A New Year and San Isidro

So, it’s been nearly a month since we posted anything and there is a lot to write about so we’ll do a couple of posts over the next few days.

First, we didn’t ever mention that just before Christmas, the first Sunday we went to choir practice, we walked around the neighborhood while we were waiting for someone to come and open the chapel. The neighborhood is filled with outlet stored, including Puma, Reebok, Patagonia, etc., and we just were window shopping when we noticed one of the stores had a sign that was familiar to some of us old-timers:

And you wondered where they went!

We spent a pretty quiet new years eve. We could hear fireworks downtown but really, the celebration here was not as rowdy as we expected.

Ah, the Bouquet of Fresh Dog Poop in the Morning

Virtually every morning as we walk about a quarter mile from the subway stop to the office we see about half-a-dozen dog walkers out exercising their clients. But these are not just guys walking a dog. The dogs have lots of company. Here is a picture I snuck one morning that shows a couple of typical dog walkers with their “bouquets” of dogs:

The dogs are amazingly well-behaved and the walkers do try to remove the little "presents" the dogs leave behind, but you would be amazed how many people here own dogs, and they all seem to be out in the morning walking them. The apartment custodians and shop owners are pretty good about spraying the sidewalks in front of their buildings down each morning to clean them off, but they don't get it all, and it also creates another obstacle we pedestrians have to deal with. Needless to say, we literally watch our steps when we are walking anywhere.

Sister Love Has a Birthday

A few weeks ago, 7 of the missionary couples and Elder and Sister Packer went to see Rogue 1 at the CineMax theater in the Bulnes neighborhood. Before the movie, we went to a great restaurant called Brasaviva, near the theater. They have fantastic meat and fish dishes, but we were all impressed with their wonderful onion rings. So, when January 12 rolled around, and we were looking for a place to celebrate Sister Love’s birthday, she chose Brasaviva for the onion rings (in fact, Sister Love says they are the best she has ever tasted, and we've had a few onion rings in our time). We put out an e-mail to the other couples inviting them to go celebrate with us, and we ended up with 7 couples. We had a great time and Sister Love got her fill of onion rings, as well as some great salmon. Eating at a restaurant here is serious business that, in a place like Brasaviva, takes 2 or 3 hours, so we didn’t get home until nearly 11 o’clock but we all enjoyed it.

The following night, we had been invited to a surprise birthday party at the church for the young women president. And, because they knew Sister Love’s birthday was the day before, they also made a cake for her and sang happy birthday to her. We had refreshments and cake and a lot of fun.

Myriam Arriola, who is trying to help Sis. Love learn Spanish

Sister Love and Maria at their birthday celebration at Villa Crespo Ward

San Isidro

The first week of January, because the Wieses’ mission was coming to an end the first of February, they wanted to go San Isidro, north of Buenos Aires, to visit some of the churches and museums there. So, they invited the other couples to go with them and on a bright, warm Saturday morning, we all rode the bus to the train station near the gate to Barrio Chino (the Chinese Neighborhood) and caught the Mitre train that goes between Buenos Aires and Tigre. It was a pleasant ride, as the train is quite modern and is air conditioned.

Train station at Béccar

We got off in Béccar, which, along with San Isidro and the surrounding areas are more upscale with fewer apartment buildings and more residential homes with yards, etc. We passed some lovely homes as we walked from the train station about a mile to the Villa Ocampo, a stately old mansion that was the country residence of the wealthy Ocampo family, which has now been turned into a museum. 

A beautiful flowering tree in Béccar

Unfortunately, we found that the museum was closed for the holidays. So, we decided to come back another day and take the train back one stop to San Isidro, where we would visit the old San Isidro Cathedral, which we knew would not be closed. As we walked from the train toward the church we found ourselves in a lively shopping district, with lots of touristy shops. It is a place we will want to come back to visit again. 

There is a little park across the street from the Church with lovely trees and a statue or two. We learned that there is an artisan fair in that park every weekend, another reason for a return trip. As we snapped pictures of the beautiful architecture of the exterior of the church we ran into some American tourists from Boston and visited with them for a few minutes. Elder Love gave them a pass-along card. As we entered the church we soon noticed that there seemed to be less of an emphasis on Mary and more on the Savior, which we enjoyed seeing. The church itself was built from 1895 through 1906, when it was dedicated. However, there has been a church on the site since May of 1708.

Park near San Isidro Cathedral

San Isidro Cathedral

After we had visited the cathedral we went across the street to a lovely little restaurant where we enjoyed their lunch special, steak, fried potatoes and a fruit salad.

Refreshing fruit salad for lunch on a hot day

One of the things the Wieses also wanted us to visit was the Via Flaminia ice cream store, because of their famous (at least locally) tall, chocolate covered ice cream cones. So, we marched off to catch a bus to Via Flaminia in San Isidro and, upon our arrival, we overwhelmed the ice cream cone maker, as we each ordered a huge cone. It was a lot of fun and worth the trip, as you can see:

Via Flaminia Ice Cream Shop in San Isidro

Sister Love with her giant cone

Another giant cone

The following week, Villa Campo was open again, so we returned and visited this beautiful old mansion. There is a restaurant and they serve lunch on the terrace overlooking the lovely grounds and, even though there was a wedding there that day, Elder Wiese talked the restaurant into serving us all -- 7 couples. The food was excellent. Then, after lunch, we had a guided tour of the building from a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic docent. The mansion was built in 1890 by a wealthy engineer/architect named Manuel Ocampo, a descendent of one of the founders of Argentina, and his wife, Ramona Aguirre, also from a very wealthy family. That same year, their daughter, Victoria was born. Manuel had several daughters, and he built each one of them a similar mansion, but Victoria inherited the family home after the death of her parents. She was a world traveler (when she married, the honeymoon lasted 2 years), a patron of the arts, an influential member of the social class, hostess to many world-famous people (including Stravinsky, Gandhi, and others), editor of her own magazine, and a student of science, art, economics, etc. She especially enjoyed psychology. She received honorary degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities. She lived in the home and ws active nearly until her death in 1979, after which it was turned into a museum. Here are some pictures:

Sisters Williams, Huling and Love at Béccar on the way to Villa Ocampo

Beautiful Villa Ocampo and the porch where we ate lunch

Gazebo at Villa Ocampo

Entrance to Villa Ocampo

 

Grounds at Villa Ocampo

 

Waiting for our tour of Villa Ocampo in air-conditioned comfort

 

The Wieses at Villa Ocampo

The Loves at Villa Ocampo

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and the tour and hope to return to San Isidro to visit the other museums that are there.

Although nearly everyone goes on vacation for the entire month of January here (January and February are like July and August back home), it has still been quite busy at work, and we have also been involved in some missionary work with our ward, which we will tell you about next time.

We love you all and affirm to you that we see the Lord’s hand in guiding His work here all the time. Until next time…..