fotos

there's not much to say about machu picchu other than the pictures, so here they are:

and this is the whole group: alex, me, beth, and abby
this is the part of the city where the people lived (not the farming terraces)
the main square, plaza de armas, in cuzco, lima, the former center of the incan empire
perú's politcally incorrect restaurants:
besos, ellen

un país diferente

hey guys,

so if you hadn´t memorized my schedule for the summer, i left ba on last saturday and went with beth thorne, alex clendennen, and abby wallace to perú. yesterday and today we went to machu picchu. we have one more day here in cuzco (the oldest city of the incan empire) and then we go to lima for a day and a half before heading back to the states.

perú is making us all realize how different ba is from the rest of south america. in argentina we could blend in (for the most part), but here, since the majority of the population has a lot of incan blood, we stand out like toursits with a capital T. this is making it an alltogether different experience, but a very enlightening one. perú is much poorer than ba, but the people here seem to be much friendlier and more open to talk about their culture. i suppose that´s becuase the spaniards pretty much wiped them out--according to our machu picchu guide, omar, the dominicans killed 90% of the incan population and attempted to destroy as much as they could of incan culture. what´s known now has been passed down in oral tradition and the ruins that somehow remain.

i can´t upload pictures now becuase there is no wifi in cuzco (i´m on a shared computer in a locutorio) but needless to say machu picchu was amazing. it´s beautiful and stunning and there are llamas that roam around and chew the grass!

i´ll be back in the states soon,
ellen

estoy con el campo

last night after dinner, when i was supposed to be studying, i instead got into a long conversation with my argentine mom, marcela, about politics in argentina.

some background: last night, the senate was voting on a tax that presidnet cristina kircher tried to put in place a few months ago. the tax is a steep tax on soy, which is a huge argentine export, that is tied to the world market value of soy. right now, the tax would be 45%. she tried to institute it a few months ago, but the people in the country began protesting, and this has been a contentous issue for a while now. it´s the reason we almost got stuck in iguazu--the protests were happening along the highway. it´s a strange issue, becuase it united both the poor farmers and the wealthy land owners. the people that elected cristina were the people in the country, she didnt win a single city when she was elected last year.

so last night was the vote in the senate. the tv isn´t on a lot at my house, but yesterday it and th e radio were on all day, as they were everywhere. the crazy thing about this tax is that it´s unconsitutional--their consitution says that a tax can´t be more than thirty five percent. but their constitution is only fifteen-ish years old, and marcela said that didn´t even really matter. everyone here is very distrustful of the government--everyone says its a given that there is corruption, and that all of the politicans are slimeballs (okay, my word, i dont think slimeball translates). and a huge part of the crash in 2001 was rampant corruption.

argentinians basically distrust all of their institutions. which got me thinking. no one in the states is particularly happy with the government and they haven´t been for a while, but we are all waiting it out until november, becuase we know there will be a peaceful change. and we have faith that while corruption may invade our institutions from time to time, our checks and balances will weed it out. sleaze and i love to run around getting angry about various things and asking where all of the crazies are, but we also have a politician that we really, really like.

i guess you just dont know how lucky you are til you leave.

in other exciting news: i dreamed a little in spanish the other night! granted, all i dreamt was an old woman saying ¨ella puede entender un poco¨and then it was all gibberish, but that´s a good sign, right?

we leave for peru on saturday, and i think my internet access might be a little limited when we´re there, but i´ll certainly update as soon as i can.

besos!

una semana más

qué lástima.

i only have one week and weekend left in BA. consequently, we have all made long lists of everything we want to squeeze into this time period, and are running around the city like maniacs trying to make it happen. here is my list:

1. go to a party with porteños--done. an alum of usc, matt, moved down here after he graduated and is having a party at his apartment tonight. he doesnt have american friends here, so this means lots of porteños and speaking spanish! hooray!

2. see rent in spanish--apparently the translation is wonderful, as is the acting.

3. see "open house"--it's a play that is very critically acclaimed, and a little more "edgy" or small-theatre than rent.

4. go to this restaurant called kansas--i MUST have a picture of me in front of this, i dont care if the food is good or not.

5. go to thelonius, a jazz bar. it's supposed to be great, but of course i'll be judging it against kc jazz.

things that were on the list that i've done:

1. see a movie in spanish--i saw "super agente 86" (get smart) in english with spanish subtitles, and yesterday i saw a documentary called 4 de julio, about 5 priests that were killed by the government durning the military dictatorship. understood the first one, the second one....er....well, 50%!

2. go to cafe tortoni-- it's a total tourist spot now, but it's the oldest cafe in ba, and it claims that borges wrote there. it was beautiful, with lots of old wood work and colums.

3. buy harry potter in spanish: harry potter y el prisionero de azkaban!


this picture has nothing to do with this post, but i thought i'd put it up anyway becuase it's adorable. this is from our night in rio at rio scenarium, a samba club. it was great--becuase all of our professors came with us and we samba-ed the night away with them!

besos y abrazos,
ellen

una carta a los porteños

a letter to the people of buenos aires:

dear porteños,
i like you. i like you a lot--you're all beautiful, you're very friendly, you make out with your signifigant others on park benches, you hire people to walk your dogs--you're quirky, and i like it. but we need to have a talk.

i do not consider myself to be a picky eater. there's not a vegetable that i hate, fruit is awesome, i love carbs, yogurt is good. and i love to eat: restaurants drain my bank account.

and even though i live in LA, i do not consider myself to be a health nut. sure, i try to eat my veggies and whole grains, but this girlfriend loves cookies. still, porteños, we have to have a talk.

potatoes are not a vegetable. they're delicious--mashed, sweet, boiled, plain, salted, with cheese, whatev. but they are a starch. let's just keep this in mind as we proceed.

when you pair your "vegetable", potatoes, with one of your favorite dishes, pasta with cream sauce, there is one color on your plate. one hint: it's not green. there is only one food group on your plate. also, when you give me a plate 12 inches in diameter, piling it 5 inches high with this meal satisfies my body's white-carb craving for 3 weeks. except you like to eat it a few times a week.

another thing: salads do not some served on a bed of white rice. lettuce or spinach. lettuce or spinach. lettuce or spinach.

breakfast is the most important meal of the day. i understand that you all like to skip it, but let me explain something: when you do choose to eat breakfast to be "healthy", choosing to eat white bread with dulce de leche doesn't count.

dulce de leche is amazing: carmely and thick and super-sweet. this means you only need a little, and it goes a long way. you don't need to put a cup of it in between two pieces of cake for dessert: let's try a tablespoon.

i know that you love your beef and bread, but let's try to branch out a little: some veggies, a little dairy, perhaps some beans or nuts. new things! whooo hoo!

that's all.

querida,
ellen