In late afternoon, the sky wasn’t dark yet, but it was quiet.  Suddenly a sound of a car pulling up made us jump! My mom peaked through the window and screamed, “SHE IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I looked out the window and saw………..GINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She was coming out of a van with a man carrying out her luggage. We each gave her a big hug and let her inside our one storey house and offered her coffee. She  got relaxed, ate some food.  We went for a walk to the park and on a nearby slide, the biggest slide I know!  It is 4 floors high with 5 large bumps you fly off of.  IT WAS AWSOME!!!    We even convinced my mom, dad and Gina to go on.  Gina was screaming in the video.  then went to bed like the rest of us; she was tired after her 30+ hour journey!

CLICK THIS TO SEE THE VIDEO OF GINA GOING DOWN THE SLIDE!  FUNNY!  DSCN6472

The next morning was sunny and warm with birds chirping happily outside. Today was Sunday; the day of the Sunday family BBQ! My Tio Alex , my cousins Franco and Eve, and my Abuela arrived first. My Abuelo came later. My Tio Alex cooked all the beef on the asado BBQ.  Delicious!   Gina had a BLAST of a time. We all had a wonderful time eating cooked beef  and talking to family – it seems my mom and Gina really liked the Argentina wine too.  After everyone left, my family went for a walk down the Costanera.   As we walked down the coast, we saw mini stands of arts and crafts with people selling their stuff. There were clothing, kid toys, mugs, furniture and a lot more stuff.  When we got home we had a late dinner and went to bed.

 

The next day the warm morning breeze hit my face as I got up to eat breakfast. When Luca and I finished our morning snack, my mom and dad got up to tell us we were going to see skeletons in an old church and a museum with lots of art.  Gina got up after that.   After my mom and dad were done getting ready, we went to the car to get there. We drove into the countryside and stopped at a restaurant that gives you 8 servings (including dessert) of fishy food. I was only able to eat two servings!  But it was so great!  After that lunch, we went on the road again. Finally, we arrived at the place called Santa Fe Viejo (which means old Santa Fe from the 1500s, before they moved the city to where we live now). There was a sign that said CAUTION SNAKES IN THE AREA!!! Now I was scared. First we went to see the skeletons. I was freaked out!!! Next we saw an old little house. Finally, we saw a museum with LOTS of art and artifacts.

Later after our two weeks of adventure together, my family, Gina, and I were in the bus station going on the midnight bus to Buenos  Aires. We boarded the bus and fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up in the bus in… BUENOS AIRES!!!!!!!  We arrived! I came out of the bus with happiness in my heart. We found our Hotel (which was a luxury one!!!) and got our room, and then after a little rest and breakfast, we went to see LA BOCA, which is a poor neighbourhood with lots of colour and art. It had tango dancing in the street, little shops and lots of art! We went to a restaurant that had tango dancing as entertainment! We went shopping too! Luca, my brother, got new but weird pants.

On our first evening after our La Boca adventure, we went to the bookstore, which use to be a BIG fancy theatre!  Now the stage was a cafe!  The ceiling was decorated with angels playing together (but they looked like a skeleton head, or so the rest of them thought – but I didn’t) and looked like God up there on the ceiling with all the paintings.  After we walked and walked – mom wanted to take us to the famous cemetery there, but it started to rain.  We went into a mall to find some dinner, and while I was waiting for the food I fell asleep on the table.  My mom woke me up for a few bites, but then I fell back asleep.  So we took a taxi back to the hotel and fell asleep in my super comfy bed!

On the Saturday it was raining in Buenos Aires, so we went to a museum and we first saw big photos of naked people. Yep, NAKED PEOPLE!  Next we saw lots of paintings, not of naked people, thank goodness. One of the paintings was an old town with people working hard, holding hungry babies and people holding buckets.  It was very very old from the north of Argentina. Then we saw statues. Some of the statues were big Venus flytraps, and then we saw some more art and left.  Afterwards we walked and walked through parks and saw beautiful Buenos Aires.  Eventually, we found that terrifying cemetery my mom wanted to see. It was a big space filled with mini-houses that hold the coffins of dead people: tombs.  It was so creepy!  I looked in the windows and there were actually coffins!  The worst ones were the ones where I saw baby coffins.  It was so sad!  But what was weird was that the place was also calm and beautiful.  One funny thing was when we saw the satellite dish on a tomb.  I was like, “why does a coffin need a TV”!  There was actually a TV on, but it was in the janitor closet behind the tomb, not in the tomb!  I thought it was funny because I believed somebody put TV into a tomb for a dead man! Weird!  But anyways, after we left we went to a university and found a Starbucks!  Yum, Yum, Yum!

In the evening, after a little siesta, we went for the best dinner at a Spanish restaurant!  There was so much food!  I had gnocchi which is potato pasta with a delicious sauce, but there was way too much to eat.  Mom and dad had steak kabobs and salad (and I stole some bites), and Gina had a fish dinner.  For dessert I had this amazing chocolate volcano – a warm crusted cake on the outside with hot gooey chocolate lava inside that oozes out when you cut it and mixes with the cold vanilla ice cream!  This was the best dessert E.V.E.R!  After pigging out, we walked around the city that was bright with lights and ads everywhere!  Eventually, we got back to our cozy beds.

Our final day in Buenos Aires was spent wandering the streets of a neighbourhood called San Telmo.  This was a long cobblestone street with artisans everywhere!  It was chaos, and I lost my umbrella! 🙁  Eventually we found the Casa Rosada, which means “Pink House”, like the American White House, which is the house of the President of Argentina, which is a woman!  No wonder it is pink!  Outside the pink house were tonnes of pigeons that I chased!  Then we had to quickly make it back to the hotel to pack up to catch our bus home.  We had to leave Gina behind because she had to take her plane back to Canada.

I felt so sad to leave our dear friend from Canada.  I feel that Gina is such an awesome friend who worked so hard just to be with us!  I think Gina enjoyed her wonderful trip here, escaping the cold in Canada for two weeks.  Her favourite thing to do was sit in the sun and relax!  She was warm, relaxed, and happy!  I can’t wait to see her when I get back to Canada!