Jonathan's Semester in Argentina: Pesach and Mendoza -- More than just ארבע כוסות

Over the past few weeks I have been very busy. Pesach was from the night of Monday March 29th to the night of Tuesday April 6th. The first night of Pesach we were invited to the Rab. Gabriel Sacca's house. He is the head rabbi of the menora congregation, the new Sephardic organization for youth just around the corner from my house. I went with three other Americans to the seder with Rab Sacca and his family. They were all very nice. I brought my English youth Hagaddah and read some parts in English. It was strange seeing a Hagaddah in Spanish. Second night of Pesach I was invited by a friend of mine to another family's seder in Once, which is a religious neighborhood in Buenos Aires. I was not exactly looking for two religious seders, but that is what I ended up with. The food was excellent, and the Seders helped me spend a lot of time with Argentines. Also, the food was excellent.

The second day of Passover was Wednesday. Originally, I thought I was not doing anything this past weekend. We had off on Thursday and Friday because of Easter (or Passover, which is essentially the same holiday). Then I realized that absolutely everyone in the city was going to leave for the weekend. Then it just so happened that a friend of mine had an extra ticket, so I made some last minute plans and decided to go to Mendoza! Wednesday night I took a micro (read: bus) 15 hours to Mendoza. That might sound long, but it really isn't bad at all. I got on the bus, had my matzah dinner, and went to bed. I woke up in the morning with an hour ride left. If anything, the fact that the ride was a little longer allowed me to get a good night's sleep. The seats are extremely comfortable (as I have mentioned before, better than anything you would ever find on a bus in the US).

My last-minute hostel reservations were made at a hostel where nobody else I knew was staying (everywhere else was full). When I got to Mendoza I tried to see if one of the more popular hostels had room. They didn't. Then I went to my hostel. When I got there, a man across the street told me that the hostel was closed and didn't exist anymore. Nevertheless, I rang the bell to find an older man listening to very loud opera. Strange? Yes. He informed me that the hostel was indeed closed, but that the people who ran the hostel moved closer to the center of town. He gave me their phone number, which I called hoping that they were the ones with my reservation. Turned out that they tried to change the address of the hostel online -- unsuccessfully. Anyway, the hostel was very nice. It was run by a couple -- Esteban and Roxanna. They were very nice and hospitable. I also was able to make other friends at the hostel.

Mendoza was absolutely beautiful. I really have been longing for some naturaleza, and got my fill while I was in wine country. The first day in Mendoza I walked around the town. The second day was a beautiful five peso colectivo (bus) ride through the streets of Mendoza suburbs and vineyards to a water park called Termas Cacheuta on a natural hot spring. We didn't go into the park (it was just a few pools), but we did go horseback riding with our wonderful guide Chico. The third day in Mendoza we went on the Alta Montaña tour, all the way to the Argentina/Chile border. It was a nice tour, although I would have liked to do some more hiking and less bus riding. The bus riding was necessary if we were going to get all the way to the border. We were able to see pico Aconcagua, which is the tallest peak in the southern hemisphere, at one point in the road. The last day in Mendoza I went on a wine tour. It was nice to actually say that I went to a few vineyards. The best wine experience, however, was at the Vines of Mendoza, which is a tasting room in Mendoza city. The place was filled mostly with Americans, but the people there were really nice and the place was beautiful. Thanks to Rob and Pavi for setting it up for us.

Keeping Pesach was not very easy in Buenos Aires. So much of the food is bread: pizza, pasta, empanadas, croissants, etc. Also, I realized over the past week that there are millions of bakeries here. Anyway, I was introduced to kosher for passover dulce de leche, which was definitely a staple -- basically it became the new matza pizza. Anyway, I was sure to break with an empanada.

Classes have been going well. Finally I have a class schedule. Here are the four classes:
- Spanish - Professional Writing Workshop
- Radio Workshop - learning about the history and development of radio in addition to how to write for radio. There is a radio studio at the University of Buenos Aires
- History of International Relations
- Comparative American Revolutions

Did I mention that everything here is delivery? Apparently there is a place that will deliver bagels ordered over the phone (it is the only way to get bagels here -- you can't go to a store and buy them). I'm having trouble understanding what delivery ice cream would be like.

Also, the Masters is this weekend, and the Yankees/Red Sox series is tied 1-1. These are the things that Porteños do not care about, because they are not soccer.

Here are some pictures of where I've been recently: