I have said good-bye to Chile for the moment and have opened my arms to Argentina, land of meat, chocolate, and cheap books. Of course, three days in and I've already tried all of them!

Leaving my family in Santiago was easier and harder than I thought it would be. The physical act was much easier, just throwing some stuff in a bag, grab my jacket, don't forget my passport, and I'm gone. It's all the other aspects of leaving that have been so hard. You know that phrase, "You never know how much you love something until it's gone"? That's much more true than I had thought.

The Thursday before we left we had an asado to say goodbye to all the families, and somehow I convinced my brother and his girlfriend to come with us. Though it started out awkward as almost all forced community events do, it really picked up once dinner started and all of us young'uns got together, joking and talking and sipping. LuisFer, Brady's brother, came too, and he's also my cousin, so it was more a family event than ever. Here is a picture of my mom Lorena (on the right) with Theresa's mom and my second cousin (?) with whom Brady is living. Aren't they beautiful? I feel like things between Lorena and I are still a bit awkward sometimes, but that doesn't mean we haev any less respect for the other. She's such an amazing woman, and has really cared about me while I've been living under her roof. I really do feel like her daughter! And of course I realized this as I was sitting in the kitchen of my new home in Buenos Aires.

Here is Theresa, Lauren, and LuisFer, who looks like a really skinny dorky guy (especially with the rat tail) but who is actually one of the coolest guys I've met, really with it and smart and eager to help you out or get to know you or anything. I got to talk to him a lot on the way to carrete, which I'm really thankful for.

After the asado we decided to go out for carrete, and Cristóbal had made me promise to call him, so naturally I did. Turn out it was a party at Moco's house (my kind of pololo), and lots of fun! I hung out with Cristóbal and his buddies all night, trying to get those flojis to dance. They never would, but they were fond of dog-piles and crazy faces. At one point one of them was trying to convince all of us to eat cat food (like I've said before, Cristóbal's friends are all a bit crazy, and one of the guys there thought that he was indeed a cat), and for a while they were all purring and meowing and being incredibly hilarious. That's my bro on the right, with Nacho (grn shirt), Diego (tongue), weird dude I never really met, and the other Cristóbal in the black. Nacho's is quiet but a sweetheart, and into juggling. Diego is kind of quiet but in a conspiracy way, and he likes to draw. Cristóbal is also kind of quiet. Strange, I never thought of Cristóbal's buddies as quiet until I just wrote that... They're not the obnoxious kind to go around boasting or anything, but they like to get into trouble. Really awesome.

After the party Cristóbal and I shared his bike back to the house, and luckily I didn't fall off (good excuse to hang on tight! haha). We sat in the kitchen on little stools talking for a while, about the night and me leaving and other small things. He told me that he is really going to miss me ("te echaré de menos") and that I really am the only student he's ever gotten to know. Gave me a big kiss on the cheek. I never really got to say goodbye to him, because he left early in the day and didn't come back the next morning until I was on my way to the airport, and I'm still sad about it. I miss him incredibly. When I was living in the house with him, I could always sense this weird awkwardness to our relationship, but that was just in my mind, and in the week or so before I left we hit that spot where we were really comfortable with each other. Even though I'm going back for weekends a couple of times, I'm never really going to be a part of the house again, and that makes me very sad. Well, never again if I study in Chiloé.

We flew over the Andes. Good lord, beauty.

So now we're in Argentina, and it's the same but completely different. We're all living with young people , so I'm living with three 23 year old girls. SWEET. It's been really fun so far, we just sit up at night and watch tv or play guitar or gossip about whatever. They don't really feed me though, which could be a problem. They eat once a day, and the idea of three meals is just foreign. Food is cheap though, so whatever.

Here is some funny graffiti. There's a ton of it here too, but mainly just the quick stencils and the really ugly kind. Buenos Aires is a very dirty place. I much prefer Santiago, despite what everyone has said about the cultural benefits of Buenos Aires. In Santiago, there are hundreds of stray dogs, but you never see dog shit. Here, all the dogs have owners and are walked around by people who just walk dogs, and there is dog shit everywhere. Piles of trash, black smoke pouring from buses. It's gross. And there are mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. I am a walking mosquito bite. I think it's all these small things, and the fact that I miss my family in Santiago, that are making me not really want to be here right now. I feel like I should be taking advantage of the fact that I'm in Argentina, but I keep having thoughts like "I'm wasting time here - can't I go back to Santiago?" Strange.

That's one thing the Argentinians have right: prices. Everything that's important is cheap. Taxis, food, books, shoes, transportation, music, and clubs. And the food is exquisite. Also, the colors of Argentina (the flag and otherwise) are Carolina blue and white, so they've got it going on from all sides.

I've been feeling tired all of the time recently, and I don't know why. I've got a lot on my mind. I still can't decide what to do for my ISP. I thought I had decided decisively on Chiloé , but with recent changing feelings I don't know anymore. My original reasons for coming on this trip were to push myself to new limits, to put myself in new situations and see what I could do or what I could learn. Chiloé is perfect for that. But now, with all that has happened and my ensuing feelings, I almost feel like makin a stronger, more continuous experience would be more beneficial, and more what I want. I also think that my theme in Chiloé might end up being too heavy and abstract and difficult to manifest, whereas the graffiti idea in Santiago would be much more fun and light, though definitely hard to approach in the exact way I want to approach it. The question remains, do I want to go to Chiloé for a completely new experience, and live away from the city? Or do I want to stay in Santiago and make more of a home here, and study something that's going to be enlivening to my mind? Each has it's own connotations, positive and otherwise, and I just can't get them to unbalance in my head.

Tango en La Boca. Cool place. The city is full of dancing and music in the streets.

What my group did on the first night in Buenos Aires. We rock. It's always an adventure!