tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4352398344635359132024-03-13T04:28:29.724-07:00World on fireA place to read about our adventures on the road to nowhere.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-54638210705686517912010-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:002010-05-07T12:42:06.360-07:00Hogar bethelSo, I know I´m slow, SORRY!<br /><br />I won´t write much, I will let the pictures speak for themselves...<br /><br />The Sunday dance...<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqXXARaqI/AAAAAAAAAnM/-exgBYGZF6E/s1600/DSCF2074.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 399px; HEIGHT: 298px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468612797079317154" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqXXARaqI/AAAAAAAAAnM/-exgBYGZF6E/s400/DSCF2074.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Me and Maria...<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqXMoQ4rI/AAAAAAAAAnE/g1aJMkO2pxI/s1600/DSCF2023.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468612794294264498" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqXMoQ4rI/AAAAAAAAAnE/g1aJMkO2pxI/s400/DSCF2023.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Me and Cynthia...<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqWbfhNoI/AAAAAAAAAm8/Xpp7lUHQ8ec/s1600/DSCF2017.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468612781104248450" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqWbfhNoI/AAAAAAAAAm8/Xpp7lUHQ8ec/s400/DSCF2017.JPG" /></a><br /><br />A normal day in the kindergarden...<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqWLmTo4I/AAAAAAAAAm0/1h8RluG7Ztg/s1600/DSCF1971.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468612776837751682" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqWLmTo4I/AAAAAAAAAm0/1h8RluG7Ztg/s400/DSCF1971.JPG" /></a><br /><br />The charming Santiago...<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqVVddsKI/AAAAAAAAAms/V0bJPUf2i2Q/s1600/DSCF1966.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468612762305147042" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RqVVddsKI/AAAAAAAAAms/V0bJPUf2i2Q/s400/DSCF1966.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Playtime...<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RngSiD4cI/AAAAAAAAAmk/zITgxioqx_s/s1600/DSCF1960.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468609651962798530" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RngSiD4cI/AAAAAAAAAmk/zITgxioqx_s/s400/DSCF1960.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Milagros on the phone...<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-Rnf0KsBnI/AAAAAAAAAmc/DOJEsvr9T_c/s1600/DSCF1958.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468609643811702386" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-Rnf0KsBnI/AAAAAAAAAmc/DOJEsvr9T_c/s400/DSCF1958.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Me, Mara and Belen...<br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RnfUcJ02I/AAAAAAAAAmU/XQZ4n3Yi3qU/s1600/DSCF1937.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468609635295023970" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RnfUcJ02I/AAAAAAAAAmU/XQZ4n3Yi3qU/s400/DSCF1937.JPG" /></a><br /></div><div>again...</div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RnfHga2uI/AAAAAAAAAmM/OURU1PZRo3s/s1600/DSCF1935.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468609631823256290" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RnfHga2uI/AAAAAAAAAmM/OURU1PZRo3s/s400/DSCF1935.JPG" /></a><br /><br />The choir...<br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-Rnek1Z85I/AAAAAAAAAmE/P19Yl1ZbAZ0/s1600/DSCF1915.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468609622516036498" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-Rnek1Z85I/AAAAAAAAAmE/P19Yl1ZbAZ0/s400/DSCF1915.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Breakfast...<br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlSpNQFrI/AAAAAAAAAl8/HvUHkPezLcI/s1600/DSCF1780.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468607218508109490" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlSpNQFrI/AAAAAAAAAl8/HvUHkPezLcI/s400/DSCF1780.JPG" /></a><br /></div><div>Birthday-time...</div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlSFL7imI/AAAAAAAAAl0/NN1DSArJO_c/s1600/DSCF1794.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468607208838892130" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlSFL7imI/AAAAAAAAAl0/NN1DSArJO_c/s400/DSCF1794.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Another band...<br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlR6cbItI/AAAAAAAAAls/MsczEHUb7Qo/s1600/DSCF1833.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468607205955281618" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlR6cbItI/AAAAAAAAAls/MsczEHUb7Qo/s400/DSCF1833.JPG" /></a> </div><br />Photo-shoot...<br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlRd0lRCI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Ph0BPFeUMjI/s1600/DSCF1881.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468607198271980578" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlRd0lRCI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Ph0BPFeUMjI/s400/DSCF1881.JPG" /></a><br /><br />my girls...<br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlRFE_6iI/AAAAAAAAAlc/40fJptFZm_U/s1600/DSCF1891.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468607191629949474" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S-RlRFE_6iI/AAAAAAAAAlc/40fJptFZm_U/s400/DSCF1891.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I will miss it, this place! I hope I can come back one day. On Monday it´s only 3 weeks left, time is passing very fast. I will write again though, so stay tuned. Just not right now, cause AK is visiting and we have things to do, places to see and songs to sing ;)</div><div> </div><div>-Ida-<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div></div></div></div></div></div>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-56425292800451645692010-05-02T16:50:00.000-07:002010-05-02T17:13:31.763-07:00"Did you hear?"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S94SpsSK1sI/AAAAAAAAAlU/kNVoqChiB2Y/s1600/P3060760.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S94SpsSK1sI/AAAAAAAAAlU/kNVoqChiB2Y/s400/P3060760.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466827505145665218" border="0" /></a><br />Ida and AK got new boyfriends?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S94SpKTbkoI/AAAAAAAAAlM/8yxj1k8_Ntc/s1600/P2200021.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S94SpKTbkoI/AAAAAAAAAlM/8yxj1k8_Ntc/s400/P2200021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466827496024150658" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Did you also hear: AK doesn't want to write more essays!<br /><br />PS: yes, dad, I did try to buy his guitar for you, but he didn't want to part from it,<br />as it was specially made for him.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-12209906230852764642010-05-01T12:21:00.000-07:002010-05-01T16:54:52.064-07:00A visual summary of the trip to Santiago de Chile and Mendoza<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y94UF3SYI/AAAAAAAAAlE/ulm5gdWg0e0/s1600/P4235481.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y94UF3SYI/AAAAAAAAAlE/ulm5gdWg0e0/s400/P4235481.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452822884567426" border="0" /></a><br />Cool mix of old and new architecture in Santiago.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y933KIzjI/AAAAAAAAAk8/LFTwo6UBkDk/s1600/P4225469.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y933KIzjI/AAAAAAAAAk8/LFTwo6UBkDk/s400/P4225469.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452815117864498" border="0" /></a><br />The view of some of the city from a view point.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y93nIJR6I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Bd2zSz45m3M/s1600/P4255513.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y93nIJR6I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Bd2zSz45m3M/s400/P4255513.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452810814539682" border="0" /></a><br />The meeting point for the rafting excursion.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y93O1q_FI/AAAAAAAAAks/9VezHgu0RgU/s1600/P4245493.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y93O1q_FI/AAAAAAAAAks/9VezHgu0RgU/s400/P4245493.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452804294605906" border="0" /></a><br />Summer meets fall? (at least for people who associate palm trees with summer!)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y92gdl0sI/AAAAAAAAAkk/JmugDMKPMOs/s1600/HPIM4802.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9y92gdl0sI/AAAAAAAAAkk/JmugDMKPMOs/s400/HPIM4802.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452791845573314" border="0" /></a><br />Mendoza by night (Plaza de Independencia)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL6MWyTeI/AAAAAAAAAkc/oGR8-uqrBig/s1600/HPIM4789.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL6MWyTeI/AAAAAAAAAkc/oGR8-uqrBig/s400/HPIM4789.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466397879586409954" border="0" /></a><br />A grape plantation belonging to one of the vineyards on our bike-and-wine list!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL5r-b7bI/AAAAAAAAAkU/iMv2onuJ3gk/s1600/HPIM4796.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL5r-b7bI/AAAAAAAAAkU/iMv2onuJ3gk/s400/HPIM4796.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466397870894345650" border="0" /></a><br />No comment necessary.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL5ClfohI/AAAAAAAAAkM/GCBRox0qT6I/s1600/HPIM4774.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yL5ClfohI/AAAAAAAAAkM/GCBRox0qT6I/s400/HPIM4774.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466397859783877138" border="0" /></a><br />A happy biker.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB9RzhFpI/AAAAAAAAAkE/vm9Hybw4lVE/s1600/DSC_0101.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB9RzhFpI/AAAAAAAAAkE/vm9Hybw4lVE/s400/DSC_0101.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466386937472423570" border="0" /></a><br />Rafting in Medoza River!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB9A8UsNI/AAAAAAAAAj8/NtgZjboMOyc/s1600/DSC_0059.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB9A8UsNI/AAAAAAAAAj8/NtgZjboMOyc/s400/DSC_0059.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466386932945957074" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB8pinWtI/AAAAAAAAAj0/ramKeUztNvg/s1600/DSC_0047.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S9yB8pinWtI/AAAAAAAAAj0/ramKeUztNvg/s400/DSC_0047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466386926664112850" border="0" /></a><br />Word of advice: don't sit down in the front of the boat -<br />you will be the one getting soooooaked. Learned that lesson the hard (wet?) way.<br /><br />FUN! :)Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-76152740498997191232010-04-20T15:13:00.000-07:002010-04-20T15:19:19.591-07:00Bus trippin'I forgot to tell you last time, that while Alejandro & Simon were visiting we did a little travelling too: specifically to Mar del Plata, which is about 5h. south of BsAs. It's the IT-vacation spot for porteños and is known for it's beaches and casinos. We tried both (although the beach was a cold pleasure - the casino was better). I learned (to love) playing poker!<br /><br />Anyway, that's all old news now, because there is a new trip waiting to happen:<br />Tomorrow Kjersti & I (AK) will go to Santiago de Chile, check Chile out for a few days,<br />then go to Mendoza and hopefully rent a few (well..let's start with 2) bikes<br />and then bike from vinyard to vinyard, untill we fall off the bike (don't worry mum,<br />I won't actually fall of the bike..probably not anyway).<br /><br />Hasta la vista babies!!!!!! (that sounded weird...I just wanted to call you baby!)<br /><br />Ida-we miss u <3Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-70225625991467614412010-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:002010-04-15T11:20:27.631-07:00Roadtrippin'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNWGNNaVI/AAAAAAAAAjs/K_jm9DXT0wk/s1600/Lysbilde6.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNWGNNaVI/AAAAAAAAAjs/K_jm9DXT0wk/s400/Lysbilde6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460418115228494162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />'Hola a todos<br /><br />AK speaking again (Ida, where are you???? oh, that's right, in Villa General Belgrano close to Cordoba - update us please).<br /><br />As you can guess, the band has split up : (not due to artistic differences)<br />Ida is in a town close to Cordoba working at an orphanage<br />Kjersti is on vacation in Peru, but is returning to BsAs in 2 days<br />and I'm still in Buenos Aires, studying hard....hard-ish.<br />When Kjersti gets back we're gonna (hopefully) do some traveling! :)<br /><br />But untill then I thought I'd give you some pictures from the last travel.<br />All photo-credit goes to Kjersti, the master photographer of the trip...I think there's only 30 pictures from the last 4months on my camera...this is because a) I'm lazy. b) Kjersti is a better photographer anyway. If you wanna see more pictures, you should visit her blog:<br />http://hanna-ladybug.blogspot.com/<br /><br /><br />The first picture starting this posting is of Kjersti&I with Thys, who we picked up at the busstation and decided to travel with.<br />The one below is of me climbing to get to the falls (the guide also was the photographer of the day). And some gorgeous pictures of the nature on our way around the Salta area also follow.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNVw82NnI/AAAAAAAAAjk/WfR7jgXNVc8/s1600/Lysbilde5.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNVw82NnI/AAAAAAAAAjk/WfR7jgXNVc8/s400/Lysbilde5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460418109522720370" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNVneTJsI/AAAAAAAAAjc/SJaFi7M7TL4/s1600/Lysbilde4.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dNVneTJsI/AAAAAAAAAjc/SJaFi7M7TL4/s400/Lysbilde4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460418106978674370" border="0" /></a><br />Lamas everywhere!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM3myB0WI/AAAAAAAAAjU/yfYxBDI96NE/s1600/Lysbilde13.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM3myB0WI/AAAAAAAAAjU/yfYxBDI96NE/s400/Lysbilde13.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460417591396913506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM3dkAP5I/AAAAAAAAAjM/AnfDqQWpDCc/s1600/Lysbilde17.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM3dkAP5I/AAAAAAAAAjM/AnfDqQWpDCc/s400/Lysbilde17.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460417588922171282" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM21jk_oI/AAAAAAAAAjE/bDx6s4h8ecM/s1600/Lysbilde22.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM21jk_oI/AAAAAAAAAjE/bDx6s4h8ecM/s400/Lysbilde22.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460417578182966914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM2irE6JI/AAAAAAAAAi8/EsguBHn0b7U/s1600/Lysbilde21.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S8dM2irE6JI/AAAAAAAAAi8/EsguBHn0b7U/s400/Lysbilde21.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460417573114144914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />THANK YOU to the photographer Kjersti!<br />Some of these are definitely going up on my wall at home when I get back :)Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-66119068624569770532010-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:002010-03-27T14:29:04.572-07:00VacationsHola a todos,<br />AK speaking! :)<br /><br />We've been on the road lately, and therefore we now have a lot to tell you!<br /><br />We've spent some days in Uruguay, passed through Colonia and Montevideo<br />and ended up in Cabo Polonio which is a peninsula with great beaches, no electricity,<br />and rarely running water. Thanks to helpful advice from the tourist-information lady at the bus-station in Montevideo we left believing that we'd be able to pay with credit cards at the<br />restaurants in Cabo Polonio...we were not. Thanks lady. The same lady told us that there were no restaurants close to the bus-station...as we got out we saw more than 3 in the closest street.<br /><br />Cabo Polonio is about 5 hours from Montevideo along the coast towards the east and in order to get there you have to (after the 5h. busride) take a 4x4 truck to get to the town because you will be driving over sand mountains and beaches. Lovely.<br />I have never seen so many stars on the sky.<br /><br />We knew we had to pick up the keys to the 24m2 house we were renting (for 4 people) from a guy called Leo in a blue house close to the lighthouse. However, when we got to Cabo Polonio..it was dark and we had no idea where the blue house was. Neither did we know which house we had rented. This could have gotten tricky, but thanks to a very helpful man who came with the same truck we did (who walked us to Leo's blue house, and then to the house we rented with a flashlight) everything was ok.<br /><br />During our stay we got to see sea lions (both alive and dead), a huge number of stray dogs,<br />some cute puppies, got to shower outside in water from the well, and finally managed to scrape together enough money to eat at on of the restaurants (we chose to do so in the dark, as then we would not notice that it was quite dirty). Oh yes...and some of us might have gotten a bit sunburned as well.<br /><br />From there we went back to BsAs, but just for 1 night, and then we got on a bus to Cordoba.<br />Cordoba seems like a much smaller city (of course) than BsAs, and also it looks a lot cheaper (of course). It also has an awesome "Museum of memory" for the Dirty War (la guerra sucia)<br />which I recommend to anyone passing through the city.<br /><br />The people of Cordoba are also very helpful (whenever you pull up a map 5 people come running to help you figure out where to go) and a special thanks should go out to the 2 old men who stopped me and Kjersti from walking on the "bad side" of the river ("you can't walk there with a purse!").<br /><br />Ida & Simon stayed in Cordoba and explored the area around, while Kjersti & me took a bus to Salta. At the busstation we met a guy from the Netherlands, Thys, and decided to rent a car and drive from Salta to La Poma through the spectacular scenery with lots of mountains, colors, and kind of crappy roads. We found a very small restaurant there (the town is TINY) and I got to read children's stories to the chef's incredibly cute daugther. From there we went to Catchi where we spent 1 night, and then to Cafayate a lot further south where we took a guided walk to Rio Colorado, a beautiful waterfall where we took a swim. Luckily we opted for going there with a guide, although the Lonely Planet book mentioned nothing of this need, because we suddenly found ourself climbing up 10meters on rocks with a rise of almost 90degrees.<br /><br />We drove back to Salta for a night, and then up past Jujuy and to Purmamarca, where I might have gone sligthly berserk buying souvenirs. This is also where you'll find the mountains with 7 colors (very pretty!) not to mention countless police controls as it is relatively close to the boarder of Bolivia. We drove back to Salta and spent the last night there, and checked out the Inca Museum and the view over Salta before we said goodbye to Thys and got on a plane back to BsAs.<br /><br />Salta and the area around definitely has a different feel to it than BsAs, obviously the cities are smaller, but the people also look different, supposedly because of a lot of immigration from Bolivia. And most people are extremely helpful whenever you pull up a map here too.<br /><br />Today it's Saturday, yesterday we got back from our adventure, and this morning at 6.30 I picked up (read: ambushed) Alejandro at the airport in BsAs, and now we will spend 2 weeks exploring BsAs and enjoying the Easter vacations.<br /><br />Happy Easter!!!!!!!! :)Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-6357233601780316102010-03-13T14:13:00.000-08:002010-03-13T14:33:14.865-08:00Important Buenos Aires tips!A word of advice:<br /><br />If you HAVE to take a taxi in Buenos Aires alone (try to avoid it if you can)<br />make sure you WRITE DOWN the name of the taxi company (because you<br />should take a RadioTaxi - that means, a taxi connected to a radio central...they're<br />easier to track if something should happen, and more accountable because they are<br />representing a taxi company, and they're not just random independent taxi drivers)<br />AND also write down the 3 digit number that you will see displayed on the back of each<br />taxi (and usually also on the side of the taxi) - that way you will be able to<br />trace the taxi-driver if something should happen.<br /><br />This is what a taxi that's NOT connected to a radio central looks like<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5wQsdbKyxI/AAAAAAAAAis/kbC6szExY9U/s1600-h/Buenos+Aires+taxi+01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5wQsdbKyxI/AAAAAAAAAis/kbC6szExY9U/s400/Buenos+Aires+taxi+01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448248005210327826" border="0" /></a><br />(now you're thinking: wow, that has to be an old picture, because the car is so old!<br />well...you're wrong..there are a surprising high number of cars driving around here<br />that haven't been seen in Norway since the 70s).<br /><br />This is what a radio taxi looks like:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5wQsMTcajI/AAAAAAAAAik/pza36JtzSjw/s1600-h/laflota-radiotaxi8.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5wQsMTcajI/AAAAAAAAAik/pza36JtzSjw/s400/laflota-radiotaxi8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448248000614525490" border="0" /></a><br />It's a bit hard to see from this picture, but the relevant information here<br />is the name of the taxi company on the back-door "City Taxi" and the<br />3 digit number above the front wheel (in this case 387).<br />So, remember that if you are ever taking a taxi alone in Buenos Aires.<br />A good idea can also be to send a text to a friend where you write this information<br />that way, someone else will know that you are in that specific taxi at that<br />specific time.<br /><br />Because, sad as it is...things happen.<br />A friend of ours was just robbed by the taxi-driver (yes, a radio taxi)<br />on her way home from a tango-show we'd all been too.<br />All of the sudden, the Buenos Aires that has seemed so safe for so long<br />doesn't seem as safe anymore.<br /><br />Note to self: stop taking taxis alone.<br />and remember your old paranoid-self:<br />everyone is out to get you, trust no one.<br />(ok, choose a few people and trust them ;))Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-75124661473422723402010-03-08T06:50:00.000-08:002010-03-08T07:11:20.103-08:00Last weekWow, it's Monday again!<br /><br />Since we've last spoke we've learned how to make balloon animals (well..a dog) and swords!<br />I've already added it to my CV. It's quite impressive, don't you think??<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UR7ekENaI/AAAAAAAAAiE/JPR0_fMriJk/s1600-h/Lysbilde3.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UR7ekENaI/AAAAAAAAAiE/JPR0_fMriJk/s400/Lysbilde3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446279037888771490" border="0" /></a><br />These ones are made of the balloon-talented Kjersti! The card in the corner is an example of a very cute card and love declaration one of the kids made to their mum (one of the activities at the birthday parties in March, in addition to facepaint, is to make cards).<br /><br />A question that might pop up in your head is: WHY have you learned to make balloon animals and swords. Well, it's all in the name of coordinating birthday parties for the kids in the slums. I am happy to rapport that they are now all getting balloon figures at birthday parties.<br /><br />Every Thursday "Madres de plaza Mayo" (mai-plass mødrene) march in remembrance of their children who strangely disappeared in the Dirty War, and their disapperances are still unaccounted for by the government, which the mothers are trying to show their disapproval of.<br />The ladies walking in the front line were really old, and they were all wearing scarfs on their heads, and carrying pictures of their loved ones who had gone missing. Looking at them really made me sad, and at the same time impressed, because they STILL march every Thursday at 15.30 so many years after.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UTUEwWVhI/AAAAAAAAAiU/PHt5Sgz4LAI/s1600-h/madres.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UTUEwWVhI/AAAAAAAAAiU/PHt5Sgz4LAI/s400/madres.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446280559969326610" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />On Friday we went to La Viruta, a place to learn/dance tango. We felt quite confident from last time so we had previously decided to go directly to the "intermediate" section. However, as it all started we found ourselfes in the "beginner" section again, not sure why. Luckily, Ida & I were both swept off to the intermediate class by two friends who had tangoed for 2 years (what were THEY doing in the beginners class??). My dancepartner told me "forget everything they just told you, and follow me" - my immediate reaction "OMG, this is a jerk"..however, he turned out quite normal, and quite the tango dancer too.<br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Bruker/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg" alt="" /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UStSukd9I/AAAAAAAAAiM/Q3KASEylY28/s1600-h/tango.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 326px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UStSukd9I/AAAAAAAAAiM/Q3KASEylY28/s400/tango.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446279893705062354" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Saturday was spent in Tigre, where we were last weekend too, enjoying the fresh air and the sun. Sunday we checked out a new park: Parque Norte, that has A LOT of pools, cafeteria, music, water-aerobics etc. A great place to have fun in the sun.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UTdv4aRqI/AAAAAAAAAic/8TthnO2rEto/s1600-h/17016.jpg.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 152px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S5UTdv4aRqI/AAAAAAAAAic/8TthnO2rEto/s400/17016.jpg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446280726164686498" border="0" /></a>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-40757817329778420072010-03-01T19:52:00.000-08:002010-03-01T20:21:32.006-08:00Birthday!!I am officially one year older.<br /><br />Today was my birthday, and it has been a really nice day!<br />I was woken up by breakfast on the bed, with champagne and candy<br />+ 2 gifts from abroad that had been delivered on the door while I was sleeping.<br />Pancakes with bacon for breakfast (and champagne) followed by a trip to the park<br />with a gossip magazine, before volunteering teaching English at a soup kitchen,<br />blowing out candles and eating delicious brownies<br />and going out for drinks after. NOW I'm 24.<br /><br />It's been a while since we've blogged, but that doesn't mean we haven't kept busy.<br />Thursday we went to the movies with a friend and saw Precious. A good, and tragic, happy, horrible, and good movie.<br />The maid has finally shown up! Since none of us has ever had a maid before we were unsure what to do, so we gave her cake and soda and left so she could clean in peace on Friday.<br />We've gotten to know Palermo Soho and Palermo Viejo (cool neighbourhoods in BsAs) better (while she was cleaning...and/or eating cake and drinking soda and reading our magazines).<br />We've discovered that there is a Mate bar (mate is a kind of tea that it appears EVERYBODY in Argentina and sorrounding countries drink) right next door.<br />We've had choripan (a typical sausage with lots of spices)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQ94UahXI/AAAAAAAAAhw/KSa2a0KUGNU/s1600-h/choripan.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 331px; height: 331px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQ94UahXI/AAAAAAAAAhw/KSa2a0KUGNU/s400/choripan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443885442348516722" border="0" /></a><br />with chimichurry (a typical sause/salsa) and now feel more argentine because of it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQ9d0jkdI/AAAAAAAAAho/S8BZvm6Gcw0/s1600-h/chimichurri.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 196px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQ9d0jkdI/AAAAAAAAAho/S8BZvm6Gcw0/s400/chimichurri.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443885435235570130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We've been to Tigre, which is 1h. outside BsAs..with train it's exactly 4,40ArgPesos/6,60NOK go and come back. It's a nice small city with lots of rivers with boats, and FRESH air, perfect for a Saturday outing. Tigre should be called Buenos Aires instead of Buenos Aires being called Buenos Aires...you know what I mean, don't you?<br />There were lots of cool markets, and I was really tempted to buy a carneval costume, but it was a wee bit expensive<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQoWk5qtI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Q42F5M5gwDQ/s1600-h/205043-main_Full.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQoWk5qtI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Q42F5M5gwDQ/s400/205043-main_Full.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443885072513608402" border="0" /></a><br />...so instead I bought an adidas jacket. It will serve for the same purpose as the carneval costume I thought.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQokF49DI/AAAAAAAAAhg/mHPaqi3rD3o/s1600-h/13.+adidas+Men%27s+FireBird+Track+Jacket.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yQokF49DI/AAAAAAAAAhg/mHPaqi3rD3o/s400/13.+adidas+Men%27s+FireBird+Track+Jacket.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443885076141634610" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />We also went to the Mate museum in Tigre, and learned a lot about the history of mate,<br />and how to prepare it. We now all have our own mate cup with a special straw (called bombilla).<br />You have to fill the mate cup 3/4 full with the tea leaves, the tilt the cup so that the leaves will distribute at an upwards angle of 45 degrees to one side. Then you add hot water (75degrees) into the side of the cup where the leaves are lowest, till half of the leaves are covered. Then you drink. Then you add more water. And apperantly you continue that way twelve times, and then you change the placement of the bombilla till the other side (where the leaves are highest) and start sipping again.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yRlMgVZ4I/AAAAAAAAAh4/ponFmU3E58s/s1600-h/Mate_calabaza_fondo_blanco.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 344px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4yRlMgVZ4I/AAAAAAAAAh4/ponFmU3E58s/s400/Mate_calabaza_fondo_blanco.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443886117782120322" border="0" /></a><br />We all felt that with this we would be able to make it at home and like it (last time I tried it was a failure)...but it just wasn't the same at home as at the museum! Disappointing. But we anyway have lots of new knowledge about Mate, and therefore feel even more argentine.<br /><br />We also checked out a new restaurant in BsAs on Sunday, known for it's scandinavian cooking, design, atmosphere etc. It's called Olsen (however, it's actually written Ølsen in the restaurant). We were very curious about what to expect, and what we found was a hell of a lot of wood.<br />The fasade was of wood, the chairs (not very surprising perhaps), the decorations...the pillows had knitted patterns on them, there was an oven with wood in it, the waiters were not very nice...ergo: it felt like home! ahhh...Norway <3<br />The food did actually taste scandinavian though..whatever that means. Think white sauce, fish, jam on meat etc.<br /><br />And that brings us to today, Monday, my birthday.<br />I hope YOU've had a good 1st of March too.<br />Tomorrow I'm gonna eat brunost (arrived from Norway) for breakfast. Yey.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-30253186756202680982010-02-24T16:53:00.000-08:002010-02-25T19:22:12.529-08:00Iguazu FallsWe've been travelling!<br /><br />Last weekend we got on a bus Friday afternoon at 15.15<br />(after doing a Pub Crawl the night before) and knew that we wouldn't get off until<br />18,5 hours later. But it wasn't a bad busride (we went with the company ViaBariloche) at all!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c2qgpjlFI/AAAAAAAAAf0/iGxhgHi4Xbo/s1600-h/DSCF1060.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c2qgpjlFI/AAAAAAAAAf0/iGxhgHi4Xbo/s400/DSCF1060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442378778647172178" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We were served snacks, starters and dinner while movies were playing in the background.<br />The temperature was relatively well regulated.. although we were prepared for the opposite with lots of clothes and blankets in the luggage. We can't say the same for the Australian boys sitting next to us though..they came in shorts and t-shirts (or actually, even less) and spend the night shivering trying to cover themselves with random pieces of fabric that they found on the bus.<br />I guess once a "speider" always a "speider" (scout)... 'cause we were ready for anything!<br /><br />We spent Saturday in the city called Puerto Iguazu and met a very nice lady at the tourist information who helped us plan the rest of our weekend. We went to see the falls, and walked around the park. We got absolutely wet and it was quite comfortable because it was HOT.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c3No4cToI/AAAAAAAAAf8/NkeXqaNcBPg/s1600-h/DSCF1140.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c3No4cToI/AAAAAAAAAf8/NkeXqaNcBPg/s400/DSCF1140.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442379382152515202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c3s5W55uI/AAAAAAAAAgE/7HinyhwDEhY/s1600-h/DSCF1166.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c3s5W55uI/AAAAAAAAAgE/7HinyhwDEhY/s400/DSCF1166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442379919151195874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c4iEM5K9I/AAAAAAAAAgM/ildZFDuG0pU/s1600-h/DSCF1177.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c4iEM5K9I/AAAAAAAAAgM/ildZFDuG0pU/s400/DSCF1177.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442380832595061714" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We met a cute chilean family of 3 in the park with the cutest little boy who was too shy to talk to us, but we got to practise our Spanish a bit with his parents.<br />At night we hung out at the pool at the hostel drinking flavoured beer (I had orange), and met a nice dutch girl, and we all went to dinner together...and guess who we met??<br />The chilean family walked in to the same restaurant! Now that's a coincidence!<br />And the boy had obviously made plans for what he would do if he met us again because he said "te amo, te amo, te amo!" (I love you)<br /><br />From there we walked forever (practically) in order to get to a street where there was supposed to be a carneval. And it WAS a carneval. Everybody was wearing glittering and tiny bikinis and dancing in the streets - cool!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyBWRZ5MG60ytK-xnXaTjRoKWeAkbortgeiC5sABPK0Yu5ZlQ37zpguUskNPyMmNdCzpSmd8L9_Ndq3c7O9gA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />And somewhat annoying that everyone had spray-bottles of soap foam that they were spraying us with....but whatever.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c99S0mu0I/AAAAAAAAAg0/Y8Sp_K5oLoU/s1600-h/DSCF1193.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c99S0mu0I/AAAAAAAAAg0/Y8Sp_K5oLoU/s400/DSCF1193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442386797934328642" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our hostel in Puerto Iguazu:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8ueu2_aI/AAAAAAAAAgc/S0q2z1Hwx3Y/s1600-h/DSCF1214.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8ueu2_aI/AAAAAAAAAgc/S0q2z1Hwx3Y/s400/DSCF1214.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442385443921788322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Sunday we went to the Brazilian side and it was amazing!<br />First we met a man at the bus-station who was looking for a girlfriend.<br />He then showed us his bank cards..not sure if that was a part of his strategy in order to find a girlfriend, but either way, we left after a small chat.<br /><br />When we made it to the falls we got a really good overview over how big the falls really are (A LOT bigger than Niagara Falls).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c452dXlMI/AAAAAAAAAgU/R9NBzxtdsQg/s1600-h/DSCF1173.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c452dXlMI/AAAAAAAAAgU/R9NBzxtdsQg/s400/DSCF1173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442381241222927554" border="0" /></a><br />The falls are a great place for seeing really cool butterflies, and rainbows!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8u00rbEI/AAAAAAAAAgk/QvrcIG265YE/s1600-h/DSCF1223.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8u00rbEI/AAAAAAAAAgk/QvrcIG265YE/s400/DSCF1223.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442385449851776066" border="0" /></a><br />We spent the rest of the day in Foz do Iguaçu and eventhough everything (almost) was closed because it was Sunday (I guess Brazilian people are quite religious) we managed to do some of the musts-when-in-Brazil:<br />Eat a buffet dinner<br />Drink SKOL beer<br />Drink Brazilian coffee<br /><br />Our waiter was the cutest ever, mostly because of his funny way of speaking English. He greeted us at the door when we arrived: Good night!!!! oh...sorry: good evening!<br />and proceeded to ask if we wanted joyce to drink.<br />My de-coding English abilities from living with various people from various countries with various levels of English in Trondheim payed off, and we got some joyce. I mean juice.<br /><br />Monday we took a bus to Paraguay (Ciudad del Este). We considered walking across the bridge in order to be able to say "we walked from one country to another" but decided that maybe it was a bad idea since our hotel reseptionist informed us that it was "not advisable". So we stayed on the bus, and despite the warning in the Lonely Planet book, that people throw things on to the bus as we pass, nothing was thrown and we made it across safe. We even remembered to be properly stamped OUT and in of the country (very important).<br /><br />What we saw of Paraguay was completely different from what we've seen in both Argentina & Brasil. It was caotic, without "proper" roads, cars, people, animals, sellers etc. EVERYWHERE and street sellers/street markeds EVERYWHERE. And every store has a personal security officer who is armed with the largest rifles I've seen...randomly thrown over the shoulder. Looks very intimidating. We walked around and looked at the stuff they had to offer, and while a street seller was trying to sell us something a car actually came and hit him! Luckily just on the back of his leg, but his sandal was broken, and it was kind of sad. Mostly for him of course. But we all felt bad. Still didn't buy anything from him though.<br /><br />Paraguay is really poor, and here is a picture of some homes<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8vClcDqI/AAAAAAAAAgs/zjU-JrOnSyY/s1600-h/DSCF1264.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S4c8vClcDqI/AAAAAAAAAgs/zjU-JrOnSyY/s400/DSCF1264.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442385453545950882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then all of the sudden it started raining like CRAZY and we headed for the bus-station where a 21h. bus trip waited. This time we were going with the company Crucero del Norte.<br />We felt extremely well prepared as we quickly discovered that we needed both hats, jackets, blankets etc. to keep warm. Our mums (and dads!) would be proud.<br />We also noticed that the bus looked a bit less well-kept than the one that had brought us to Puerto Iguazu and started worrying about whether or not we would get something to eat.<br />In stead of a movie we got 5 different songs (90s disco music) played on repeat.<br />It made us more worried. But luckily, at random stops street-sellers came on the bus to sell different things you need for a long bus ride..I list: football shoes, CDs, towels, blankets...and FOOD! So, we bought lots of empanadas in order to be ready in case there would be no food.<br />We also made a new friend. And when I say friend I mean slightly-creapy-guy-who-keeps-staring-like-crazy.<br /><br />Around 23.30 when we'd lost all hope for food the bus stopped and everyone rushed in to what appeared to be a bus-restaurant. It was a "restaurant" run by the buscompany where we got dinner and dessert. All in 15minutes. Max. We had to eat and run, and that was a good thing, because we ended up eating with guy-who-stares-a-lot. The bus ride got a bit better from there, because a movie started (and we fell asleep)...and slowly (!) but surely we made it to Buenos Aires.<br /><br />Now we've just got back from throwing a birthday party for the kids, and<br />I can still hear the words "dame un globo!!!!!" (give me a balloon) ringing in my ears.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-47353177670934305282010-02-24T07:51:00.000-08:002010-02-24T07:56:47.317-08:00News from the Guardian<div id="article-header"> <div id="main-article-info"> <h1 style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Here is an artical that I came across from the guardian about the reality in some of the villas outside BsAs: (for the record, we have not seen any sign of druguse among the children we work with in the villas, so I guess we have been lucky)<br /></span></h1><h1 style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:78%;">The 10p cocaine byproduct turning Argentina's slum children into the living dead</span></h1> <p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone"><span style="font-size:78%;">A generation of parents in Buenos Aires can only watch in despair as their sons and daughters are consumed by paco, a lethally cheap drug</span></p> </div> </div> <div id="content"> <div id="article-wrapper"> <span class="inline embed embed-media"> <script type="text/javascript"> function getOmnitureAccount_67512285001(){ return "guardiangu-news,guardiangu-network"; 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And him. And him," says the 75-year-old grandmother, her eyes drifting sadly over grinning faces. She points to another photograph. "He was shot by the police last month. That girl disappeared. We have lost so many of our beautiful children. We knew them since they were born. They had their whole lives to live."</p><p>Villa Itatí is only a few minutes' drive from the more upmarket parts of Buenos Aires. Ask most people here to explain the cause of the grisly gallery in Chamorro's kitchen and the answer will be a single word: "paco". A toxic and highly addictive mixture of raw cocaine base cut with chemicals, glue, crushed glass and rat poison, paco is the curse of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/argentina" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Argentina">Argentina</a>'s urban poor. And consumption of this bastardised, low-grade drug is eating away at the vitality and hope of the most deprived neighbourhood areas of the capital.</p><p>Essentially a chemical waste product, paco is what remains from the narco-kitchens producing cocaine bound for US and European markets. Since its appearance on the streets of Buenos Aires in the late 1990s, the drug has taken a deadly grip in slums such as Itatí. Levels of addiction rose by more than 200% in the first part of the decade and more than 400,000 doses are now being consumed daily.</p><p>Users are witheringly referred to as the <em>muertos vivientes</em> – the living dead – of Buenos Aires. Addictive after one or two hits, the drug systematically destroys the nervous system. Users quickly become skeletal and ravaged, resorting to crime, violence and prostitution to feed their habits. Enormous numbers die in short order.</p><p>Villa Itatí runs on paco: an economy that is an endless, grim cycle of illicit profit, addiction-fuelled crime and wasted lives, all witnessed by a despairing generation of parents.</p><p>According to urban myth, the first paco in Argentina was sold here. Residents say narco-traffickers started flooding the neighbourhood with paco in 2005, selling hits for little more than 10p each. According to provincial government reports, an astonishing 50% of Villa Itatí's 60,000 residents have used or are currently addicted to the drug. Across the country, 2008 government figures show that 64.9% of under-18s in addiction and treatment services are there because of paco.</p><p>Virtually no one owns a car in Villa Itatí. But in a place where there is only one source of wealth, there are stark signs of big money being made by some. Shiny black four-wheel-drives with darkened windows are parked in the unpaved street near Chamorro's kitchen. "Paco," says one woman, pointing to the trucks. "Those cars are what they buy with our children's blood."</p><p>"The dealers came here and first they targeted kids," says one resident running a community project who didn't want to be named. "They sold these kids hits of paco for one peso and got them hooked and now they work for them selling it in the streets. If they lose one dose, they shoot them in the legs or kill them. Families are cooking paco in their houses because it is the only way they can make money.</p><p>"This place used to be a real neighbourhood, people had work. We were poor but we were a community; now it is all crime and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/drugs" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Drugs">drugs</a> and sewage," says Chamorro. "There is no work, the factories all closed. Some of the women go into the city to clean rich people's houses and a few of the men collect cardboard. But there is nothing for the young people."</p><p>Sonia Andrade, Chamorro's daughter who helps her run the soup kitchen, describes how she lies awake at night hearing the children of her friends scrambling across the roof "like rats" looking for things to steal.</p><p>"They are so desperate they rob everything from their families to get another hit, and when there is nothing left to take they steal from their neighbours," says Andrade. "They didn't have much of a chance before paco, and now they don't have any at all."</p><p>The scourge of paco may be the final act in the tragedy of decline in what is one of the city's oldest and largest slums. When Chamorro started her soup kitchen more than 20 years ago she used to feed 20 or 30 people a day; now it is closer to 200. Her simple two-room soup kitchen is at the heart of the urban shanty town. It is only midday, but already the smell from "La Cava", the huge open pit filled with household rubbish and sewage at the heart of the slum, is overpowering.</p><p>Andrade points to the high embankments of the highway. When it rains, she explains, water pours down the slopes and floods into the pit. The slum's poorest families living closest to the pit find themselves knee-deep in putrid water in under an hour.</p><p>"All the children here have scabs all over their bodies, they don't eat outside of what we give them here, they all have breathing problems," she says. "The kindergarten used to give them milk and breakfast, but now the money from the government has stopped and the teachers don't come any more."</p><p>But however appalling the poverty, it is the growth in drug abuse that has turned the place into an urban hell.</p><p>Dr Carlos Vizzotti, director of national assistance and prevention programmes at Sedronar, the government's agency for drug treatment, prevention and enforcement, admits the government is struggling to contain the problem of serious drug addiction in the city's poorest neighbourhoods.</p><p>"We can't compete with the dealers who are paying kids and families 200 pesos a day to sell and traffic paco and cocaine. We try to get them off drugs, but then we just send them back to the same problems which brought them to paco in the first place."</p><p>The accounts of those working on the front line are unremittingly grim. Father Pepe, a missionary priest, runs addiction and poverty alleviation projects from his small, whitewashed church in another slum, Villa 21-24, close to the heart of Buenos Aires.</p><p>"Paco is a manifestation of everything that is rotten in Argentina," he says. "It exposes the systematic and growing failure of the whole system, health, education, basic services – they are all falling to ruin. It isn't that paco is a drug of the poor; it is that it feeds off the poverty and exclusion that was always here. Paco just shows us what lies at the heart of our country today."</p><p>Outside the heat is searing, but inside the church is dark and cool, the walls covered in murals depicting the harsh reality of life in Argentina's slums. The largest shows a child paco-user protected from the grave by angels. "Paco is a tsunami that has hit the most vulnerable. If we weren't working here, then there would be nobody to help families fight against this. The state and wider society have washed their hands of us," says Pepe.</p><p>Rising crime has made Villa 21-24 a byword for violence in Buenos Aires with many areas of this vast urban settlement being controlled entirely by narco-gangs. Last year Pepe was forced to ask for official protection and faced death threats after he spoke out against the traffickers and rising crime in the neighbourhood. "In the last few years we have seen many more problems with crime, with violence and guns linked to a more co-ordinated narcotics operation here in the slums. It's an increasingly big business," he says. "Yet the capacity of the people to prevail, to want something better, lives on, and this is what we should be supporting."</p><p>But as Argentina gains a new unwanted status as a premier narco-trafficking route, the outlook for campaigners such as Pepe is bleak. Traditionally used mainly as a transit route to get cocaine out of Latin America to Europe, Argentina is increasingly used as a producer and consumer of cocaine and cocaine byproducts in Latin America.</p><p>Drug Enforcement Argentina, an anti-drugs pressure group, claims cocaine kitchens like those first discovered in the slums in 2006 are booming and that there are more than 1,500 clandestine airstrips bringing cocaine base into the north of the country.</p><p>Sedronar admits that porous borders, limited resources and expertise, and a lack of effective co-ordination between regional and national agencies means that Argentina is losing the battle to contain the rise of narco-trafficking into the country.</p><p>In Villa Itatí, Nina Chamorro and thousands of others like her are desperate that paco should disappear and their children be given the chance of a way out of the spiral of poverty and drug addiction that is destroying their future.</p><p>"We have been abandoned by the government, by everybody. They are all terrified of our children coming to their houses and taking their things, but they need hope for something better. There has to be more for them that this," says Chamorro as she heads inside the soup kitchen. Her words are an almost certainly futile expression of despair.</p> <h2>PACO'S HIT</h2> ■ Paco is cocaine base paste, a byproduct of the refining process, cut with chemicals such as sulphuric acid and kerosene as well as glue, rat poison and crushed glass ■ Readily available, paco is sold for as little as 10p a hit. The average paco user smokes more than seven doses a day ■ Madres en Lucha<em> </em>(a group of campaigning mothers) estimates paco kills two people a week in Buenos Aires ■ Drug Enforcement Argentina, an anti-drug lobbying group, says paco trafficking exceeds £600m a year. Cocaine seizures in Argentina doubled between 1999 and 2006 ■ Paco was smoked in other cocaine-producing countries before it reached Argentina: it is known as kete in Peru, bazuco in Colombia and pitillo in Bolivia </div> </div>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-34616582576603193942010-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:002010-02-18T14:29:22.173-08:00Measuring deviceI don't think we've told you but our doorbell keeps ringing,<br />even when we are not expecting people. In order to open the door<br />we have to go downstairs with the key, so usually we are too lazy<br />if we're not expecting anyone. But, all this door-bell-ringing has made<br />us kind of curious.<br /><br />So, the other day when it rang we decided to go downstairs and see who it<br />was and what they wanted. And at the door was a young gentleman<br />(who probably wasn't gentle at all) holding a small device<br />asking us to let him in, because he had to measure how much electricity<br />we've been using. YEAH. We think that's argentine for<br />"You have to let me in so I can rob you".<br /><br />Seeing that we were neither in the mood to have our electricity use measured,<br />nor be robbed we figured it would be best NOT to let this door-bell-ringer come in.<br /><br />But other than that, our life here in BsAs has been very crime/crime-attempt-free!Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-78399296116369286702010-02-18T06:02:00.000-08:002010-02-18T06:33:49.850-08:00A couple of new Tango-stars have been spotted shining vaguely on the Argentinian night sky.Yesterday we really did it! The Tango is now basically running through our blood vessels in desperate need to get out there and please the cheering crowd. This means we walk on our toes all day long, most of the time backwards and with fancy crossings of the legs in between (I wasn't too far off actually in Heathrow, so if you feel like a visual just check out the video AK kindly posted from that performance.<br /><br />Well at least it's almost like this. Truth to be told we did actually attend the whole beginners-class this time, and we danced with Jose from Argentina, Thomas from Denmark, a guy from Sweden, a guy from the US, a guy that I didn't feel like asking anything and a guy that didn't speak.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S31OnUywl3I/AAAAAAAAAfI/xSbCUYvvuN0/s1600-h/tango_diagram.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 297px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S31OnUywl3I/AAAAAAAAAfI/xSbCUYvvuN0/s400/tango_diagram.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439590362436900722" border="0" /></a><br />It was a lot of fun and very interesting. And we did figure that we do actually have the chance here now to learn a truly amazing and breathtaking form of dancing... the Tango!<br /><br />-Ida-Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-75849152643700923592010-02-17T19:59:00.000-08:002010-02-17T20:52:49.582-08:00Please be my Valentine!!!Ooooofh, I guess the worst idea you could ever come up with is going to South America to "celebrate" Valentines day. For some reason we managed to stumble over this celebration without any specific hopes or agenda. Being three seemingly "single" girls walking around in this maze of read hearts, couples making out in unappropriated places and teddy bears playing 'I-love-you-songs' for a couple of weeks before the big day of love, we decided to get ourselves good seats and the biggest box of popcorn available in our local movie theater - to bury our sorrows and let some pressure out of our systems, this in the form of salty, miserable tears. The movie: 'Valentines day' of course.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3y_FZiHdVI/AAAAAAAAAe4/0_5bw7x4GuM/s1600-h/Valentines-Day-Movie-Poster-3-valentines-day-2010-9597506-800-1280.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3y_FZiHdVI/AAAAAAAAAe4/0_5bw7x4GuM/s400/Valentines-Day-Movie-Poster-3-valentines-day-2010-9597506-800-1280.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439432549430949202" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The movie wasn't too sad really, it was nice and loving, and we felt good after... And after devouring three huge boxes of famous Argentinian ice-cream we felt even better, though also a bit nauseous. The two approximately 80-year-old women sitting next to us in the movie theater also made us feel a little bit happier, mostly because they also didn't have a date for the evening. If they would have had dates the regular clinching with their loos teeth would have been a little bit annoying, but since they were there in the same business as us... it was all good!<br /><br />Leaving the movies we once again stumbled over love, but this time it was someone else's, and it was so damn beautiful. Coming down the stairs towards us was a freakin hot guy and a amazingly beautiful girl. Apparently the guy had given her an 'I love you - balloon' earlier in the evening. We were "aaaaawh-ing" some times after them, and being in need of sharing my emotions I just had to tell them that they looked beautiful together. For some reason they didn't get scared or anything and leaving the main entrance I felt someone poking my shoulder. It was the guy giving me his camera wanting us to take a picture of them officially showing their love to each other. I can't describe it, what a beautiful moment, and the slowness of the camera made the kiss last forever and it gave us what we needed that evening. Our belief in true love was revitalized.<br /><br />On behalf of Anne Kristine and myself... We do believe in love, and hey boys, we love you! (You know who you are, but just to specify that would be Alejandro Munoz Garcia & Simon Meesker).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3zGXVx4UBI/AAAAAAAAAfA/DPFiFsvHp0w/s1600-h/309-i_love_you_balloon.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 350px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3zGXVx4UBI/AAAAAAAAAfA/DPFiFsvHp0w/s400/309-i_love_you_balloon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439440554242363410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />-Ida-Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-13595325782968488232010-02-14T19:00:00.000-08:002010-02-14T19:15:28.037-08:00Carneval in Ri..... No, in Buenos Aires!The famous carneval isn't just in Rio!<br />Luckily it is also in Buenos Aires!<br /><br />Saturday nigth we took a walk to see how porteños (the people of BsAs)<br />celebrate carneval. The carneval is only found in certain streets, during the<br />weekends all through February.<br /><br />Here you can see a little bit of the celebration:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw1UYwLee-Ev7lIZCtC7RDIxPdrZIigqaikxpiVgUxOBjH4OuWVfn2DzbJOq2hJfQkoYdrTbwOs-y6izSEwpw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i6kzbwnLI/AAAAAAAAAeg/jdvtrHUzvf8/s1600-h/HPIM4622.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 237px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i6kzbwnLI/AAAAAAAAAeg/jdvtrHUzvf8/s400/HPIM4622.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438301691494571186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After the carneval we went to a restaurant to eat,<br />and were surronded by couples celebrating Valentine's Day.<br />We looked a bit strange in the mix I think...5 scandinavian girls<br />alone on the night before Valentine's Day. But it's all good.<br />We'll tell you about the celebration of Valentine's Day later! :)<br /><br />The restaurant was really a romantic setting for a date, with cute sofas everywhere:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i7mn4LsgI/AAAAAAAAAeo/6KIrKjz409I/s1600-h/HPIM4625.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 367px; height: 274px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i7mn4LsgI/AAAAAAAAAeo/6KIrKjz409I/s400/HPIM4625.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438302822263927298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For dessert Ida & I decided to go for "un poco de todo" (litt av alt)<br />it was actually called "un poco de todo" on the menu...and it was true. and delicious.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i8MORvWDI/AAAAAAAAAew/4uD7U6BmIG8/s1600-h/HPIM4628.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3i8MORvWDI/AAAAAAAAAew/4uD7U6BmIG8/s400/HPIM4628.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438303468226828338" border="0" /></a>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-11899462677975691802010-02-13T07:57:00.000-08:002010-02-13T08:13:20.973-08:00Bouncywoooooho<br /><br />Yesterday we went to the Beyonce concert here in BsAs.<br />or, well, in San Isidro, 30min. outside BsAs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKuo2qcenc"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKuo2qcenc</span></a><br /><br />we were there! :)<br />It was a really good concert, with all the latest hits like Halo, All the single ladies etc.<br />but also some good old ones from Destiny's Child. Beyonce is really an entertainer!<br /><br />Getting to San Isidro was really easy, we took a train and it cost 0,80 peso=1,5NOK.<br />However, getting home proved more difficult. It seemed that all the people who were at the concert (quite a few) were going back to the city. So, we decided to sit down, have a beer and a pizza and wait it out and hope that when we finished there would be lots of available taxis.<br />Yeah, we were wrong.<br />When we got to the taxi-line the police officer informed us that it would be around 2h. to wait.<br />We didn't believe him...it couldn't be SO long to wait?<br />Yeah, we were wrong. It was.<br />So we waited and waited and waited.<br />But at least something interesting happened..the taxi driver asked me (AK) if I was from Brazil.<br />Now that's a compliment.<br />So we waited some more, and then finally got home.<br /><br />But, it was worth it! Beyonce was great! :)Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-69754778414070564222010-02-13T07:26:00.000-08:002010-02-13T07:56:54.488-08:00Pilates<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3bLDAbTHaI/AAAAAAAAAeY/xHVNoeSqULY/s1600-h/cristiano-ronaldo-foto7.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3bLDAbTHaI/AAAAAAAAAeY/xHVNoeSqULY/s400/cristiano-ronaldo-foto7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437756852610997666" border="0" /></a> (picture from google)<br /><br />So imagine that our pilates instructor looks more or less like this.<br />Now imagine that all the other women at the class are over 60.<br />Now imagine that we are still the least flexible ones there.<br />Now imagine that the instructor does the split.<br />Now imagine that the instructor laughs at us as we are trying to do the split.<br />Now imagine that the instructor comes to help us to do the split.<br />Now imagine us deciding to go to pilates class every week.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-23105568515544589742010-02-08T17:19:00.000-08:002010-02-08T18:49:18.929-08:00Buenos Aires-lifeOk, so a lot is going on. And we're NOT good at telling you about it!<br /><br />Friday afternoon we received a very persuasive invitation to our first Argentinian "Friday night after-work". We jumped in a taxi and headed towards Buller, the one located downtown.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEceeJmoI/AAAAAAAAAdY/fNyX4jYo3B0/s1600-h/DSCF0899.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEceeJmoI/AAAAAAAAAdY/fNyX4jYo3B0/s400/DSCF0899.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436060743731092098" border="0" /></a><br />Before<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEc0QfUVI/AAAAAAAAAdg/CYsyt8Tm1Eg/s1600-h/DSCF0903.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEc0QfUVI/AAAAAAAAAdg/CYsyt8Tm1Eg/s400/DSCF0903.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436060749579374930" border="0" /></a><br />During<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEdExz0pI/AAAAAAAAAdo/Zp0Ac-Tf6us/s1600-h/DSCF0918.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DEdExz0pI/AAAAAAAAAdo/Zp0Ac-Tf6us/s400/DSCF0918.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436060754014098066" border="0" /></a><br />After :)<br /><br />Friday we also found out we have a sushi take away approximately 20 meters from our front door, I cant believe I didn't notice this before. Saturday I tried it out after AK's parents informed us about what's good to eat during upset-stomach-times. Apparently one of these things is rice. You might think raw fish is not the best idea inside a not so happy, empty stomach. To your information; You're wrong! Hah... I'm cured, and the sushi was great!<br /><br />It was still raining like crazy though, and we started getting used to it after one week of "bad" weather. The Trondheim'ish feeling almost met us on the corner, but then we opened or eyes and the feeling was gone again, since Trondheim actually could fit into one of the many parks we walk by every day.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwb66bHhOCgB_nAoDnJdEhOvxleIjjVqQJiIWKLTuewJ-id5RLAucr0rCUtyXjidVYq26_tuq65vsumblAX4g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Sunday we spent planning the close future, that is our time here in Buenos Aires. We did actually come up with a plan, but I will not inform you (the world) about it at this point, because I believe the falling height might be a bit high, and I really dont want to hit the ground while the world is watching. When we make it a reality it will be in the news, so wait until then to read about it.<br /><br />What I CAN inform you about is that Embarrassing is back! We had a band meeting and after some thinking about pros and cons we figured it would be a disaster, and a crime, to keep on living in silence.<br /><br />Today we did the ground work to make this into a success.<br /><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DKbDoDagI/AAAAAAAAAdw/c5i3prY0udA/s1600-h/Guitar.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 330px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S3DKbDoDagI/AAAAAAAAAdw/c5i3prY0udA/s400/Guitar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436067316414769666" border="0" /></a><br />My new guitar :)<br /><br />A very fine Takamine guitar looking exactly like this except from the fact that it has only 6 strings, it's "only" acoustic, is more brownish around on the sides and in the back, and that it has my name written all over it!<br /><br />First official band practice after the comeback: Tomorrow!<br /><br />-Ida-Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-34410708706080390452010-02-06T19:39:00.000-08:002010-02-06T19:46:00.854-08:00GratefulI am SO lucky.<br /><br />Today I have read about Bernice, a 22 year old single mum in Haiti who sleeps with a machete under her mattress in order to protect herself from predators during the night in the tent where she sleeps with her daughter.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S242350dItI/AAAAAAAAAdI/MwpxMO-sVlg/s1600-h/960x.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S242350dItI/AAAAAAAAAdI/MwpxMO-sVlg/s400/960x.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435342134324306642" border="0" /></a><br />(picture from Dagbladet.no http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/02/07/nyheter/utenriks/haiti/kvinner/overgrep/10285022/)<br /><br />Meanwhile, I get to lock the door to our apartment, turn the air-conditioning on,<br />complain about the noise from cars on the street and then fall safely asleep.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S243Y5zogkI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/vti_mn8DPvI/s1600-h/palermo05-br.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S243Y5zogkI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/vti_mn8DPvI/s400/palermo05-br.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435342701256540738" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The world is not fair.<br /><br />-AKAnne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-45147683213440431392010-02-06T09:07:00.000-08:002010-02-06T09:50:38.418-08:00Tango?<div>As mentioned earlier we are finally on our way down the long and very unclear road towards being "not-so-bad-that-people-laugh-when-seeing-us-dancing"- tango-dancers. Thursday we went to a dancing-class. We were a bit late, so we didn't really get the introduction-part and after standing there looking lost for a while we ordered a coke and sat down to watch. I think this means it will take some time before we get to the end of this road. The important thing is though, the motor is running. And don't worry, we'll keep you posted. </div><div><br /></div><div>By the way. The other day AK was very fascinated by a man dancing in the street. Luckily I was able to capture the reconstruction inside this video: </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxLjccZZNaVtru3vD7KFxaycun3UjbIjknrZJt8Ch-65sxK4m2iNBTL596Zp-tlWaLg2XP62cq5bmriX0yvOA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><div><br /></div><div>You can thank me later!</div><div><br /></div><div>-Ida-</div>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-13988730513162906662010-02-05T08:57:00.001-08:002010-02-05T09:00:47.719-08:00Health updateSo, after several days of sunshine and fun - <div>2 of 3 has got the stomach flu (AK can happily rapport that she escaped the virus/bacteria somehow), the toilet is broken (awesome timing), <div>the weather is cloudy with some showers, and internet has stopped working at our apartment. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, all of these are just temporary problems (and some also luxury problems) so we are still going strong, studying Spanish, trying to eat and drink enough, and planning a day-trip to Tigre (1h. outside BsAs) if the stomachs and the weather cooperate tomorrow! </div><div><br /></div><div>We wish you all a wonderful weekend!!!! :)</div></div>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-33282521988252533192010-01-31T18:21:00.000-08:002010-02-02T08:55:23.343-08:00This would SO never happen in NorwayAround 23 o'clock we heard a lot of noise on the street.<br />So we ran to the window and saw that there was a band playing in the street.<br />Obviously we ran down the stairs and out to get a closer look.<br /><br />And it was what appeared to be a street band doing a performance -<br />SO cool.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more "this would never happen in Norway"<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxyssqwz3AwEleVQdDqyvSJiJAD7Q1l3klklG8s6F4cGOvOTp94bF_sb0vpaL5PenHWqLZw_78rtSYwNsRmCA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-84348798483241120882010-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:002010-01-30T15:07:31.406-08:00This would never happen in Norway!We were at the gym doing a class of Fit Combat, and the instructor - who looked more or less like this<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2RlY1YsmJI/AAAAAAAAAdA/kXMW4uyc3Do/s1600-h/Tattoo+Muscle+%286%29.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2RlY1YsmJI/AAAAAAAAAdA/kXMW4uyc3Do/s400/Tattoo+Muscle+%286%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432578527837591698" border="0" /></a><br />(picture from google)<br /><br />Ended the class by giving everyone a (sweaty) kiss on the cheek.<br />This would NEVER happen in Norway.Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-41774045684232573992010-01-30T05:53:00.000-08:002010-01-30T06:22:26.773-08:00the what?Yuhu everybody out there! :)<br /><br />Yesterday we went to a new "villa" called La Union hace la Fuerza (unionen skaper styrken).<br />We were there to give English Lessons, but also generally just to play with the children.<br /><br />I sat down next to a girl who was around 12 years old, and the conversation went something like this:<br />AK: what do you want to do?<br />girl: I want you to teach me the difference between the present simple and the present compound.<br />AK: eh..what?<br />girl: I want you to teach me the difference between the present simple and the present compound.<br />AK: really? you sure? you sure you don't wanna play a game instead? look, here's a cool game!<br />girl: Yes, I'm sure.<br /><br />Don't worry, we did eventually get our grammar grove on.<br /><br />And later during the evening we went to a La Bomba de Tiempo drum/percussion show in a cultural center called Konex. Here is a picture of us having dinner first:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2Q_IPxaulI/AAAAAAAAAcw/nGsTUmy8W68/s1600-h/P1303427.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 323px; height: 242px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2Q_IPxaulI/AAAAAAAAAcw/nGsTUmy8W68/s400/P1303427.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432536461420968530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The taxi-driver took on a father-like role as he was driving us there<br />"You see these streets? Very bad neighbourhood. Don't walk here alone.<br />And when the restaurant gives you the bill, make sure you look over that the prices are the same as in the menu. And don't trust anyone!"<br /><br />This was a guy who was giving out free candy in his cab. Haha.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2RAFaFoJZI/AAAAAAAAAc4/-TnSl61ezC8/s1600-h/P1303426.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 312px; height: 234px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fGsFEOCEzaI/S2RAFaFoJZI/AAAAAAAAAc4/-TnSl61ezC8/s400/P1303426.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432537512162108818" border="0" /></a>Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-435239834463535913.post-51756419772341583302010-01-29T06:42:00.000-08:002010-01-29T07:53:56.474-08:00This is what life is all about...I don't know, but life as it seems here is everything from slum and poverty too over the top and plastic surgery. Walking down the street is like a ride on the financial roller coaster. On one corner in the main shopping street you can see a girl of 7 years old selling vegetables, from early in the morning till late in the evening. On an another apparently rich businessmen leaving their office to have lunch in a fancy restaurant. But the most unpleasant is of course all the women walking down the street with silicon here and botox there. That really makes you realize that its something very wrong with this world.<br /><br />And then its us, rich compared to most people here. Amazed by the prices. Happy to spend money on things that is so cheap here compared to at home. Food, clothes, fitness and other, for us, normal things. Doesn't that make us part of the problem?<br /><br />To be honest, I don't feel rich when it comes to money! I want to travel more, I want to see more things and places than what my wallet allows me to. And that I guess, means that I'm spoiled and a even bigger part of the problem.<br /><br />But somehow I don't have a bad conscience because of this. I know I'm extremely lucky, and I know I will have the opportunity to do a lot in my lifetime, but I don't fell bad about that. I feel bad about all those who won't have the same opportunity to do what they want the most. Therefore I promise that I will do what I can to make the barbie dolls walking the streets of Buenos Aires, and any other person with a misconception concerning the use of their resources - anywhere in the world, realize that what they are doing is wrong. And that if you have the choice between another nose job and putting the 7 year old in a school for one year, the right thing would be to choose the school. <br /><br />To be a "tourist" in this place is like kicking yourself in the head. We go to the park to get a tan, while the people living in the slum seek shelter from the burning sun. We buy a bottle of wine at the supermarket because it is so cheap, while people one the street is begging you for money to buy water. We go to a restaurant to try the famous Argentinian meat, and we cant finish our plate, while so many in this city go to bed every night feeling hungry.<br /><br />Should we maybe walk around with a constant tummy ace and feel bad? Well, I don't. I feel bad sometimes, but it passes. And then I'm back to being extremely happy again... <br /><br />In the end we might also be part of the solution. Yes, we are visiting bad areas of the city, and yes, we will tell people about it when we get home. But didn't very many do this before us, and didn't they tell everyone when they got home? Yes - but it doesn't seem like anything happened. It's about time something happens. So be prepared... I believe I will shout it directly in your face the next time I see you.<br /><br />-Ida-<br />- felling a little bit sad again,<br />super happy in one hour...Anne Kristine and Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00222905603871362179noreply@blogger.com1