Bikram

The one and only Bikram Yoga studio in all of Argentina happened to open 2 1/2 months ago near my apartment. The director is from North America and gives the classes in a "gracioso" (laughable) accent that is wayyyy worse than mine so i get the benefit of a self-esteem boost AND exercise during class. But really, today was my first stab at this and it is one of the physically most challenging things i've ever done. The room is 42° C, in Farenheit i have no idea. Look it up. It's wicked hot. This place has a masochistic promo going on where if you buy one class, you get 6 for free. As long as you do them consecutive days. Ahhh. My body has literally changed after one listen ONE day and is already soooooore all over. We walk out of the little hell room looking literally like we had been in a water aerobics class. And it takes so much concentration--all the way around this weird activity is surprisingly awesome. i slept so little last night, had a scary midterm that entailed thousands of pounds of brainpower, went to that yoga thing twice, and am feeling sharp and full of energy at 1am. it was like a drug. Yoga is "el único ejercicio que te da energía," the only exercise that actually gives you energy. WTF, the secret to add more hours in the day!!!!

Daylight No Savings

Argentina just canceled daylight savings time. That pretty much sums up the rhythm of life here.

Rojas + last day

My baller teacher and his free spirit. I am obsessed, obviously. Here he is painting a 3-story mural on the wall of the historical Rojas Cultural Center....and letting his little class do the same....apparently he has some clout. This guy is SO encouraging and patient and a great mix of laid-back/intense. Back at the "taller," (workshop), we are experimenting with controlling our aerosol line. This is so outside of any medium i've worked with, and it is HARD. I wanted to take a picture of all our past work but Maestro Alfredo rescued us before we wandered over there and got robbed. Kind of a sketchy area:) And....here we are in the paper! It's basically a story about the workshop he runs. Will you look at the Stache?? His name would be Alfredo.

And HERE is an even better description of everything this amazing cultural center does: http://galponesdearte.blogspot.com/ You will like it if you can read Spanish. If you cannot read Spanish you will like the pretty pictures.

Día de los Estudiantes

What a brilliant idea! A day to honor students, on which there is no school but rather parties in the park instead. Also happens to be the first day of spring. We watched La Bamba show off their famous drum talent at a concert, danced with some great Argentine girls among the crowd, and saw a huge joint float driving around to exploit the recent weed legalization. The press was chasing him around trying to get him off park property, it was a comical scene. There were also instant maté machines EVERYWHERE, serving hot water to thousands of porteños. Shows you how they value their maté:)

Jujuy

Tilcara!
Las salinas: miles, pardon, KILOMETERS, of salt.
Purmamarca.
The most beautiful, scary, close storm of purple "relampagos" (lightning) i have ever seen.
Pacha Mama, where you offer the habits you want to break to Mama Earth.
Andrew's unmatched freetylin talent.
Arid air!
Morning sunrises. TONS of stars. missing Orion's belt:(
Coldest showers of my entire life.
Llama meat. Llama leg warmers. Llama sweaters. Llama cheese. Llamas.
And...a taxi driver who's the 14th child out of 17. WTF??! He was the most cheerful man i have ever met--and also swore he will have no more than 3 children himself haha.

Salsa

Ahh i am obsessed! With salsa. Salsa dancing. (Not the spicy sauce, obviously, because they literally don't even know what spice is down here.) The places turn into a boliche, a club, around 1am or so. I like to go to a lesson beforehand (yeah Anneke, my salsa compadre!) and then crash the boliche afterwards. The lessons definitely reach creeper status from a States' perspective, but the forwardness and touchiness are trademarks of the dance. We learn the passes speed-dating style, where we change partners every few minutes. Everyone has their own quirks and definitely smell--it's a workout haha. The salsa boliches are so legit--they're filled with serious masters who have probably been dancing since birth. It is the most liberating dance, slightly technical, but you can fake it pretty well when you're first starting if you're a girl and just follow the guy's marks. (Yes it's quite machisto, but really, what isn't here?) I've been learning a lot from the women here who just don't take any crap:) Luckily i have met a really non-creepy Argentine friend who knows his salsa and is a patient teacher. Thank youuuu, Matias.