Wow! I started to write this in Spanish, without thinking, because almost everything I am doing is Spanish. After just 5 days here, I am really thinking, living and breathing en Castellano (which is the Argentine version of Spanish). However, I must turn a switch in my brain and write in English.
So much has occurred since I wrote last. I cannot even recount it all. On Monday, we spent the day as tourists in the Delta area, which is the confluence of 3 or 4 rivers near Buenos Aires. We took a lovely boat ride for a few hours, up the river. We saw many summer homes on the shores, union retreats, and recreational areas. It was very lovely.
Oswaldo, a local Rotarian, took us to two Rotary projects that are fabulous. They are schools for disabled children built by the Rotary Club of Tigre. The club built the schools, and rents them to the govenment. The government pays the club rent for the schools, and the club uses the money, in part, to maintain the buildings, and also to save, and to use for other projects. The projects are self sustaining and very important.
We then had lunch at the ¨English Club¨, a rowing club on the river. Crew is very popular in this water haven. We walked along the river, and visited one of the best art museums I have been to in a long time. Monday evening, we had a big dinner at the home of Rene and Martin, at a giant table in a simple, but huge, communal room. We were about 25 Rotarians, friends and family. It is so nice how the Rotarians´ grown kids invite their friends to these events. We ate, drank and laughed, with three generations of wonderful folks.
Tuesday was a ¨professional day¨. We visited an INTA station, which is an agricultural station where they do experiments with cattle, raising trees (mainly poplar), and other ag projects. We saw wonderful wildlife (eagles, herons) in addition to farm animals.
We did our first presentation at a club on Tuesday night, and it went pretty well, all things considered. We will tighten it up, and work on our pronunciation. This particular club had only women members, although there is no prohibition against men joining. The club is all women, because, although there are coed clubs, some clubs are still all male, and this has led to the formation of all woman clubs. I am told that the all male clubs do no allow women! We´ve come a long way baby, but we are still not there.
Today, we changed locations, and are now with new families. It was a tourist day in the morning, and we visited the San Isidro cathedral, and a couple of museums. One of the museums is normally closed today but it was opened especially for our visit. We then toured Villa Ocampo, a wonderful home (kind of reminded me of the Pittock Mansion), which was owned by an important writer and patron of the arts. We lunched outdoors in a fabulous setting with the mansion in the background, the incredible garden in front of us, and the wonderful company of our new Rotary hosts. I felt transported back in Victorian times- all that was missing was a fancy bonnet, white gloves and croquet.
I can´t begin to describe how wonderful our hosts are, their hospitality, friendliness and desire to please. We have made some wonderful friends already. It was difficult to change host families today because we were so comfortable with our previous hosts.
The only downside so far is that there is some political unrest in Argentina, due to the economic policies of the government. There are picketers blocking some routes up north, and travel is being diverted. This has been going on since Monday. A trip that usually takes one hour is taking four or five hours because of these diversions. Our hosts tell us that our itinerary may have to be changed if it continues, because it may be difficult to travel where we are scheduled to go. Yesterday, some protests and small riots broke out in Buenos Aires. It is all over the news. Our host families are worried, but we are not in any danger. I don´t think they are worried because of their safety, but because they are distressed with the political environment. Please, I don´t mean to worry anyone. All is calm. We are in a beautiful suburb about an hour north of Buenos Aires and all is well.
I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I get to meet with lawyers and judges on my own personal ¨professional day.¨ Good night and stay tuned.
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