BA Part II (of III)

Sunday

After our late night at the Tango Show, we got up Sunday morning to head to church in Caballito. It turned out to be a rainy day, but that's ok. We didn't have to go far outside. We were welcomed with open arms by the church. Wimon and Rosalinda know some of the members from when they were missionaries in Buenos Aires back before they were married. There were also several students from the Pepperdine Study Abroad in BsAs there too. Plus 3 more random people from Oregon. I think I counted and the congregation was something like a 3rd U.S. citizens.

Oh random interesting tidbit. The guy in the middle of the picture is Esteban. He and his two brothers, I'd guess they are 15, 18, and 20 or so. (I know the youngest is 15.) Actually live two hours away and they travel in every weekend for church. They were really friendly young men on fire for the Lord. It was really touching to see that kind of dedication.

We had two choices of classes, one in English and one in Spanish. (Actually there were more choices than that but they recommended we go to one of those classes.) Rosalinda, two or three of the girls, and I went to the youth group class which was in Spanish. I kept up reasonably well... I think. :)

After church, the plans had been to go to an open market with the youth. But since it was raining, we got pizza and hung out at the building, which was fun too. We played ping pong, fusball and just visited in general. After awhile we headed to a local huge mall, like it had rides in it. I got tired then headed back to the hotel to chill. It was nice. I needed rest.

Monday

Monday was Kate's birthday. She decided that she wanted to go back to La Boca and eat at an outdoor cafe for her birthday lunch. Everyone was invited and decided to go. Kate and Matt went down the street and negotiated a place for us to go. They got a good deal for us. We had drinks (sodas of course), appetizer, main course, and a show. They had a little stage Tango and Gaucho dancers and live singers. (Better than dead ones)

Kate and the Tango Dancers

We were at two outdoor tables. It was a cool day, but we were out of the wind and nice and comfy.

The singers, they were awesome even if they were smoking the whole time. The one on the right had a lit cigarette stuck in his guitar.

Tango Dancers

The Guacho and his girl dancing.

I just liked that I caught the Gaucho during a break in his very modern sunglasses. He took them off after he caught me taking a picture. :)

After lunch, we wandered around the tourist part of La Boca more and did some shopping. Then the students I was with was trying to figure out what to do next. No one wanted to say what they wanted to do. They asked me, and of course I had no problem voicing my opinion. I said I think they should want to see more of the cemetery. I know that sounds morbid, but its a really really interesting place. Its a city of crypts with all sorts of sculptures. They all confessed that's what they wanted to do. So we piled into taxis and headed back to Recoletta.

Before we went in we visited what we call the tree of life. It is really huge. I mean, can you see the students under it?

I'm not going to say we played a tadbit of Hide and Go Seek in the cemetery... but here's Taylor counting.

Some of the tops of the crypts. The cemetery is full of stuff like this. Can't you see why we wanted to see more than the few minutes we were there on Saturday?


Taylor was in a different row than we were and made some crack about being remembered in a robe. I thought that was weird and random until I saw the crypt. I'm guessing this guy must have been a famous boxer... or maker of robes... or the Argentine Hugh Hefner.

After the cemetery we decided to stop by McDonald's where we knew we could quickly get something to drink and find a potty. We ended up with Cadbury Choclate McFlurries. Mmmmmm

We walked to the big metal flower, I'm sure it has a more eloquent name than that. It is becoming the new symbol of BsAs. Its really cool. It opens and closes at dawn and dusk, respectively. By the way, those are trees, not bushes behind it. Its really really big. (The aren't immediately behind it though.. But the lowest part is over my head. Anyway...)

We then decided to start heading back to the hotel. We came across this salvage yard that I think had something to do with trains and had a couple of dinosaurs made of left over stuff.

We ended at the English Tower, it was a gift from England when Argentina was one of the richer countries. I've been told that they now tend to call it the Tower after the um... dispute over the Malvinas (Faulkland Islands).

With very weary feet, we walked the last few blocks back to our hotel. After collapsing for an hour or two, I joined the Walkers for dinner. We went to a Thai place that actually had SPICY curry. A lot of people assume that since we are in a Spanish speaking place we eat a lot of spicy food. That is certainly not the case. In fact, most folks down here don't like spicy food. So this was significant. Rosalinda and I both had to order second bottles of water. I know my taste buds are a little more sensitized from not eating spicy food for the last month... but I'd say it was at least a 3 on the Ann Thai scale, maybe a four. It was awesome!

OK... Only one more day to go. And it might be shorter. Thanks for reading if you are still with me. :)