May 21st & 22nd of 2013
The next morning we packed everything up and made our way to the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple. We planned to do a session, and then check in our new hotel which was closer to the airport in preparation for our early flight to Paraguay the next morning. We rented clothing at the temple and got into the 11:00 session. They offered me headphones so I could listen to it in english, but I mostly listened in Spanish. I know the wording well enough now that I could catch onto what was being said. It was so fun to hear the session in another language! They also had a couple workers that spoke english to help us too. It was a very neat experience:)
When we were done at the temple we asked to call a "Remise" like a Taxi to get to our hotel. They said they knew a member who drove the missionaries around when they transfered to new areas. So we called him and he had a van that could fit all of us. His names was Charles, and he was from Ghana. He was such a nice guy! His story was quite interesting. He and his wife had lived in Germany most their lives, then moved to Argentina which was her home land. Now he had his driving service and did a lot of work within the church and with the missionaries.
He took us to our hotel, and then drove us to the Capital-- We wanted to shop on the famous "Florida" street. He came with us to help us change some money to Paso's. Anyone on the side of the street yelling "Cambio" will change your money. He got the attention of a young man and we went around the corner out of the view of people and he changed our small bills, but he didn't have the cash on him to change larger bills. So he took us into a building, up an elevator, and to a small room where they had all kinds of money. I felt as if we were in some high danger drug deal or something by the way everyone acted!! Just to change some money-- Crazy!!
After we got some Paso's we were ready to shop!! I got really good at picking something up and asking "Cuanto Cuesta?"...but they spoke so fast I had a hard time understanding their reply.. Sometimes I would think I heard "Cinco" or "Siete"and think its got to be 50 or 70 paso's?? Most of the time I would just look at Jon and he would do the talking... We got a lot of fun souvenirs for the family-- and for quite the deal!
After shopping Charles took us back to the hotel, and they made us dinner. We had one of Jordan's favorites called "Milanesa" which was a thin cut beef breaded and then fried. It was very good. My favorite part about this hotel was the owner's dog. His name was Dillan, and was very friendly. When I was playing with him I would say "Ball, Ball" and he would ignore me, but as soon as Jon would say "Pelota" he would perk up and look for his ball. It was funny to realize, not even the dog could understand me!!
We got to bed early because Charles would be picking us up at 4am to catch our flight to Paraguay!
After landing we paid for our visa's, changed some money, and then got our rental car. We made our way to the hotel and got checked in... and by this time it was only 1030am!! and starving!! So we went to Jon's favorite fast food place called "Pancholo's" Jon said the "Lomito" was the best and it was definitely big enough to share!
Finally it was time to visit the members. We went to three different areas, and met some of the most humble nicest people I have ever met. It was so fun to see Jonathan interact with them. He was in his element! They all had the sweetest things to say about Jon and the work he did there. Before our trip I wasn't sure if I would enjoy meeting people with whom I couldn't communicate, but I found myself loving each and everyone of them. Just goes to show the spirit speaks in all languages...
Next up... The Cano Family and Iguazu Falls!!
No comments:
Post a Comment