Day 19: Sunday, July 17, 2011

We woke up at noon to the talking of the family.  An hour later, another family came back over to hangout.  It was fairly chaotic since we didn’t really know any of them, but it is fairly normal for them to have a lot of family around.  We had lunch with Ruth’s family—her brother and his wife, sister and her husband with their kids, and her mother.  After lunch we decided to go downtown with Gisella to tour the Casa Rosada, which is the president’s house.  We have the White House.  They have the Pink House.  They give free tours on the weekends.  The Pink House (Casa Rosada) was very cool.  There was a lot of great Argentine artwork all over.  It was very busy and our tour seemed pretty rushed since it was closer to closing time.  It was a bit of an abridged version of the tour so we didn’t see everything, but what we did see was pretty great.  We saw the president’s office and several other very important meeting rooms and galleries.  Afterward, we all walked back up the Avenida de Mayo a few blocks, drinking maté along the way.  We hopped on the subway to the train station and took the train home.  For dinner we had mini-pizzas and leftover picadas from the birthday party.

Day 18: Saturday, July 16, 2011

We woke up and walked to the flower shop to get Ruth some flowers and a plant for her birthday.  Around noon, we went to the church and prepared for the party.  We helped set up food, drinks, chairs, etc.  We first ate picadas (little finger foods), which consisted of empanadas made by Horacio’s mother, a meat and cheese plate, bread, and tiny hot dogs.  It was good.  There was a lot of wine, because one of their friends owns a vineyard and they supplied all the wine for the party.  An hour later the main course was served, beef stroganoff with rice.  It was more like chili with rice.  Paul really liked it, but I didn’t as much.  Then Horacio’s band played.  They were really good.  People were dancing and clapping, it was very loud and overwhelming.  There was a bouncy blowup tent for kids to play in.  After the party was done, we all helped clean up and put things away.  Then some aunts, uncles, and cousins came back to the house with us to watch the Argentina vs Uruguay semi-final game.  Uruguay won in a shoot-out.  It was intense.  We had more stroganoff for dinner and went right to bed.

Day 17: Friday, July 15, 2011

We hung around the house today because we went to Horacio’s concert with his 10-12 year-old students in Mercedes, which is an older colonial town in the province of Buenos Aires an hour from downtown. They had guest players come to help the little kids sound better.  They take everything serious here.  After the concert, we went to the cathedral of Mercedes, which was across the street from the concert.  It was a gorgeous old gothic cathedral.  There was a dude smoking inside, which was a little strange.  Then we went back home and picked up Ruth and the rest of the family.   We went to the church, where the party was going to be and helped set up the tables and chairs.  It was frustrating because they would tell us one thing and we’d do it and then they’d come back and change it and have us redo it.  There were a lot of people giving their input so things were constantly changing.  It didn’t help that I didn’t know the language either.  Then we got home at 9:30 and had really good empanadas and pizza.  Then we went right to bed.

Day 16: Thursday, July 14, 2011

We took a long walk around Castelar and ended up getting ice cream again at Cremolatti, the place we had gone before.  We both got the same exact thing because we liked it so much the first time.  When we got back home, Kristin went with Gisella to pick out table center pieces for Ruth’s 50^th birthday party.  I stayed home and hung out with Horacio.  He showed me how he uses his home pro-tools recording as well as a couple of his finished recording projects.  He is currently working on a project to modernize the church hymnal by recording modern music versions of all the songs.  I also showed him some of the songs I had written and recorded.  We played cards with Gisella in the late afternoon and had steak milanesa and rice for dinner.  Very good.

Day 15: Wednesday, July 13, 2011

After breakfast we went to Morón with Horacio to go Boli-shopping.  Apparently Bolivians here have the inside scoop on getting good, name-brand clothes cheap.  There are several Bolivian-run shopping places where you can find Adidas sports clothes for a fraction of the price that you would pay elsewhere in the city.  We only ended up getting a gift for Liam, but I’m sure we’ll be back at some point since it’s pretty close.  We ate a quick lunch and went downtown to Recoleta again with Gisella and her friend to an art museum called Malba.  We took the train downtown and a coletivo, or city bus, to Recoleta.  The coletivos here are insanely busy.  We’ve ridden in them 4 times now and I have yet to actually get a seat on one.  Kristin and the other girls fortunately got seats on the ride back to the train station.  We took the train back to Castelar during rush hour, and the Vivares family had always told us how bad it was to take the train then.  Fortunately for us, we hopped on a train that only made one extra stop on the way home.  We all had seats, and it was our best train experience yet.

Day 14: Tuesday, July 12, 2011

We began the day pretty slowly.  We had burgers for lunch with Horacio and Gisella.  After lunch we went for a nice walk with Gisella and got ice cream.  It was actually hot today, so we could sit outside to eat it.  Kristin got peach and strawberry cream ice creams and I got dulce de leche with chocolate chips and chocolate with almonds.  Apparently Argentineans eat ice cream like it’s their job.  Gisella who is tiny ate a huge ice cream cone the same size as mine before I even got to the cone.  We took a different route home and stopped at a little, independent second hand clothes store.  Around 6 we had a little snack before we got ready to go to our second soccer game, Uruguay versus Mexico.  We left around 7:30 with Horacio, Milton, and Nicolás.  We got a closer parking spot, and it was a bit smoother and quicker getting to the stadium.  The game was very fun.  There were quite a few missed opportunities by Uruguay, but it was fun nonetheless to see all the players on Uruguay’s team, Forlan, Suarez, Lugano, Pereira, etc.  Uruguay won 1-0. 

Day in Recoleta

Today we had a lazy morning and we enjoyed breakfast with Gisella.  As we were eating, she asked what we were going to do for the day.  We wanted to go downtown to the center, and we asked if she wanted to join us.  She agreed!  Paul and I were so excited to have a local giving us a tour.  We took the train 45 min. to Once.  Then we hopped on a very full bus, like so full that the door could not close because my butt was in the way and hanging out the door.  After a few stops, we were able to move in the bus.  After riding that for 15 minutes, we got to Recoleta.  We went into an art gallary and to the cemetary.  The cemetary was very freaky.  The cemetary is filled with gaudy mausoleums that are all very creepy.  Each of these mausoleums would contain a whole family.  You could look inside these mausoleum where there would be either stacks of coffins or a staircase leading down to a chamber of caskets.  Only the rich could afford to be buried there, and families would have to basically pay a mortgage to have their "death houses" maintained.  You could tell which families had died out or were no longer paying off their mausoleum mortgages because some of the mausoleums had been overgrown or broken into without being fixed.  These were the creepiest.  There were many famous people like presidents, writers, generals, and other important people buried there (Eva Peron or "Evita" probably being the most well-known).  It was pretty awesome.  We found a park bench to sit on and Gisella and Paul enjoyed mate.  We were greeted by a Brazilian women who did a street preformance for us....it was crazy!!  What an experience.  Then we came home and had dinner.  After dinner we watched the Argentina vs Costa Rica futbol game!  Argentina won and will very luckily be going on to the next round of the Copa America.  Another busy but great day.

Day 12: Sunday, July 10, 2011

Today we slept in…until 11:00.  We were able to sleep in because Gerardo was on vacation and wasn’t preaching, so we didn’t go to church.  We had a lazy morning and afternoon at home with the family.  Then about 1-ish, Horacio showed us how they grill.  It looks like an indoor fireplace but higher, like our grill height.  It is separated into two parts, one smaller, for the burning of the wood or coal, then a larger one where they have a grate and do the grilling.  We had Natalia, her husband Luciano, and their baby over for lunch.  Horacio grilled a TON of food.  They first bring out choripan which is a sausage on a bun.  Then Horacio would go outside and get some meat off the grill.  We’d eat that and then he’d go back out and do the same.  It was an endless amount of meat.  I only had one round, but Paul was loving it and had many, many rounds of meat!  Then we sat and had coffee, mate, and cookies for a bit.  Natalia and Luciano stayed for a while until 7ish.  It was nice to have a relaxing day after getting back from our mini-vacation in a vacation! 

Day 11, Saturday, July 9, 2011

After breakfast at our hotel, we checked out and headed for the bus station.  We considered taking a taxi, but decided a $4 dollar taxi ride was a little steep for our blood, so we walked over a mile with our heavy backpacks to the station.  We ended up catching an earlier bus to Colonia, so that we could have some time to walk around there before taking our boat back to B.A.  Colonia is an old Spanish colonial town in Uruguay.  Most of the streets in the old parts are still cobblestone and most of the buildings have been kept up fairly well.  This little town on the coast is gorgeous.  It was great that we got about two hours to walk around there, but a whole day in Colonia would have been nice.  We shared a final chivito (Uruguayan national sandwich) at a restaurant before going back to the port to go through customs and hop on the boat back to B.A.

Day 10, Friday, July 8

We began the day with our breakfast at the hotel.  Soon after, we went for a long walk to the Palacio Nacional.  On our way back we went back to the José Artigas mausoleum at Plaza de Independencia to redeem ourselves and go in farther to look around—very cool and worthwhile.  We sat and people watched for a while in the plaza, and then walked back to our hotel where we ate left over steak and chicken from dinner the night before.  After lunch we went out walking and shopping along the main street.  Paul bought a Diego Forlan (Uruguayan soccer stud) jersey and several bilingual books for the classroom next year.  We had dinner a bit earlier around 7:00 because there was a Uruguay v. Chile Copa America game on.  We went to a great parrilla (grill) restaurant where we ate dinner and watched the game with a bunch of devoted Uruguay soccer fans.  We shared a Chivito for two dinner, which was pretty great.  All in all, dinner turned out to be a great cultural experience.  After dinner, I went down to the lobby to make popcorn again.  The same guy who saw me making popcorn the night before brought a hotel staff buddy to watch me make the magical food of the future.  Again, really funny.  I guess I never really considered how cutting edge I am…with my microwave popcorn. 

 Palacio Nacional de Uruguay

 Super cool cathedral we passed on the way there.

 Jose Artigas mausoleum

 At the restaurant where we watched the game.

watching the game.

Day Nine: Thursday, July 7

We got up at 9 to take advantage of the breakfast at the hotel.  Croissants, coffee, orange juice, etc.—pretty much the same as in the US.  We then walked through Ciudad Vieja (Old town) of Montevideo, which was very, very pretty with lots of old Spanish colonial architecture.  At the entrance to Ciudad Vieja was the Plaza de Independencia where there is a HUGE green statue of a man on a horse—José Artigas, the man who founded the city (and won independence for the country?).  Underneath the statue are steps to an underground mausoleum where his remains are held.  We walked down to go in and there was a huge room with an urn in the middle.  The entire room was just barely light enough that we could see two guards on either side of the urn silently standing guard.  No one else was around so it was very unusual and creepy and didn’t go very far in.  We kind of chickened out.  On our way back to our hotel we grabbed lunch at an outside street vendor where we got chorizo sandwiches.  Delicious.  After lunch we walked all the way along the coast, through a park, back up to the main street, and back to our hotel.  We probably walked over 5 miles today.  I bought a Uruguayan flag and a Spanish book, and we looked through many shops along the main street.  Tons of people walk around with mate gourds in hand and a thermos.  Montevideo is filled with hippy folk.  There are tons of hippy street flea markets where you’ll find wool sweaters, scarves, socks, hats, mate stuff, bongs, and medicinal herbs—very interesting to peruse.  For dinner we went to a nice, fancy parrilla (grill) a block from our hotel where we had the menú del día, which is a set daily special where you get a soup or salad, main course, and dessert.  We had vegetable soup, steak and fries, and ice cream all for under $30. After dinner we went back to our hotel to have popcorn for a snack/dessert.  I (Paul) went down to the hotel kitchen to use the microwave.  A hotel staff guy let me into the kitchen and was very perplexed and curious me putting the popcorn bag into the microwave.  They do not do microwave popcorn.  He thought it was the coolest thing how it popped and inflated.  I let him try it when it finished.  He was impressed, calling it “magic” and “the food of the future.”  It was pretty funny.  A great end to the day. 

Day Eight: Wednesday July 6

          We got up early today because Horacio took us to the Castelar bus so we could catch it to go downtown to Buquebus.  It was a long hard trip into town because it was busy with morning rush hour traffic.  We were riding on the side of the road and going over all kinds of bumps.  I got very car sick.  Once we arrived to the center of the city, we took a taxi to Buquebus and went through customs.  We took a huge boat to Colonia.  I slept so that I wouldn’t get sick, but Paul explored a bit and read for a while.  It was a three hour long boat ride.  It was way nicer than we expected.  Once in Colonia, we took a bus to Montevideo which was 2.5 hours long, but at least it was comfortable. 

          We arrived to Montevideo around 3:30pm and got some lunch.  Paul had Chivito sandwich: the national sandwich of Uruguay.  He really liked it!  I had ham and cheese empanadas but they were no good, so I order a cheese pizza that was very tasty.  Then we walked for a bit around that part of town and took a taxi to the Oxford Hotel.  The Hotel appeared to be nice, but the rooms were pretty crappy.  The staff was nice and helpful at the very least.  We walked around our hotel for a bit and that was fun.  Around 8 we walked to a street vender.  I had a burger and Paul had a chorizo sandwich.  It was cheap and very good.  We had an indoor picnic in the hotel room, and Paul enjoyed his beer that we bought earlier in the first walk.  The beer was huge and only $2.00.  He was happy.  “The beer doesn’t taste as good, but nice to have at least.”  We went to the main desk to have them pop popcorn….and they didn’t know how to.  It was horrible!!!!  They wanted to open the bag and put the seeds in a little tupperware.  We had to tell them no, it pops in the bag.  No one around here really knows about popcorn.  Nonetheless, she did what we asked but not much popcorn popped.  We are now sitting and watching the Argentina vs. Colombia soccer game. 

 Us on the boat--Very bright.

 On the boat.

The back section on the boat where we sat.

 View of another boat.

 U is for Uruguay!

 View from boat of Buenos Aires

 Buenos Aires

Paul's gonna get his beer on.

Day Seven: Tuesday July 5

We woke up at 10:30.  Sat and hand breakfast with Horacio and Ruth.   We are sticking around town today because tomorrow we are going to the center to catch a boat to Uruguay.  This morning Paul was talking to Ruth and Horacio about popcorn,  and Horacio left for a bit and came back with popcorn!  It was really sweet of him.  Later on we walked to Horacio´s mother’s house, which is two blocks from their house, and she gave us some maps of montonvideo.  Then we walked around the town of Castelar for a bit and came home and had lunch.  It was fun walking around because it is so sunny and it’s a cool wind on the face but not too cold to walk and enjoy the area.  Then we had beef milanesa with mashed potatoes.  It was a good meal!  For dessert, Horacio got us popcorn.  It was their first time ever popping it at their house.  It was so entertaining to watch them try to do it.  Oh, the things that are different. Then we did some emailing and whatnot, and Gisella showed us around Castelar and the houses in richer neighborhoods.  We came home about 11pm and went to bed.

 Milton with the popcorn Horacio got from the store.

 a very relieved Kristin

Ruth and Milton

Day Six: Monday July 4

We woke up about 9:30.  We sat and had breakfast by ourselves….the whole family was gone at work.   Then we sat with Gisella for a bit and she walked us to the train station.  We went to Morón and walked around there.  We had lunch at this cute café with the locals.  I had a hamburger with cheese and ham and French fries.  Paul had another lomito sandwich.  We did some more walking around and window shopping, which in Argentina you truly do.  They basically have the whole store on window display to look at before you walk in.  I got a nice pair of leather boots for warmth.  They are a bit tight but Paul seems to really like them.   We walked back to the train station and got on the wrong way.  We walked home and got a little lost but recovered.  While at home, we sat, played cards, and watched TV.  I finally caught an episode of Law and Order in English.  Then for dinner Ruth made chicken and rice.  It was delicious.  Then right to bed….

 Kristin's new boots.

Kristin rocking her new boots.

Sunday in Castelar

          We woke up and went to church with the fam.  There was a section of worship where people shared praises and thanks, and Horacio said he was grateful to have us visiting for the month.  We stood up and waved…slightly embarrassing but very kind.  A Sunday tradition for the Vivares family is to eat pasta.  In Argentina, there are actual pasta factories or stores where families go to buy pre-made pasta.  We went with him and got ravioli.  It was very good.  Afterward, we drove to the Brazil v. Venezuela soccer game.  It was pretty cold, but very fun.  The stadium was less than half the size of the Big House, so it was entertaining to watch.  It was a 0-0 tie, but still fun to watch.  We drove home and I felt like I finally connected a bit with Horacio and Milton.  I found out that Milton can speak a little English and is taking an English class. So I told him that I’d help him with his English homework if he helped me with Spanish.  It made me feel more comfortable with trying more Spanish.  When we got home, Ruth had homemade pizza ready for us. Homemade pizza on Sunday nights is another tradition for them.   It was a great cheese pizza and an onion pizza—just what we love, onions! It is fun to see them act as a family, and we can see how similar we are to them.  We watched a little TV with the family and then went to bed. 

 Fabrica de Pastas - Pasta Factory

Pasta Machines

Brazil v. Venezuela at La Plata - the newest stadium in Argentina

La Boca and a Youth Soccer Game

                              Pictures of La Boca ("The Mouth," being a port)

                              Gauchos (Cowboys) dancing in La Boca

     Diego Maradona (Famous soccer player), Eva Peron, and Carlos Gardel (Famous Tango Singer)...Statues, of course.

              The old and new bridge to La Boca.

Kristin and I on our walk along the coast.

          We woke up at 10 am and had breakfast with Horacio and Ruth.  We sat for an hour or so and chatted.  We got ready and Horacio, Paul and I went to La Boca, which is a very colorful part of town.  La Boca was the original port of Buenos Aires and many of the houses and building in this neighborhood are painted very bright colors.  Around the 1860´s and 1870´s, many italians immigrated to this part of town.  They ended up painting their houses the same colors as the boats they arrived on because it was the only paint they had and could afford.  The neighborhood nowadays is a tourist haven.  It looks like something you might see at Disney´s epcot center where they have little “neighborhoods” from different parts of the world.  It can be hard to look past all the “touristy-ness” of it all, but the actual history of the place was very interesting.  We were lucky to have Horacio with us to explain it.  We bought some posters for Paul’s classroom and a photo of tango dancers for our house.  I also got a scarf because it is so chilly here.  Then we drove for a bit and had lunch at the side of the road at a parrilla (grille).  There are tons of these that line the road.  Paul had a pork sandwich called a biondola.  I had a hamburger with cheese.  It was really cheap and very tasty.  We continued driving and came to a park along the coast.  When we got home, we went to Milton’s indoor soccer game, which was very intense and made for a great cultural experience.  Unlike our youth soccer leagues where you see a bunch of kids awkwardly crowding around the ball, these little kids played a pretty fierce and more planned-out game.  We had empanadas for dinner tonight….but earlier then other nights…I think because of church tomorrow morning.  The empanadas were very good.  Empanadas would be labeled by the way they closed the empanada.  There were tons of different kinds of fillings.  Paul ate 6.  They order empanadas every Saturday night.  It´s their tradition because Ruth does not want to cook because it’s the end of the week.  We watched Ocean’s 13 while we ate dinner.

First Day in Downtown B.A.

          We woke up around 11:00.  Horacios gave us very specific directions to get downtown or the “center” of the city.  Paul and I set out for our adventure.  I was very nervous as usual, but we got on the train and took that for about 45 minutes.  We then got onto a subway for another 15 minutes without any problems.  It cost us about 1-1.50 dollars to get downtown altogether for an hour-long trip.  The trains and subways were packed.  We started our journey by looking for a place to eat, but now it was about 2 pm.  We found a cute Italian restaurant called La Panadería de Pablo.  I had an onion and pancetta pizza and Paul had a lomito (steak) sandwich.  Both our meals were very good.  I was shocked that the bill was so high—105 pesos—but really it was around 30 dollars.  We went to the main city Plaza de Mayo and walked toward San Telmo down the street Defensa.  We walked until we got to a flea market.  Paul got a scarf and I didn´t get anything.  I looked for some boots and warmer clothes…it is very cold here.  We did not pack enough warm clothes.  We checked out the cathedral on Plaza de Mayo where General San Martin is buried.  As a general, he basically won independence for Argentina, Chile, and Peru—kind of a big deal down here. Then we took a bus home.  We went with Horacio´s fam to have an asado (barbacue) at Gerardo’s house.  The first course was sausage on buns, kind of like our hotdogs.  Then Gerardo went to the grill and got some more meat.  We had steak also.  Some had it on buns.  I had three small pieces of meat and was out-eaten for sure.  Paul had 6 full pieces.  Then we sat for a while and Gerardo ordered ice cream for dessert, which was very tasty.  They are very generous and hospitable families.  We got home at 12 am and went right to bed. 

                        Plaza de Mayo: The center of the city.

Kristin´s lunch

                                    

Paul´s lunch

Plaza de Mayo Cathedral

Our First Day

          Many apologies to all our loyal blog followers.  Our trip has begun with a lot of head scratching, looking helplessly at our computer screen not knowing how to connect to the internet.  We are still trying to figure it out, but we are up and running on the Vivare´s family computer for now.  If anyone has any great advice on how to connect a mac to a WEP wireless internet account, please post a comment below.  The icon says we are connected, but we cannot access any web pages through Firefox or Safari--very strange.  Without any further ado: 

          Our flight to Buenos Aires wasn’t until 7:40, so we had lots of time to sit and walk around.  We got to Buenos Aires around 8 am.  Horacio had thought we were coming the following day, so he was not there to meet us.  Fortunately I had his cell number to call him.  He came to pick us up about 45 minutes later—not too bad considering the fact that he could have been working.  We napped until 3 and Ruth made us an egg, ham, and cheese tart with rice.  It was very good.  After our snack, we gave Horacio a soprano saxophone that he asked that we bring him (since shipping is much cheaper to the US than to Argentina).  Then Horacio, Kristin, and I went for walk to the train station, park, athletic club, and Gerardo´s (the pastor we also know) house.   We saw a few boys at the club playing soccer with a plastic water bottle.  They were heading it, kicking it and using it just as if it were a soccer ball.  The three of us walked back and relaxed until dinner time, which is about 9-9:30 at night.  We had vegetable soup, breaded chicken called milanesa, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin.  We went to bed right after dinner was done. 

                   Our first snack: an egg, ham, and cheese tart with rice

             Horacio and Ruth putting together and examining the soprano sax.

Cool Winds

                                          (Left to right: Ruth, Milton, me, and Horacio Vivares)


          Following a very busy and stressful school year, Kristin and I took it upon ourselves to get as much fun and relaxation as we could out of this summer.  What better way than to take a month-long vacation to hang out in Argentina, hanging out and staying with some very cool Argentine people.  For the majority of our trip we will be staying with a lovely little family that I met and worked with the first time I went to Argentina.  Horacio is a music composer who actually wrote a 5 movement piece for our Calvin Orchestra Quintet as well as an orchestral piece for Calvin Orchestra. 
        
          Our itinerary for the trip, or lack thereof, is going to be what makes this blog so very interesting since we have a fairly short list of things we will be doing over the entire month.  At this point, we plan on getting to know Buenos Aires very well in the first two weeks of our trip.  It just so happens that the Copa America soccer tournament will be going from July 1-24 in Argentina.  We got tickets to see two games: Brazil v. Venezuela and Mexico v. Uruguay.  We also plan on taking a weekend trip to Montevideo, Uruguay.  The last event planned so far for our trip is a vacation to Iguazu Falls with Horacio and his family.

          For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Spanish language, "Buenos Aires" is best translated as meaning "Fair Winds."  As we will be there in July, Argentina's climate is in the dead of winter since it is the opposite of ours.  Fortunately their "dead of winter" is around 47-57 degrees fahrenheit and sunny to partly cloudy.  Fair winds will blow cooler, but we still plan on seeing and doing many new things worth sharing.  ¡Viva Argentina!