I´ve Been Cutoff...

Not from Daddy´s fortune...

from the internet!

We haven´t had internet at our apartment or in the lab since last Saturday. I never realized before how addicted I really am. Facebook, Google, Hotmail, Yahoo, Blog... you name it.

On Saturday we woke up early (for us anyway) and headed to the only ATM we know will take our Visa cards. We had plans. La Cumbre is a small town about a 2hr bus ride from us- we were going to parapente.

(one guess what it means...)

It seems the cosmos had different plans because the ever helpful Utah Community Credit Union turned off my card and the ATM took it and refused to spit it out. The bank was closed, there was no phone around to call the help number, so I pulled out my cell phone, stuck in the sim card I recently bought, made Amanda run across the street to buy a minutes card at a kiosk, and then guarded that ATM like a pit bull.

Right as I started to upload minutes on my phone so I could call the help number and get my card back, the battery died. At this point I was panicking... the ATM had my card!!! I decided to chance it and hope that the ATM kept the card; I took a taxi home so I could call my bank and make sure the card was turned off or whatever (just in case).

You think I could get a hold of ANYBODY at the UCCU? Nope, it was Saturday and the bank was closed; I was stuck with a million different recordings telling me to push a number. I told them two or three times before leaving that I would be in Argentina so please don´t flag my account and turn my card off (this had happened to my folks in Malaysia). Yeah, didn´t do any good. My mother was inspired and sent me with a backup card for emergencies so it wasn´t the end of the world, I was able to get some cash.

*Maybe I called my dad and had a meltdown... a whole bunch of things had been building, building, building and then this whole ATM business set me off. KABOOM! My dad talked me off the ledge and told me he´d take care of calling the bank (thank you Dafoo) and to go have fun. I calmed down, washed my snot-nosed face, and then got ready to go. By this time it was too late in the day to go do parapente so we went to La Falda instead.

It was a charming little town about an hour and half from where we live. We walked past a hotel and under the sign it said SPA- the magical three-letter word that seems to be the same in every language.

I got a massage with hot oil and these smooth, hot stones. I´m happy to say that the massage was way better than the pedicure fiasco; it was so good, I decided to get a facial too. Suddenly things didn´t seem so bad.

I´m happy to say that things have been really good (post meltdown). I got my card back, I´m going to take some guitar lessons (to learn some Argentine music), and I´ve set up Spanish classes for the rest of the month. I´m really enjoying myself...