Chascómus

What a wonderful weekend. I don't really feel like blogging right now since I only have a few hours before seeing Phantom of the Opera and then heading out to Bariloche, but I figured it'd be a good idea. Here goes nothing.

Last Thursday morning, bright and early, Nati, Fede and Nati's mom headed out to Chascómus, a small town about two hours outside of Buenos Aires for Semana Santa. Although the trip there was horrific (5 hours of stand-still traffic, all of us dying because we had to go to the bathroom so badly -- yes, I never quite realized how much we in the United States take highway rest-stops for granted -- and a brief run in with some corrupt police officers) we made it to their house by midday. Nati and Fede bought a small house together on the edge of the town, since real estate is much cheaper further away from the touristic town center, and are working on the house. It really doesn't have anything yet; this weekend's goal was to put in water and gas. It was really interested to see though, watching my host parents tear out dry wall and install gas piping along the floorboards. Crazy what an architecture degree here in Argentina teaches you to do!

Since the two of them were busy fixing up their house, I had tons of free time to roam around. In town, an artisan fair was happening. Actually, that was the reason Nati's mom came with us. In addition to being a teacher, she has her own line of shapmoos, soaps, and aromatherapy scents, and is being supported by the town in a microcredit type deal to sell her goods on big weekends such as Semana Santa. I spent some time roaming, (and maybe buying? :/ I may or may not have bought this gorgeous silk screen for my apt in St. Louis) but most of all I just sat by the water and read. If anyone reading this actually knows me, usually this would have driven me insane but it was actually quite nice.


For the past two days, really all I did was go to bed early, finally get some sleep, and then get up around 9 and go for a run along the water. I was finally able to run with my ipod since I was outside of Buenos Aires where it's not safe, and I just loved it (my view during my run shown on the right). I dont know what got into my this morning, but I ran almost the entire way into the town.. about 10 kilometers. Crazy!


The peace and quiet was so nice. Although I'm really excited to go to Bariloche tomorrow and see some snow, hike and eat chocolate (which they're famous for) it was really tough to leave..

It was sort of a strange, yet carthartic, experience for me spending so much time alone, with my book and my music, staring out at the water. I'm thinking about heading back there during my weekends of ISP and just relaxing again. So wonderful.