niebla y nenas y helado

i dont have anything particular to write about today but i thought that id write down some of the funny unique things that im experiencing here that are raro o distintissimo.

first, the niebla or fog. here in salta the fog is a constant presence. even if you cant see it, you know that it was here or is coming back soon. in the evening when the sun starts to wane the fingers of fog start to climb through the valleys of the mountains on both sides of the city of salta. on our bus ride back to san lorenzo, which is just west of salta, we see a show of fog and sunsets every night. i love the mountains because theyre different every time that you see them. during the night, fog descends on all of the city so that every morning when we get up we are greeted by a soggy feeling. i get to work around 10 am when the fog fingers are beginning to make their slow journey back into hiding in the mountains. its hermosa, la niebla.

second, nenas. im working at the casa del niño, and it would better be described as a cultural exchange project rather than a volunteer job. i say that because i dont actually have all that much to do, but i get to learn a lot anyways. i just have to suppress my american urge to work work work all the time enough to enjoy the uniqueness of my situation. my old friend here in the casa is a tiny two year old girl, who tomorrow or the next day is going to have heart surgery to fix a pulmonary valve that is closed in her heart right now. this valve issue doesnt affect her spunkiness, and with me, her favorite word is NO! today another angel arrived, who is only four months old and comes to salta for a problem with her pancita, or stomach, which they tell me is really just that the poor girl cannot make cacita, at all. she has literally the biggest cheeks i have ever seen on a baby and dark dark brown eyes. she doesnt have teeth yet so when she gets excited she just opens her mouth in a big gummy smile. adorable.

tercero, helado. i may have mentioned this already, but its definitely worth talking about again. the ice cream in argentina is amazingly better than that of america. it is creamier, the flavors are more flavorful and its cheapissimo. please note that cheapissimo is not a word in english or spanish, but it gets my point across. i am going to get rich when i am old by starting a argentine ice cream business in the states. im still brainstorming on names. but just to give you an idea of the goodness ill say two things. one, ive eaten helado on average once a day during my stay in argentina with an average cost per two-flavor cone of US$0.80. two, ive eaten the following flavors that have knocked me off my feet:chocolate italiano, mantecol (peanut butter), chocolate africano, dulce de leche(un-freaking-believable), frutilla a la crema(peter wherever you are, please come and eat this youll die), ferrero rocher, frutilla a la champagne(somehow they put champaign in ice cream and it worked very very well). i have not yet tried mate ice cream, or red and white wine ice cream. these are a little out of my league for now. bueno, es todo y tengo hambre, me voy!