Came home from Argentina...then life happened!

Our final group pic with our finished work

I started this post blogging at my desk while I ate lunch today because- you know- laundry, ironing, kids, dirty dishes, potty training and all the other things daily parenting gives you just weren't letting me get it done. Now the kids are down and with BK out of town I might as well procrastinate on all of the above items! It's been two weeks since we got back from Argentina and I have yet to finish telling you about the rest of our time there.

BK smoothing some Cal

In reality, I last posted on our last morning there. It was a shorter workday, but not by much, as we had to get some stuff done before we left. In total, we got all of the exterior walls done and all but one of the interior walls done. I think there were 19 walls total, to give you an idea. Since we have come back, I've been letting people know that if they need any concreting done, BK and I are their people.

Like myself, he's also a mixmaster

So we worked as usual in the morning, then for lunch had a barbecue. Like in many counties, barbecues are how Argentina celebrates things and brings people together. Whether it be a birthday, finishing up a big project, family get together or important football game, they love to grill and will make it happen regardless of set up.

You know, concreting more stuff

The staff from the local Habitat and our bus driver were the grill masters for our barbecue, and they fashioned a grill out of the following items: an old refrigerator door (we used the actual refrigerator as a make shift ladder), grates they found somewhere- maybe the shelves from the fridge and a bunch of firewood they got from somewhere. Meat was seasoned on the random pile of stuff then put on the fire. Regardless of what it's made on, the barbecue was great!

Grilling time!

After we were done working for the day we had an easy dinner of empanadas and malbec then headed to a Tango lesson. The lesson was given by two professionals, but let me just say, Tango is not exactly BK and my best skill. I stepped on his feet a lot, pulled him along and generally was just not good. Needless to say, I'm not a great follower...but many of you already knew this about me.

Our final product

The next day we headed back to Buenos Aires- another 8ish hour bus ride. Then that night headed to a final dinner with the team. We went to a place with traditional Argentinian food, mostly lots of meat.

One last group dinner

Our last day there BK and I went on a 6-hour bike tour with another couple from the trip. I do wish we would have had longer in the city, but what we did see was really interesting. Buenos Aires has lots of really distinct parts of the city that have really cool aspects. We probably could have seen more on a car tour, but I pretty much hate those, so bike it was. And it was really freaking cold.

Biking through Boca

To make a 6-hour story short, we saw Feria de Recoleta (street market), Recoleta Cemetery, a monument to Evita, Old Harbor District, Ecological Reserve, the Boca neighborhood and Plaza de Mayo. Recoleta Cemetery reminds me of New Orleans and is kind of crazy; it's a cemetery with over 3,000 graves in it and numerous family members buried in each mausoleum. We learned that Evita was loved by the middle and lower classes, and not so much by the wealthy- she was a woman of the people who did a lot for the "normal" people of Argentina. The Boca neighborhood is an historic area and the birthplace of tango. Their colorful building and artisan culture has made it a big tourist destination, but surprisingly it's still a working class neighborhood. Lastly, Plaza de Mayo is the governmental plaza highlighted by the pink president's palace.

The colorful neighborhood of Boca

After that we pretty much went back to the hotel, changed clothes and headed to the airport to head home. The flights are overnight, so BK and I got in around 5am that Monday. Mimi and PopPop had the kids, so BK and I pretended like we were still on vacation and went and got massages then had lunch together before returning to reality with the littles. I kind of had a crash landing back into reality, but more on that later.

We loved this trip and are hoping to do something like it every year. You're immersed in a culture, giving back and doing something completely different and likely out of your comfort zone- right up our alley.