It is a very long post....

Wednesday saw me back and Laura and Daniel's house to help fill the support columns.In the afternoon I volunteered to go help find stakes for an unknown project. Bo and I walked around the village with Elana and then we cut them to size for the unknown project. Thursday morning I was again back at Laura and Daniel's to help pour the next two columns. Did some odds and sods work, moving gravel and bricks followed by some dirt to help with future landscaping. I purchased a watermelon on our way back for lunch which most of the team took advantage of...the rest went intno the fridge for the end of day. After lunch we split into 3 teams and went to plant trees at homes Habitat has been involved in previoulsy in the village. This is where the stakes came in...the team I was with put our names and best wishes on the stakes we planted around the trees. When the teams returned from tree planting we finished the then cold watermelon...and it was good. I gave the few slices left over to the kids playing next door. After the nightly gelato we started to make plans for Friday evening. Looks like it will be the Evita tango show for my birthday. YEAH!

Friday and back to the village for our last day of building. More of the same type of work at the homes we helped with. As the last GV team until February (due to the heat) we helped tidy up what we could and headed back to the main building for lunch. We had lovely empanadas that had been cooked in a solar oven. Quite delicious. Lunch was follwed by dessert--a birthday cake for me. The team made their best efforts to light the candles but it simply was not meant to be. I made a very good show of blowing out the candles as you will see below. The team sang Happy Birthday to me in English and then the families sang to me in Spanish. It was wonderful. One of the ladies from our group had brought some cookies from Canada to share which produced the best line of the week...."Why does this cookie smell like a tree?" They were maple cookies. We said our good byes and got back into the bus to head back to Buenos Aires.

Random pictures...
My favorite pizza...yep, that is boiled eggs on top. Yummy!

 Not always the best of equipment to work with. Plastic bags tied around the hose to prevent leaking.

 Now this is a truck load of bricks.

 This gentleman runs a car wash business in the village we were working in. He asked me to take his picture.

 Filling the support columns.

One of the toys around the site.

 The daily wheelbarrow load of tools.

 Birthday lunch!!

 Yummy!

 Lighting the candles.

 Pretending to blow out the candles. With cheeks like that I should have been a sax player.

 Team and family photo on the last day.

One of the houses that we would help build/replace.

 Joe's tango hat.

 One of the two photos I took during the show. It was wonderful.

 Happy Birthday to me. I asked if we could go up on stage to take a few pics and do a little dance.

It was a great birthday.

Saturday was a free day...in more ways than one. It was one of two R&R days for the trip and it was ride the subway for free day. That isn't a national holiday, but the Presidential inoguration is...and in honor of that the trains were free all day. I totally took advantage and spent the day riding the subway. Getting off at random stops taking a few pictures and then hoping back on and getting off when I felt like it. It was a terrific day.

From notes:
I took the subway this morning. I have/had no destination in mind I only wanted to go adventuring and find a typical neighbourhood. I have managed that. I have gone in and out of local stores checking out Christmas decorations, glasses, clothes and a hardware store. I saw an outdoor market of sorts being set up--lots of small booths. I am heading back to check it out. My pesos are low and the last 2 bank machines have rejected my card so I may be broke until Monday when the banks open and I can convert some CDN $ over.

My breakfast this am was a  sweet croissant with dulce de lechee (sweet milk) inside. It is every bit as good if not better than the pain au chocolate in Paris. I am yawning--but shouldn't be. I think I got just over 8 hours sleep last night. I got in just after midnight and we slept until 8:45am. I'm sitting in the shade of a tall tree enjoying the people walking by and the day in general. The subway and tains are all free today due to the Presidential inogeration and I look forward to more stops on the subway.

I got off the yellow line about 10 minutes ago and found this cute little cafe. I have what I consider the best seat in the house. It is on the corner and I am right next to the sidewalk, the lower window is open to catch the breeze but I am also using the view for people watching. There are only 4 tables with people at them--but then again it is barely 12:30 early for lunch. This as I sit here is the Argentina I was looking for.

The market was a bust-just lots of mass produced stuff at each booth. Oh well. I decide that I point better than I speak Spanish and should give up butchering their language. I am the paranoid tourist when I walk--hand holding my bag in front--but then as I looked around on the train so do the Argentine's. Theft and pick pocketing is rampant--violent crime is not. (I later learned that two of the twelve team members had almost been pick pocketed that day.)

My sandwich has arrived. White bread, crusts cut off with proscuitto and cheese. Yummy. My finger nails are disgusting still dirt under them from the build site. Off to explore a bit on another subway line.

It's supper time now. Early for Argentina but with an impending tango lesson at 8pm I figure I better eat now. Not sure who is going to show up and frankly my feet are KILLING me. Who ever packed for this trip did not do a good job. Of course the lack of a decent pair of runner could have something to do with it. I'm in a pizzeria- a rather expensive one-sorta. There is a pizza place called Uigi's and they sell a mozerella pizza for 19 pesos. I opted for a restaurant with a washroom and seats...and well, one that was close. LOL. I am not entirely sure where I am suppossed to be going for hte lesson, there was talk of a cathedral but I thought is was a metro stop, not a place, but time will tell.

After much confusion and a wild taxi ride across the city we made it to the address we had. It looked pretty sketch but we knew it would be great--and it was. This is the kind of building you will never see built again. Barn like on the upper floor with a wood ceiling. Eclectic doesn't even begin to describe the decor. It looked like someone had been out on garbage day to collect all the tables and chairs people were tossing out. The art on the walls was huge and fabulous. We spent the night under the watchful gazes of two older ladies drinking wine. It was a great piece and must have been close to 6 feet long. The rest of the group stood up to take the lesson. I elected to be the purse watcher. I never actually wanted to learn-only to watch. The instructor was great and I had a wonderful time watching. After walking for most of the day I was tired and left at midnight. The rest stayed until 2am. Even with my early bedtime I am still feeling that I will need a vacation from my vacation.

Random pics...
This is my favorite from the whole trip. Taken at Laura and Daniel's house.

 Selling garlic on the street.

 Fake trees for sale.

 Veggies and fruit.

 Mate cups and straws.

 Rough looking neighbourhood at the end of the blue line.

 Mmmm, street meat.

 Getting my mate cup personalized.

 It has my name on it.

The sketch tango hall.

 It takes two to tango.

Finally...the trip

I dashed out the door on Friday morning (December 2) and headed to work for my last 4 hours of work before my vacation started. I was able to concentrate on work but also very aware of the time. One of the gals from work, Tara, was kind enough to take me to the airport and even hung out for a bit with me while waiting for the flight. She and the rest of the office surprised me with a donation for my trip--and a birthday cake! Tara had gone around that morning and told people what I was doing and received $730 in donations towards the trip. I was so touched by everyone's generosity I cried.

Flights went smooth all the way through.

From notes: We are landing in Buenos Aires soon. So far a very smooth trip. I've lucked out with my seats and haven't been cramped--well--no more than one can feel not cramped in lower class. I can only imagine how awesome one of the first class pods wouuld be. Maybe some day. I met up with one of the other volunteers before leaving Toronto and by the time we left Santiago, Chili the four of us on this flight had met up. (My first time on the same flight as another GV volunteer.) My flight was Fort McMurray to Toronto, Toronto to Santiago, Chili and the Buenos Aires, Argentina. A total of 26 hours from check in to landing in Argentina.

The hotel is quaint. If you didn't know exactly where it is located you would walk right by. The front of the hotel is about 6 feet wide including the door. But it opens up inside and and it surprisingly wide with a lovely open roof that brings great light and a wonderful breeze into the hotel. From front door to 3rd floor there was 108 steps to walk up and down...and I did 2 times a day at a minimum. There was an elevator but it only held three people at a time--max and frankly it was usually faster to walk then wait for the lift.

The view from the first floor lobby area...there was another set of steps down to the key desk before you got to ground level.

The dirty clothes chair...it probably smelled pretty bad.

Room with a view? Taken from my bed. In the bathroom we had a bidet as did all the rooms and a walk in shower. The shower curtain touched your knees when you sat on the toilet. Tiny.

Plaza Asturais. The first restaurant we ate at as a group. (Saturday evening) Everyone is getting along well. Note to travelers, when you order steak in BA, steak is all you get...we had three people order stead and these giant pieces of meat came out for them to eat. No garnish, no side dish, just meat. It was about 2 inches high, 4 or 5 inches wide and 10+ inches long. I had chicken with a side of pumpkin. It really tasted more like butternut squash and not at all like pumpkin pie.BA seems to be very European in scope but with a slightly different feel that I haven't yet put my finger on. While I am not presently a visible minority as I have been on my other builds I am very much--as is the entire group--a verbal minority. They had 3 English menus at the restaurant even with that we were challenged to order food. But we all ended up well fed.

The Spanish in Mexico is a lot closer to the French in Canada than the Spanish in Argentina.

In Buenos Aires to rent one must have a large down payment, up to 4 months rent, a guarantor who owns land in the city and proof of a job. That is very difficult for many people to achieve and so a lot of people live just outside the city or in hotels in the city. According to the information presented at our orientation session about 35% of all people in Argentina live below the poverty line which is $1300 pesos per month. (Less than $300 US/month) We were building in La Matanza which is located about 24km from downtown BA. The four families we would be working with were: 1. Laura & Daniel, Miguelina, Gustovo & Lourdes,and Elba. They live in what Habitat calls seed houses and habitat helps with incremental improvements.

Monday--December 5 Day 1 of building
We were split into two groups.I offered to go and help the group that would be putting in a new floor vs helping with painting. I'm not much of a painter and finishing painting is something I should be kept far away from.

I headed out with 5 of the guys from the team at Laura & Daniel's house. They have 3 kids; 5, 12 and 14. He is a cook and she does cleaning at various parks in the area 1/2 days.

The mortar mix was 2 buckets of sand, 1 cement and 1 lime and 10-14 buckets of aggregate plus water as needed. We did about 15 loads--so do the math and figure out how many buckets of sand and aggregate I helped shovel. We had an electric mixer which made the job much easier and faster than I had anticipated. Mixing on the road or a flat surface would not been reach nor would it have been as consistent. We finished the floor area by end of day and everyone was pretty happy with the job we had done.

The other group had completed the finishing work at the first home and after a quick round of photos at the end of the day with the family we were off and back to BA for the evening. This evening would start two very dangerous behaviors that would follow us for the remainder of the trip--eating gelato and drinking red wine--not together.

After a hot day working in the sun it was fabulous to pop down the road to the local gelato store, select from over 30 flavours--and picking 2 or 3 at a time then sit and eat. The first night we got back to the hotel, showered and then headed out for our cool, sweet treat. By the second day we knew better and instead of climbing the 108 steps to the showers headed for gelato first. I'm sure the guys that worked there were impressed with the look and smell of us.

And after the second or third day we even figured out the right way to order--pay first and then select the flavours. Whoops.

The gelato was 18 pesos a pop or about $4.50 CDN per night--by far my biggest expense of the trip.

The red wine came after the showers and before dinner. Knowing we were in Argentina where they make red wine we took it as a challenge to find some great wine to bring back with us to Canada. Each night 3 of us shared a bottle of wine--for research purposes.


Tuesday, Day 2 of building
I learned today how to plaster--I suck. I spent the morning back at the same house I had the first day, digging, filling buckets, etc. After lunch I decided to change things up a bit and one of the gals who had been painting and then plastering switched with me. After my failed attempt at plastering I grabbed my camera and took a few shots of the garden the home owner tended to.

My tiny bit of plastering...

After the photos I grabbed a quick drink of yerba mate with Antonio--he was the master plaster helping. Mate is a tea. The traditional way to drink it is to share it. You fill the mate (cup) with the yerba mate (tea) dry and then add a bit of cold (or hot) water to it and insert the bombilla (straw). The idea is to wet only one small area of the mate with the liquid. The person making it sips it to check and then passes it to someone else who drinks until the liquid is gone and passes it back. The water is added, the tea is tested and it is passed to someone else. Sometimes it is mixed with tang instead of plain water. With the tang it is super refreshing and super yummy.

After my quick drink I offered to help sift sand for the plasters. It took about 20 minutes to sift a wheelbarrow full which was about the same amount of time it took them to use up a batch of stucco.

Wednesday--Day 3 of the build
I headed back to Laura & Daniel's house to help fill a couple of support columns. I filled the buckets with sand, gravel and cement mix then into the mixer, add some water and voila! It was a bit more accurate then that but not by much. The rest of the team with me filled pop bottles with the cement and passed it up to be poured into the columns. When the cement was mixed and dumped I went back to trying to dig a hole that a couple of people had started the day before with a pick axe. Yep...it was some pretty hard dirt.

The family and the support beam building team. (Actually the team from Friday--but you get the idea) From left to right: Joy (co-leader), Maureen (daughter of Joy), Laura's dad, me, Peter. In front kneeling Bo and beside him Laura (home owner)

The support columns ready to be filled.

Some tools of the trade.

Starting the hole.

My buckets for making cement.

The hole...partially filled with water. When you put water in and then use rebar to make a few holes in the dirt the water is absorbed quickly and then it is a bit easier to dig out...muddier yes, but it works.

Supper on Tuesday night was at a local pizza parlour. Yummy. We ordered 4 different types and tried them all. My favorite was the Nepolean. It had proscuito on the bottom followed by slices of ham and palm heart, lots of cheese and then chopped hard boiled egg with a pepper and olive for presentation. YUMMY. It also has salsa golf on it...yeah, that is actually this sauce made out of ketchup and mayo. Trust me...it was amazing.

Ok...enough for tonight/today. It has taken a good chunk of the day to get the pictures uploaded. I'm off to Edmonton in the morning to catch up with a friend. More photos and stories later in the week when I get back.

I'm back and alive...the girls are enjoying me being home. Too tired to do anything except sleep. Updates later in the week with pictures.

Tired but happy. Lots of notes from the trip. Updates on Monday...or maybe Tuesday when I touch down on Canadian soil.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

It's our final day of the build here in Buenos Aires. We didn't have internet connection on Wednesday and so there were no updates.

The build continues to go well and we have met a number of families. I have notes on all of this that I will write up for you when I get back.

Tonight we go to a tango show. YEAH!

Friday
We are landing in Buenos Aires soon. So far a very smooth trip. I lucked out with my seats and haven´t been cramped--well no more than usual in lower class, the whole trip. I can only imagine how awesome one of the first class pods would be. Maybe some day. I met up with one of the other team members in TO before getting on the plane and by the time we arrived in Santiageo Chili the four of us on our flight had met up. Looking forward to meeting the rest of the team.

Frist supper with group at Plaza Asturais. Everyone getting along well. Note to travellers when you order steak in BA, all you get is steak. And a lot of it. We guessed 20 ounces. No garnish, no side dish, just pure meat. It was good. I didn´t order steak but did have a few bites of someone else´s. I had chicken with pureed pumpkin. It was yummy. A couple nice glasses of a Norton Malbec and to end the evening a shot of Lemonicilloi (sp?). A short stroll down the street looking for an open supermarket proved futile but we did find a store open 25 hours. Yep, that´s pretty good service.

BA seems to be very European in scope but with a slightly different feel that I haven´t yet put my finger on. While I am not a visible minority here I am as is everyone else on the team a verbal minority. English is not as common here as it is in India, Paris, etc. But we are certainly surviving. They had 3 English menu´s at the restaurant and we simply passed them back and forth.

Hotel is quaint. Not fance, no frills, but totally acceptable.

Saturday
We went on a tour of BA today. One of those totally tourist things where you sit at the top of an open air bus with headphones on to the language of your choice. It was a great way to see the city and was over 3 hours long. The commentary was interesting but not a lot of great picture opportunities.

This evening we had our GV orientation. Learned about Habitat in Argentina and about where we would be building. Here´s a few facts, 1/3 of the population of Argentina is in Buenos Aires. 4/10 people live in poverty but the Habitat people think that number is old and low and think is more like 5/10. Habitat has been in Argentina since 2002 and have helped with over 150 homes. Their mission statement is "Mucho mas que casas" "Much more than houses"

I like it.

In BA, to rent an apartment you must have a large down payment, upwards of 4 months rent, a guarantor who owns property in BA, and proof of a job. It is difficult to get all these things lined up when starting out. We will be working with 4 families, Laura & Daniel, Miguelina, Gustavo & Lourdes and Elba. They live 24km from the city centre and make around $300 US per month.

Tonight we had mate, a traditional drink for the area. It is a very strong green tea. Interesting way of drinking it...they hollow out a gourd (and let it dry) then they fill the gourd with yerba mate and put in a silver straw that has holes in the bottom--tiny holes not like a normal straw. Then you add the hot water. The server tries it and then you drink until all the water is gone and then pass it back. Then they add more water and the next person drinks out of it--same straw. I bought two of the gourds and may experiment when I get back to Canada.

Tomorrow we start building! Yeah!!!

Oh, awesome surprise for me before I left FMMA. My workmates got together and collected $730 towards my trip. How nice is that? And they gave me a birthday cake and card. I was totally touched, Ok, yes, I cried a bit when they presented it. People really are good.

I will update when I can.