Daniela's birthday in Buenos Aires!

Hey-O!!

After weeks of anticipation I finally made it to Buenos Aires to visit the family! On April 24th, it was my cousin Daniela's 20th birthday, so I thought it would be fun to take a trip over there to celebrate with them. It was a very interesting trip becasue a lot of the normal rutines in traveling were missing. For example, since it was only a 2 hour flight, I didn't have to spend days worrying about layovers and security issues and spending more than 24 hours traveling. The good news was that since it was such a short trip on the plane, I was able to spend 6 days there (I missed my Thursday classes). The timing couldn't have been more perfect, either. I had just had a couple of papers due in my classes and I talked to my teachers and found out that I wouldn't be missing much information in class (I did have to do some class work early and email it to my Theater teacher, but other than that I had no work to turn in), so I had absolutely nothing to worry about over the whole trip. It was really nice.

So I left my apartment on Wednesday the 22nd at the crack of dawn (my flight was at 7:30, but the shuttle company came to pick me up at 4:20am to take me to the airport).  After a nice nap on the plane, I arrived in Buenos Aires at about 10:30 where my tío Nicolás was waiting for me to pick me up.  He drove me to tío Juan José's house, where Daniela is living while she studies kinesiology at the University of Buenos Aires, and where I stayed for the six days. Nico stayed for a delicious lunch of milanesas a la neopolitana (a steak milanesa with tomato and cheese on top) and then went to work. I took a little nap after lunch while I was waiting for my cousins Julieta and Federico to come after school and when they got there, we took a pilgramage to Flamingo, my favorite ice cream store. Without any question, I got my favorite flavor in the world : Súper Dulce de Leche, which is dulce de leche flavor, with realy dulce de leche swirls in it. MMM my mouth is watering just thinking about how good it is. That night, Nico, his wife Maricota, Juli and Fede came back for a delicious dinner of Chinese food.

This trip to Buenos Aires was a little different than usual, also because I was able to leave the house to explore more of the city instead of just hanging around at home (which I love). On Thrusday, Daniela took me to class with her (taking a bus and the subway.. almost an hour!), and before we walked around El Centro, looking at the shops and we got coffee at a café near her school. When we got home, we decided to make a cake for her birthday breakfast, but the oven was on a lot higher than we had thought, and it burned after 20 minutes! We were able to save most of it by scraping off the carbon, and it was actually pretty good with dulce de leche!

On Friday, Daniela's birthday, Juan Jo and I woke up early to make her a nice breakfast. He had gone to get some delicious pasteries, we had the burned cake, and I woke up and made some buttermilk panckakes for her, which we ate with dulce de leche, of course. Later, Daniela and I went to pick up her mom, my tía Mariana (Nico's sister), from the bus station because she had come for her birthday on an 18 hour bus trip from Bariloche (on the other side of the country near Chile and Argentina's Lake District in the mountains). We spent the rest of the day getting ready for Daniela's birthday party she was going to have that night, we made pizza dough, cleaned up, and showered at got ready. The family came back for dinner, and her friends came over, and we all hung out in Juan Jo's back house eating pizza and cake, until we got on the bus to go to a kareoke/dance club where we stayed till 6 in the morning! It was really fun getting to know all of Dani's friends and dancing all night long. 

After sleeping in on Saturday, we took another trip out of the house to Recoleta, so Dani could show me the Cemetary. I thought it would be cool to see the one in Buenos Aires after seeing the one in Santiago, but by the time we got there (we were on the bus for about an hour and a half) the sun had already gone down, and it was closed. So instead, we went to a little street fair they had in the park, and then went to get a drink at one of the bar/cafés there. We got home around 9pm to see Daniela's dad's car in front of Juan Jo's house! Tío Gabriel had come with Dani's sisters and brother all the way from Bariloche (15 hours!) to surprise her! It was such a nice surprise, because I thought that I wasn't going to be able to see them until I took a trip to Bariloche myself. 

Sunday was my favorite day by far. We went to tío Nico's house for a barbeque (asado) and it was so much fun! Daniela's other aunts, uncles, and grandma (from her dad's side) came, and it was a really nice afternoon filled with really good food and company.

Monday was my last day, I had an evening flight, but I got up at 5:30 in the morning to say good bye to Gabi and the kids, as they had to go back to Bariloche. Daniela and I went back to bed for a little bit after they left, and spent our last day together. We went to her English class, which was interesting for me to watch, and later we went back home to have one last ice cream at Flamingo with Fede, who had come to say bye to me after school. Nico, Mariana, Daniela and I left for the airport around 4pm, and as usual, it was very hard to leave. I left them at the very last minute so I could make it to board on time, but I really wasn't ready to leave. Throughout the entire weekend, I really felt my aunt Inés' absence, since it was the first time that I had been back since she passed away last year. I was happy to see Juan José in good spirits, but especially when spending some lazy time at home, and when we went to the asado, I was really missing her. 

I am really looking forward to taking another trip out there soon, even though I'm still not sure when that will be. 

Meanwhile, back in Santiago, fall has arrived with full force. All of a sudden, when I got back from Buenos Aires, it was freezing! They still haven't turned the heating on in my apartment building, so I have been wearing double layers of pajamas to bed at night, and my days of wearing flip flops to school are definitely over. It's been so cold for the past week, that I am actually terrified about when winter comes in full force. I think I'm going to have to buy a really good winter coat before that time comes. 

I stayed home this weekend, so I spent some fun days with my roommates, going to an amusment park one day, and we had an asado yesterday (Sunday) to welcome my roommate, Damien's (one of the French guys) brother visiting. 

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Well, I'll keep you updated on any future trips I take, or any other fun things I do in Santiago, but right now I'm getting really excited for the end of the month when my mom and Nancy come to visit for my birthday! But before they come, I will be finishing up my EAP class (which is only 8 weeks long) and a couple of papers. I will be really sad to miss my grandma's big 80th birthday party and the rest of the May birthdays, because family parties are my favorite. Sending my love up from South America, Schoenbergs!

Love, Amara