VAMOS!

We finally took the plunge! No, we took that plunge in August. This is a slightly less drastic plunge, but one that has broken our pocketbooks just the same. VAMOS A ARGENTINA. Dale!

We’ve been talking about it forever. I’ve been talking about it since I was down there, promising everyone as I said goodbye that I would be back. And ever since Tyler met my family, he’s been involved, since I do recall my mom asking him on the first day he met her if he would be willing to take me to Argentina (because she as heck wasn’t going). We had only been dating for two months at that point, but I suppose it’s never too early to plan! We originally planned to go in December over Christmas break, and go for just two weeks. It didn’t work out so well, however, as travel started adding up for med school interviews (because of course I had to go along to every singe one!) So when both of us realized that May could be our only window (right after Tyler graduates and possibly just before he starts again) we started planning and watching airfare. We watched and we wept as prices remained higher than your Uncle Ned’s hair transplant operation. And then they began to increase ever so slightly, day by day. That’s when we knew we needed to set a deadline and then buy on that day no matter what! D-Day was scheduled for Tuesday January 24. It was do or die. Unfortunately, however, that day passed and we had  still not bought the tickets! Last night, however, we decided to it was time to stop being chickens, close our eyes, and push the buy button on Expedia.com. I was holding my breath. I can even recall Tyler gripping my arm tightly. It was intense. We recovered quickly, however, from the almost deadly gash in our bank account and began to get excited for the trip. It was finally real! We. Were. Goinggggggggggg.

Not more than 15 minutes later Tyler got a phone call from his credit card’s security company saying they noticed he had made smaller purchases earlier that day, and that all of the sudden there was a large amount spent to LANS Airlines. That makes sense, because if I were of the criminal mind and stole someone’s credit card, I would definitely flee to South America and hide among the already hidden Nazis on the run (although they’re probably in wheelchairs at this point). It was funny. And we felt protected. Thank you VISA.

So…what will be doing for a month?? Allow me to give you a rough itinerary. Those who know me will know that by the time this trip is planned, we’ll know where we can stop to use the bathroom (and whether or not it’s clean). But for now, I’m trying to let myself live a relatively normal life before becoming completely consumed in the obsession.

On Saturday May 5, we’ll leave SLC and have stops in Los Angeles, Lima Peru, and Santiago Chile. It will take over 20 hours, but we actually chose the three stops, because it was the only way to afford Peru and Chile in this trip. I’m sure we’re in for a riveting cultural experience in the 1 hour we’re in each airport. I bet we can even find a McDonalds. We’ll be arriving on Sunday morning around 10:30am, at which point we’ll hunt down a cheap shuttle to take us into the city to a hostel.

Buenos Aires

The next day, Monday, we’ll sightsee and then plan on taking an overnight bus to northern Argentina (17 hours, thank you very much—one way) to Igauzu Falls, recently declared one of the Wonders of the World. The falls border Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We’ll stay the night and then take the overnight bus allllllll the way back to BsAs, probably hating life but happy to have saved a few hundred dollars by not flying.

Igauzu Falls

We plan on making a trip to Uruguay. We’ll either go just for the day to a small town called Colonia (the Ferry is only 2.5 hours from Buenos Aires) or if my friend from the mission moves to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, we’ll take the bus further into the city and stay with her. TBA.

Colonia

 We’ll make sure we see everything we want to see in Buenos Aries (I only got to see ONE famous place in Buenos Aires during my time there since we weren’t allowed out of our areas…) and everyone we want to see in Pacheco (the small suburb I was in just outside of the city), we’ll take the bus to a province northwest of the province of Buenos Aires – Cordoba. My two Argentine companions live there. My last companion was Argentine and she was my favorite Latina. So it will be good to hear her sarcasm once again. The capital of Cordoba is also supposed to be pretty awesome. So we’ll check that out. 

Cordoba

After we’ve worn out our welcome in Cordoba, we’ll catch an (expensive—dang Argentine airlines) flight to Ushuaia, where we’ll spend the rest of our trip between it and Rio Grande, living our lives in bliss, oblivious to the world above us. We’ll be too busy looking at the penguins (and swimming with them, as Tyler plans to do. I quickly told him that may not be his brightest idea yet).

Ushuaia 

Rio Grande

 At the end of our time in Tierra del Fuego, we’ll take a flight back up to Buenos Aires, possibly down some last minute hot dogs, and then take the very long flight back to SLC. We’ll arrive home on Friday, June 1, absolutely exhausted, and one day short of having been gone for an entire month.

It’s very possible that we may just pick up and move to Oregon upon hitting U.S. soil, but that is yet to be determined. Until then, we’ll just dream of the tango, and futbol, and big chucks of ice floating around in the arctic waters. And meanwhile, we’ll be eating Ramen noodles every night until August, when we’ll get student loans to allow us to once again nourish our bodies, starved due to a lack of money. But that’s okay, because our souls will still be overflowing with the words of the great Madonna sung from the balcony to her people in Buenos Aires:  Don’t cry for [us] Argentina! And then we’ll die a painful death due to scurvy. But at least we’ll die happy.

Madonna as Evita