing tastes and some were a little less amazing, but it was a great experience! After that we hopped back on the bus, only to stop for lunch at the beach on our way to Colonia. It was pretty neat. I mean, awesome. Prussia claimed the beach, we ate a sandwich, pretended we were on Lost, and called it an afternoon. 

On our way to Colonia, the last stop before our ferry to Argentina. Megan and I did not fall asleep again. 

Once we arrived at Colonia, we stopped just on the outskirts to look at an old bull-fighting arena. I remember the real bull-fight we went to on my Oxford study abroad trip and I can say that I am very glad this one had been shut down for almost 100 years. But, Ash and I tried as best we could at how it was back then.   

Once we got to Colonia, we were told we had three HOURS to look around, shop, and/or chill. So, we took off, exploring. First things on our list to see was the lighthouse and the giant armadillo statue in the random museum they have there. Sadly, neither of those happened as we ran out of time and there was a fee for the lighthouse and the giant armadillo display was closed. BUT we did get submarinos, made friends with all the stray dogs, and got whistled at by a mime, so all in all it was still a great day. 

Next up, ferry to Argentina! 

Once we got through immigration at the ferry output, everyone was stopped on the winding ramp that led to the ferry. It was very cold and very windy, but the crew wouldn’t let us on the boat. They came out and told everyone, like fifty people who were all backed up, to go back, that they weren’t ready for us. 

Well, that did not go over well with all the natives there so none of them moved and we were stuck, some in the front, some in the middle. So we just stood there for a good fifteen, twenty minutes nodding knowingly at the natives talking angrily to us and laughing when they laughed. Strange, but extremely funny situation. Thankfully, they finally let us all on (I think the problem was that they couldn’t allow anyone on the ship without the captain being on board and he finally came), but then the ticket tearer people wouldn’t let me on the boat and were asking me questions to which my response was, “Como? Un momento.” And then I ran and got Rosalinda who, with Wimon, saved me. Apprently immigration didn’t stamp my ticket in the right place so they assumed I hadn’t gone through immigration except I kept showing my receipt and my passport where immigration had stamped it, so they didn’t really have an argument but were still arguing. Basically Rosalina and Wimon saved me by being extremely stubborn and telling the lady that the immigration people hadn’t done their job correctly and I wasn’t going to have to suffer for that. I’m glad because I had not idea what was happening haha After that near catastrophe, I promptly fell asleep (again. I blame you parents.) and woke up as we were pulling into Argentina.

Once we arrived, we checked into our hotel and then Wimon took us all down to the mall and turned us loose.

Which was slightly scary because Argentina is much busier than Montevideo and much bigger. Also, if you know me, you know my talents (or lack thereof) with maps. PROBLEMATIC. Anyways, a few of us had some mall court food, which looked really good, but mine was awful. The cash register did as if Megan and I were sisters though. Seriously, this keeps happening. Then we set towards the hotel, which we found after an encounter with a very energetic street preacher (which really was awesome. He was so happy and on fire. But his pamphlet was a little disturbing) and a sketch guy that tried talking up two of the girls in our group. We lost him, and ourselves, but managed to make it back to the hotel in one piece. I then fell into my lovely duvet bed and slept like a sloth. 

The next day we had a bus tour for most the morning and afternoon. We visited the cathedral where San Martin, the liberator of Argentina (and actually Chile and Peru). It was pretty cool. Wherever there are important people buried, there is a an always lit lantern outside the building which is supposed to represent their soul living on forever. 

Next we visited Casa Rosada, which is basically equivalent to the White House in D.C. This was particularly interesting because we had just watched and learned a lot about Evita Perón. Evita Perón was this super angry girl from the lower class that rose to become the wife of the dictator through manipulation and sexual exploits. 

I think we really could pull off the sisters thing...

The whole gang

She hated the middle class because her father’s first family (she and her family were the “other” family he had) refused to let her come to her father’s funeral as a child. She was also looked down upon her whole life because she was a bastard child. Anyway, she rose to power, kind of, through her taking from the rich and giving to the poor. So the poor loved her because she satisfied their immediate needs, but the rich hated her because she stole from them to give to the poor. So I think of her as a kind of sick, twisted Robin Hood. She died like SIXTY-TWO years ago and the people of Argentina still adore her. There are statues of her everywhere, graffiti everywhere, people still visit her mausoleum and leave fresh flowers. She is on their 100 peso bill, her face is literally plastered on the side of a building, one side facing the rich is her yelling angrily and the other side faces the poor side of town in which she looks kind.

So creepy

 The current president always has Evita’s portrait set in view behind her when she address the country to keep the people’s loyalty. She says she directly channels Evita’s spirit. Kinda creepy. What’s crazy about all of this is that she wasn’t even president. She was the First Lady of the dictator at the time, Perón. But she had lots of address to the public and went on lots of tours on which she campaigned for Perón. Honestly, she kind of scared me haha If you want to know more, watch the movie Eva Perón. Be forwarned though, it’s kind of awful. BUT it has Antonio Banderas in it so… take that as you will. Sadly, Evita died of cancer when she was thirty-three, right after her hubby was about to offer her the position of VP, which was what she had been wanting forever.

After Casa Rosada we walked in the plaza de mayo where the monument to Argentina’s independence stands.

Here, perfectly spaced between each other, are the symbols of Las Locas, the crazy mothers. This was to represent all the random kidnappings that happened during the dictatorship.

The government kidnapped like 35,000 people, mostly young students, educated people, because they didn’t want anyone thinking for themselves or teaching others. It started subtly and in the middle of a war the government started as a distraction so no one noticed for a while until the mothers started coming to the plaza and walking around it everyday, in silent “non-protest” to the dictatorship. The law stated that protesting was illegal and defined it was standing around in a public place, so that’s why they walked around and around and around, silently. Then if people came up and asked what they were doing, they would tell them. To this day, the mothers that still have not found their children meet every Thursday and walk around the plaza. There is now an association built that helps find children and helps people if they think it’s strange they seem to have no proof of a family. They go to the Mothers and through DNA testing, they can see if their DNA matches those missing, so grandchildren and grandparents can be reunited. No one knows what exactly happened to those 35,000 people, but recently there have been excavations under the newly built highways where they have found massive burial grounds of hundreds of people that haven’t been dead that long. All of this war and then independence happened in the past fifty years. Isn’t that crazy? That’s not a long time ago. 

The next place we went was La Boca!! It is so cool. La Boca is a neighborhood built out of leftover shipyard materials by all the immigrants that came here. Their houses are still standing 100 years later. And because they used scraps, their houses, businesses, you name it, are all different colors. So cool and hippie. We only got thirty minutes to look around so we’ll go back the last day.

Gotta keep those trees warm and fashionable

There's Evita in the middle...

So many colors!

Next we stopped at a super cool flower monument, (it used to open up at night and the pistols on the inside were lights, but it’s broken right now) that was made by an Argentinean scholar and architect, to remind students in Argentina to not take their free university education for granted and to do something with it after they’ve earned it. 

Then we went to the graveyard in Argentina that Evita is buried at and explored that. It was crazy big. Literally like an elaborate city for the dead. Like, Phantom of the Opera was probably filmed there. Not really, but that would have been cool. We also saw the mosuleum of the first president after the dictatorship. He was the people’s man and people still bring him fresh flowers as well. His mosuleum looks different than the closed, dark, deep ones everywhere else in the cemetery. 

His is open, light, beautiful even, and always has flowers. This is because he symbolized the things he wanted for the people. He reminded them that they were in control of the government, that they were all deserving of education, that the government was supposed to do what they all desired, and that they should never be under a dictatorship again.

We also saw this other random burial site of this young girl's grave which was designed with her hand on the door handle, as if she is trying to escape, because she was accidentally buried alive. The popular rumor is that her mother and fiancé (who had a secret affair) believed they overdosed her on sleeping medicine one night when the fiancé was seeing the mother. They rushed to have her placed in her casket so no one would find out the truth of how she died and expose their affair. However, the funeral was taking place the next day and when the cemetery guard found the coffin broken in places the next morning, he opened it and scratch marks were found on the inside of her coffin as well as bruises on her face and hands because she woke up (she had suffered from a catalepsy attack), couldn't get out, and died of suffocation/exhaustion/shock. So crazy. Sounds like something from Twilight Zone, again. 

After the cemetery, we got lunch at a pizziera and then were supposed to meet everyone at the next fine arts museum…well my people, Prussia got lost. We got lost bad. The cemetery was like in the middle of this HUGE artisan market, which was awesome. The only problem was that Megan, Lauren, and I are all awful at directions and we did not have a map. There were people everywhere, pretty things to distract us, and so much noise. And music.

We walked for like thirty minutes, trying to find the place they told us to meet them at, but we couldn’t. We ended up just going to Starbucks and trying to use that wifi to tell Wimon and Rosalinda that we were fine, just lost. We ended up getting a hold of them and Dr. Austin and were told to stay put and that Wimon and Rosalinda were on their way to get us. In the meantime, we three did what anyone would do in our situation: we ordered a Starbucks drink. A dulce de leche Starbucks drink. And it was heavenly. After they found us, Rosalinda walked us to where we were supposed to have met everyone, which turned out to literally be across the street from where we were at one point, but we didn’t see it. Then we walked around the market and bought a TON of really cool gifts. This market was more awesome than most because it had two requirements: 1. Everything being sold had to be handmade and 2. The inventor/tradesman/woman had to be the one selling it. So, like a legit craft fair with awesome stuff. It was so cool. Got like 93% of my gift shopping done there. Then we headed home to go to the tango show!!

Then tango show was so so so so so so so (etc) cool!!! It’s just so crazy how fast they can move their feet. The music was pretty fun too. There was a piano player, guitar player, and last but not least, an accordion player. I mean, how cool is that?! AND we saw this little tango show in Café Tortoni, which is a super famous café in Argentina. 

The next day we all hoped on the subway to get to church. At church, Dr. Mr. Austin preached, in Spanish, so even though I’ve no clue what he taught on, it was a beautiful service and everyone was extremely nice. After lunch we headed to the Sunday market. On the subway on the way to the market, we got serenaded! He was actually really good haha

Next, we went to the market! So many trinkets, clothes, and handmade goods!! AND ALPACA SWEATERS.

It’s so soft. After shopping for a little while Prussia met back up at this side little café where we met Doug. I know what you’re thinking, Doug the cartoon from Doug who is also Qman. No, not that Doug. But that is what I thought. This Doug hailed from Rochester, New York and was studying abroad as well. He heard us talking in English and asked to eat lunch with us. We of course said yes to this complete stranger. Anyway, we were all sitting there talking about school and the culture and all study abroad-y things when we heard this lady like scream/yell. I’m not entirely sure how to describe it. But we turned around and there was this lady screaming at this other guy and pushing him and hitting him and getting all up in his face. Then the husband of that lady started slapping, like full out open handed slapping, this guy who wasn’t fighting back or talking but randomly started banging his head into a door…Apparently the lady’s bag went missing and they thought the guy stole it or handed it off to an accomplice. The couple and their friends kept screaming “VEO LO! VEO LO!” which means “I SAW I SAW!” Then they started yelling for the police and then the husband had knives behind his back and things just looked like they might escalate rather quickly so we bid Doug adieu and split like peas. Sadly, we thought of a picture with Doug after we had left, so he is left up to your imagination. Or childhood past. 

After that adventure we all needed some therapy so we got ice cream on our way to the Galileo planetarium we were meeting the boys at.

We got out of the taxi, walked in, found the boys, talked for exactly five minutes, and then the staff came and ushered us all out. It closed right when we got there. We had wanted to go at night because there were giant telescopes we could pay to look through to see stars and nebulas, but it was so cloudy we think they cancelled it. Regardless we didn’t get to see anything because it was super cloudy and we showed up at closing time. Story of my life. Next we all went to Palacia de Papas Fritas (Palace of French fries). It was actually not a palace, but they did have fantastic French fries. They were like puffy and almost empty in the middle. Like someone had taken a regular steak fry and blew it up with air. So tasty. After I got back from the restaurant, I had a surprise skype date with my favorite kiddos ever! I couldn’t tell you who was more excited to see each other, me or them. They were playing superheros. Clara was running around in a transformers costume and Cash randomly came back with the Batman mask on. I'm so proud. I've taught them well. I claim like 92% responsibility for their sense of humor. Can’t wait to see them. They are getting so big! I won’t bore you all with a sob story haha After skyping them I skyped my parentals, which is always fun because they are crazy awesome. 

The next day, the last day, we had a few hours before we had to head back home, so Prussia went to the Opera House, El Colon. This opera house was almost the coolest thing I’ve ever seen (I leave room for future cool things). It is one of the world’s most famous opera houses, it’s one of the few that has its own ballet school and costume factory underneath it, it has perfect acoustics, there is a golden circle on the ceiling where people from the choir sing down into the audience to play the voice of God or of angels or lightning or birds singing, and it seats 3000 people. It was opened in 1910. 

The stage is longer and wider than the already humongous auditorium. When they restored the seats, they put the same cotton back into the chairs with new fabric so they would not mess with any of the acoustics because a place has to have an equal amount of reverberation for the sounds to be the best they can be. Originally, our tour guide had told us no videoing or flash photography, but then she asked if anyone was brave enough to sing once we were all sitting in the auditorium. Fun fact: Megan is an angel. Her singing has caused flowers to grow, babies to giggle, wars to stop, and people to unite. She’s that good. And so naturally, we made her sing. I’m just so proud to have such a talented friend. As she was singing some super loud kids from school came in, but then they all got really quiet as they listened to her sing.

As we were touring the place with our awesome funny British tour guide, she showed us this statue. She asked if anyone could guess the name of the statue. I did right off the bat. :). It’s called The Secret. This is its story: 

Cupid asking for a now from his mother, president married famous singer that preformed at el colon, he bought her flowers and jewelry after every show but she only ever took flowers to show that he could not buy her and then one day she was preforming, curtain opened, and it was just him in the audience. He'd bought all the seats so he'd be the only one. She married him 8 years later after she was finished singing.

 

After the opera house we went to La Boca again to spend some more time (and money) looking around at all the painters, dancers, and general awesomeness that La Boca is. I bought a few trinkets along with some other peeps and then headed on our way back to the hotel area. We had lunch at a café, some coffee at starbucks where I changed my identity for a measly (aka the BEST CUP OF COFFEE IN THE WORLD) dulce de leche latte, 

and then we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the group to head back to Montevideo. We hopped on the bus, then the ferry where I read like a speed demon because I hadn’t finished my group book we were presenting the next day. BUT I DID. Really, I was surprised. Then we all hopped on the bus home and Megan and I of course rocked out hardcore and did a little bit of reading (but mostly singing/lipsyncing and dancing in our seats). We ended up home safely, if not a bit exhausted. Annnnddd curtain call. That’s the end of Argentina! I’ll post the next few days soon! Love and miss you all! See you all SUPER SOON!!

Ciao del Sur!

Margarita