The game of Truco is truly an Argentine experience. While studying at the AMAUTA Language School in Buenos Aires I had the opportunity to participate and learn the fun and interesting card game, complete with an extremely enthusiastic porteña- one of the AMAUTA teachers.
To set the table, we heated up the water, prepared the maté, found the bombilla (metal straw), and dealt the special truco cards. Nothing would be complete here in Argentina without maté, it’s just one of those things. We all sat down and learned about all the different suits or “palos” (basto, oro, espada and copa) and the order of power. There are also many subtle nuances to the game that can only be picked up over time, such as sneaky moves based on lies and facial gestures to inform your partner of your hand.  The word ‘truco’ means ‘trick’ in Spanish, and the game is very tricky indeed!  We learned the basics of team play and did a couple of practice games, with each one bringing us closer to understanding the full game. (más…)

What should a Spanish student in Cusco do during the first weekend off? Indeed: I made it to Machu Pichu yesterday! It was a lot cooler than I expected. We left at 5am in the morning. I was picked up at my homestay by taxi. The taxi brought us to the train station. The train left at 6am. Our ride was 4 hours long to Aguas Calientes. I had splurged for the nicer train and we had a lot of windows to look out of. Also we were served a small breakfast.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes around 10 am and met our very enthusiastic guide, Darwin at the station. Then our tour group got on a bus for the 30 minute ride to Machu Pichu. Being there was actually gorgeous and my pictures just don´t do it justice. Our tour was probably an hour and a half walking around all the ruins of temples, dwellings and agriculture.
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