A Week with Mom

Sorry that I'm a bit backlogged on the blogging. This last month has been quite hectic with finals, travel, visitors, and more travel. But I wouldn't trade that for anything.

My Mom came to visit me for just a little over a week, and she brought her best friend Miss Val. I was so excited to have her visit and I thought that it would be nice for someone to see what life was like for me here. I'm so glad that she didn't come earlier in my time here in Argentina, though, because saying goodbye to her again was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my time here - and I knew that I would be seeing her in only 2 more weeks, so I can't imagine what it would have been like to say goodbye and have 2 months left!

It's quite funny because I had a plan of exactly what we would be doing every day. Since I realized my mom was coming to see me, I had put a lot of effort in thinking about what would be the best things to show her and how to make it so that she could really experience Buenos Aires like I had. I rented her an apartment for a week. I picked one that was only 5 blocks from my homestay - I know the area so well, and I know that it's safe and we would have nothing to worry about. I'm so glad that I rented an apartment too; my Mom LOVED it, and it was great because she made me dinner one night when she was here (not that I haven't been having homecooked meals the entire time, but Pipa's cooking does not at all compare to my mother's).
When my mom got here, it didn't take me long to realize that not everything was going to happen as I had planned. We had difficulties agreeing on the things I had thought out to do for both of them, and of course, it being spring/summertime, I hadn't planned on there being an influx of tourism and it being difficult to get tickets to certain things. Either way, I think my mom really enjoyed her time here. She got to relax from her stressful job, and honestly, who doesn't love seeing another part of the world?!

Mom and I "aqui" in Uruguay!

I think the best day that we had together was the day that we went to Uruguay! I hadn't gone yet, and it's seriously only a 3 hour ferry boat ride from the city, so we just went as a day trip. When I was trying to explain how simple it was to go to another country, I told my mom that it was like going to Block Island from CT. When we walked on the ferry, which was truly decked out, held a ton of people, and had chairs that even recline!, I realized that going to Uruguay was much classier than going to Block Island. It was such a fun day because we rented a little golf cart and tooled around the town (Colonia del Sacramento - a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for the entire day. We did some shopping, eating, and I climbed a lighthouse (it wasn't that tall...).

I'm a bit disappointed that my mom didn't get to see what a day was really like for me because we didn't eat at the restaurants that I typically eat at and we only took the bus and subte once during the entire week, when I take them each like once a day, but at the same time, it was nice taking a mini-vacation from my own life here in the city.
My Mom did get to meet Pipa and the family that I live with, and the family LOVED my mom; she also got along with Pipa really well. I was so happy that I could introduce them all to each other because my mom always hears about Pipa, and vice versa.

In the end, of course, it was hard to say goodbye to my mom, but I also knew that in just a day I would be traveling to Patagonia - a trip that I did mostly solo. And for that ... look for my next blog post - I'll write it later tonight after I go shopping with my roommates and do some goodbye-saying.