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.
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.
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.
It takes two to tango.
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!
One of the toys around the site.
One of the houses that we would help build/replace.
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.
The sketch tango hall.
3 comments:
Jennifer:
Thanks for the detailed update on your building trip. We certainly take for granted what we have to live in and what these people are building. I enjoy learning about the build and all the various steps it takes to create a home.
How wonderful that you were there for the free day of travel on the subway. You could travel so far and see so much for so little.
I'm sure the tango lessons were most interesting to watch.
How sweet of your comrades to celebrate your birthday for you. They were really caring and thoughtful.
You certainly had another experience of a life time on this build. I totally agree that you needed a vacation to recover from the vacation!
Edith
Hi Jennifer,
Your attention to detail is outstanding, and so are the photos! Thanks for giving us such a detailed insight on your trip.I'll bet you just might be thinking up the next trip already! Happy New Year!!
Jack
Hi Jennifer,
Happy New Year to you! What a wonderful informative post you gave us!! The pictures are great and I'm totally unsure about egg on pizza, would really have to see that one to know if I'd want to try it!
The people must of been so sad to see you all leave; but, at the same time, I'm sure they were elated with all the work that was accomplished.
Glad to hear you did have some time to tour around, and bonus - free travel on subway for you. How nice that your co-workers remembered your birthday and celebrated - always nice to be recognized!! Will be one to remember for you.
Cheers ... Lori B.
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