Ginny Carrithers

A few months ago, while still in Quito, I received my weekly email listing of NYC non-profit and volunteer opportunities from Idealist.org (I signed up a long time ago when I thought it might be interesting to see what leaving the wonderful world of advertising might be like). Idealist.org lets you search ops by country, and it was more out of curiosity than anything else that I looked up Argentina, knowing I was heading there next.  What came up was this:

DESCRIPTION:

Seeking a Personal/Administrative Assistant for an exceptional 60 year old woman artist, Ginny Carrithers, living with Multiple Sclerosis, who leads a fascinating life in a spectacular region of Patagonia, Argentina. She is also still undergoing physical therapy for a back injury suffered about a year ago and, while doing so, is collecting and organizing her life’s story for publication. Ginny is self-sufficient in most aspects of daily living but needs assistance in a few specific areas relating to her art and writing projects ...

http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/VolunteerOpportunity/170379-155/c

So tonight I am leaving Buenos Aires on a bus bound for northern Patagonia to spend the next few weeks with Ginny. We'll be staying at the Hotel Oriplata in the small ski town of Caviahue very close to the border with Chile. One of the projects Ginny's working on is her biography and if you visit the site of her foundation Creativity Heals at http://www.creativityheals.org/ you can read about her life, her vision and her work. The other project will be preparing for an upcoming show of her work at the hotel this July.

I'm incredibly excited about both of these and finally meeting Ginny herself tomorrow - which is when I should be pulling up to the hotel after about 20+ hours of bus travel. I'm also excited to be going back to Patagonia, with its magical, magestic, almost mythical landscape. It will be the beginning of Fall so not quite ski season (which starts closer to June/July) and Ginny tells me its beautiful there this time of year. I look forward to being surrounded by the Patagonia mountains/glaciers/volcanos again.

Chao for now...  see you in Caviahue :)

Love,
Karen

On missing my bus

In the grand scheme of things that can go wrong when you travel, this one admittedly falls at the bottom of the list. But it's still a pain in the ass to arrive to the terminal way on time with your massive backpack(s) only to find out a good one hour later that your bus has left without you. 

The mistake was innocent and probably stupid on my part, but the busline posted on my ticket was not the one they kept announcing on the speakersystem.  Hence, I was listening for the wrong thing without knowing it. Hence, the gate # for the 16 hourlong bus headed for San Martin de Los Andes was announced and the bus eventually left without me :(

But I DID get to enjoy a nice 45 minute long chat with the teenage Peruvian girl sitting next to me.

And I DID get to return to the Chillhouse Hostel on Aguero Street where the friends I've made here in B.A. are still staying and fortunately there was still a bed for me.  And then we went out to La Cathedral for the Tuesday night tango milonga.

So it was a decent night in Buenos Aires in the end and yes (!) there are worse places to be stranded for 2 more days which is when the next bus for S.M. de los Andes leaves.  Gonna hang low, enjoy the warm, sunny weather and surely make the most of it.

Love,
Karen

B.A. nights

So I am happy to report I've been pretty successfully partaking in the famous (notorious?) Buenos Aires nightlife. The hype about it is ALL TRUE, being here makes partying in NYC seem like a soiree. And partying in pesos is amazing! Everything so miraculously affordable it is laughable, the prices for drinks and steaks and taxis and things all divisable by 3.8. So the ticket for the fancy club you thought cost $30 only really costs about $8.

And we've been to quite a few of them, Crobar, Niceto, Club 69, Museo. Tonight it was drum and bass night at Bahrain. I have cumulatively partied more these past 5 days than I did in my 20s. And while it is gratifying to be making up for lost time with so many nights of consecutive clubbing, it also pleases me to know that soon the madness will be over and I can get a good nights sleep again... guiltfree!

Between the crazy nightlife and this Milhouse hostel experience, being here in Buenos Aires has felt like a time warp. I share a room with 5 others, who are travelling from South Africa, Israel, England and even San Francisco. Coming "home" after a day's strolling and sightseeing, I walk into the hostel bar lounge where people are either playing pool, chatting in small groups, checking email and/or drinking an alcoholic beverage of some sort. Going to my "room" consists of lying on my bottom bunk and probably chatting with whoever else is also there about their day and forthcoming plans for the evening. Everyone is open and engaging and has interesting things to say. I have never had an easier time or so much fun meeting new people.

I will greatly miss this aspect of travelling, the openness of others, the stories they have to tell, the ease with which people seem happy and willing to get to know you.

So yeah Buenos Aires has been pretty amazing. There is obviously loads more about it that's been wonderful, the city so beautiful and interesting to absorb. And I've walked everywhere, to the Recoletta, Palermo, San Telmo ... and eaten gelatos and steak (almost) every day... and been to a few tango milongas ... and shopped and gotten my hair done. Slowly checking most everything off my list...

For my last day tomorrow I hope to make it back to Palermo for some more wandering and also to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. I will probably at some point also eat another gelato, maybe buy a pretty (and highly affordable) dress. I know snow awaits me back home in NYC so I will generally try to make the most of this last full day of summer in Buenos Aires.

Love,
Karen

Buenos Aires

I am spending my last week in Buenos Aires for the grande finale of all this. Staying at the self professed ¨party¨ hostel, the Milhouse, on main drag Avenida de Mayo where once again I feel the mother hen. But a party hostel seems most appropriate for B.A., where it is gauche to show up for anything before 2 or 3 am and where I am hoping peer pressure will help keep me awake.

Today was my first day and I walked an hour to my first Spanish class - where I am the only student!! - in San Telmo, grinning and occassionally also gasping with happiness along the way. Despite being a large city and home to aprx 13 million people, I feel like I want to absorb as much of B.A. as I can on foot. This city is beautiful. The weather this morning early summer perfect, with every other street offering up some shop or monument worth seeing or coming back to. I had not planned a particular route other than to reach the corner of Defensa and Brasil, but managed to still see Plaza de Mayo, Casa de Gobierno (¨the pink house¨) and Plaza Dorrego, along with a few museums and some pretty churches.

My teacher, Julia, is great and after conversing in Spanish for 2 hours at the cafe, took me on my first (and probably only) city bus ride to Plaza San Martin near the Recoleta. The emphasis of our classes is conversation and since I am the only student, I get to dictate our pace and focus. I am grateful for this freestyle approach, am furiously writing everything down in the hopes of emblazing as many new Spanish words and tenses on my brain as I can before I go home.

I also have such a long list of things I want to do and see and *eat* while I am here, and am grateful to have a full week instead of the originally planned 3 days to enjoy Buenos Aires. These include:

- Parilla at ¨La Vieja Rotisseria¨ and maybe also famous ¨La Cabrera¨
- The markets of San Telmo and Palermo Viejo
- Visit to the cemetary of Recoletta
- Tango lessons and/or show (milonga)
- Wednesday night happy hour at ¨Museo¨
- Day trip to El Tigre
- Dinner and drinks anywhere in Palermo Hollywood (I´ve been told)
- Clubbing B.A.-style (we shall see about this one!)

Helping me along with all this is the strength of the dollar against the peso. All in all, this will not be a terrible way to end my trip.

Love,
Karen

Rain on December 14

Raining in Cordoba ... in true form, I am happy for rain. Also on this particular morning, as we prepare for a long busride to Rosario.

Also on this particular morning, happy birthday to my sister!! Who is off celebrating somewhere with her husband after too much time apart...

I love you Poke. Happy Birthday!

Last 2 Weeks

Down to less than two weeks now remaining, and it feels right to be spending them drinking wine in northern Argentina: Mendoza, Cordoba (where I am tonight), then on to Rosario and finally, Buenos Aires!! This leg - and that´s how I´ve been viewing this trip I guess, divided in ¨legs¨ based on activity, mental state, GDP, etc. - so different from everything else so far, Peru being among the most indigenous and least developed of the South American countries, and Patagonia being Patagonia ie. like being on the moon.

Up here in Northern Argentina where I flew straight from Ushuai last Sunday morning, the vibe is more Europe - with a flavor all its own, enhanced by the early summer sun (yes, it´s beautiful summertime here!), and the personality of the people who do seem distinctly South American and yet remind me too of Israelis in nature (appropriately and funnily enough, there are LOADS of them tonight at the hostel where I´m staying ... and about 15 of them in the kitchen
right now cooking up ¨Shabbat¨ dinner... before hitting the Cordobian nightclubs, as one of them informed me).

I already miss Peru and I miss trekking every day with its clearly defined daily goals. (And I know I will miss, when I come home, the planning every day for something new, looking it up in the guidebook, talking to other travelers to glean what I can about where to go, what to see, the not sitting at my desk. I will miss the Spanish and the South American culture - already I regret all the countries I haven´t seen!!).

But for now, there is the wine, and I plan to drink plenty of it, good and amazingly cheap here in Northern Argentina, before I leave. We´ve certainly taken advantage in Mendoza so far, bringing a bottle home (aka to the hostel) with us every night. We´ve been eating steak too, though I am trying to pace myself a bit with that one, knowing Buenos Aires with its highly recommended restaurants is next.

More to come.

Love,
Karen