A Celebration - Monday, May 24, 2010

More clouds and rain for today when we wanted it to be gorgeous for yet another trip up to the Capital. Today is a holiday which blends into tomorrow's holiday of 25 de mayo, which is termed the May Revolution. It is the month when the War of Independence started.

First, we went to the office and worked through the morning at various tasks before the President and the Assistants came for the transfer meeting which was schedule at 11:00. Everything went smoothly with all of us knowing what our duties were on the two days involved, June 1st and 2nd. The plan for today was that since it was a holiday and the mail would not come, and no landlords would be calling, and if we didn't have any pressing things to do in the office, we would all leave early. The President wanted the elders to spend the afternoon doing missionary work and we could take off and do whatever senior couples do to entertain themselves. No problem for us!!

The four of us left at 2:00 and we hurried home to change and have a bite to eat hoping to get to the train by 3:00. We decided to see what festivities were going on in the Capital to commemorate this May Revolution holiday.

The main center for celebration was happening down at the Obelisk in the heart of Buenos Aires. The Obelisk was built in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city. It was constructed on the spot where the Argentine flag was flown for the first time.

We had heard that their was entertainment, food, people selling their wares and what have you. We wanted to check it out. Mainly what we encountered were people, people, and more people EVERYWHERE. It was unbelievable how many people were on the scene even though the pictures don't show shoulder to shoulder crowds. We were in them!!

The street 9 de julio which consists of three or four lanes encircled the Obelisk, and this portion of the city was closed off to traffic. We did see a stage with some dancers on it but could not get close because it was partitioned off. We could only see it from a distance. Strange! There were no street vendors selling their goods, but there were cotton candy carts, hot dogs, candied apples and more being sold.

Many displays of the Argentine colors of blue and white were displayed in soccer shirts, ball hats, flags, and banners as is shown in this huge drape on this building.

As we walked along observing this and that, we could see the huge crowd assembling up by the Obelisk so we figured that must be where the action was.

From the Obelisk we looked down the street in the direction from where we came. We had walked quite a ways.

The only thing we could see happening at the Obelisk was people crammed in sitting and standing around watching the futbol (soccer) game between Argentina and Canada on big television screens. It was a madhouse. Final score - Argentina 5 and Canada 0. We found out later that most of the entertainment and festivities would come to life after the soccer game was over. Of course, Argentines are night people!!

Small plastic flags were being passed out and we waved them dutifully. The McDonald's girls in red were passing out advertisements. We wandered around watching the people and soon it became time to head back towards the Retiro train station where we were going to catch a bus to go join the senior couples for dinner and Family Home Evening at the the Anderson's apartment. We knew where they lived, but not how long it would take to get there.

As we walked down a street that caters mainly to tourists, we saw this interesting display of jewelry. When I pulled out the camera to take a picture, the lady selling the jewelry ran up to be in the picture. All the better!

This headless wonder gathered quite a crowd around him. He had a tin can at his feet for donations so I put a couple pesos in it and shook his hand. Now, how did he do that???

Once back on Libertador by the Retiro station, we found which bus would take us straight down the street to Sinclair where the Anderson's live. However, since we have never taken a bus we didn't know how to recognize when we were there. It was taking a long time for the bus to come, so we opted to hail down a taxi for the ride. Good decision because we arrived right on time.

Dr. Anderson's apartment is really nice and comfortable. We had chicken with peas and carrots in gravy to pour over mashed potatoes. Sounds like yesterday's Sunday dinner at our place. It was really good with the veggies in it. They had us give a brief history of ourselves so they would know more about us. Then the Walls who are going home on Friday talked about their mission and bore their testimonies. It was a fun evening and we were glad we were invited. They have made it clear that we are always invited, but during the week it is too hard for us to travel up there and get home at a decent hour to do the journal entry and get other things done before it's time for bed.

We had a fun day -- and another one coming tomorrow.