Trip to the South

This is the much awaited post about my three week trip across the country, and of course, Christmas. This is going to be a long post because I plan on giving a day by day summary of the trip, so bear with me here.
I left for my trip the 1st of December, which meant that the 31st of November was my final day of school, which was partially sad but partially a relief to have made it through 3 months. I also got my report card the other day, but I will talk about that later.
Ok. So that Saturday I left in colectivo (or bus) to Buenos Aires with my host mother. The bus was just as nice as the one we took to get to Formosa in August. And at that point it was still exciting to be on the bus... after the trip I now never want to see another bus in my life. Anyway, we arrived in BA the following morning and went to the house of the family of my host mother. We ate asado, hung out, etc etc. The next day I spent with my host cousin and that afternoon, my uncle (real, blood uncle) came to pick me up. I spent Monday through Friday at his house, baking cookies (which turned out a disaster) and chipa (which was delicious) with my cousins, swimming a lot in the pool, etc. I was able to spend a little bit with my other cousins and see some of the family. The Thursday of that week was crazy, starting with a toxic cloud over the city and finishing with a huge rain storm and flood that prevented us from even being able to leave the apartment in car. But, Friday I got to the bus terminal okay and met there with four other exchange students from Formosa to head to Neuquen. 
So. Bus #2 to Neuquen. We arrived in Neuquen Saturday, but hours late, and our poor host families there were waiting for 3 hours in the terminal. My family had an exchange student from Canada, from just outside Quebec City. The two of us went to a dance recital type dinner thing, and the next day to a dinosaur museum and to the beach of a river to swim, tan, and spend the afternoon. It was gorgeous! But I burnt. Bad. So the next day I spent pretty relaxed until it was time to head to the bus terminal again to start the trip. There, the group was waiting, about 25 exchange students, 2 volunteers, and 5 or so older ladies that were traveling with the group. We spent a night on the bus, and in the morning arrived to Comodoro Rivadavia, a smaller city on the coast. We had the afternoon free to adventure, and a group of us went to the ocean to swim (but I didn´t swim, because I was so burnt) and then we hung around the center looking at shops, walking along the coast, until dinner. The next morning we took off in colectivo, first taking a tour around the city, to a bunch of different view points and there was a tour guide that gave us some information.
From there, we started south, another night in bus, and arrived in Calafate in the morning. There the hotel was nice, each room complete with kitchen and was actually two stories each room. Again, we had the day free. My friends and I went to the chocolate factory for a demonstration, and plenty of chocolate sampling. We left with bags of chocolate and went to eat it at the costanera of Lake Argentina, next to a bird sanctuary where we could see flamingos... And then we decided to be rebels and climbed down to the coast and chasing after some loose horses that we saw. Which resulted in some soggy shoes and muddy pants. We headed back to the hotel for get ready for dinner and afterwards went out to the town to look around. The next day we went all together to the national park of the glaciars, and had four hours to pass around trails that had different views of Perito Moreno, which was really fun. There were about 6 kilometers of trails, and that is all the photos you see on my Facebook. The next day was the excursion in boat to a bunch of different glaciars, which was about 6 hours. We had a lot of fun on the boat, and the glaciars looked amazing from the water. We spent one more night in the hotel, and the next day set out again in bus. And I forgot to mention, except for the first few hours in Calafate, there was no water in the town. At all. Which was annoying. But anyway.

First, in the bus, we went to Rio Gallegos for a couple hours, the southernmost city in Argentina not including Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. Then we headed to Puerto Madrin, which was gorgeous. The hotel was amazing, and our room had a great view of the ocean. We went to the ocean, and that time I did swim. And in the five minutes we were in the water, my friend´s amazing camera with 2000 photos of the trip was stolen, and for that reason there´s some photo gaps on my Facebook because I was lazy and didn´t talke many of my own photos. So that afternoon was spent in the police station. And the next morning we began the return, stopping for lunch in a tea house that Lady Di visited. And we ate cake. Lots of cake. And we finally returned to Neuquen, and had one more night with our families from Neuquen before going to the terminal. And when we got to the terminal, the girls from Japan and Thailand were there... and the two Italians weren´t . And they weren´t there when the bus arrived. And so it was three of us on the bus. Until, the passenger behind me said "Te estan saludando!" (They´re waving at you) and I was confused, until I looked out the window and saw two Italians hanging out a car window waving at us. And they got on the next stop. And we arrived in BA, spent 6 hours in the terminal, then headed to Formosa, one more night on the bus. And finally got back.

Long time, no blog

So, my computer broke about a month ago, and so I have been using that as an excuse not to blog. But after multiple complaints, I am back too it.
There hasn`t been too much going on. My family celebrated Thanksgiving one Sunday, and I made scalloped potatoes and an arrollado (kind of a rolled up angel cake filled with dulce de leche and chocolate). Afterwards we took a little outing to a nearby lake for a swim and to play on the beach. I`m not using my computer right now, so no photos, but if I remember I`ll upload some. It was kind of strange to have no turkey, no gravy, and no pumpkin pie, but I also liked the fact that there was no snow and we could go to the beach.
More news: I finished school on Friday. No big goodbyes, I actually think the last memories of some of my classmates were of me on the bus trying to get the doors to open. When my host mother asked them later on what they last said to me, it was something on the lines of "Toca el timbre" or "Touch the bell", to alert the bus driver that the doors weren´t open. Next year I won`t be continuing in the technical school, because all of the high school has classes at night, so I will supposedly be going to one of the nearby private schools. That will definitely be a different experience from a public tech school.
And finally, I am in Buenos Aires right now. Yesterday I arrived in a bus (though a pretty swanky bus) and I stayed the night in my host aunt and uncle`s house. Today I will be picked up by my real uncle, and I will stay here until Friday, when I get together with a few other exchange students to head to the Neuquen (in the south), to start one of the AFS trips. We should be doing a whole tour of the south, lasting ten days. Afterwards, we return to Formosa for Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, we decked the tree on Saturday. Of course, it was hot and sunny, and a plastic tree, but same idea.
I`ll upload more photos once I get back from my trip!