An Adventure

Our weather this week has been in the high 70's and low 80's. Were there only two months of what they call winter here? The temperature doesn't climb slowly, it jumps up to hot and then plunges low again. On Monday, things are suppose to change and it will go down to the 50's again and rain is scheduled. It's on a roller coaster.

This morning Rich and Elder Nelsen went to pick up a new key for our apartment building. It's a good thing because the note on the door when we came home read that tomorrow, Saturday, the locks were being changed. We didn't act on that any too soon. We aren't sure if it will solve the robbery problems in our building, but I guess it can't hurt.

Okay, it's been a week now and Elder Valente is still with us, but things could change over the weekend. The President never gives much advance warning when he moves elders around. We could come to the office Monday morning and find Elder Valente there with his bags packed waiting to be picked up by his new companion. So we decided we needed to treat him and us to Daniels wonderful helado. Ice cream really hits the spot with hungry missionaries.

I spent the whole morning working on medical matters. I think I called Dr. Petersen three times. Then I would have to call elders back and record things. Today was unusually busy with health problems. I wasn't extremely busy with "have to do" things on my desk, but I did find things to do that needed my attention throughout the day. When we left the office, our work stations were the most tidy ones. I like tidy!

There was a lot of daylight left when we were on our way home, so we decided to venture out and do something we have never done before. Since the office car has been gone, we have spent quite a bit of money going places in remises. This is mainly because it came at the time of Elder Kroff's knee injury and subsequent surgery. We have made several trips for doctor appointments, MRI scan, therapy sessions etc. It isn't super costly to take a remise, but it does add up. Then, we take one to church in Tigre every Sunday, and home again. One Sunday we made two trips to Tigre because we went teaching with the sister missionaries in the evening.

We have always talked about the idea that we need to understand the colectivo (bus) system here. There are big yellow, sometimes red busses going everywhere all the time. It is about the same in price as the train, but then they go more places within the city. The train is fast and convenient, but when the train stops we have to walk where we need to go. But, how would we know which bus went where? And how much do we pay? And how do we get back?

We were brave, and decided to find our way to Tigre to the church and back. It would be less costly than taking a remise each Sunday. So we went to the bus stop that corresponded with what Rich found in his Guia"T" (map) and he started asking questions to people waiting at the bus stop. One lady who helped us has a sister that is a member of the church. She told us what bus to look for and said it would go to the street Liniers that the church is on. We boarded the bus and there was standing room only. Shortly we found one seat and I gladly took it because I was about to fall over with the jerking and swaying the bus was making. We recognized where we were going and when we came to the street Liners, the bus turned the wrong way. Opps, we need to get off. So at the next stop around the corner, we jumped off and it was next to a beautiful park. We pass it on our way to church every Sunday.

It is called Plaza Daniel Maria Cazon. We don't know who she was or what she did, but the park is named after her. It was filled with paths, and benches and running streams here and there. . .

and a beautiful gazebo in the middle of the park, surrounded by water. Many people were walking around, or sitting watching children play. There was a really swell wooden playground area for the kids.

The grass is green, and flowers adorned the area. We didn't walk deep into the park to read all the stone monuments, however. I really didn't need to be in this picture, I blend right in.

We jumped on another bus that was going in the right direction towards the chapel, and no sooner did Rich get the money in the machine and grab his ticket, when it was time to get off. In fact, we passed the bus stop closest to the church, so had to walk back a ways. At the park, we were closer to the church than we realized.

We waited at a bus stop around 20 minutes and no bus came by that said what people along the way told Rich we should take to get back to San Fernando. Should we start walking back towards the canal and center of town and maybe the bus we want will appear along the way? We started going, and enjoyed the walk so much that we made it the whole way. Rich's leg didn't hurt at all. It was probably good exercise for it. It was about 8 to 10 blocks.

Along the way we saw this huge mansion type home. Some people in Tigre obviously have money -- not the little hole in the wall dwelling like we have been in at times.

Now we can either go home by bus or take the train. We decided to first get something to eat and there was a Burger King staring us in the face, so we went in there to partake. Then we walked to a bus stop and Rich engaged in conversation with some ladies there and they were most helpful in telling us what busses would go right down Peron in San Fernando and what busses to avoid. In fact, one lady was going our way and getting off about 5 or 6 blocks before us. So we followed her lead. She advised NOT taking the train at night, too dangerous. The bus stopped right at our corner where our apartment is. Couldn't have been better!! We learned a lot and will try it again sometime. On a Sunday, the only problem will be figuring out how early to stand at a bus stop to get the bus we need and still make it to church on time. Ummm!

Tomorrow will be a fun and interesting day. The office staff is invited to the mission home for breakfast, and afterwards I have a hair appointment with Javier.