Buenos Aires

Yesterday morning we took a city tour to get oriented. It was raining, so a good day to be in the mini-bus rather than walking around. Buenos Aires is very pretty – full of wide boulevards (including one that seems to be twenty lanes across), grand buildings, and parks. We enjoyed learning a bit about Argentinian history as well.

In the afternoon, we went shopping on Florida Street, where we ordered a leather coat for me and a leather mini-skirt (in light blue) for Marina. These shops are also factories, and they custom make leather goods in one day, so we will pick it up later today. Thankfully Jessica had already done this a few weeks earlier, so we just went to the place where she got hers.

Late afternoon we had our meeting with “the relatives”. We had hired a translator, who was terrific (conversation would have been impossible without her!). Visiting us was Roberto and his wife Haydee, and Beatriz. Roberto and Beatriz are both first cousins of my mother. Beatriz was quite animated, and it turns out she had lived with her grandparents (my great grandparents) for years, and knew them very well. She even had their original Polish passports, which we photocopied. Probably the funniest moment was that when she arrived, she plopped down a photo we have on our wall at home of my mother with her family and declared, “This is my family”!

To top it off, we went out in the evening to a nice dinner and a tango show, where we met up with our Explora friends, Mandy, David and Daniel. We had front row seats. The dancers were marvelous, as was a Peruvian-like band. However, there were two singers who were very kitsch – seeming more like Las Vegas has-been crooners than contemporary Latin entertainers!

-- Donna