short stories...

McDonalds:
i'm not really a McDonald's fan...but I had my first opportunity to go to one in Buenos Aires...so I thought I'd try the burgers. I was hungry, and not really knowing the sizes of the hamburgers ordered the largest one I saw on the board...in the states this would be no problem, cuz usually the size on the board really isn't the size of the actual hamburger. However, here its different...the hamburger was huge and the burger itself was - well, dry - and you had to add your own ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise...the drinks were smaller (funny eh?) and the fries were the same (can't have a McDonald's without the real fries). Interesting to say the least...

Boats:
So I had to go to Uruguay in order to renew my visa (just a "quick" hop over the boarderfrom Buenos Aires in order to get a stamp in my passport that says "tourist" so I can stay for another 3 months). It turned out to be a bit more work than I'd anticipated. I had NO idea where to go or what to do...but a quick phone call to a friend who'd done it before helped me tons. I bought passage on a boat that would cross over to Uruguay Thursday morning at 9:30am. I took my friend with me (her first time ever going into another country - she's from Argentina). Having never taken a boat before we weren't sure how things worked - this was evident when we arrived ten minutes before departure and were told we couldn't get on our boat....frustrating? yeah, just a little. After buying passage for the first half of our trip (again)...and waiting for two hours...we headed to Uruguay (a great place to visit if you ever want to go). The boat trip only took us one hour the first time...three hours to return (the boat was slower aparently haha). both ships had restuarants and a little shop for suveniers. The secon boat had a full on archade. Quite the experience for just one day in Uruguay, but I have to say all the waiting was worth it when we finally got to sit on the sandy "beach" looking out on the ocean and marveling at a beautiful and fairly warm day (that soon turned into a freezing day cuz, well its winter here).

3am Pizza:
So, I'm not very good at planning...when trying to return to Cordoba (after my wonderful adventure the day before to Uruguay)...okay, it was 2am should've known that there wouldn't be any tickets then... though there was a bus leaving it was full ... so not being able to decide what to do (cuz I really didn't want to go anyway)....my friend Sabrina, myself, her brother, and a friend from church decided to tour the city. One of my favorite adventures of all time! I've decided I'm very much a night person :) ...after seeing the oldest tree in Buenos Aires (older than the city itself), passing by a really cool cemetary for wealthy people, walking through a shopping center full of beautiful things...we ate pizza at a "country bar" ... I think it was called Montana something at 3am. I've never done that before...I'm sure there is somewhere in Portland that is open that late...but this is really common here. We didn't get back to the house until 5am .... and though I was exhausted, I wouldn't have traded the poor planning for anything...

okay gotta run...more stories to come later...