The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part One

I realized the other day, when I was printing my blog, that I never posted about Argentina.I almost decided not to but since it was a big part of our year I wanted to have the memories written down.
When the Argentina trip was announced we immediately knew that we wanted to go. Argentina, and more specifically Cordoba, is where Sasha Rasmussen moved to be a missionary. We thought this was a great opportunity to, not only see another country and do missions work, but do it in the place that we have heard Sasha talk so passionately about.
We left June 10th.

We took off bright and early and flew the usual route through L.A. then onto Santiago, Chile where we would have a six hour layover. We landed there at midnight and didn't leave til 6 in the morning. We thought it would be easy to sleep until we got off the plane and found out pretty quickly that south Americans don't use heaters. It was so cold. People walking through the airport had on huge jackets and scarves. That would have been nice to know before we left home. Skye and I were trying to get warm enough to sleep. I didn't get very much between being cold and the overhead announcements every few minutes.

We made it through the night and got into Cordoba about noon. Mostly the first day was orientation, getting sleeping arrangements taken care of and taking a very long walk around the city showing us the main plaza, the market, several cathedrals etc. It was great to see the city but after all the traveling we did we were all ready to be in bed.

                                                          
                                                 The cathedral at Plaza San Martin. It was beautiful!

The next day was the first game Argentina had in the World Cup. It was also our first big outreach event. There are many differences between our country and other countries but one of the biggest I noticed in Argentina was their affinity with soccer. When this game started Cordoba became a ghost town. Stores closed and the streets were deserted. It was a little creepy. But when a goal was scored it came to life. Singing, cheering, dancing, canons going off. It was insane. They do love their soccer.

We also tried Mate tea. This is a social drink. Argentinians are very close. One person brews the mate in a special cup and they pass it around to all their friends and share it. One cup, one straw, many people. I tried it and did not enjoy it. It must be an acquired taste.

      These are a couple of the girls that go to the church. They loved practicing their English with us.

After the game was over, we had eaten dinner and most of the students left, which was very late, Sasha and Chechu took us to Grido Helado, an ice cream place a couple blocks away. Oh. My. Word. This stuff was like heaven in a cup. And it was only 75 cents for a cone which is probably why we ended up here almost every day slurping down ice cream. My favorite was the white chocolate.

Ice cream should always make you this happy!