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Cindy's World Trip Blog

September 3, Month 4

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

I have always wanted to stroll into a bakery and buy one of everything in site. In Argentina it seemed like an especially good idea. Walking past bakery window after bakery window, day after day, all filled with yummy looking things was driving me crazy. We tried a few sweets here or there, but there were so many unusual and interesting desserts that we hadn't sampled. I wanted to know what they tasted like. They ALL tasted like. A culture can't be fully understood if you don't have a firm understanding of their sweets... right? There was only one thing I could do. So I made a plan, my birthday was coming up, we would go then and gain a fuller understanding of Argentine culture. Richard was a little embarrassed as he told the man at the store, "I would like five of those...those...those...those..those..." (you get the idea). Before we were done we had many varieties of small cookies, a few candies, and a small cake thing with meringue on top. It wasn't quite a raid. I didn't have one of everything, but it was a lot. The previous week we had been in that same shop but we only ordered a small amount of 2 things. The man put the items in a small, shiny, gold box then in a fancy gift bag with handles. The packaging was almost as pretty as the treats. This time was different though; he only wrapped the items in paper and put them in a plastic shopping bag. Maybe he suspected that in the carnage that would follow, we wouldn't notice the packaging. The kids enjoyed picking out all of the treats to try as much as I did. As we walked home from the store, Elizabeth (7yrs) said with a gleam in her eye, "This is the best day ever!" I had to agree. It was fun to try all of the different things. They were all yummy, but even with all we tried, we still only had a small sampling. A few of the cookies were different varieties of shortbread. The cake think was the most interesting. It was layers of pastry and dulce de leche (caramel) topped with meringue.

That day really was a great day. Not just because of the sweets either. It started with attending the quarter finals of the world tango competition. It was salon tango. I didn't realize there are different varieties of tango, salon and stage. With the latter having more showy, pronounced moves and lifts that can be enjoyed by an audience sitting further away. I think I would have liked seeing the stage tango more, but the salon tango was still very fun to watch. Our youngest fell asleep shortly into it, but Amber and Sophia seemed to really enjoy it. I am not sure if it was the dancing, the outfits, or the SHOES that they enjoyed the most. Oh my, the shoes. I was so tempted to by some tango shoes as a souvenir. So many varieties of glittery, shiny heels all beautiful. I came to my senses though because although I love how heels look, I am a woman of comfort. There is no way these shoes were comfortable. You wouldn't guess it though with how gracefully these women, all varieties of women, danced in them.

I expected all of the competitors to be young, fit, and beautiful. But some of them were none of the above. There were all varieties of people in the competition, but all were great dancers. My favorite couple won my graces not by their dancing, but just because they were so stinking cute. It was an old couple, I would say in their late 70's, wearing complimentary red and black outfits.

The cute old couple did not make it into the finals that we watched televised from home, but there were a few couples that we did recognize. It was fun to look at the screen knowing that we had seen them dance in person.

Later that same day after both the tango competition and the sweet feast the fun continued with an 18- hour, overnight bus ride... O.K., that part wasn't really that fun, but it was interesting. What would make this kind of endurance worth while? Only one of the coolest sites of natural beauty I have ever seen, Iguazu Falls, an area of over 275 waterfalls nestled in a tropical rain forest. The weather was perfect (it seemed strange that when we drove North the weather got warm- I don't know if I could get used to being in the S. Hemisphere). We hiked all over the area for the whole day. Part of what made it so fun was that the park has been set-up with steel walkways making the falls so accessible. For example, the place called the devil's throat (for good reason), is reached by crossing the very wide river on walkways at least a 10 minute walk. The walkway just kept going and going and going with the deafening noise of the waterfall very slowly getting closer. To be able to stand at the top of the waterfall and feel the power of the falls was an amazing experience. We stood at the top of this particular set of falls for quite a while watching it as tour groups came and left, but not being able to tear ourselves away from the site.

If that weren't cool enough, the area is loaded with butterflies that drifted through the air all around us. Mariposa's, we learned they are called in Spanish. I would say "mariposa" and point to call attention when the butterflies landed landed on people's backs, heads, bags, etc. around us. It is delightful to be the perch of a butterfly. How funny that is, because let's face it... it's a bug. Apparently my rule of thumb is: only pretty bugs are aloud to land on me. All others require screaming and hysterics. That doesn't sound very politically correct.

The butterflies were not the only amazing creatures to be seen. We saw monkeys, coati (a member of the raccoon family), and a wide variety of birds.

With the beauty of the falls, the forest, and the wildlife we took took over 100 pictures of the place. My description, nor the pictures do the place justice, however. It is amazing, and by far my favorite place that we visited in Argentina.

Argentina was good to us and I am glad that we choose to visit. When it came time to leave, we used the same shuttle service to get back to the airport that we used when we arrived. As I climbed back into the same van, I couldn't help but think about when I climbed into the van the first time. Mixed emotions were flooding through me then. Mostly I kept thinking "Yes! Were here. This is going to be great." Looking out the van window at the foreign scenery, I felt excited, but not far below the surface were my apprehensions. Especially when I looked at the faces of each of my daughters all of which trust their crazy parents without question. What were we getting into? What were we getting THEM into?

This time as I watched the dark city speed by on our return trip to the airport, I felt a little like I was leaving home. Buenos Aires was no longer a foreign place, but had become endearing to me (insert cheesy sigh here).

It was time to go though. One sure sign was that my kids acted like normal people on the subway rather than riders at an amusement park. Ellie still insists that riding the subway was one of her favorite activities in Argentina, however. Another thing that made me ready to move on was the rain and cold our whole last week. I kept telling the girls that Argentina was just sad for us to go so it was weeping many, many tears. Richard over heard me and started with the song, "Don't cry for me Argentina." Argentina was a great experience. With so much still to see and do, I would definitely come back.