Here is a much-needed update on me:

I am finishing my last semester at UGA, applying for jobs and working on updating my portfolio and blog! I will also be shooting a few UGA football games this semester. I know I have been Web-absent, aka, Websent, lately, and I apologize.

When gathering clips, I found I could get all the old Times Free Press papers in PDF form, so I’d like to show you how the home birth project looked on the page:

Stay tuned as I post some more portfolio images.

A group of friends and I roadtripped up to D.C. to see the Inauguration. We saw the actual swearing in on a large screen right next to the Washington Monument. The rest is gravy. Enjoy.

Sunday concerts on the National Mall, Aedan looks over the crowd

We went ice skating Sunday night at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden ice skating rink

Later we went to Jumbo Slice, supposedly a legendary D.C. eatery, where the slices are jumbo. That's Zack.

Monday morning we went to Silver Diner in VA for brunch, where they had a special inauguration menu featuring the Obamalette and the Congressional Crunchy Shrimp Platter.

D.C. by night.

Tuesday morning, after navigating through the crowds, Ginette, Jesse and I find a spot by the Washington Monument with a nice view of a large TV screen.

This was our view doing a hail-Mary shot. During the swearing-in.

A very emotional response, cheering and tears all around.

We got through THIS crowd and eventually to a café to eat and warm up. Then we went to the movies.

We saw Frost Nixon, by the way. Really really great movie. Journalism people – a must-see. The next day, Wednesday, I went with Nicole into the city to the cafeteria in the National Museum of the American Indian. Delicious food based on what they would have eaten back in the day…before us, I guess. Took her to an interview, then we all left Alexandria about 7pm and arrived in Athens at 6am…..in time for my 11am class.

Really, as you can see, a fantastic and historic experience. Thank you Aedan, Ginette, Jesse, and Nicole for being awesome.

It took a ridiculous number of shots to get normal expressions on both of our faces. And getting that cardinal to sing at the same time was an ordeal.

We started sending out a photo of us in front of the tree last year. Maybe this is a tradition that will die.

I am preparing to say goodbye to the country that has been my amazing home for the past 3 months and the warm, divine, vibrant people that I have lived, worked and studied with here. This country has everything, Iguazú (AKA most beautiful waterfalls ever) in the North

Garganta del Diablo waterfall

and Patagonia (AKA galciers and penguins) in the South

Perito Moreno Glacier

I can’t believe that at the time I am feeling the most comfortable here, I have to leave.

Thank you to everyone that has been a part of my life here.

So, in a country that never says goodbye -

Chau, Argentina, hasta luego.

This weekend (tonight, actually) I’m going to Iguazú Falls in the north of Argentina, which are waterfalls that share a border with Brazil. They are supposed to be the most beautiful waterfalls in the whole world.

Check out the official site of the falls.

From the site -

This original cascade, has become the most impressive falls of the group, The Devil’s Throat. Eighty meters high, it is located on the principal river course. Depending on the water level, you can see anywhere between 160 a 260 falls, that on average flow at a rate of 1500 cubic meters of water per second.

It all looks absolutely incredible. I leave tonight at 7.40 by bus, which will take at the very least 15 hours. BUT it is a super cama bus, which means the seats recline into little beds of 180 degrees. Here’s the photo from the site where I bought the bus ticket, Via Bariloche.

Super Cama

Just by looking at this tiny green drawing I want to snooze. If you have ever gone long distances by bus, you know how amazing this is….or, hopefully, will be.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On Friday the 12th we went as a group to Tigre and San Isidro, which are towns about 28 km north of the city in the province of Buenos Aires. Supposedly San Isidro is rather affluent, and it looks it. They are both very chill towns near the river.

Catedral de San Isidro

Jason in the mercado de frutos

Grapefruits

]]> http://kellywegelphoto.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/tigre-and-san-isidro-argentina/feed/ 2 Kelly Wegel 081209_kwegel_tigresanisidro079blog 081209_kwegel_tigresanisidro267blog 081209_kwegel_tigresanisidro277blog 081209_kwegel_tigresanisidro285blog http://kellywegelphoto.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/things-i-love-about-buenos-aires/ http://kellywegelphoto.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/things-i-love-about-buenos-aires/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:01:38 +0000 kvwphoto http://kellywegelphoto.wordpress.com/?p=425 ]]>

Street performers in San Telmo

Street performers. (These ones are pretending to be blown by the wind.)

You usually get little cookies and a little shot glass of sparkling water when you order a coffee in a cafe

They kiss you when they meet you, they kiss you when they greet you, they kiss you when they leave, and no one ever says “goodbye”, just “ciao” or “see you later.”

There’s always another 152 bus right around the corner.

When you say “thank you” they say “no, please, thank YOU,” and when they thank you, they never just say “thank you,” they say “a million thanks” or “many many thanks.”

It’s a short bus trip away from more open areas is you want a day away from the city.

TWO daily newspapers.

Artisan fairs.

Cheap food. Cheap beer. – isn’t that enough?

Aha! I am alive. Camping was pretty much awesome, and Sierra de la Ventana, estancia Funke, and Cerro Tres Picos were beautiful. Yea, I finally figured out where I was. I had to climb a mountain to orient myself.

But I’ll tell it from start to finish..

We took a cab to Retiro, the bus station in B. Aires. Our bus left at 10 p.m. It took us 8 hrs by Omnibus to go Southeast to the city of Sierra de la Ventana. The trip turned into a 10 hour trip because of an accident on the freeway in the early morning hours. Our bus was not involved, but was delayed.

Bus ride to Sierra de la Ventana

Our seats were the best ever. We were at the top of the double decker bus, right in the front. It was like flying over the insterstate, except insanely more comfy than a plane. That’s Jesse int he green and Earl reflected in the window.

My ticket:

Condor/Estrella Ticket

The Condor/Estrella motto is “A blue light on the path.”

We got to the very small town early Friday, got some coffee, stocked up on food and water, missed a bus we needed, ate lunch, then took a remis to estancia Funke.

Inside the car

We got to estancia Funke, after about an hour drive, at about 2.

How patriotic

There we met Monica, a woman who works in the house shown in the background, which is a welcome center of sorts with rooms to rent, bathrooms, etc. She: 1) took our 90 pesos for the 3 of us to spend 2 nights camping on the land, plus a 50 peso refundable deposit, 2) gave us a “map” and proceeded to explain in Spanish and using actual printed photos, the way to get to the top of the mountain. Please note that I use the term map very loosely. An embarrassment to cartography!!! It was basically a drawing, not to scale, with a suggestion as to how to get to the mountain. ***Photo of map pending***

Jesse (left) and Earl

So we started out…..

The men check the map

And soon became lost.

Cow gate

There were lots of these things, which allowed cars to pass but not cows. They were all over the poor excuse for a map, but none of them were marked. Actually, none of the trail was marked. It just said “pass cow gate. Pass another with an electric fence beside it. Pass another…” etc

A window in the yellow house

We did pass the yellow house, which was on the map.

Do you understand that this place was huge and we went the whole of Friday afternoon and night without seeing another person? After maybe 2 hours, we called Monica, who told us to turn back and go back to the welcome center. NO WAY!!! we said. WE’RE AMERICAN!!

So fromt hen on we decided to forget about following any sort of marked path and just walk straight toward the mountain.

Field

We crunched our way through a field of dried plants….

Wind thinigies that tell you the direction of the wind....

….oh yeah, weather vanes. We passed these.

Electric fence

I had to get over 2 electric fences (with the men’s help) and crawl under this electric fence. I’m still not sure whether they were truly electrified because none of us would test.

Where's the mountain?

We’re getting close(r).

We did finally find where we were, and guess where it was? Right at the beginning of the map. We didn’t even get on the map that day, only to the point where the map starts, but it was so much fun….and then we watched the sunset.

Sunset

We set up the tent, and I watched, in a cow pasture….pretty much the whole of estancia Funke is a cow pasture. It was cold at night, but I could see probably every star in the sky over us and the milky part of the Milky Way. The stars are different here because of the change of hemisphere. And did you know there are, like, billions? I have never seen so many.

END OF FRIDAY!

Saturday we woke up with the goal of reaching the top of Cerro Tres Picos. It is the highest point in the province of Buenos Aires at about 1,239 meters vertical high.

As we walked to the base of the mountain, the view constantly changed-

It was a long walk to the corral, where we left our gear and only took water and some things, like my camera, to the mountain itself.

But before we left all our gear, we ate-

Jesse prepares a delicacy

The men ate their thing, and I ate mine. Here, Jesse prepares a water cracker with mozzarella, strawberry jam, and canned Caballa, which should translate into “most disgusting-smelling fish ever to swim the cursed oceans” but actually translates into “mackerel.” Later, when we packed up the trash to take back to the welcome center to throw away, guess whose pack the trash with the mackerel tin went into? Yeah, all my stuff smells like mackerel.

So on we went to the mountain, where we saw a dude descending the mountain. It was a dude we had seen that morning. Turns out he has climbed the mountain 109 times. He said we wouldn’t be able to make it up and back before sunset, (2 hrs), so we shouldn’t try. NO WAY!!! we said. WE’RE AMERICANS!! WE DIDN’T TURN BACK BEFORE, WE WON’T TURN BACK NOW!!!!

So he waited for us to get back, to show us the way back to the corral in case it was too dark.

We made it to the top of the mountain in 45 minutes.

Jesse

Earl reaches the top

Me

And me, sitting on top of the stool which marks the absolute highest point.

The view

The view part 2

We spent maybe 15 minutes at the top admiring Argentina. It took us about 30 minutes to climb down, then it was back to camp, where we set up our tent inside the corral, which is !!! basically a cow pasture. Jesse cooked dinner again in the portable stove and it was awesome. It was less windy and I got more sleep, but it was still cold.

END OF SATURDAY!!!

Sunday morning we woke and hiked back to the point where the map starts.

Jesse attempts to feed horse

There were horses and cows all over this estancia (which means ranch, by the way). LOTS.

From there, some awesome hikers gave us an awesome ride in their awesome truck back to the welcome center, then all the way back to Sierra de la Ventana.

These are them -

Earl, Jesse, Guillermo and his niece Soledad

Then we celebrated. Two big meals, ice cream, pool and several bottles -

We boarded the bus out of town at 11 p.m. and I slept most of the way back. We made it back in time for me to eat breakfast then go to the 10:10 a.m. class!!

END OF TRIP!!!!!!

We take various excursions together as a group. Last weekend we went to the botanical gardens and then boating on a lake at a park near the zoo.

I left the watermark off these so you guys can put them on your facebooks, do whatever.

Blake risks his health petting a cat in the botanical gardens

Jason climbs a Ficus Luschnathiana

We paddle boat!

So cute!

I left the watermark off these so you guys can put them on your facebooks, do whatever.

I am leaving tonight for Sierra de la Ventana to go camping! For the first time. Ever. Take a minute and Google it; it looks so beautiful. Here are some photos. But a little cold. The lowest it will probably get is 35 Fah. and the high is mid to high 60s.

I am going with two Americans in my student group. The plan is to leave tonight (Thurs) by bus, arrive early tomorrow morning, camp Friday and Saturday nights, then return by bus Sunday night, arrive in BA (Buenos Aires, but it’s more fun to say BA) early Monday in time for Literature class. Hiking, fishing, enjoying nature…relatively new additions to my repertoire. But I am bringing my camera, so that will, of course, be the highlight.

Here is a part of the map of Argentina that includes the province of Buenos Aires. I have taken the liberty of circling the general area where we will be….yeah I obviously have no idea. An adventure in ignorance!

¿Dónde?

Vamos!