Smells like Summer

Casi es diciembre, y tambien Navidad! Mi host mom me dijo sobre sus planos a visitar sus ninos en el campo para Navidad y yo he sido preocupado con la realizacion que Navidad es en el verano en Argentina! Esto dato nunca me occurrio hasta estuve aca! El tiempo y dias son mas y mas como el verano, y tambien es muy acerca de Navidad. Que loco! Y, yo se que hay lugares en los Estados Unidos donde hace calor para Navidad, pero es diferente aca porque no solamente hace calor, es el verano! Es el opuesto en todos modos, pero todavia es Navidad. Yo pregunte mi amigo, "como es, Navidad en el verano?" El me dijo que su familia celebra con una parrilla. Que loco!!!! Pero, una parrilla en un dia lindo en el verano, con sus amigos y familia para celebrar las feriadas me parece maravillosa....pero, todavia, me gusta Navidad hace frio y con nieve :)

La foto arriba es de mi camina a mi casa. Los buses aca se llama "los colectivos" y es la unica forma de transportacion publica que hay para mi a volver a mi casa en el barrio Recoleta. Hay un subte, pero no hay estaciones en mi barrio. La Recoleta es un barrio viejo, rico, y exclusivo. Para preserva el exclusividad del barrio, no hay estaciones de subte aca. Entonces, las calles, architectura, toda, es muy linda.

Me parece que esta foto da una buena pictura de como es la experiencia de los colectivos y calles. En las calles, los colectivos siempre son muy acerca al uno al otro, y las lineas en los calles son mas como una guia, no la ley. Los colectivos y calles casi siempre son llenos, especialmente en la hora de la tarde cuando el dia de trabajo termino.

Tambien, cada linea de colectivo tiene un color distinto, y para eso es facil para identificas tu bus antes de podes ver el numero. Este bus era un verde muy lindo :)



As it draws closer and closer to December, people have Christmas on the mind. My host mom has been talking about her plans to go out to the country to visit her children and I have been preoccupied with the realization that Christmas is in the summer here! The fact just never occurred to me until I was actually in the part of the world, experiencing summer drawing nearer and nearer, and at the same time Christmas! And it's not like in Los Angeles where it's always warm, they actually experience cold winters here, and, although not in Buenos Aires, in some parts of Argentina they have snow! In July! I recently asked a friend what it was like having Christmas in the summertime and he said that his family usually celebrates with a barbecue. What?!?!?! Although a barbecue on a beautiful summer day, just hanging out outside with your family and friends celebrating the holidays sounds quite wonderful....but I still like my Christmas' cold. Preferably with snow :)

The photo that I'm posting today is from my commute home. The bus system out here is called the "colectivo" and is the only form of public transportation that I can take to get home. They have a subway system out here, called the "subte", but the part of Recoleta where I live is not accessible by subte. Recoleta is the fancy pants neighborhood in the city and they purposefully put the subte stations further away to try and preserve some of the exclusivity of the neighborhood. The Recoleta, the architecture, and the streets are all very beautiful.

I think this photo really gives a sense of how the bus system and driving on the streets really feels like out here. The buses constantly come so close together, sometimes stopping within inches of each other, and the lane dividers on the road seem to be merely suggestions. The streets are almost always crowded, as are the buses, especially around 6 in the evening, right in the middle of rush hour :P The buses are also color coded, helping you to spot your bus even before you can see the number clearly. This one was a particularly pretty shade of green :)