AFS TRIP TO THE SOUTH 2015

Hey there! This is the very first english entry i will be making in my blog,so that’s pretty exciting.Don’t really know why i haven’t done this before but i guess it was because i’ve always felt the most comfortable in my mother tongue,just like everybody else does,duh.But still very happy to tell you aaall about my trip/travel to the very south of Argentina.I’ve nearly finished 4 months in Argentina as an exchange student and i can easily say that i’m extremely happy to be here and so used to everything.Spanish has been coming out of my mouth naturally now and i have an ordinary argentine life routine.

So here we are,it’s the 18th of December (edit:it's 5th of Jan right now as i post this,i really need to stop procrastinating) it’s a lazy afternoon,i’m drinking terere (is an infusion of yerba mate,similar to mate but prepared with cold water and ice rather than with hot,explains wikipedia) with my sister Rocio as i write this.I finished school exactly 2 weeks ago,last weeks of school were so much fun as we didn’t do anything school wise and chatted and played cards all day long (i now have impressive argentine card game skills) . And last week i’ve left home for an 8 day trip to the south of Argentina with all my intercambio friends.It was a trip organised by AFS so we were all exchange students from all over Argentina.I met people from Germany,Tailand,France,Malaysia and much more. I can’t even tell you how quick these 8 days went by.I remember taking my first step on the bus like yesterday but it has already been 2 days since i’m back home.It was a trip to 3 cities that were Comodoro Rivadavia-El Calafate-Puerto Madryn.It was nearly 4200 km's.That meant maaany but maany hours on the bus.It's equal to go to go to Spain from Turkey and to come back by bus.I think i've spent nearly 72 hours on the bus,nice,right?

The first city we went to was Comodora Rivadavia (the second yellow dot you see on the map),a normal city,not much to see but it was the first time i saw the sea in 4 MONTHS so it was an interesting feeling as so i loveee the sea and always have been near it all my life.I need to confess that some happy tears were shredded.

Best souvenirs are always the free ones. (Well i've put them in my mom's tupper plastic box to keep them and to take them home,it stinked so much i decided to leave them outside the hotel room and ended up forgetting them and the tupper box,sad story) (Lo siento otra vez Caro :( )

A face you'll be seing a lot in this blog post will be my friend (accidentally long lost twin) João! He is from Portugal and might be the coolest exchange student there is.It's crazy how much we got along.I've always had a piece of my heart in Portugal thanks to Joana <3 but now i really have to go to Portugal and i will for sure!!

This was a huuuge cliff.Cliffs always give me weird kinda feelings,don't really know why.

At the edge of the cliff,literally.

Anna,mi amor!! She is one of the few people here that just gets me completely.Tooo much love for this girl it's crazy.Can't wait to see her soon for her birthday,she leaves an hour away so it's not really bad.

After Comodoro we got back on the road again.To go to el calefate,the most southest point on the map.It was a night sleeping in the bus with many stops,but we made it at the end.

I can't believe i'm posting this but it's just necessary to reflect everything truthfully on this post.We were tired,dirty and miserable after hooours of travel.Thanks to Silas for being a great friend and taking pictures of us sleeping.Anna i hope you won't kill me for posting this haha.

Many hours in the bus with Joao and his annoying ass <3

We spent 3 beautiful days in calafate full of fun stuff.First stop was bar de hielo,which is a bar that is made from ice,completely.It was a funny and a cold 15 minutes,drinking beer at 2 pm from cups that are made from ice¡?

 Me looking extremely amused haha

Joao looking kinda amused

Me looking extremely happy with ice cups! Joao ruining the pic.

After that we went to do some horseback riding.This was one of the highlights of my trip! It made me incredibly happy to be back on a horse after a long time.Even though my horse was slightly rebel and crazy,i really enjoyed it.The view was spectacularrr.Also i got to know 2 guides who were accompanying us,they were 2 brazilian brother collecting money to cross the whole country by horses until they reach to Brasil.When they told me about trip they are planing i was like what?how??? at first but later it made me really jealous,i'd so be up to such an adventure.

My crazy ass horse,Felix.

Ps: I am stupid enough not to bring a real jacket to Argentina thinking it will always be hot,so under my light jacket ,i have layers and layers of clothes,which made me look huge in pictures.Good job Ilayda,good job.

    So the next day was the big day,the day we went and saw the Los Glaciares from the big stairway kinda lookout,balcony thing.It was amazing.I was without words the whole time,full with great energy from the mother nature.Amazed by how she created this whole beauty!

Glaciar from the distance!! This is where i started getting really excited.

Me and anna on the lookout

All the intercambios on the lookout

My orange gloves shinig out,haha.Thanks to Zara for lending them to me and saving my life.It was frikkin cold,like extremely cold.

The cheesy exchange student picture with the flag.You gotta do what you gotta do i guess.

I can't express how seeing masterpiece made me feel by words.

'Anna hold on i'm gonna act like i'm not looking and you'll take an artsy pic'

                                          A little selfie never kill nobody,right?
           

       I was overdosed with endorphin taking these pictures and i think you can tell!!

                                                           Not a bad view for a quick lunch.

                                           The German girls! They are the nicest,las quiero!

Also sent some postcards to my friends all over the world, one to the states,one to italy and one to germany. (Wink wink to aysu,utku and melisa if they are reading this)

The intercambios! I got to know so many people from so many different countries with beautiful minds and hearts.It was amazing to see how distant and same we are,all of us.We are beautifully different in our ways sharing mutual feeling and thoughts.That just blows my mind.

Lastly but not leastly on our way back we stopped in a city that is called 'Chubut' to have a tea in an Welsh tea house.Say whaat? Well since Argentina's whole population is built on immigrants,there has been a time when british people immigrated also.Majority of Chubut's population has Welsh descent.So the city is full of Welsh influence,such as tea houses! One in spesific is very famous just because Lady Diana visited it in 1997.We were lucky enough to go to that spesific tea house!

A huge tea pot,not much to say,awesome.

The seat Lady D used! It's a little over the top keeping and displaying it but it's Lady frikkin Diana so it's fine.

So many delicious stuff to eat,i was STUFFED but kept going obviously.

Dang we forgot to keep the pinkies up.

The cutest tea pot there is.

So yeah,it was an amazing and a super fun trip,which i enjoyed extremely! Thanks for all those who made a part of it.What a beautiful highlight on my exprience!

Take care! Ilayda