Today we had a very exciting day planned with a tour of San Telmo, the River Plate vs. Quilmes soccer game followed by a play.
San Telmo was my favorite place in BA so far! It is the old, historical part of town and there were many quaint buildings. Many of the buildings were originally built for rich immigrants to BA, but when yellow fever plagued more than 2000 people in that area, the rich people moved to other parts of the city leaving their large homes to be divided up into “conventillos” with as many as 30 families living in poverty in the original mansion of one family. All of the homes seemed to have changed hands many times over the years and nowadays they are restaurants, coffee shops, antique shops and shops with artisan goods. In this area, there were cobblestone streets and cute, quaint buildings everywhere. In the center of the area, a market was set up today with mostly antique-type goods. It was extremely colorful with all of the beautiful objects sparkling in the sun. Wandering through this area was an very enjoyable way to spend some time.
Afterwards we had lunch, then quickly headed to the River Plate cancha for the River Plate vs. Quilmes soccer match. We baked in the sun for about 8/9s of the game, but still immensely enjoyed watching both the game and the amazing participation of the audience with the fans, once again, singing and cheering throughout the entire game. River Plate won 4-0 and after the game, it was interesting because the River Plate fans had to wait 20 minutes before exiting the building while the Quilmes fans exited in order to avoid any fights.
After the game, we grabbed a quick drink with my first host family and Bryan’s first host family, who took us to the game, and then headed off to Luciano (one of the GSE members coming to Boise in May)´s play at the university. The play was called either “Dark Comedy” or “Black Lies” and is a British play written in the 60s. It was this comedy of errors and lies happening while the lights were out in a particular apartment building. Luco did a great job and was glad that we came to see him.
From the play, we went to grab dinner (around 10pm) pizza and beer (water for Bryan) and hung out with the GSE team who will be coming to Boise. It was a lot of fun and I had an interesting conversation with their team leader, Miriam (there are two Miriam’s,) about Argentine economics and economics in general. Since being down here and talking with people, I have really taken an interest in people’s opinions about the economy.
Backtracking a little bit…
Last night, my new host family (who is wonderful) grilled pizza for Beth, Jen, Don and I in their backyard parilla. It was so amazing. The pizza down here is the best we have ever had.
Last Wednesday, we did some shopping in the famous leather stores on Florida street. There were many beautiful items and we all enjoyed shopping for ourselves and family. The leather is of such high quality and the styles of the items are very unique. I found a leather coat that I could not resist and Jen had one made in a color she enjoyed. (I am not sure if I can comment on the other’s purchases.)
Friday, before returning to BA from San Juan, we toured the bodegas (wineries) of San Juan. We went to two champagne producers and two wineries (exclusively wine.) It was very enjoyable and as we were sipping wine (except Bryan) and thoroughly enjoying ourselves we mentioned that “the Nigeria team hates us right now.” Well, it is a rough job but someone has to do it. 
I couldn’t help but think that the pollution from the metallurgical plant had to have made its way into the soil where the grapes are grown… When the wine maker asked us what tastes we were able to distinguish in the wine such as strawberries, chocolate, leather, etc., I thought about saying calcium carbide, carbon monoxide, etc. It was really sad to see all of the pollutants over the city of San Juan from the factory. A pictures is worth a thousand words and I think you will understand once I get the pictures up. I hope to figure out a way to get pictures of our trip to San Juan, the pizza grill and today up on the web soon…Hopefully tomorrow.
It has been a great weekend and tomorrow we are back to business with vocational days and then the Rotary club meetings start again on Tuesday. Saturday is the Rotary district meeting. We are planning to give our presentation and then catch a plane to Iguazu Falls on the border with Brazil.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for the pictures.
Alecia
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