From Rio Grande...

We are in Rio Grande but we´re on a computer where the space bar keeps getting stuck so we will properly update later! Meanwhile, we made it safe and for those of you who heard about the earthquake that struck northern Argentina, we were not affected. We hear no one was killed in it either, so that´s good. Ok, I can only take so much of this spacebar. Be waiting for more news....

Pics from Pacheco and Cordoba

This is the bus we took from Buenos Aires to Iguazu and back. We sat up on the top deck in the very front. 18 hours....

This is on the balcony of our hostel in Recoleta, the mini Paris neighborhood of Buenos Aires. 

Tigre is right next to Tigre and the Museum of Art is gorgeous!

This is the Rudaz family. They took such good care of us!

This is Cordoba at a lake we hiked around with our friends. 

This is my companion and her husband. We ate pizza by the lake and this random, wild dog came and peacefully sat next to us. Welcome to Argentina.

Update Post-Backpacks

Hello! Sorry for the delay in the update. Im sure you all thought we were walking around Ushuaia naked without clean clothes. Unfortunately that was not the case. Besides...that would have been cold. Our backpacks got here Wednesday evening, which was good, because we thought we might need to kill some people. Luckily, we remain pacifists and without criminal records. We ended up staying at the Bed and Breakfast for three nights, and then are staying our last two nights at the house of Silvia. We took an awesome boat ride through the Beagle Canal where we got to see huge, obese seals and birds that looked like penguins. We were devasted to find out that the penguins here are high maintenance and prefer warmer weather to cold (I cannot blame them). They are apparently here in the summer and then during the winter go to Brazil. I know. Rough life. So we settled for the birds and when we show you pictures of the so called penguins, just go along with it. We have already cried enough. We have also spent our days visiting families, which in all honesty, has been exausting for both of us. I had forgotten how in the mission people would just vomit up there problems on us and we listened. We would then leave so heavy, but somewhow, as missionaries, we stayed strong. Well apparently Tyler and I are still good listeners because people have continued to do that, and we have felt pretty weighed down. There have been a lot of problems here in the branch, and it has been a little disheartening to see and hear about. Nevertheless, we have had some fantastic reunions and Tyler is speaking el casetellano better every day! We also spent Friday celebrating May 25 in the church. Its almost a holiday bigger than their independence day. Google it for more information if you want. They danced traditional folk dances (Tyler played the big drum for one of the dances. Who knew he was a natural!), and most importantly, he also got to try locro for the first time. Locro is basically made in a big pot and everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in it. I ended up scraping my extra pig skin into the bowl of the girl next to me. She loved it. And I loved her.

Well, its getting late and we promised the family we are staying with that we would make french toast in the morning before church, so we are going to dormir. Tomorrow we will go to church, eat lunch with a family, and then take a three hour shuttle to Rio Grande, where we will stay with a very crazy but loveable family. More details to come. Interestings details, I am sure. Chau!

El fin del mundo

Hello from the end of the world! We arrived last night at 6pm just fine. Unfortunately our big backpacks had other plans and have yet to arrive. You might say that we are just a little bit annoyed. Ok, a LOT annoyed. There was even a flight that arrived after ours that was supposed to have them on it and it did not. So supposedly they are arriving at 3:30pm today. The address of the place we had to go was in my backpack, along with our maps. We had to take a taxi and then I had to try to remember what the house looked like. Nevertheless, we arrived. We are staying our first three nights in a Bed and Breakfast of the sister of one of the members here. It has been so nice and we feel so taken care of between the B&B and the member. Since most of our winter clothing is in our backpacks (grrrrrrr), they have loaned us gloves and boots and soap and shampoo. We all drew the line with the toothbrushes, though. We have been chewing gum. We just ate lunch with the member Silvia, one of my favorite people of my mission, and we are going to go check out an old prison. It was like the Australia of South America. The worst of the worst were sent to the island. It will be so homey. We will then hopefully have our backpacks and can clean up. I dont think we will take very many photos until then. Haha. It is extremely cold here already. It snowed a lot last night and there is already a ton of ice on the ground. While we wont die, it may come close. Luckily we have people taking care of us. Well, we will keep you updated, especially about our darn backpacks. Meanwhile, we will enjoy beautiful Ushuaia. It really is incredible here. When we flew in, the sun was setting and we flew over the Andes Mountains. The pilots turned off all of the cabin lights so that we could all see below. It is gorgeous. Until the backpacks! (We hope......)

Quick Update

Hello all! We are sitting in the airport in Cordoba right now with very slow internet, so we have to make this super quick (please ignore my bad spelling, as always). We are leaving Cordoba for the great Patagonia south, and we are so excited! Besides the waterfalls at Iguazu, I think Ushuaia will be one of the highlights of the trip. We should get in about 6pm and then will go and and stay with a member. We had a great time in Cordoba. We spent the first three nights in Rio Cuarto, which is a bigger city, and my ex comp and her husband live downtown. We stayed at a small hotel and ate with them. On Saturday we went to lake and got pizza and ate it at a campground. Sunday we went to church and made tacos for our friends. And then we were up at 3;45 am to catch a bus to Cordoba capital and then to Dean Funes. We didn´t know if we were going to make it, since we had no idea what to expect, and as the bus just drove through country side and more country side, we feared for our lives. But we arrived just fine and then proceeded to walk through the small town sticking out like sore thumbs with our backpacks asking for directions to reach my ex comp´s house. She lives with three other girls and then her little girl, so it was a riot staying with them. We got to go and visit her folk dance class where Tyler picked up a few stylish moves. Tyler also tried mate for the first time and quickly decided he didn´t like it. I don´t blame him. It tastes like grass. This morning we got up at 4am again to catch a bus to Cordoba capital again and then found another bus that brought us close to the airport. Honestly, it´s a miracle we arrived anywhere, not knowing what to do or where to go. But we´re here and alive and we will write more when we´re in Ushuaia!

More pictures from Buenos Aires!

These are pics from before we got to Pacheco...

With our friend Lorena on the famous street 9 de Julio.

9 de Julio

From the terrace of our first hostel.

This woman was playing I don´t really know what for money on the streets of San Telmo, the old artsy district of Buenos Aires. I loved it.

An inside view of our first hostel. Tyler slept on the top bunk next to me. The two guys below us were from Canada.

Love at Puerto Madero.

These odd looking rabbit things were everywhere at the Buenos Aires Zoo! They acted frozen and barely moved.

Python!

These bears had been trained to perform for zoo visitors who would throw food to them. It was....odd ...but cool!

Moving On...

It´s Thursday today, and that means it´s time to move on from Buenos Aires and head to Cordoba. Our micro (long distance bus) leaves tonight at 9:30am and we´ll get to Rio Cuarto, Cordoba at 5:30am. To recap on our last little bit here in Pacheco, Tuesday was a good, but long day. Especially for Tyler. We started our day off with an Asado, the traditional Argentine BBQ. I think we ate intestines and lots of beef. And some potatoes. It was with the Mussins, an elderly couple (he is 78 and she is 80) and they insisted on making it for us for lunch. The husband is pretty sick, but he made a special effort to be up and on the grill for us. They cleaned their whole house and said it reminded them of the time the first missionaries came to their house. We ate so much. Probably like those first missionaries. After lunch, they brought out a huge cake they bought just for us. I was blown away by their love and sacrifice, because for them, it truly was a great sacrifice to have purchased all that food, which is expensive! At the end of our visit, I could tell they were stalling by telling us story after story after story. The hermana was very emotional all during the visit and kept on crying and touching us. She said we were like their children and we were always welcomed back. It broke my heart to think that if we ever did make it back to Argentina, they probably wouldn´t be here anymore. As we left, they cried, and they stood out by their door and waved to us, with tears in their eyes. We walked all the way down the street, turned around, and they were still standing there. They have so much love. It was incredible.

After lunch we took the bus to the shadier part of town to visit a family I had been teaching while here. The grandma had gotten baptized, but no one else did. The dad was under house arrest and surprisingly continues to be still. We spoke with them about everything. Politics, the economy, food, you name it. We realized that with every single person we talked to, the tough times in the economy came up -- spanning across different decades. Tyler was sinking with each hour, having to listen to super fast Argentine Spanish and having eaten a truck load of food earlier. On top of that, this second house we went to had prepared a ton of treats for us. Like on the mission, we shoved it down. Tyler promptly fell asleep later in the evening.

Yesterday we spent the day in the nearby town of Tigre. There´s not really anything to do Pacheco, so we went to beautiful Tigre, along the river. The boardwalk passes old European rowing clubs and traditional ice cream shops. We met our friend Lorena there since she works nearby and went to a museum about mate and ate lunch at McDonalds of all places. Lorena wanted to buy us lunch, so we had to oblige. Surprisingly the beef was much better on the hamburger. It was more expensive than the states, though. The prices were comparable to restaurant prices. We also got our first taste of Argentine ice cream since arriving and it was amazing! The place was closed when we walked by, but the owner saw us and took pity and took our orders from the fence. We told him we had come all the way to Argentina from the U.S. just to try his ice cream. He saved us. The weather was just gorgeous and we walked around the river and got sodas at the end of the day and just talked about life as loud buses went by. It was splendid. Again, Tyler fell asleep after we got home. Both nights however, dinner was served around 10pm (they eat so much later here!) so we did have to stay awake for that. Afterwards, though, there was even more reason to be exhausted.

Today we jumped on the bus and went to Lorena´s English class she helps with for adults trying to finish their high school diploma. The idea was that we would help, but because the teacher arrived in a bad mood, we ended up being observed like zoo animals and I taught Tyler Spanish, instead. And now Tyler is sleeping. He is taking advantage of "la siesta" haha.

But really, to summarize Pacheco, while we haven´t seen a ton of people, the people that we have spent time with have been incredibly giving and loving and it´s been overwhelming how much they are willing to give and to share. I think we´ll both leave here a little more grateful for everything.

And it´s off to Cordoba and whatever adventures await us there! My companion, Cristina, will be there at the bus station to pick us up! Hasta la tacos, burrito heads!

Heart Attacks and Panchos

Yesterday I was reminded that Argentines like to talk...a LOT! Tyler and I left like missionaries at 11am (not planned, by the way, as this was the time we left the house on the mission, as well) and went saw the Mussin family. They are a grandma and grandpa that I had always loved to visit when we were here. They emit more love than almost anyone I met on the mission. So sweet. We completely took them by surprise and I thought we were going to give the grandma a heart attack. She put her face up to the window when we knocked and I said, "It´s hermana Thompson! I was a missionary here awhile ago!" She gasped and began to cry and luckily didn´t die. It was soooooo good to see them! They invited us to lunch for an asado and we´ll go to it today. After that we went and got a few hot dogs ("panchos") from El Rey de Pancho (The King of hotdogs) and ate them in the plaza while we read our books. We then went and saw an older lady we used to visit. I realized that we had visited a ton of old women during my time in Pacheco. They always seemed to be the most alone. We finished our walking adventure by visiting a family that we reactivated during my six months here. It was a part member family. The mom was the only member. Her husband was not, and her eight year old daughter had not been baptized. We began to teach the little girl, and her mom was always there. Because the daughter was so excited to get baptized, she eventually brought her mom back to activity in the Church and we could be there for the little girl´s baptism. I never knew if they stayed active, but it turns out the mother is second counselor in the Relief Society and her husband got baptized a year ago. They´ll get sealed in the temple in September. It was pretty awesome to talk to them. Well, let´s be honest, THEY talked to US. And we just had to look interested and nod in the right spots. She spoke a million miles a minutes for two and a half hours about everything from motorcyle trips from Buenos Aires to Alaska to politics to showing us her crocheting work. I think Tyler was dead when they finally drove us back to the Rudaz´s house.

We ended our evening with a Family Home Evening with another family from the ward at the Rudaz´ house. We ate their creation of tacos and joked and talked and were all punchy by 11am. Even Tyler was cracking jokes and people were laughing their heads off. That´s when I knew they were punchy because he wasn´t even speaking Spanish for some of them. All and all, it was a good first day back in P-Town. We´re going to visit more peeps today after we eat our weight in beef. I´ll update everyone tomorrow if our arteries have allowed us to live.

Chau!

Pacheco = Heaven

We have arrived to PACHECO!!!! We are currently in the house of the Rudaz family and we feel like we´re in heaven. We have internet, there is a washer, and we have only been here for three hours but have already eaten pie, pizza, and apple crisp. My oh my. We love them. This morning we went to church in the Capital and Tyler was asked to read a scripture in Priesthood. Of all the people there, they choose the one that doesn´t speak Spanish. Go figure! But he survived. We then got some medicine for my darn nose and went to the most amazing cemetery I´ve ever seen! For some reason I love cemeteries. The one and only Jessica F. can attest to this, as we seemed to end up in every single one in Massachusetts. It was the cemetery of Recoleta and every famous person from Argentina seemed to be buried there. And when I say buried, I mean their casket sat above ground enclosed by elaborate structures with plaques and stain glass and marble and whatever else the family wanted to be done. Tyler got a picture by his favorite and I got my picture taken by Eva Peron´s, aka Evita (cue Madonna). We ate not so good empanadas and then grabbed our bags from the quirky hostel and headed to the train station. Tyler got the full Pacheco experience by riding the train and then taking the rickety bus to where we eventually got off after asking a million people where to go. We made it to the Rudaz´s house just before dark. I realized that I can´t speak Spanish as well with a stuffed nose and Tyler realized that he can get his point across better than he thought. And now we´re tired, I´m on medication, and there´s a little poodle named Pon Pon gnawing at our legs, so I think we´re going to go to bed.

We love you all and we´ll write more tomorrow!

Ty and Jess

Recoleta

Hello again from Buenos Aires! We survived another horrifically long bus ride from Iguazu back to the Capital. The small comic relief was the drama of the bus server guy. He served us dinner and then afterwards coffee and tea and then came around  to Tyler (since I was already out having promptly taken two Dramamine) and brandished before him with a dramatic gesture -- WHISKEY? other hand thrust out -- CHAMPAGNE? Tyler resisted both tempting offers and we made it again dirty and tired to the Retiro bus station. We are all about saving money on this trip so we didn't even consider a taxi and after buying our next bus tickets to Cordoba (8 hours this time so not as bad) for Thursday, we strapped on our bags and headed up to the city, in search of our hostel. We are currently in the hostel in the nicer neighborhood of Buenos Aires -- Recoleta. Some consider it the Little Paris of the city. We are in a hundred year old building pretty centrally located. We have a private room but share a bathroom with all the other hostelers. Our $40/night room consists of an old bed, an old couch, a broken down desk, a super old dresser and a funky chandelier. It's about the size of a large bathroom. There is a random, strange looking little black dog running around the hallways and the hostel people are yelling at the soccer game going on in the other room. Tyler and I went out tonight in search of food, but after remembering that we're in one of the nicer areas of the city and did not want to pay an arm and a leg for something that was just going to go right through us, we hit the grocery store and made it our goal to create the cheapest meal possible. So we bought some 3 peso pasta, some premade sauce, a couple of apples, water and some cookies. We got it all for $29 pesos, or about $7.50. We were pretty proud of ourselves until we tried the pasta and decided that there was a reason the sauce was so cheap! It filled us up though. We cooked it in the hostel kitchen.

Tomorrow we will be going to church in Belgrano, a neighboring barrio, and then we will go see a famous cemetery (EVITA!) and see on one of the prettiest bookstores in the world. We'll also be heading to Pacheco, my first mission area, which is about two hours away by train and bus.

There's our little rundown! I have a head cold. Tyler's beard is growing continuously and is red as ever, and we both are in need of a shower. But what's new?

We love you all. Hasta lo juego!

IGUAZU = AMAZING

Well, we are as fried as lobsters but as happy as clams. We went to the Iguazu National Park today and it was unbelievable. We got to take a couple of different hiking trails first to see some of the smaller falls. We took a small boat to an island and did some additional hiking and saw some more waterfalls. We then got on a raft boat with a moter that took us so close to one of the bigger falls that we were SOAKING. It. Was. Awesome. The highlight of the park is of course Devil´s Throat. We took a train up to the beginning of the trail and then ended up at the top of the magnificent falls. The instant I saw them I literally had to catch my breath it was so incredible. I wanted to stay up there forever. Alas, we could not, and we eventually had to return to town. But that wasn´t before we saw friends along the way! I was wearing my OREGON shirt and Ty was in his BYU shirt, so we met a woman from Portland, a U of O alum and his mom who lives in Portland, the mission president of the Argentina Resistencia mission, and a senior couple serving in the Buenos Aires West mission and their son. It is the Oregon and Mormon connection. It is just an instant bond. Kind of like having a baby.

Anyway, we are trying to upload pics right now onto Tyler´s dropbox because my camera was acting funny. With my luck with technology failure, we didn´t want to risk losing anything. We´ll probably take a walk back down to Las Tres Fronteras (the three fronteirs) around sunset since Tyler likes looking at other countries so much, and then tomorrow we check out! We´ll be leaving on the bus around 7pm and we´ll be getting a hostel in the city for one more night before heading into Pacheco to stay with the Rudaz family. We´re loving the variety in the trip! We´re already shivering at the thought of Tierra del Fuego as we burn up from our sunburns.

Well our loves. You will hear from us again, if not tomorrow, the next day! Hasta lo juego de Iguazu! And enjoy these photos!

Las Tres Fronteras

IGAUZU!

Buenas noches from Puerto Iguazu! We survived the 16 hour bus ride the northeast corner of Argentina! The bus ride wasnt too bad, since we got food and could sleep a little bit. We´re still not looking forward to doing it all over again in a couple of days, though! The weahter is great here. It´s not as humid as in Buenos Aires and it´s warm! The dirt is red, and there palm trees all over the place. HEAVEN. We are staying at another hostel, but this time got a private room. It has a double bed and a bunk bed in it in case any of you decide to come visit at the last minute. It´s only a couple of miles away, right?? When we got in today we walked around getting a feel for the small town and located a couple of small supermarkets and a bank. We were starving so we had a hamburgesa completa with fries and my all time favorite Argentine drink El paso de los tores. It´s grapefruit flavored soda. Sooo good. Afterwards, we were told about a place called Las Tres Fronteras where from one location you can see Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. We went at sunset and it was breathtaking! The quote of the day was when Tyler and I were sitting on a bench overlooking the river that divides the three countries and Tyler says,  "It´s peaceful looking at other countries." Haha. I couldn´t help but crack up. But it was peaceful looking at other countries indeed. We walked along the river line until we got back into town, where we then bought food for our national park trip tomorrow and stopped at the ATM to load up for the hefty park entrance fees. We´ll be taking a bus to the falls tomorrow around 8am probably and will stay until about 7. We plan to hike and then take a boat right under the falls!! When we get a chance we´ll try to put pictures on here but so far we haven´t been on a computer that has let us yet.

Oh! And yesterday we had some highlights, as well! (They just got blurred by the longgggggggg bus ride!) We went and saw the Kosher McDonalds but decided not to eat there since we like cheese too much on hamburgers. We went to the University of Buenos Aires and saw the medical school. While there we got our first empanadas since arriving to the country and ate (with ease) a dozen of them. Don´t judge. We also ran into two American missionaries from Utah and Idaho and spoke with them for awhile. I remember how fun that was to see other Americans while on the mission, especially other Mormons. We then had time to kill so we went to the Buenos Aires Zooooooo in Palermo. It was awesome and I´m pretty sure I saw the strangest creatures there I have ever seen. My favorites, though, were the monkeys who were all cleaning each other. It made me want to go through Tyler´s mop of curls, but I resisted.

Well, you should know our shoes continue to reeeeeeeeek but we are more relaxed here in the north than in the hustle and bustle of the city. It reminds me more of my mission days. We love and miss you and will write tomorrow after the Falls! We have a computer with free internet at the Hostel.

Con amor,
Ty and Jess

(Almost) Mugging by Mustard

Buenas noches! We just got into our hostel after another long day -- this time spent in the city, instead of in airports. It is a much better alternative. Our feet have walked miles and miles (and smell -- but whatś new?) and some jazz music is playing out on the hostel terrace. Its a gorgeous night -- not too warm, not too cold -- and the moon looks mighty grande! We think we will go check out the terrace after email, but there may be some partying going on up there, and while we are always looking for a good time, we left our REALLY wild ways in Cabo some spring breaks ago. But anyway, before you start asking questions about THAT, I will fill you in on our vida (life) here in the city of Good Air.

First, yesterday after we blogged, we took on the city. Every Sunday the neighborhood of San Telmo does a big flea market. And when I say big, I mean it goes for miles on one single, cobble-stoned street in the oldest area in Buenos Aires. Vendors and tourists for as far as the eye can see. So we did some browsing and ultimately found a place to eat, which I had researched on the Internet beforehand. Since the airport disappointments and now since this restaurant, so fantastically recommended, was a flop, we have tossed that paper to its doom. We had milanesa (breaded fried meat) and it just wasnt too amazing. But we were hungry, so I guess it could have been worse. After dinner we decided to go to the train/bus station to buy our tickets for Iguazu. Retiro is HUGE with trains going all over the place plus buses going even more places. Think: Grand Central Station but tango-style. We successfully purchased our bus tickets middle class (not first class, not economy class), meaning the seats will recline to 160 degrees and they will feed us a hot and a cold meal (and all the whisky and scotch and wine we could ask for. That was the deal clincher there). We will be sitting on the top part of the bus at the very front with big windows so we get only the best view of---cows? We are venturing into the unknown, people! I have no idea what lies between here and the border. We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:45pm and will get to Igauzu at 12:40 pm. And does it have to go unsaid that we booked a private room this time? Haha. I like to think of myself as adventerous in spurts...Once we get there we plan on just relaxing and maybe swimming. Its supposed to be 83 degrees! And then the next day we will hike. (PS: I cant find the apostrophe key on this keyboard so just insert them in in your mind.)

Anyway, we have a story to tell you, which leads us to the title of this post: (Almost) Mugging by Mustard. So after buying our bus tickets at Retiro, we jumped on the subway to head back to our hostel. We were just walking along, about ready to exit the subway and go up ground when I felt something wet splash on me legs. I didnt really think anything of it, thinking that maybe dripping had water had landed on me (as it randomly does from buildings here). As we kept walking, however, a woman came up behind Tyler and me and pointed out that we had gotten stuff all over our backs. I looked at Tylers back and saw yellow stuff had been squirted all over his back and down the back of his pants. He then looked at my back, and it was the same. We were SO confused about what happened. We looked around for something that might have sprayed us. Was there something in the walls? Did we step on a packet of something? Whatever it was, it smelled awful. The woman handed us a kleenex from her purse to to help us clean stuff off, and I started to wipe off some of Tylers stuff. We kept walking, thinking that whatever it was we could just clean it off at the hostel. We were still super confused, and it even worried me that it was going to be some acid, skin eating substance and we were going to die a long, painful death in the messy hostel room among four other foreigners. As we were getting ready to leave the subway again, the woman was still there and told us that she knew where water was. We kept walking (still in the direction we needed to go) and around the corner was this kid washing his head under a water spout. He washed his head and then ran away. We got some water and then realized it was just smearing the substance. By this time the lady had also walked away. As we turned to go, Tyler got hit by the substance again on his back. That same kid had walked by. We left the subway and Tyler said, I think we just almost got robbed. I gulped. I hadnt even thought of that, but he said he had had a really uneasy feeling, and made sure to keep his bag close to him. I, of course, was oblivious and was thanking the kind woman profusely for helping and had even asked here if she lived in Buenos Aires. We decided to google the situation (a long shot) when we got to the hostel to see if this kind of thing happened before. It was just still so strange! So we did google it, and this is what we found. The first website that came up was called Gringos in Buenos Aires (or white people, essentially). The post was entitled: How Not to get Robbed in Buenos Aires. The first section was the following. And it was eerie.

The squirt

The squirt is really just pick pocketing with a specific misdirection technique, but it’s become so common that we will give it a section all of its own.

The squirt usually works like this: a perp comes up to the victim and spills or squirts something onto their clothes, often onto their back where they won’t notice it right away. If the perp is being observed, they’ll make it look like an accident. The substance is usually food: mustard; chocolate milk, tomato sauce or something similar. This is the first step.

Next either the same perp or their accomplice approaches the victim, if necessary points out the stain, and offers to help clean it off, maybe in a nearby bathroom. The victim is highly distracted by the unexpected mess on their clothes, and by the process of trying to get cleaned up, making it very easy for the perp to pick pocket the victim while they’re doing so.

How not to fall victim to the squirt:

If you’re out in public at a tourist spot and you suddenly find that something has been spilled on you, remember that it probably wasn’t an accident. Forget about trying to get it cleaned up right away. Keep your hand on your wallet, get out of the area fast, and definitely don’t accept help from any strangers. Also, be wary of anyone doing a bad impersonation of a tourist, as often the perp in this type of scam will pretend to be one in order to deflect suspicion.

 It was our story! And they almost had us. After reading this we went through our bag just in case, but everything was there. We had just been mugged by mustard. And we felt violated. 

The next morning we spent a good hour getting the stains out of our clothes. But hey! What would a trip to Buenos Aires be if someone didnt try to rob you, right??

In other news, we spent the day skipping around downtown with our little map. This time, however, we left our nice bag in the hostel and just brought my old cloth purse. Tyler even left his sunglasses for fear they would make him too tourist like. But we saw some of the national monuments and old churches, and then at 3pm we met up with a girl from Pacheco, Lorena Paez, who stayed with us until about 9pm. We also went and got pizza and Tyler was in HEAVEN. He was a good sport today as Lorena and I spoke Spanish all afternoon. He would pipe in with the occasional word (PIZZA) or IM HUNGRY. I was very proud of him when he took five minutes to learn how to say the street RIVADAVIA and then went and asked an old man where the street was in Spanish.

Well, I think I just wrote a novel and Im probably making someone mad by taking up too much computer time (theres only two computers for the whole floor). So I will end it here. Im not sure when well be on the internet again. Maybe tomorrow before we head to Iguazu. If not, we will use the internet in Igauzu once we get there.

As always, we love you all and miss you! And we love Argentine pizza too.

Jess and Ty

We are alive!

Hola de Buenos Aires!! We made it alive and well (but tired, smelly, and somewhat grossed out by this hostel. Haha). It was a superrrrrr long day of traveling. We started out yesterday at 10am in SLC and then after working our way down the West Coast, we ended up in Buenos Aires at 12pm today. Our longest flight was to Peru and that was 8 hours. It wasnt too bad, though, since Tyler and I watched three movies. Nevertheless, we were ready to just BE THERE.

We hit a few unexpected bumps along the way, but nothing that cost us our lives. We had to pretty much sneak my bag through all our flights, hoping a stewardess wouldnt notice that it was very much too big to be allowed as a carry-on. And then when we landed in Buenos Aires, we ended up having to pay not only for Tyler's entry fee ($160) but mine as well. Once you've paid once, it's good for ten years, so we thought I was free and clear. Lucky for  me, however, that started in 2009, just after I left. So we left customs somewhat annoyed, but held to our trip motto of "just rolling with it." And then I realized quickly that sometimes no matter how much you plan, sometimes none of it works out! Haha. I had researched all the best ways to get and exchange money at the airport, but with my luck none of those options proved to be an option today and we ended up falling to prey to a horrible exchange rate. But hey! We rolled with it, right?

We took a shuttle to our hostel, which is at an AMAZING location. From our six bedroom room balcony you can see Congress and a street full of old buildings, and there's a rooftop terrace. I will say, however, that I was not impressed with the hostel itself. What? You mean I have to share a room with four other people who left the room a disaster? What? You mean you really washed these sheets but then there's hair all in them! Can I just use my sleeping bag? Ok, ok. I realize this is how hostels are. I'll toughen up. The rooftop terrace totally makes up for it.

Well, Tyler and I are going to head out and check out a flea market in one of the old parts of town and then go and try to buy our bus tickets to Igauzu! I'm not joking when I say we smell -- we haven't showered in two days. Or brushed our teeth for that matter! Ugh. Maybe it will keep us safer from the muggers. The glass is always half full in Buenos Aires!

We love and miss everyone and we're super stoked to be here and explor the city! We'll be taking pictures along the way and will try to upload them!

Chau chau!

Jessica and Tyler