Day 149 - Shame on time!

I am amazed at how quickly the guys have turned from helpless undewater rag dolls constantly bobbing up and down in their vain attempts to change to semi-horizontal position, into very decent conscious divers able to effectively fight the Punta Tunich current. Very impressive. My friends are awesome!:) Time just shamelessly flew by though! How is this possible that they are already leaving tomorrow???


For our last supper together, we went to an unbelievably yummy seafood place El Capi Navegante. Definitely the best grilled octopus in town! And the stuffed squid was out of this world, too! Good food always makes me happy:).

Day 148 - Wet Wendy's

An awesome dive day - the three of us (Dima, Tauheed and myself) went to Palancar Gardens and Cedral Pass with Javier, lots of fun! - concluded with awesome drinks at Wet Wendy's. In my humble opinion, this is a terrible name for a bar, or anything else for that matter, but the margaritas here are outstanding, so it is forgiven. Avocado margarita, mango margarita, jalapeno and cucumber margarita, coupled with Argentinian empanadas from the place across the street, equals heavenly deliciousness.


P.S. Tatyana thinks I look exceptionally beautiful today, so she cannot stop snapping her camera at me. Judging by the pictures, beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder:).

Day 147 - Finally, salsa!

Every Sunday, there is a fiesta on the main square in town. Live music, salsa dancing, ice-cream. I have been in Cozumel 5 times and a total of 20 weeks, but this is my first time participating in the Sunday night fun. Salsa is difficult - too much hip shaking for my taste - but it is surely a fun workout. I should do it more often, really.

My thought of the day: Nobody should ever grow up. We should always allow ourselves to play, act foolishly, jump up and down without any reason, make funny faces and silly sounds. It is all so much fun! Walt Disney agrees, "Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old.”

I am happy that all of us seem to be in touch with our 12-year old within.

Day 146 - Great friends, terrible weather

I cannot believe the weather! Pouring, pouring, pouring all day long... We did nothing besides diving in the North this morning (it was Tanya's first time over there, and naturally, she loved it). It is such a pity that the weather sucks. I wanted to take the guys to the other side of the island and to Playa del Carmen, but there's no point in this downpour...

Day 145 - Good friends, bad weather

After an amazing day of diving (Tanya took a day off her hyperbaric treatment today, so that we could enjoy a 3-day dive weekend together for a change), we rushed to the ferry pier to meet Dima and Tauheed, who came to visit us from NYC.

We spent the rest of the day running organizational errands to make sure that they spend the next 5 days with all the comfort available on the island:

• rented an awesome oldmobile
  
  
• checked into the dive shop


• introduced them to the deliciousness of the Mexican seafood cuisine at La Perlita

It is so great to have them here. Now it totally feels like home. For me, home is not a place, but rather a feeling. A feeling of being comfortable and safe. A feeling of belonging. An assurance of a “physical” safety net: being surrounded by people who you love and who love you.

Unfortunately, the weather sucks. The tropical storm has officially begun and it's pouring all day. It is supposed to clear up only on Wednesday, when the guys are leaving back home. What terrible luck! Lack of thereof, to be correct.

Update from the Scrabble Front

Being obsessed paid off: Tanya & Liang - 1 : Michael - 0.

Day 144 - San Juan "Workout"

Usually, two tanks in the morning are quite enough for me (diving makes me very sleepy), but today I couldn't say "no" to the afternoon dive - San Juan with Sharif. San Juan is my favorite dive. And Sharif says that he stays in Cozumel pretty much because of this reef. He dives it every time he gets a chance and knows a lot of hidden treasures of this place. That is why I have been trying to dive it with him forever, but somehow it never worked out until today.

Sharif is an interesting case. Egyptian, he studied finances or economics or something like this in Scotland and worked there for 7 years (luckily, did not acquire the accent), but diving had always been his passion and he had always wanted to be a dive instructor and live somewhere in Mexico close to amazing reefs. His mother, however, had never shared his life style vision and they had made a deal that he would try himself at a "real job", and if after several years diving would not evaporate from his head, he would be free to do whatever he pleased. Sharif toughed out his term, making it possible for himself to enjoy Cozumel in general and San Juan in particular. Needless to say, his mom is still not happy with this choice, but a deal is a deal.

Anyway, Sharif wanted to show us the "Crown" today - a huge pillar coral almost at the end of the San Juan reef. He kept saying that the dive was going to be a workout, because in order to get to this spot you have to swim against the current (and San Juan current is usually the strongest in Cozumel). He repeated this workout warning so many times, that for a second I even got a little iffy about the whole thing, but then Sallye looked at me and said with her eyes, "Come on, don't be a sissy, you can totally do it, just come!" And I went.

As usual, Sharif gave us a briefing before the dive, explaining which parts of the dive will be flying will the current and which, against the current. We descended. San Juan is gorgeous. The flight feeling is always sensational. I was in heaven. I did not forget the "workout" warning though. What I did forget is where exactly we were supposed to work out. We were zigzagging happily through the reef, and quite a few times we were swimming against the current, but nothing was too bad yet. I kept wondering, "When are we supposed to swim? Maybe after this part. Hmmm, no, this is still OK. Ah, maybe here. Not really, it's fine too. Damn it, how could I completely forget where the real swim will begin?" until I saw Sharif sharing air with one of the divers. A couple of others were struggling their fins and grabbing at sponges and rocks to help themselves through the current. This is when I finally realized, "Oh, we ARE, in fact, swimming already". This was just no workout for me at all. Yet again, thank you, Aristeo! I think, Aristeo's bootcamp should be obligatory for every diver on the island. :)

Day 143 - Nothing at all

I don't get it: if you do a lot during the day, time flies; if you do nothing during the day, time flies anyway. We did nothing today, didn't even leave the house, yet around 10PM Liang went, "Maria, what did you do to the time? It just slipped away!" Strange.

Day 142 - Nothing really

Today, the island is putting out first signs of the stormy weather that is heading our way. No sun and the heavy low sky accentuate the aquamarine of the water. It is beautiful.

Well, that is pretty much all I have to say about today. Nothing much is happening. Ah, I do have a new underwater look though. Tried Sallye's brand new neoprene "bandana" to protect my hair from the vicious mask that is pulling it out without any mercy. And it worked! Now I own this magic "bandana" (the transaction was made underwater:)). Thank God.

Day 141 - "Fuzzy wuzzy was a woman?" - a lion fish murder mystery

When the two new divers on our boat were asked where they wanted to go this morning, they rolled their eyes in boredom and arrogantly uttered, "It would be nice to do something new, we are so tired of all the old places". We should have known right there and then that we should not go to Punta Sur Sur with them, but Aldora is a very client-oriented shop, plus somehow you are always tempted to challenge the diving textbooks wisdom "If a diver displays arrogance on the surface, they are very likely to display sub-optimal skills underwater". And so we went to Punta Sur Sur... to confirm, once again, that diving textbooks' authors know exactly what they are talking about. But despite of that the dives today were FUN, FUN, FUN!

Dive #1 - Punta Sur Sur - Was there or wasn't there an eel?

Crime scene: a lion fish killed by Javier mysteriously dissapeared back into the fish hole where it came from.

Witnesses: 5 divers (including the videographer Sallye) hanging behind the fish hole. 1 diver - yours truly - in the front row seat, looking directly at the fish hole.

Summary of events according to Javier: He killed the fish, and then an eel jumped out of the hole and snapped at Javier's finger first and then grabbed the lion fish and disappeared back into the hole.

When we discussed the incident back on the boat, a strange and disturbing fact emerged - NOBODY saw any eel! We all saw Javier trying to kill the fish, but after a short and vigorous struggle it got away. There was NO eel! Javier insisted on its existence and involvement in the whole lion fish murder mystery though. His only chance to convince us was Sallye's video, but we decided that in the spirit of the ongoing Soccer World Cup we would allow no instant replays...

Dive #2 - La Francesa - THIS is eel!

Two minutes into the dive I saw a HUGE green moray eel swimming ever elegantly into the blue. A gorgeous creature! I grabbed at Javier's fin to get his attention and wrote on his slate, "THIS is eel!" Of course, when he saw it, he immediately shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows to respond: "What are you trying to show me? I see nothing!" Sallye played along and then everybody pretended that they didn't see the eel. Fine! Whatever!:)

Post Diving - (Almost) Instant Replay

A couple of hours after the dive, the witnesses of Javier's underwater hallucinations, received an email from Sallye, rehabilitating his sanity. There sooooo was an eel in that hole! I have no clue how all of us could miss it!!!

Although... as far as I'm concerned, Sallye could have easily Photoshopped the eel into her video. Now I understand why they are against instant replays during the World Cup. Makes perfect sense.

Day 140 - On the importance of delicious food, great company and gorgeous sunsets

The day didn't start too exciting - my ear didn't unclog, so I had to miss another nice dive day. And poor Tanya had a headache, so she couldn't go either.

The day progressed in slow melancholy until... friends showed up and cooked amazing fish tacos (Liang) and guacamole (Javier), and started interesting conversations, and laughed, and shared stories, and helped clean the table, and played obsessive Scrabble, and this, and that, and the other...

Indeed, delicious food, great company and gorgeous sunset can make any day feel like a holiday.

Day 139 - Thank you, Lady Gaga!

Missed the dives today, because my left ear is completely clogged. I cannot hear anything, let alone equalize. So instead of enjoying the beautiful current (as reported by Tanya later), I slept until 1PM (!!!) and then completely lost myself in the useless and ungrateful task of trying to figure out what the Lady Gaga's Alejandro song is about...

Now why on earth was I doing something like that? Good question. Well, I checked my Facebook and saw somebody's post of this song's youtube clip and decided to listen to it, as I have actually never heard Lady Gaga (what a shame, really). The tune is super catchy and in a couple of seconds I found myself wanting to sing along, which naturally makes you want to know the lyrics. That made me realize that although I understood every single word of the song, the overall meaning escaped me completely. I looked up the lyrics online. No additional meaning transpired. At this point it was too late to just let it go, and this is how I found the http://www.songmeanings.net/ website. What a pearl! For example, this is what it has to say about this stupid Alejandro song - http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858801360/2/ASC/#comment. What? Wow!

Day 138 - 101

Thanks to our successful plotting, Tanya got to go on a trip with us today. We had two absolutely spectacular dives. And loooooong ones, too. The first one was 77 minutes, and the second - at San Clemente (where I have never ever been before) - 101 minutes!!!!! It was such fun! Lots of little stuff - almost invisible squat lobsters, tiny polka dots of baby trunkfish, bristle worm ("some caterpillar", as I described it to Sallye when she handed her slate to me to see what it was we were looking for:)). And a huge green moray eel gliding in front of our group for about 7 minutes straight!

Our dives today made me think of this new appreciation I got for the marine life. I am surrounded by dive experts here, and they are all very generous about sharing interesting sea facts with me. The more information I get on certain underwater events, the more intrigued I become to actually witness them. I am so fortunate to have amazing teachers at my disposal, who are willing and able to work on my ocean illiteracy. Books on fish and creatures should be my next step though. It is high time...

Day 137 - Mexico:France - 1:0!!!!!!

Totally unexpectedly, Mexico did it!!! It is always amazing for me to observe how little things like that (well, Mexico winning is, of course, a BIG deal for the World Cup, however it is kind of smallish in the grand scheme of things) elevate everybody's mood. The party we hosted at our place was a blast, and this joyous news made it even more enjoyable.

In fact, we all got so excited about watching soccer that it took us only about 20minutes to conceive of, design and successfully execute a new dive plan for tomorrow: instead of going out at 7.30AM, we will start the trip at noon. The advantages - we all watch the US vs Slovenia game AND Tanya can join us after her hyperbaric chamber - were well worth the trouble of 50,000 phone calls and all the running around we had to do to make this happen.


P.S. After struggling with some complicated Seacure instructions, I have a new mouthpiece with my own jaw imprint! Yay! Regular mouthpieces last me approximately a month, as I just casually chew through them, but it looks like this one is impossible to destroy by biting. Fingers crossed!

Day 136 - Ruins

When you are not diving in Cozumel (like Tanya now), you welcome any deviation from your regular "hyperbaric chamber / stare at the ocean" days. This is how we ended up at San Gervasio today, although ruins don't particularly interest either of us.

San Gervasio was a site dedicated to the Mayan goddess Ixchel ("She of the Rainbows"), deity of midwifery, fertility, medicine and weaving. Many women from the mainland Mayan settlements made (and still do at times) the pilgrimage here to Ixchel´s shrine at some point in their lifetime.

The site is actually pretty lovely - nicely preserved stones in the middle of gorgeous lush jungle. Which presents a serious problem - we were eaten alive by mosquitos the minute we got off the scooter. On the other hand, this helped us set the world's record in the category "Amount of time needed to perform pilgrimage to the goddess Ixchel".

P.S. Games

- Latest news from the Scrabble board:

- "Find the lizard" challenge:

Day 136 - The subjunctive circle of neurogenesis

The subjunctive mood in Spanish is super common. This verb form also exists in English, but I feel that it is utilized much more rarely in the United States than in Mexico. For example, if you say "I may be able to come over early tomorrow" here, you use subjunctive of the verb "to come" - "Talvez pueda venir mas temprano manana".

We discussed this phenomenon at my Spanish class today.

My Spanish teacher has an interesting opinion on the subject (a big surprise - he has an interesting opinion on any subject). "El pueblo hace el idioma" ("People make the language"), he says, "life in the United States is much more certain, people don't have the need to utilize the subjunctive that often. In Mexico, the cable guy's schedule is expressed not in hours (someting we constantly bitch about in the US), but in days or even weeks. You cannot ever predict what's going to happen in the next five minutes. The life here calls for the use of the subjunctive mood at all times."

It does make sense, but if learning a new language can alter your brain, following the old language patterns must somehow affect people's mentality, too. Speaking in the subjunctive all the time could very well be the reason of the uncertain Mexican life. It's a vicious circle, really.

Day 135 - Cliche

The funny thing about all cliche expressions is that they are actually so accurate. It is disgusting really, because normally you try to avoid using them not to sound boring and cheesy, but in the end, they are the best way of expressing certain states of affairs...

"Practice makes perfect" is my cliche of the day. It is hard for me to believe that this time last year I was completely unable to see any life underwater. I could look straight at a huge grouper suspended mid-water 5 inches away from my face and not see it for the life of me. I would notice a turtle only after it whacked me over the head. I would not even dream about finding a flamingo tongue snail.

Today I see a lot: baby sharks tucked under hidden reef ledges, crabs in the darkest swim-throughs, toadfish, lobsters, drumfish, even the tiniest golden moray eel (its head popping in and out of a coral hide-out was the size of my finger nail). Marine life is everywhere around me - I don't even have to look for it, I just notice that it is there.

Either I have suddenly grown a new pair of eyes, or practice does make perfect!

Day 134 - Weird Tunich

Unfortunately, things don't always work the way we plan. In fact, things very rarely work the way we plan. Tanya had a major migraine this morning and couldn't make the dive.

Raoul, a new dive master, took us to Colombia Deep in the morning. The current was very strong today, and all the people in my group reported having a hard time on the first dive. I didn't find this dive strenuous at all though and I attribute it to my bootcamp with Aristeo this winter.

The second dive was the weirdest Punta Tunich I have ever dived. The current here is usually strong, but today it was with a twist. The twist being that we actually did not see Punta Tunich at all. Instead, we kept going back and forth (against the current for some reason) over the sandy bottom (total of 25 minutes over sand), trying to find a good spot for "flying" with the current, which we eventually did for the last 15 minutes. I love sand, and in general for me any dive is a good dive, but the others on the boat seemed very unhappy, and the general consensus was, "Well, it was... a dive".

At home, the Scrabble obsession continues. After Liang and Tanya's last move, Michael choked and couldn't come up with a word for two days. But his new word - "zee"! - elegantly scored a ton of points, because "z" is apparently 10 points and he somehow managed to put it on double-the-word spot. Two days of thinking - not for nothing. The girls, of course, could not take this lightly, and summoned all the internal resources to dig deep into their brain and memory for a comeback - and it was strong - "eidola". Actually, some external resources were utilized as well - Liang copied the board to a sheet of paper, and cut out letters at their disposal for easier visualization... No comment, really...

Day 133 - Diving with Tanya

I cannot believe that I forgot the camera for this momentous occasion! Tanya has been diving once a year for the past ten years, but I hope she will correct this ridiculous annual average here in Cozumel. Unfortunately though, her hyperbaric chamber is scheduled for the mornings at the moment, so if she is not able to reschedule it, she will add only 8 dives to her list. Inconceivable!

Javier was our dive master and we went to Palancar Gardens and Tormentos. It was wonderful! More fun to come tomorrow! And I will NOT forget my camera this time!

A perfect day faded off with a perfect sunset... I love it here.

Day 132 - The "yin" of Cozumel

We spent the whole afternoon on the other side of the island. So pristine. So different. Cozumel is only 8ml wide, but the gap between its two sun sides is stunning. The ocean, tranquil and meditation-inviting on the West, is combative and vigourous surf-ready on the East. The rocky beaches of the West are replaced by refined-sugar sands on the East. The island, crammed with people, hotels, and restaurants on the West, finds its zen balance in almost complete absence of thereof on the East.

The island's dichotomy always reminds me of the yin and yang, but I can never figure out which side should be assigned which symbol. The yin score technically goes to the East side, although the ocean kind of screws up the count.

Day 131 - Obsessions and Compulsions

An obsession is a thought, an idea, or an image that you cannot get out of your mind. Common obsessions involve doubts, fears, orderliness, aggression, and sexual images. A compulsion is a feeling that you have to do something. Compulsions are physical or mental acts that you perform over and over. Common compulsions include counting, washing, arranging and checking things again and again. When these tendencies are exaggerated, it is called an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Sometimes I am concerned that I have an obsessive personality - often I cannot stop myself thinking about something in circles with no constructive resolution whatsoever. Thankfully, over time I have learnt how to let those thoughts run their course in my head without my active participation. I have a concern about being a bit compulsive, too. Luckily, my permanent and temporary compulsions are of a pretty constructive nature: reading, cooking, working, learning.

But my obsessive compulsions are nothing in comparison to what is happening around me today. The four of us - Liang, Javier, Tanya, and I - are hanging out at home today, because I'm still having a migraine after yesterday's incident, and they are all keeping me company. Well, at least that was the original plan. However...

Tanya set up a Scrabble game on her iPhone to be able to play it with her boyfriend Michael (who is now in NYC), so they Scrabble-municate all day long. The problem is that Tanya is super competitive (although she would probably never admit it), and when she makes a move, it's not just any move, it's a move that will gain her the most possible points (even if she has to obsessively think about re-arranging the 7 letters on her board over and over again all day long - I am not exaggerating), at the same time leaving no good options on the board for her opponent. I mean, those are commendable skills and intentions, but, Dear God, is it scary to look at her possessed face absent to the outside world! And now she contaminated Liang as well! Both of them are living on the Scrabble board today.

Javier is running in and out of the house finding more and more tasks for himself to do. Finally, his excess of energy finds an oulet in turning all the fruits in our fridge into some kind of refreshing beverages. Yield - a juice-bar selection of delicious tropical drinks. Not bad, I have to admit.

In the midst of these obsessions and compulsions of others around me, all concerns about my potential OCD fade away and I feel absolutely normal. Aha, I guess that is what friends are for:).

Day 130 - Mixed feelings

Found a new definition for the "mixed feelings" today: diving your favorite site (San Juan) while continuously puking through your regulator due to a terrible pressure headache...

P.S. Apparently, throwing up in the open water is not that difficult. I would think it requires much more of an effort. In fact, I think that if you can choose where to throw up, I would rather always do it underwater than on the surface.

Day 129 - Errands

I don't like to run errands. And the http://www.urbandictionary.com/ agrees with me, defining "running errands" as "A trip to get or do something, especially for something you don't really like to do or have to do for someone else".

Yet, errands are inevitable. We spent all day today setting things up: checking in at the dive shop, arranging Tanya's hyperbaric schedule, food shopping, unpacking, etc. Argh! What a tiring thing to have to do...

However, the errand day was beautifully highlighted by:

• A delicious late taco dinner at Otates (hmmm, maybe I'm starting to like Mexican food?)
• My Spanish teacher asking me how many Spanish classes I took while in Argentina (I took 0 classes, so I'm taking his question as a compliment!)

P.S. The word "errand" dates back to the 12th century when it meant "an oral message entrusted to somebody". Nowadays, the word still means a "message", but it is most commonly used in the expression "to run errands", that stems from tasks of an errand boy. Today, very few people can afford to have errand boys, but each of us seems to have more and more errands to run, whethere we can afford it or not.

Days 128 - Return to Paradise

After a loooong trip, I'm finally in Cozumel. Tanya came here from NYC as well to try the hyperbaric treatment for her migraines (fingers crossed).

I feel absolutely at home here. It is interesting to compare my "at home" feeling in Argentina and here. Argentina - I am in love with the place completely, and I know I CAN live there. Cozumel - it feels like I DO live here already. Especially, now that I have Tanya...

This time our apartment is beyond spectacular! Javier did such an excellent job of finding us a place answering all our picky girly requirements - ocean view, comfy beds, ability to swim in the ocean, quiet, good AC, kitchen - criteria, not necessarily very commonly met by the Mexican standards:). But I didn't expect to have this beauty in my wildest dreams. Now I cannot stop comparing my "winter" apartment with this one - how could I even bare the other one for 2 months!!!

There's only one tiny issue here - water... Because it is so hot outside - 32C (90F) - there is no COLD water. Now, that's a first:).

Day 127 - Rio from the dentist's chair

When I was in Argentina, one of my new teeth cracked. It wasn't too bad - just some weird internal crack that I noticed only because I kept examining my new smile in the mirror all the time. So my entire in-transit day in Rio was spent in the dentist's chair. We started at noon and finished at 6PM. She drove me to the airport to catch my flight to Cozumel. I feel exhausted.

Day 126 - Where everybody knows your name...

After another 9-hour overnight bus ride from Cordoba, I'm back to Buenos Aires at 7AM, to catch a plane to Rio at 6PM. I feel so at home in this city, that instead of desperately drinking in the last moments of my trip to Argentina and going to a museum or a street fair or any other city attraction, I choose to spend the whole day at Hotel Babel (the awesome one I stayed at in the beginning of the trip), piggy-backing on the hotel's monitor to catch up on my emails, chats, and blog. Mateo - today's concierge - comes up periodically to check on me and offers me (for free!) breakfast, coffee, medialunas, then wine, snacks... At 3PM I finally wrap up here and go to a nearby restaurant (where the waiter knows me, too) for a farewell steak. When I take a car to the airport, somehow it's the same driver who picked me up from the bus terminal this morning...


I do not want to leave. But there is no sadness - I know I will be back.

A relaxing travel itinerary

What was I thinking when I created the following travel itinerary for myself...

• 06/04/2010 - An overnight bus Cordoba - Buenos Aires (22.15 - 7.15) - 9 hours
• 06/05/2010 - A flight Buenos Aires - Rio de Janeiro (18.55 - 21.45) - 4 hours
• 06/06/2010 - A flight Rio de Janeiro - Cozumel (21.45 - 11.30) - 16 hours

Days 123-125 - On hospitality OR Cordoba++

Wikipedia defines hospitality as "the relationship between a guest and a host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers..." The word hospitality derives from the Latin hospes, which is formed from hostis, which originally meant "to have power". The meaning of "host" can be literally read as "lord of strangers."

I met Ana Maria and Rodolfo - an Argentinian couple in their late 50's - through Renata's parents who I stayed with in Brazil. Our paths crossed only for one (very full and fun though) day - my birthday - in Rio, when they invited me to visit them in Cordoba during my travels in Argentina. "Out of politeness", I thought, and decided that, obviously, I would never inconvenience like this somebody I barely know. Then, for the next several weeks that I was exploring Brazil, Ana Maria and Rodolfo were in email contact with Isabel and Elisio, and they mentioned the invite again. Several times, in fact. "Why not then", I thought, and decided to go North of Buenos Aires.

We set the dates for my visit. I got a little present for them in Brazil, not to come empty-handed. I felt fine. Until yesterday, when all of a sudden I started panicking. Why am I going to visit total strangers? Yes, we had a wonderful day together in Rio on my birthday! But seriously, what the hell am I doing? Inconveniencing people! Making a total fool out of myself for accepting the invitation made out of sheer politeness! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!

But the tickets were already purchased, everything was already set, and there was no way of getting out of this arrangement. And so I went to Cordoba...

A friend always tells me that I like to create seemingly uncomfortable situations to prove that I can feel comfortable in them. Maybe. Whatever the reason - THANK GOD I WENT! THANK GOD I DID NOT CHICKEN OUT!

The Leones is the largest family I have ever met (of course, my take on the "large" is skewed - me being the only child and all). They are 14 all together: Ana Maria and Rodolfo have four sons; three are married with five children. Pretty much all the adults (except for one son and one wife) work for a family business. The office is located in the backyard of their house.

Every morning at 8AM the whole family (sans kids) gathers at their parents' for an hour of breakfast. At 9AM they all go to the office to work together. At 1PM they all have lunch together. At 5PM the office is closed, and everybody disperses to their respective homes. Every Sunday the whole family (with kids) gathers at their parents' quincho - a special construction (house) in the backyard to cook asado - Argentinian BBQ.

This whole set-up is fascinating to me! They see each other almost 24/7, yet every morning at the breakfast table there is some genuinely heated discussion going, and every Sunday during asado there is a lot of sarcastic jokes exchanged, the kind that can only flourish in a soil of generous love.

For three full days, I was made part of this family, part of this love energy exchange, part of the jokes (which with my broken Spanish I provided plenty - for example, wanted to say "there are many moreno eels in the Caribbean", but somehow it came out as "there are many huge black dicks in the Caribbean" - who would have thought that one silly vowel at the end can change the word meaning so drastically - morena / moreno - of course, the effect was magnified by my usual habit of accompanying everything I say with descriptive gestures). I'm sure they have issues at times, but one thing is clear: this is not an enmeshed family, they are so close because they choose to be together and not because they fear being apart, they have clear boudaries at work and at home, their respect toward each other is commendable, their collective love is immense. In our world of dysfunctional families, it is so rare and truly beautiful to witness genuine functionality.

Highlights of my stay in Cordoba:

eReader Fixed

The Leones family business deals with building machinery AC's. So, when I mentioned that my eBook stopped working, it turned out that they have all the equipment for testing electronics in their office, and they took it upon themselves (the sons that is) to try fixing it. It looked like it was a fun project for them, I must admit. And in the end - THEY FIXED IT!

Asado

On my first night in Cordoba, the whole family gathered for a non-Sunday asado in my honor. Argentinian meat is considered to be the world's best, maybe that's why when you eat a cow in Argentina, you actually eat the whole cow - intestines, brain, kidneys, stomach, sides, etc. in addition to regular filet mignon cuts. I adore meat, so I decided to try it all - to the amusement and respect of my Argentinian hosts, who claim that usually foreigners don't want to even come close to "sub-products". I was placed at the head of the table, and every time the asador Rodolfo was putting some new delicacy on my plate, the whole table (14 people) would chain-whisper, "Now she is trying brain, she is trying brain", and go quiet for a second while I put the new piece in my mouth, and after I would admit its absolute deliciousness with mucho gusto, there would be a sigh of relief followed by an almost standing ovation. This gourmet night was very fun.

P.S. Meat for 15 people + salad greens + bread cost 200 Argentinian pesos (about $50)...

La Cumbrecita

Ana Maria and Rodolfo took days off work to drive me around Cordoba (!!!). Our first day trip was to La Cumbrecita - a small picturesque pedestrian village in the Sierra mountains a couple of hours outside Cordoba. It was founded in 1933 as a commune by a German immigrant family and focuses on eco-tourism, providing gorgeous hikes through the town to waterfalls, mountains, and forest.

Of course, spectacular German cuisine is not forgotten here either, and in addition to unbelievable views the Cumbrecita restaurants offer a huge variety of home-brewed beer matched by the same number of trout dishes.

Colonia Caroya

Colonia Caroya is a little non-touristy town about an hour outside Cordoba. It is home to an Italian community, hence the best salami in the area. And I mean - wow, Argentinian meat salamied (is this a word?) by real Italians!

We enjoyed our picada and red Lambrusco at a cosy tiny cafe "Estancia Caroya", while the talkative hostess shared some town stories with us.

Conclusion

After staying in Brazil with the Joffes and in Argentina with the Leones, I want to submit a correction to the wikipedia article on "hospitality", so that it reads as follows: Hospitality is the art of becoming your guest's family.

Day 122 - In Transit

Highlight of my "In transit" day from Isla Margarita via Buenos Aires overnight to Cordoba.

- The most advanced manicure + pedicure I have ever had in my life (another reason to move here - Buenos Aires rocks!)


- A Cama Suite bus is absolutely spectacular. A 9-hour ride from Buenos Aires to Cordoba felt like a regular night at a hotel, with a hot delicious dinner (yes, yes, everything is fricking delicious here, it's ridiculous, really!), followed by a goodnight sleep in an absolutely horizontal seat. What? Wow!

Days 116-121 - Experimenting with Minkowski spacetime

Funny that almost immediately after destroying all my electronic equipment I had to go Isla Margarita (located Middle Of Nowhere, Delta de San Fernando, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Being here for almost a week put me in an interesting spacetime, fitting in all special relativity of the world, into my world...

The views of space and time which I wish to lay before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies their strength. They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality. – Hermann Minkowski, 1908

Space

A tiny island 2 hours away from Buenos Aires. You get there by taxi / boat combination. The only things found on the island are:

• One guest house with 3 rooms.
• One main house, where guests are fed 3 times a day and offered to select entertainment of their choice among board games, a tiny TV, cookbooks, and gardening books. Side Note: a bottle of wine a day per person is included into the full-board price. If you don't want to drink alcohol, a bottle of wine is substituted by a same-size bottle of water / coke / lemonade. Fascinating. \
• Four dogs of various kinds.
• Four cats of various colors.
• Ten geese.
• One nutria.
• One hammock.
• Garden.
• Forest.
• River around.
• ONE female owner who has been taking care of everything for the past 12 years.

Time:

Sometime before the 1990s: no internet, no computer, no eBook (no books either), no iPod (I lost it in one of the bags, found afterwards).

Special Relativity Applied:

1. All uniform motion is relative, and there is no absolute or well-defined state of rest.
   Q: What can one do in the absence of familiar 21st century electronic-based motions?
   A: Apparently, a lot. Clearly, there is no well-defined state of rest, however options include but are not limited to:
   - going for a walk on the same forest path several times a day, rain or shine
   - talk to the lady owner about how she could possibly live like this and find out that it had been her life-long dream that finally came to fruition when she was in her 50s
   - lie in the hammock for hours, fully clothed in winter-wear, yet enjoying the sun or absence of thereof
   - talk to the dogs
   - talk to the cats
   - compulsively watch TV for one full rainy day, because you have not done it at all for the past 4 months, but draw a line at Die Hard 2 dubbed in Spanish
   - take 338 pictures of the same scenery: trees, river, animals in the sun... trees, river, animals in the rain... rinse, repeat... luckily, though not completely intact, the camera still works:)
   - notice fewer and fewer leaves on your favorite tree every day as the autumn progresses
   - take a beautiful boat ride for a couple of hours
   - notice that although the river water is not a beautiful blue of the Caribbean, but rather a disgusting brown of Rio Plata, it is actually not that bad, because if you look at the river long enough in the wind, it starts to look like dunes in the desert
   - make funny faces
   - do yoga on the pier
   - notice weirdly twisted tree trunks
   - have thoughts
   - stop having thoughts
   



2. The speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all inertial observers regardless of their relative motion or of the motion of the source of the light.
   
   Q: Will one get bored in a week (a day, an hour, a minute) without reading, chatting, listening to music?
   A: Apparently, not at all. After all, in the vacuum fullness of life, the speed of light is the speed of light, and this week passed as quickly for me in my electronic-free motion as it would otherwise.

Amen, Hermann Minkowski! I could not have done that in just the XX century, or just on a little island. Only the union of the two could create that independent reality of mine from May 26th till May 31st, 2010...

Day 115 - Bicentenario

Two hundred years ago, in Buenos Aires (then capital of a Spanish colony), a week-long series of revolutionary events took place, known as the Revolucion de Mayo, which set in motion events that led to Argentina's eventual declaration of independence from Spain in 1816.

This week, millions of Argentinians, their neighbors and foreign dignitaries gathered in Buenos Aires to celebrate their bicentennial with lavish parades festivals and performances.

Naturally, I did not go. Working in a Fifth Avenue office for almost 12 years, I have had enough of trying to cross the street for lunch during St. Patrick's Day Parade, Puerto Rican Day Parade, Columbus Day Parade, Veteran's Day Parade, and my favorite - a casual everyday tourist parade that IS Fifth Avenue. I vividly remember being stuck across from Saks Fifth Avenue for 10 minutes straight, not moving AT ALL, in a human traffic jam of people admiring The Snowflake Music Show. I mean, it's magical and all, but not when you are rushing to some appointment, especially not after hearing this music every day every 15 minutes for almost a month:).

In other words, if you would like to see pictures from Argentina's Bicentennial celebrations in Buesnos Aires - not mine - click here.

I went to Puerto Madero, which was a lucky choice, because it seemed to have served as a quiet haven for all the people who are done with parades - and, fortunately, we are not many:).

Day 114 - Conan the Destroyer?

I am clumsy. It is not very obvious when you first see me, but hang around for a little while, and you will witness how I will graciously start dropping things left and right, chip off pieces of equipment, break cups and plates... doing various damage. Rarely do I not bring an injury onto myself while cooking... or swimming... or skiing... or skating... or [fill pretty much anything into the blank]. Luckily for me and others around me, usually the damage is minor.

Not today...

• Exhibit 1: Skyped with Piraye, dropped the laptop.
  Result - the cracked screen's abstract art. It's a quite interesting canvas, and could be interpreted in many profound ways, but quite impractical as a device. Fortunately, it's only the screen that broke, all the information and PICTURES (the loss of which I feared the most) are intact. Thanks to great friends and internet, already ordered a new laptop and Tanya is going to bring it to me to Cozumel soon!


• Exhibit 2: Tried to warm my knitted slippers on the radiator without prior realization that it operated on a gas burner.
  Result - slippers well-done, a little too well for my taste.
  
  
• Exhibit 3: Dropped my eBook (really, I cannot even consider it my fault - the height was absolutely negligible).
  Result - battery doesn't charge anymore. Poor 'Ulysses' will never be finished. Not that I understand ANYTHING that this book is trying to tell me.

Really, this is when a smart person would have stopped to assess their mental and physical fitness to continue any activity for the day and rested comfortably on the couch meditating or something (well, I have a feeling that a really smart person would have done it much earlier than this point, actually). But not me. For some reason, I decided to wash my cardigan sweater. By hand. And so I present to you...

• Exhibit 4: A torn neck of the sweater. It's OK, really doesn't affect the comfort of wearing it anyway.

P.S. The book I mentioned a while ago, "The Artist's Way", was supposed to unlock my creative powers. It looks like so far it's reinforcing my Terminator powers. Maybe my reading comprehension is off, and it's not really the "Ulysses" fault after all...