La Rioja

Friday, September 13th, I visited the capital of my province, the city of La Rioja. I went with my host mom and my host sister and, though we didn't stay long, I saw a few cool things that I wanted to share.

We went to the city because of my host mom's work. She is a lawyer of some sort (would tell you what sort if I could understand her completely) and needs to have her paperwork reviewed here at this courthouse before she proceeds is how I understand it from the explanation of my hermanita (little sister).

While my host mom worked, my herminita and I wandered around the plaza. In every city there is a plaza and every plaza gets a lot of traffic. The plaza of La Rioja is lovely.

There were a lot of flowering trees because it's spring here and everything's coming to life.

The man in this status was the founder of the city. The fountain was in the middle of the plaza.

More flowers in the plaza

This small shops are full of sweets like cookies, candy bars, gum and soda. There were two in the plaza alone. There are very popular both in La Rioja and Chilecito, especially for purchasing gum and soda is what I've noticed so far.

This is a mosque that was across the street from the plaza. Bells chimed from it every half an hour.

After my host mom had finished working, we walked around the city. We stopped at a uniform store because every school, private or public, wears a uniform. My host mom only had to say the name of the city and school and the saleswoman was able to find the uniform my hermanita needed. Then, while my host mom went to the bank, my hermanita and I wandered around a book fair of sorts in the cultural center building because the bank had a very large line.

The cultural center building also included a movie theater. On the other side was the restaurant where we ate lunch.

There was also a candy booth at the book fair. My hermanita and I both got chocolate. This chocolate was like a tree trunk, peeling back like bark. It was delicious!

I still haven't got all the pictures I want of Chilecito. It's been ridiculously cold the past few days-- well, no colder than it gets in New York, but the houses here are not heated and I didn't pack thinking that it was going to get this cold. It is a rare occurrence, after all. 

Tomorrow's my first day of school. Wish me luck!