Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dear Friends and Family,
Hope this message finds you well and that you’ve had some time to catch up reading my updates since the flood of about 2 weeks ago. =)
After much contemplation on what I could use as my random intro picture for Update #10, I finally settled on another image of Santiago’s public transportation system. =)
<left> Other than the metro, micros, and regular cabs, Santiago has taxi colectivos which are like micros in that they have fixed routes and pick up passengers to capacity. These particular colectivos run the route between Santiago center and suburb to the west.
In the past two weeks, I seem to have slept little, studied much and traveled even more. Last week was one of my two exams for this semester and I spent pretty much all day and all night for the entire weekend reading the 1,000+ pages of art history in Spanish for my exam. This past weekend I went to visit Buenos Aires and nearby Uruguay with two other Council friends. =)
<left> Buenos Aires was a larger sprawling city that grew outwards as did Santiago… however, the impression that we all got as we wandered around Buenos Aires is that it’s a much dirtier city than Santiago… there were many presents left by the stray dogs to dodge while walking down the street…. Eww! =)
<right> Public transportation in Buenos Aires was similar to that of Santiago. Buses here are called colectivos though which threw me off at first. =) I never got to go on the metro but it seemed pretty well-run from what I’ve heard.
<right> Rain poured down Saturday morning drenching us as we wandered around like lost tourists trying to find alternative sight-seeing opportunities. Weather forecasts said rain till 8PM but God was gracious and brought sunshine to brighten the day around 1PM. =)
<left> A colorful little street with rainbow colored buildings, our visit to “El Caminito” in the La Boca neighborhood included sightseeing, street musicians, shopping at the artisan booths and dinner in a little restaurant by the waterfront… now the smell that greeted us when we left the restaurant later that evening was… unpleasant to say the least. =)
<right> Other touristy sights we visited were the Plaza de Mayo where the Casa Rosada <tr. Pink House> is located. I guess this is Buenos Aires’ equivalent of Santiago’s La Moneda or D.C.’s White House. The President of Argentina works in this building but doesn’t live here. Apparently, there’s a Museo de la Casa Rosada but it was closed while we were there. =)
<left> An odd “must-see” tourist sight was the Cementerio de la Recoleta. This old cemetery contains the remains of famous Argentinean people including Evita (aka Eva Duarte). Additionally, it didn’t appear that there were any underground burials as the entire cemetery is made up of above-ground vaults. Many impressive, if not overly extravagant, resting places for the rich and famous of Argentina.
<left> While wandering around the neighborhood of San Telmo, we had the chance to watch an open-air Tango show. Apparently, Argentina is known for Tango in addition to its awesome food. =)
<below> Speaking of awesome food, I had some awesome Argentinean grill at a restaurant called “Siga La Vaca” <tr. Follow the Cow>. Having a population of 10,000,000 cows or so, Argentinean beef is not only good but inexpensive. Yummy! =)
For $21 Argentinean pesos, the meal was all you can eat with a pitcher of Coke and dessert included. That’s only about US$7! =)
<left> Mmm… meat, lots of meat. This was probably only about 1/6th, probably less, of the grill space that was in use to prepare all the yummy food that we had for dinner. =)
<right> Just one of several plates that I had for dinner that night. =)
<left> Dinner that night was with 3 of 4 fellow ISBs who’re currently studying in Buenos Aires. From left-to-right: Vinny, Dan, Jean Diego and Matt.
The 4 of us and my two friends who came with me from Chile had a good night of Argentinean parilla. =)
It was pretty crazy, really. There were people still in line to eat dinner at 1AM when we finished to leave… we ate from about 10PM to 1AM after waiting about 45 minutes to get inside. =)
<left> On the subject of food, I had a very interesting steak dinner when in La Boca on Friday evening. Delicious steak with pineapple and gravy on top with bacon, mushrooms, apples and such accompanying.
<right> Recommended by Matt as a must-have in Argentina, I had a Milanesa Napolitana con papas fritas for dinner on Sunday night. =)
<left> On Sunday morning, I had myself an adventure finding a church to visit. =) Not having seen any churches the past two days, I decided to ask cab drivers if they knew of any local churches. =) Anyway, my second cab that I tried knew one about 20 minutes and about $10 pesos (US$3.40ish) away so I went along for the ride. =)
I arrived around 10AM hoping to find a morning service but discovered that Sunday services in Argentina aren’t in the morning but in the evening around 7PM.
However, there was a children’s bible school and worship service that started at 10:30AM so I hung around. =)
While we waited I was once again re-surprised to find out that their church had been around for 62 years or so and that there were a good number of Christians in the country while talking to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Buenos Aires! =) We had some time to chat about the international Christian community and that even far from home, we can always find a place to call home in God’s house no matter where we are. It was refreshing and encouraging! =)
<below> Around 10:30AM, the kids started showing up and it started getting chaotic. =) One of the church members owns a bakery and brought pastries and tea for breakfast for all the kids that were present. =) Being around all those kids reminded me of this past summer where I got to serve Inner-City Missions in Philadelphia.
We had a fun time of praise together and then the kids went into bible studies. I have decided that I like little kids. =)
Anyway, I’m sad that I probably won’t ever get to see any of the adults or kids that I met that morning but I’m glad God allowed me to spend time with them. Hopefully, I was able to encourage them as much as they encouraged me during the short time we were together and I hope to meet them again when I get home to heaven! =)
On Monday, we woke up bright and early to get on a ferry that took us from Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata to a small town called Colonia in Uruguay. The ride was about 2.75 hours long and we left Buenos Aires around 9AM
<left> The view of Buenos Aires from the ferry. It was a beautiful day! =)
<right> The view of the Rio de la Plata from Colonia. We took a short tour that took us to some weird places in Colonia… the first place was a world-class pencil museum… yeah… =) Other than that though, we saw some of the sights and afterwards, had some free time to wander around and sit on the shore. =)
<left> My friends, Chelsea and Katie, who accompanied me on this Eastern Excursion, and me in Colonia, Uruguay. =)
On our way back to the boat to Argentina, they saw another of our Chile Council friends walking down the street in Colonia. Pretty random, huh? It’s a small world. =)
<left> A spectacular sunset into the Rio de la Plata on our return to Buenos Aires from Colonia. It’s not a sunset into the Pacific, but it was still beautiful. My favorite time of day… =)
<right> A trip to Argentina wouldn’t be complete without a trip to McDonald’s, would it? Not my idea of a great meal but they do employ 11,000 Argentineans and we figured they might have better meat… nope. =)
<left> As a final closing image… can you tell me which door I’m supposed to use? C or D? Help! =D
They could at least have a picture or something, eh? It’s like having C & F instead of H & C as in English for faucets and such.
I wonder how often foreigners use the wrong door when they come here. =P
Anyways, leaving for another trip (arranged by our program) this Thursday evening so I need to rest up and repack my gear again… =)
Last exam tomorrow. Can’t wait till all my final papers roll around… which reminds me… why am I taking 6 classes? My Buenos Aires buddies are taking 2 days of classes a week… and I thought I had it easy w/ 3 days of classes here… =D
Thanks for taking the time to read my updates and for keeping me in your prayers! Let me know if there’s anything that I can pray for you!
- Dan