Our Friend Stanley

This weekend a big group of girls from my program hauled off to a little town in the Sierras called Tanti. It was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the city, especially because we're going to Buenos Aires this weekend and will be truly overwhelmed. Tanti is situated roughly 20 minutes from Carlos Paz, a city smaller than Córdoba that attracts many tourists who want both city and country life. Tanti, however, consists mostly of a few houses, some little shops, and 4 different heladerias (heladeria: ice cream shop. A staple in all of Argentina.). All I can say is, Tanti is perfect.

To the right is a picture of some of the countryside that we hiked through on our first day in town. We stayed at an incredibly picturesque hotel that was built in 1918, and cost us only $10 (US) a night and included breakfast (you have not tried croissants unless they're homemade by a little old lady in a population 2000 town. Or I guess if you go to France or whatever). From our hotel we walked along the river to a small waterfall, and then continued on to the hills. It was beautiful. Also on this walk we made an important new friend - Stanley. Stanley is one of the many street dogs that live free in Argentina. This is a phenomenon that we've all had to get used to, because there are dogs literally everywhere. Stan found us half way through our hike, and accompanied us thereafter. He also led us back when we weren't sure which paths to take, so thanks, Stan. We pretty much fell in love with this dog and were quite sad to say goodbye.

The people of Tanti are some of the nicest I've met so far, which is saying a lot in Argentina, country of nice people. To be "simpatico" (an agreeable, generally good-natured person) is highly valued in this country, and in most places it shows. However, the people of the mountains are famous for their friendliness and I'm pretty excited to meet some more of them in the near future.

Saturday we had two very cool (and attractive, but that's not surprising as EVERYONE in Argentina is attractive) guides take us into the mountains to hang out in the river, do some rock climbing, and ride a zip line. They also gave us some of the best salami I've ever eaten and bread made by a very old woman up the road. I managed to get a pretty awesome sunburn, and by awesome I mean not, but this is my only complaint. Thankfully, there were aloe plants everywhere and we all snagged some leaves to rub all over our painfully red appendages.

That night we made some new friends at a bar. Juan, Tomás, Nacho (Ignacio) and Mariano hung out with us until 7 am (standard) until we finally stumbled back to our hotel to sleep for a few hours before we met back up with them at Tomas' house for the best asado I've eaten to date. It's kind of ridiculous. Here's a picture of what you're missing in the US:

And yes, those are eggs cooking in those red peppers as they roast. These people come up with the best uses for eggs, but unfortunately none of them include breakfast foods. To make the trip complete, guess who found us in the street as we were walking to the asado? Stanley! It pretty much made my life, and that is not an exaggeration. All in all, these were some of my best days in the Tina so far. Next weekend is the big B.A., so that should make for some interesting stories as well. For now, it's nice to know that whenever we're feeling a little overwhelmed, we always have Tanti to go back to.