Day 10 - American Thanksgiving!

November 23, 2017 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Back to Buenos Aires.  It has been nice being in smaller towns, but because I was not my full self on our first round, I’m looking forward to giving it BA another go. 

We walked to the ferry terminal to catch the 9:30 AM ferry.  The ferry is an easy hour-long ride.

We walked from the ferry to our hostel, which wasn’t too bad, and checked in before noon. There was already a couple in our room, from France.  This was our first shared room on the trip.  The hostel was really nice - the staff was kind and helpful, the common space was beautiful with lots of natural light and a view of a plaza with a statue and purple trees, and the rooms and bathrooms were clean. 

We then left to the cultural center to see if we could get (free) tickets for a show tonight.  But first, Thanksgiving empanadas!   One of the guys told us a place where you can get delicious 11 peso empanadas.  We grabbed a few to go for lunch (some meat filled, some spinach and cheese, some onion), and walked to enjoy them on the steps of the cultural center.  

Once we reached the bottom of the empanada pile, we went in to check out the ticket situation.  The evening show was sold out but we could come back later for sort of last minute seating.  There was a classical guitar performance right then, so we checked it out.  It was in a long room with lots of chairs.  Approximately 10-15 people, with guitars and a few other strings came out, with a conductor.  The show was actually pretty awesome.  The conductor was entertaining to watch and the music was beautiful.  After a few awkward moments of applause, the show wrapped up and we headed on to our next adventure.  

Over the past few weeks, we've learned a lot about the political environment in Argentina, and still there is so much to know, and a lot of things we will never truly understand because we haven't lived it for a lifetime like so many people here have. The most powerful thing we observed was a demonstration by Madres de Plaza de Mayo- a group of mothers and family members of "the disappeared" persons that were murdered during the last civil military dictatorship. They have assembled every Thursday, every week since the late 1970's. That makes it the longest active demonstration in the world. It is impossible to imagine what it would be like to have a family member taken and never really know what happened to them. We feel awful for all those affected.

We walked around and explored the new hood a bit.  We decided to try to get tickets for the evening show at the cultural center.  On Thursdays, they hosted an “international” performance.  Of course, this Thursday, the guy was from the United States.  We didn’t travel a long way to hear American musicians, but we do love jazz, and it was free.  We invited the Frenchie’s with us and before too long, we were there, fashionably late, and hungry (because none of us had a chance to eat dinner yet).

The show was actually really amazing.  We then headed back to the hostel and had wine and dinner with the French couple.  We made rice and veggie stir fry.  Hostel cooking is always an experience – you always get to be super resourceful.  

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I was a little sad that it definitely didn't feel like Thanksgiving.  We did get to celebrate with friends before we left, however, so we didn't feel like we totally missed out!