Argentina Day 5

Oh it was so good to fly into the Neuquen Airport! I had made contact with a lot of my converts and friends in the mission prior to arriving, so I was looking forward to seeing a lot of people. After landing and reliving the whole arrival process at that airport, we decided to rent a car. This proved to be an excellent choice as we would have had to bother with calling taxis and taking busses. It allowed us to see a lot more than we would have otherwise. I had learned to drive stick in Argentina while on my mission, so I decided I’d drive since I knew where everything was. This proved to be an interesting decision as I am not a very good stick driver! Somehow, we made it to our Hosteria, La Casa Bonita, a nice little bed and breakfast that I actually walked by every Sunday on the way to Church. The folks there were very nice and it was a good place. It wasn’t a Marriott, but it was just fine for us and our needs.

After dropping off our bags, we braved the extreme wind and went to the mission home. We took some pictures and then knocked on the front door. Lorena, the house maid, answered. She recognized me but couldn’t call me by name. We took a quick tour of the mission home, then went back behind it to the mission office where I had spent a lot of time. We met the assistants, mission president, office elders, and darling senior couple. We talked to them for a while. Turns out it was a pretty busy time as they were about to have transfers and split the mission. While we were there, the office elders were like “we recognize you, and just figured out where from.” They pulled me over to a computer and showed me the contacts movie we had made one P-day while I was in the office. How funny! It was good to see that place and meet the people who are running the show now.

We then swung by the Sepulvedas on the way to the store to see what we needed to bring for that evening’s asado. It was fun to see them really quick, but it was a short stay as we needed to go to the store and we would be going back later. We went to Carrefour, my store of choice there to buy crackers, dulce de leche, fruit, bottled water, and other food for our stay in Neuquen/Allen.

We had a delightful evening with the Sepulvedas. They are such giving, incredible people. We learned about how they are doing in the ward and as a family. Brother Sepulveda is the first counselor in the Bishopbric and is essentially performing the bishop’s duties because there was an excommunication. That family is an incredible example in determination and desire to do what is right. They are a rock of a family. They all seemed to be happy and doing well. Unfortunately, Matias wasn’t there, so we set up a time to go back in order to see him. We also got to talk with them about the visit of Elder Cook from the quorum of the 12 apostles that was going to happen that weekend. Unfortunately, there was a risk that a volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina would explode, so they didn’t want to risk Elder Cook getting stuck in Neuquen, so they cancelled him coming down. It was so sad for all the members there. They had been preparing for a long time for this visit. There was a special choir, food lined up, a special meeting for the bishops that brother Sepulveda was going to be a part of, and just seeing an Apostle. But, luckily they still did a meeting for the bishops through Skype, so that turned out to be okay.

My parents and Hayley had a fun time talking to them and making a special connection to people who they had only known through my letters as a missionary. The Abuela became super good friends with Mom despite their language barriers. Hayley had fun playing with Benja, their 3 year old son who wouldn’t express emotion or say hardly anything! Oh, and the Asado was good.

Argentina Day 4

Today we decided to do as many Portenos (People from Buenos Aires) do and escape to the outlying areas around the city. We went to the Retiro train station and took a train out to Tigre, an area outside of the city where the river flows into the Mar de Plata. It’s a delta, so there are tons of little islands and such. We enjoyed seeing the different people come by on the train trying to sell everything from CDs to tissues to food and drink. Upon arriving in Tigre, we were not quite sure where to go. We knew there was a big Feria, but were not sure where it was. We talked to some people at the train station who convinced us that their boat tour was the best. We paid a handsome amount for the four of us to go on our own raft tour through this beautiful area. They took us to a private dock where this tiny raft was waiting for us. We were a little skeptical, but went for it. It was cool to go through this unique area—everyone commutes by boats. We saw the school bus boat, the store boat, and a ton of personal boats. Our tour guide wasn’t the best—at one point he had a 10 minute conversation on his cell phone! But he did take us through some of the back streets and jungle-type of areas. It is a very different way of life up there!

School Bus and Shopping Boat

At the conclusion of our tour, we were dropped off at the HUGE feria where we enjoyed poking around the different stores for an hour or so before we had to jump back on the train to go back to Buenos Aires. There were some really neat things there—Hay and I got a nice Palm serving tray.

Back in Buenos Aires, we walked down Florida street, which is a huge shopping location filled with both stores and street vendors. The place was packed! As we walked, there were a lot of people standing on the side of the pedestrian street saying “Cambio Cambio” (Change change). The USD exchange rate to Argentine pesos is a little screwy right now. The official rate was about 5.2 pesos per USD; however, the real rate is more like 8 or 9 pesos per USD. We could have gotten much better rates from these sketchy people than from the ATMs, but we decided to pay a bit more and be sure we got real bills. I bought a Buenos Aires Mate cup from a street vendor, and then we went to Puerto Madero (right behind the Casa Rosada) for dinner. We had some delicious homemade pastas and noodles—definitely a good pick for dinner. The funny thing about Argentina is that their ‘dinner time’ is typically 10 or 11, not 7 or 8 when we wanted to eat. We were often the first ones in a restaurant or the only ones for the first while when we were there. We had one last good night sleep on the incredible mattresses before heading down to my mission in the south!

Turns out this bad boy is pretty pink at night!

Argentina Day 3

Today we decided to do the Buenos Aires Walking Tour. We went down to the Congressional area of Buenos Aires and had a great tour with Victoria. She talked to us about Congress, the fountains, historical buildings along the way including the Dante’s Inferno building, the Casa Rosada, the National Cathedral, Plaza de Mayo, and the Obelisco. I really enjoyed the tour as I had studied and heard about lots of these places. We especially liked hearing about and being in the Plaza de Mayo. That place has held a lot of Argentine history, from the marching mothers to daily protests. They were blaring some loud music while we were there, and our tour guide asked them to pause it for 15 minutes while we did our stop on the tour. They did! Thanks, guys!

The tour concluded on the Avenida 9 de Julio, the proclaimed widest street in the world (of course it was) ((it was like 22 lanes wide!)) (((apparently there is a wider one in Brazil))), and we went to check out the Teatro Colon. We decided not to go in as it was a bit pricey to do the tour, but Mama and Dad went back later and said it was awesome. We then went back to explore further some of the sights we saw on the tour. The National Cathedral was really interesting to visit. The new Pope had lived and ministered there for years, so the Argentines were obviously swollen with pride for the new Pope. We saw several unique murals of the Savior, as well as San Martin’s burial tomb. It was neat to be there and see such a strong part of the Argentine culture.

As we were leaving the Cathedral, we heard loud bangs outside. We were a little nervous of what it was, and we soon found out that a huge protest had started. They had blocked off numerous streets and were marching on in. There were lots of loud fireworks being shot off, and various unions and groups had joined together to launch a one day strike and protest. Large fences had been set up in the Plaza de Mayo to prevent protesters from getting closer to the Casa Rosada. There were plenty of police presence and SWAT cars, but the protest was a peaceful and entertaining ones. The huge speakers that were playing music earlier were now amplifying the voice of the passionate speaker who was rallying the crowd. There were helicopters and lots of news coverage. It was definitely an experience, and I’m glad we got to see it!

We then walked south through the San Telmo neighborhood. It is a very quaint, historic neighborhood with cobblestone streets. Unfortunately, we were not there on a weekend or else we could have gone to their famous “Feria” (street market). We did, however, find a DELICIOUS ice cream store. One our taste buds were satisfied, we caught a remis to go down to Caminitos—a very famous tourist site in La Boca neighborhood. This site featured brightly painted houses, street performers, artists, and anything a tourist could imagine buying. La Boca was famously an immigrant neighborhood. There are harbors and such there, so immigrants used leftover paint to spice up their houses. The neighborhood is now super touristy, and we were happy to not miss this one! While we were there, we walked through some downtrodden neighborhoods to the Bombanera, the stadium for the famous Boca Juniors soccer team. They are like the Yankees of Argentina. The stadium was not anything like our glamorous American stadiums—it was fairly crudely made, not very accessible, and pretty old. The place is legendary though, so we were sure to get some good pictures with it.

In the evening, we went back to San Telmo to go to a Tango show. We went to a show at a place called “La Ventana” (The window). It was an AWESOME experience. We were picked up and brought to the place and greeted by some fancily dressed people. We went down into the basement of this building where they had several layers of dinner tables. Luckily, we got one of the best seats in the house—towards the front and center! It was quite the place. We all chose our food and were delighted with tasty dinners. When dinner was over, the show began. We saw some very talented Tango dancers perform, followed by an entertaining Gaucho performer. They had a full band backing them up—a great pianist, accordions, and other instruments. We saw a piece from Evita!, and much more. It was a good sampling of many of the famous Argentine cultural traditions and arts. This was definitely the highlight of Buenos Aires for me!

            

Argentina Day 2

Today we landed in Buenos Aires. We pulled pesos out of the ATM and found ourselves a ride into the city. I was smiling the entire way—I was so happy to be there!! I even bought a few treats in the airport because I couldn’t wait to eat some of my Argentine food again! I enjoyed the ride—I found it extremely easy to talk to the drivers and bring up the church. Luckily the Buenos Aires temple is right along the highway by the airport, so it is an extremely easy conversation starter. We met the parents at our Marriott Hotel right on Florida street. We were exhausted, so upon checking into our room, we laid on the bed for a while and enjoyed the non-airplane sleeping pad. It honestly was the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in and I am not saying that because I slept in on a plane the night before.

After resting for a bit, we embarked for the Evita museum in the Recoleta area of town. There is a nice restaurant attached to the museum where we ate our first Argentine meal—Yum! We then toured the Museum where we had a glance into the life and wardrobe of Eva Peron. Mama was thrilled—she is a big Evita fan. It was fascinating to see the influence she had on Argentina.

After the Museum, we strolled home. It was a fairly long walk, but we saw a lot of the Recoleta neighborhood in Buenos Aires. We passed the UN plaza, Art Museum, Recoleta Cemetery, and other landmarks and statues. We concluded the day by eating empanadas—real, Argentine empanadas. I am so happy to be here, back in my country!!