FEW MORE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

First of all, I want to relate a story of what I said the other day while I was sitting in the bus station and was  ordering  food at a restuarant.  I was getting ready to get on the bus and after I ordered some food I decided I should get some more for the long bus ride to Mendoza.  Well, I was practicing my spanish or the lack thereof and I wanted to order a super hotdog (Chicago-style or Argentinian-style) and  instead of saying I want one, I said, Ï have a super big Hot Dog!¨   The waiter just looked at me and smiled and said ´no´ we do not have that (in spanish).

Another cultural difference is when in public places and want to use the bathroom, you have to grab the toilet paper before going into the stall, rather than reaching over and grabbing it while sitting there.  I learned this the difficutlt way.  This is only in very busy public places like the supermarket.  Hostels, cafe´s and restuarants it is the ¨normal¨ way.  Also, like in Mexico you don´t flush the paper down the toilet, but place in a bin.

Another interesting thing is that not only do people take siestas in the afternoon, but it seems so do computers and the inernet providers.  They become super slow and chill.

I am taking spanish classes through the ¨Fumdacion de Brasilia¨.   My teacher is older Argentine woman in her early forties to mid forties.  Her name is Luara and she lived and taught spanish in Italy for eight years.  Her english is not that great, but neither is my spanish, but we work well together somehow.  I took two hours yesterday, two and half today, two and half tomorrow and three hours on Friday.  I took two years of spanish back in high school, which was seventeen years ago and grew up in town that is 40% spanish speaking.  I am not a beginner and am not quite an intermediate.  Luckily, the professora is working with my skill level and starting somewhere in between.   My mental rolodex is flipping quickly back through mental pages of the past to bring back what I learned so long ago.  It is going quite well.   She says I am quite smart and sharp.  She must not know me too well.  Hah!

Speaking French or Francais would come in quite handy in this hostel.  I would say 80% of the clientele and a few of the staff  are either from France or fluent in Francais.  Some of the guests are my age and younger, while others are quite older like in their sixties or even seventies.  I met  a couple from Paris yesterday, Alex and Sara and Alex looks like a spitting image of my good friend Kevin Gomez.  They could almost pass for twins, but definitely brothers.

I noticed while visiting Mendota and Chicago that many of the Latinos have mohawk hairstyles currently.  This is also true down here in Argentina.  Young kids and men my age both have mohawks and lots of tattoos.  Let´s just say I fit in quite well here.   Also, it seems to me that I could say the majority of Europeans and Argentinans smoke cigarettes.  It is a way of bonding with people.  Luckily, throughout my adult life starting in high school  I would smoke for a month or two and then be able to stop.  I have had a few down here, but have always been able to quit cold turkey everytime.  I guess I am fortunate because I know many people who cannot.  The saying goes, ¨When in Rome.¨

Tango is not as popular here as Buenos Aires, which I am surprised about.  I thought it would be prevalent throughout the entire country, but is not.  You can still find it, though.

I was sitting at an Irish Pub last night (yes, the Irish have been everywhere!) and noticed all the different words for beer from throughout the whole world; bere, cerveja, OL, bier, alus, IIIB(upside down V), olut, birra, beer, cerveza, bjor, cervexa, beam, bia, cwrw and biero.  Can´t tell you where they are all from, but could probably figure out a good majority of them.

Mendoza has a very temperate climate, not quite mediterraen, but very similar and great for growing olives and wine.  Another breakfast or all day drink that one must experience while in Argentina is yerba mate.  This is where it comes from and  if it is offered to you, one must accept and even feel honored.  Yeah, you have to grow accustomed to it.  Sometimes it can give off  the aroma of cat piss. I have been drinking it for years in the states.  It is kind of combination between green tea and coffee.  It has no caffeine, but has a cousin to it called mateine.  Coffee makes one jittery and mate is smooth sailing all day.  You typically drink  mate out of wooden gourd with a metal straw (bombilla).  You fill up the gourd with crushed mate leaves and pour hot water (not scalding) over the leaves.  It is a ritual that people pass around in a group like Native Americans do with a peace pipe or hippies do with joints.  It is not a drug, though.  In fact, it is very healthy for you.  It  is high in antioxidants, vitamin C, fights gengivitis (bad breath), and good for your heart and helps with mental clarity.  I love it.  The coffee is not so good here, because it is instant coffee.

I went  to the Museo de Arte Moderno the other day here in Mendoza and these are some of the pictures I took there.

The artist´s name who carved all these stautues from wood.

My amigos I met at the hostel, Phillipe and Vera from Switzerland.  They have been traveling for 4.5 months and have 4.5 months to go.

The mentality of the  wine tour.

I  have been invited to a couple of asados (BBQs).  They really put ours to a shame.  So much food!  It was rediculously amazing and good. Two friends from Germany and the Chef, Martin in the back.

Soon,  I won´t be writing in this everyday, I just happen to be staying in a hostel this week while I am taking spanish classes. Soon I will  be exploring the mountains, glaciers (that are not melting, but one of the few places  in the world where they still are growing) and alpine lakes down in Patagonia (the area both in southern Argentina and Chile.