me in Corrientes, listning to my new I pod

Argentinian Heights: abridged version.

here my friend martin and i take a stroll across a bridge whose base hieght is 15 metres, and whose top height (where we are) is about 10 more.

i cut my hair

as some of you know, i left for argentina with rather long hair. recently, due to several factors, not the least of which was my rapidly depleting supply of shampoo, i decided that it was time for a haircut. so while in brazil, i so did.



this is a picture of the length before the cut,,,we did take pictures directly before and after the cut, but they contain partial nudity (such as no shirt) on my part, so for the sensabilities of those viewing this blog, i chose another to display.






cathy, the girl who did the deed, did so with incredible expertise: notice her instrument is nothing more than a pair of rather small swiss army knife scissors. in the next picture you can judge for yourself how she did.



this was the best fully clad picture i had of after the cut. this is back at the UAP at a party. the small one is my friend pricila, and the larger small one is my friend sabri, and the largest of all is myself, hardly recognizable after the shearing, no?

summer in argentina

in argentina, the entire population has the custom, or is at least subject to the effects of the custom of a certain time in the afternoon allotted for siesta. during this time, some people sleep, some people watch tv, some drink matte, some sit with friends and talk, or other such riveting activities.
i of course have the desire to embrace this culture while i'm here, so i also have adopted the custom of siesta. this particular afternoon i decided i would take to my bed and sleep for a bit, because i had missed quite a bit of sleep on my recent travels, and wanted to catch up. however, when i entered my room, i perceived that it contained sauna-temperature air. it's coming on to late spring here, so it's only getting warmer and warmer each day.
nevertheless, i was resolute in my decision to sleep, so i stripped off all unnecessary raiment, and ascended to my bed, (i have the middle one in a stack of three) and despite the warmth, fell into a rather comfortable sleep.
approximately an hour and a half later, i awoke with the distict sensation that i had just gone swimming. it was then that i realized that in argentina, in the summer, it is impossible to do any activity, even sleep, without perspiring.

sabri, me, and jona atop the structure of puente blanco (white bridge)

me and my good friend juan (chjhhcjhuann!) and i being buffeted by the wind from the bus window,,,,on the way to buenos aires for a choir tour

such a face follows a night of uncertainty spent with the police.

in trouble with the police

many people who have heard about the travels i've done since i got here wonder how i get around by myself to so many different places not knowing spanish very well. here and now i tell them my secret: i dont know either. but the following story proves that such a small thing as a language barrier (which is growing steadily smaller) doesnt mean that even the worst situations cannot be overcome.
following my recent trip to Iguazu falls (which, to be said, was beautiful), considering my location, i deemed it quite fitting to visit my dear friend adri again, since i was going to be rather in the area. as the ACA group left for the UAP again, i left for alem, the town where IJBA, adri's school is. from where we were in corrientes, i took a bus to posadas in the evening. from posadas i desired to take another to alem. however, due to some slight oversight on my part i had arrived in posadas too late to catch a bus to alem. there were no more that night. therefore i secured a cab, and directed the hearty and much too loud driver to take me the 100 km to alem. to which he agreed, for it meant money to him.
however, for some reason still unknown to me, after merely 14 kilometres, this kind driver saw it fit to inform me that he could take me no farther, and promptly dropped me and my effects on the side of the road somewhere between posadas and alem at an hour that i am accustomed to sleeping quite soundly during. thankfully, there was a police checkpoint right where he dropped me, so i inquired of the fine gents in blue whether it was possible to yet get to alem that night. they informed me that they would try their best to find me a car or a stray bus to take, but i wasnt too hopefully, for they looked the lazy sort. after an hour of nothing, i was slightly resigned to my fate of not arriving in alem that night. i decided to call adri and ask her opinion on the matter, whether i should continue trying or no, and we decided that weekend was after all not the best for me to visit IJBA, for most of the staff would be gone, and i would have nowhere to stay. so i redirected my interests into finding a bus back to the UAP. shortly thereafter, i learned that time to catch those buses had also run out. it was then i realized that i was THERE for the night. at the police checkpoint. with those fine gents. in the middle of nowhere.
they were kind enough to offer me a chair in their porch to sleep in, and after a few hours of thought, and a random section of time where they asked me to play my violin for them, and i did, i fell into a fitful and shivering sleep. this was interrupted a few times in the night. around 1 in the morning, they decided it was time to clean their station, so they literally threw everything out of the little room they had, and commenced swabbing the decks. i remained highly disinterested, or at least more interested in catching some rare Z's.
sometime around 530, i decided it was time to go back and figure out what i was going to do that day. upon telling the fine gents that i was about to depart, they bestowed a kind gift of fruit upon me. i was delighted, because i hadnt had anything to eat the day before save half a sandwich and some crackers, and of course the bounty of the night wasnt so bountiful after all.
back in posadas, i inquired at the bus station as to what time i could catch one back to the UAP. as it happened, there was no such bus until 8 that night, and it seemed silly to sit in posadas all day. so i figured out what bus went to alem, and went up just for the day to visit adri after all.
after a pleasant visit, i caught a bus friday night back to the UAP, and arrived here again at 9 in the morning on sabbath, just in time to go to church and fall asleep during the sermon.
and this, my friends, is why i need you to keep praying for me, because the only way i got through all this wonderful excitement is because i had God and at least a host of angels guiding me and all those involved through every second of it. i'm sure of it.