Pascua

Here, we get off of school for two days for easter, and then Monday and Tuesday are national holidays because it is the anniversary of the Malvina's (Falklands War). I expect that to be an interesting day in Argentina and will report back if anything happens. So far, Holy Thursday and Good Friday just means that everything useful is closed. Most kids on our program travelled out to Salta (up in the far north-west, near Bolivia), Mendoza (north but not as north, wine country), Patagonia (super south) or Uruguay (to the west, fairly close) but a small group of us stayed in the city. My intention was to go out to a bunch of musuems, the botanic gardens, etc etc without really thinking this plan through...Mostly everything is closed for the holiday! #jewproblems. On Friday we ventured all the way out to Palermo to go to the gardens only to find them closed. It has still been nice and peaceful to be here albeit lazy.

Yesterday we went to Tigre. Tigre is a town about 45 minutes outside of Buenos Aires by train (think Metro North). The train cost 3 pesos (like 45 cents) and stops along the way at all these neighborhoods and then towns north of the city. Tigre is located on the Delta, so there is a system of canals and water ways and most people go boating or kayaking. The water is pretty gross but there are tons of trees so it's pretty beautiful. It's a popular weekend destination for people from the city because it's so close and easy. We didn't go on a boat because none of us had looked up the price (kinda of a lot) but we did walk around quite a bit, lie in the grass with the hundreds of other people doing the same (sans maté, unfortunately) and even go into a posh "rowing club". It was a nice day trip, and so easy to get there! Unfortunately, coming home wasn't quite so smooth...the train cables lit on fire so we had to revert to plan B which was riding the subte for the entire D line before transfering to the C. We met a nice guy from Canada who was lost and couldn't speak spanish so we helped him get to his hotel (right near our residence, actually). We were lucky that the train broke down in Belgrano (a northern neighborhood in the Capital Federal) and that David knew where we were cause the rest of us didn't (he has lived in the residence hall for a couple years now I think).

Today is Easter but I don't think there is anything public for it...We'll see what happens tomorrow for the Malvina's anniversary.


PS Mom if you want to freeze some of the little cadberry candy coated chocolate eggs for me I wouldn't complain <3