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.