Mar del Tuyú day 2

Mar Del Tuyu day 2

Last night the lights went off because  there was a big storm with lots of lighting. At least we are assuming this was the reason for it. In the middle of the night I felt a little tap on my bed, then all of the sudden I was being cuddled my the dog. Now I wasn't going to kick her out. I was way too tired and she is way to cute. She started at my back and ended at my knees. When I woke up the little traitor was sleeping with Clement! It turns out she went for a morning walk first so I guess she didn't just move beds. Anyways, we woke up and drank very odd peach yogurt and ate more Dulce de leche snacks, then we played a game where we play music and the other person has to guess the song. We were waiting for our host dad to come back so we can prepare lunch. 

Our host dad ended up having car troubles.. Again.. So we prepared and ate the food without him. The pasta was a little undercooked but it was ok. Then we drove to a really nice beach but the wind was horrible so we left in a hurry and went to another. Now usually I'm pretty good at finding the fun spots in the waves where you can ride them with ease. Unfortunately after a while I got to a bad spot and got trampled by a major wave. Of course as I came up gasping for air much further down the beach when another wave hit me pulling me further and further away from the family.  This happened three times. I was just trying to keep my bathing suit on my body and eventually stand up. My family saw me halfway down the beach flapping like a whale in the sand trying to get up and they all burst out in laughter. (I already can imagine my parents back home knowing this is something only I can pull off) We drank terere, ate more dulce de leche snacks. Later we got this really cool milk shake that was banana and dulce de leche flavour. It was delicious!!! We went for another walk and saw the banana boats being pulled by jet skis. The host parents told us that one of these days we will do that and we were very excited! There were also many suffers and since I've been dying to learn how to surf I asked how much it costs to rent a board and everything. The only problem was if you didn't have previous experience surfing than you need an instructor and I didn't bring enough money to pay for one. Right now I'm a bit stuck with money. It's difficult because we only receive 650 pesos and every day if you want to do anything where it's going "camping" or going out dancing at night it's at least 100 pesos and almost always more. For example I was invited to got to a really nice spot tomorrow but it's 300 pesos for the day. I have a big bus trip to pay for soon so I can't take money out of the bank right now. I guess Argentina is teaching me some serious budgeting skills. Anyways, the city where this beach was, was beautiful! I would have loved to live there! The houses are stunning and very close to the beach. At around 7 we went back to Mar de Tuyu, bought empanadas and had a lovely dinner with great conversation! Lots of laughs! The boys went to buy empanadas while the mom and I stayed home to set the table and wash the bathing suits. Mine happens to be full of sand that won't come out from being bashed around in the waves. The boys only had to go to the corner so we though they would only be 15 minutes max. 40 minutes later they return because there were no empanadas so the lady had to make them some right there and then. We also took showers the only thing is that there isn't really a hot water tank so the first person that showers gets warm water and everyone else takes freezing cold showers even if you wait the 20 minutes. I have taken the quickest showers of my life here barely getting the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair because it's just so cold! 

So far this has been the best trip in of my stay in Argentina.. Especially since there hasn't been many others.. My city (San Nicolas) seems to be isolated or our host families just don't have money to take us anywhere. At least I have good friends to keep me company. I'm already really enjoying this family who will one day become my third host family. 

There is no wifi here so we are totally disconnected this week which is kinda refreshing! 

Mar Del Tuyú day 1

Today we arrived in Mar Del Tuyu. 

I woke up at 4:30 am to be ready for 5 am when my third host family was supposed to pick me up. Of course this is Argentina so they were 15-20 minutes late. I didn't mind because it gave me more time to eat more cereal. Unfortunately last night i couldn't get any sleep, it was crazy hot even with the fan and I left my window open so I was swarmed by mosquitoes. I was notified when i got in the car that this was going to be a six hour drive. I was so tired but I couldn't sleep. I got to see the amazingly beautiful coloured sun rise. Before I continue I should probably tell who is all on this trip. Yesterday my soon to be host sister and her boyfriend already got to the beach house and today it is my host parents, Clement the Frenchie and I on our way to meet up with them. Hours later, with Dulce de leche snacks (absolutely delicious by the way)  we, of course, have car troubles.

(Dulce de leche snacks^^) 

By this point in the day I was dying of heat and trying so hard to sleep since I was so tired. I got some winks in but it was really too hot to sleep comfortably. Because of our unexpected car troubles, our 6 hour trip turned into a 9 hour trip. Either way we got here at 3 pm. My sister and her boyfriend with stay in the house next door while my host parents in one room and Clement and I in the other. We have a sick living arrangement! Even though the house is very small we have 2 bunk beds all to ourselves. We both decided to put our belonging on the top and to sleep on the bottom. We call ourselves cell mates because with the bunk beds, Clement's hat and him playing the harmonica, it kind of reminds us of a nice prison.

Soon after arriving we went for a quick drive to get some groceries to make sandwiches. Next we hit the beach! Our house is one of the closest ones which is awesome! We set up and ate our sandwiches and then went straight into the water. Even though the water was quite dirty it was still really fun splashing and jumping through waves!

We had a great time! Clement and I raced in the waves and I tried to get him to go out further were the waves were more fun. He was a little nervous at first but I used the "your only in Argentina once" line and he finally got out of his comfort zone and admitted I was right, the waves were much more fun where I was. The French boy was the whitest person on the beach and needed a lot of sunscreen! It was hilarious to see everyone looking at him so strangely. Something rare started to happen, the whole beach started clapping. We saw a life guard caring a little girl and learnt that when someone is lost everyone starts clapping to notify the others and to find the family. It was a very interesting strategy and something I've never seen before. The rest of the family wanted to take a little break and sit down so we went walking down the beach to see what we could find. We found some drummers and comedians but mostly just good conversation and funny games. Next we decided to play paleta which is kind of like beach tennis. Unfortunately this game got us covered in sand. I decided to go back in the water a second time with my host sister and it was really fun! We spent the whole time laughing and getting knocked over my waves. We came back to our umbrella and everyone sat down to eat the corn on the cob that we bought right there on the beach! It started to get quite windy and cold after that so we slowly made our way back up to the beach house and took turns taking freezing cold showers. At least we got the sticky sand off our bodies. The rest of the night we spent chilling on our bunk beds talking and listening to music. Look at the dog! Clement says she looks like a sock! Her name is Venecia.  

They fell asleep together.

 

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Wow guys I'm so sorry that I've been gone for such a long time, I can't remember if I told you guys that I changed families but I did and then yesterday I changed again to my third and final family. So I guess you guys have missed a lot and I haven't been doing a good job of keeping you up to date. I'm not quite sure where to start because I don't know where I left off but I think that I still haven't told you guys about my Mar de Tuyu trip (back when I was still with my first host family!) Therefore in my next blog update which will hopefully be today or tomorrow I will start telling you all about my vacation 

Where have I been?

I have a load of things to update you on! My vacation in Mar Del Tuyu! Wow that seems like a while ago! And also my recent trip to the north of Argentina! To be honest I don't even know where to start! 

Since vacations are lengthly, I'll tell you about a couple things I've done since I've gotten back.

All of you have surely already heard of the many "campings" we have around town. Well my new host family actually has a sort of house thing in one of these campings. 

Oh by the way! I've changed host families, if I didn't already let you know! My new host mom's name is Gabby, my host dad's Dario, I have 2 brothers, one that is  23, his name is Alvaro and the other will be 17 at the end of this month and his name is Augusto! They are the Lluch family! They are very nice and welcoming! It's interesting to see another's family way of living as it is definitely a bit different from my last host family. I'm still learning how to do things their way. 

Anyways, let me introduce you to their camping..

They are right next to the river which is quite beautiful! As you can see there is always lots of kids running around! 

One of my friends from school goes there too! It was really nice to walk in and have a friend because there aren't so many teens my age. 

I'm sure I've talked to you at least once about the Asado. Asado is usually with red meat but in the picture above you can still see how they are cooking it (not the same as BBQ) This was the biggest Asado I have ever seen! It was for a special dinner in the camping site. They cooked 72 chickens and 200 sausages! That is a lot of meat!!! 

Since I haven't seen my friends in a while I spent the day with one of my best friends Rocio. Then later Tuesday night went to my friend Leti's house to celebrate her birthday! 

This night quickly got complicated when it was 4:30 and people needed to go home. 

As a young girl it's not safe to take whichever taxi back home alone in the middle of the night. Before I always traveled with my friend Simon as we lived 2 blocks from each other. Now that I have changed houses it's more complicated since none of my friends live near me. My parents have the number of a secure taxi company that I'm allowed to take but I didn't have the number or batterie to call my parents and ask for it. So instead my only option was to sleep at my friend's house. This turned out fine with my host parents. I made a new friend at the birthday party and the next day we went shopping in the centre together. 

Next update I will tell you about one of my trips! 

I hope my blog makes sense! It's hard when I'm thinking in Spanish! 

Lots of love!

Talk to you soon! 

Hannah

Country life

Today I went to my friend's grandpa's cousin's house! You can just call him te Uncle. 

It was an old country house that was very very country! They had horses, sheep, chickens, turkeys, various other birds and a puppy! 

The house was wooden and had pictures of horses everywhere! There was badly any lights in the house it was so old! When the sun started to set I realized I was washing dishes in half darkness. 

We had a really nice day with all the family! We even got to ride the horses! 

We rode the horses more than once and the first time my horse didn't even want to walk. The next time when both my friend and I were on the horse, the horse went carzy and even tried to buck us off! 

I just got back a few days ago from a week's trip to the coast! I'll tell you all about it soon! 

More birthdays :)

We spent a really nice day camping the other day! There was water sides at the pool and everything! I'm definitely darker now! My shoulders look like strawberries though.. 

Then yesterday it was Nuria's and Agostina's birthday! I spent the day with Nuria and her new puppy Puki! 

Just look at how cute this puppy is!!

At night I went to Agostina's house for her birthday but I decided to go home quickly to change. Unfortunately the lights were out in our neighbourhood so it was hard to find clothes. Agostina didn't have lights at her house either but we all enjoyed a nice candlelight dinner. The lights came back on at about 2:30 am. I was very thankful because I didn't want to walk home with no street lights! 

So happy birthday to these 2 amazing girls and thank you for the great day! I'm a lot fatter now...

Happy birthday Emi!

Yesterday was my good friend Emi's birthday! My friends Sai and Rocio came over to my house to make a birthday present. 

It was a book that says happy birthday Emi we love you on the front and then we cut a whole in a bunch of pages and a whole bunch of other friends chipped in to buy money inside the empty pages. 

Here we are getting all ready!

And we finally made it to Emi's house in time for cake!