Don't Cry For Me Argentina

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. - Walt Streightiff

After much planning and anticipation, the day to begin our 5 week study abroad trip to Argentina arrived.

The idea of this trip left us a little anxious with nervous energy. It wasn't the fact that we were traveling internationally to a Latin America country or spending such an extended amount of time in one place, but the fact that we were going to be traveling internationally with a 10 month baby for the first time. Our first obstacle was an 11 hour flight from Chicago down to Buenos Aires.

I bet one of these guys would be willing to walk your dog

What put us more on edge was the fact that Sophie had been sick the days leading up to our departure with a slight fever and an itchy rash. As fate would have it on the day of our departure, she still had the rash. A nurse pracitioner suggested, mind you, 35 minutes before we had to be at the airport, that we might want to buy some Benadryl. We promptly gave her a single dose at the grocery store. Come to find out later, Benadryl causes the majority of babies to sleep like a baby. Another very small percentage suffer another side effect, it causes them to be wired and unable to sleep at all. In our case, we happened to fall in that very small percentage.

Prior to June 17th, our worst travel experience had been an overnight bus ride in Perú from the coastal town of Chimbote to the depths of the Andes in Huaráz. For comparison's sake, during that trip, we were trapped in a crowded bus battling Peruvian's cultural fear that the sensation of a single draft of cold wind would cause them to catch a major cold and die on the spot. Any drink with ice cubes causes this as well. The ensuing bus ride was a odorous mix of sweat and heat trapped within a metal inferno, and the exasperation of wanting to open a single little window just a millimeter to relieve the all night sauna session. Our flight from Chicago to Buenos Aires beat this.

Fortunately our flight was sparingly occupied. As soon as our flight took off, the true fun began. As little Sophie was wired up with a dose of Benadryl, she promptly began her crying in our ascent. As they night progressed, her tired eyes never relented to give into dreaming about sheep or bottles of milk or prunes. Her cry changed to steady crying interspersed with high pitched screaming. We did everything we could imagine to help relieve her pain. Halfway through our trip, I asked the stewardess how long we had left, thinking that we had less than two hours left, "we have about 6 hours left." NO!!! The pilot even felt obliged to help out by letting her fly the plane over Cuba. Unfortunately, all attempts to sooth were worthless other than for a couple of minutes of repose. For 9 of the 11 hours of the flight, Sophie was awake and crying and screaming. When we touched down in Buenos Aires, all three of us were beyond exhausted.

This entire story isn't uncomfortable. We soon found one form of relief from the fatigue through one Argentine's national dishes and a surrogate national dish directly across the street from our hostel, empanadas and pizza. During our recouping period, instead of actually making lunch or dinner, I would simply throw on some shoes and socks, and dart across the street and purchase several slices of baked dough with a slathering of cheese, ham, chicken, and plenty of cheese. Each piece of bread in the shape of half moons or triangles provided instant relief. The Argentines know how to put together some tasty food.

My Spanish studies at the Universidad de Belgrano and Nadine's desire to learn Spanish were both of our raisons d'être in Buenos Aires. But even before classes started, we had to find two things of great importance, a niñera (babysitter) and a place to live. Even though our Extremo Sur Hostel was nice, we'd probably want a little own space for our offspring to wobble around for 5 weeks.

Fortunately we did have a leg up on our search for a niñera before our arrival. Jimena was her name. All we had to do was make sure that Jimena didn't have any intentions of shaving Sophie's head while we were away. Jimena turned out to be very child friendly and energetic without a humpback that might scare Sophie. Our next goal, find a suitable apartment.

Trying to find an apartment in a big city like Buenos Aires at a fair price is trying to find a New Mexican who hasn't fallen drunk into an arroyo at one time or another. Needless to say, you have to look far and wide. Nadine and I visited a half dozen places. Either it would be the perfect spot, perfect apartment, perfect neighborhood, or the perfect price, but none of those perfects all ran together with one apartment. As one wise Simpsons episode once stated, it's all about location, location, location. Eventually we chose an apartment that is literally a block and a half from the university.

Between downing empanadas, Quilmes, making sure our niñera was of an acceptable mental state, and finding an apartment, we actually did experience a little bit of Buenos Aires flavor, by accident. As we were walking the streets of the neighborhood of San Telmo Sunday late morning, we walked directly into the massive Feria de San Telmo full of Tango dancing, antiques, black and white photos, and yes, your choice of jamon and queso, chicken, or meat empanadas. This feria was a nice surprise to stroll through stalls and stalls of old crap until our middle of the night alarm clock decided to go off. She was ready for a diaper change and a fresh bottle of milk.

A stressful international flight, days of apartment hunting, tons of empanadas, and a surprise antiques fair behind us, the only thing left was to safely complete my first day of class. I finally had a chance to sit down in peace and quiet and think. I only had to take my placement exam. Believing that I had appropriately demonstrated my competency in the Spanish language, I steadily stood up, began gradually walking down a slight slope of steps towards the front of the classroom reviewing in the quiet of the classroom when, BAM, my head ran smack into an overhanging bookcase. As I scratched the knot on the side of my head, I thought to myself, "Yep, I am ready for 5 weeks in Argentina."

This apartment only costs a dozen empanadas a day

"Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings." - Hodding Carter