Just watched their bus leave for the airport!

I just saw the bus leave for the airport -- Marisa is taking the group back to Minnesota. It has been so great to get to know your students. I will miss having them in class -- and as traveling companions.

Final Day!

As I write this, I am sitting in the youth hostel, waiting for the bus that will take the students and Marisa to the airport. (I am staying another week in Argentina with my husband). And I am several days behind on the blog, so I will have to catch up during the week.

It has been really rewarding to see -- from their many quizzes and journals -- how much the students have learned while they are here. The final group presentations were particularly good. It will feel strange to be traveling around the city without the students. I felt like I saw so much more because I was seeing Argentina with new eyes.

Day 21 - January 26 - San Antonio de Areco

Today we visited a gaucho estancia (ranch), several hours outside of Buenos Aires. We stopped first in the town of San Antonio de Areco, at the workshop of a traditional silversmith. Then we drove to the estancia, where we were treated to a display of horsemanship by the gauchos. The students then mounted horses, for a short ride around the ranch grounds. After a lovely asado (dinner of grilled meats), it was time to return to the youth hostel.

Days 17-18 - We arrive in the big city

Time is getting short. You must all be very anxious to see your student. It is hard to believe that the course is almost over.

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Saturday afternoon, after a long and hot bus ride. It was over 100 degrees again, and the bus's air-conditioning just couldn't keep up with the heat.

Sign of the times: We stopped at a service station on the highway, which had wi-fi. I was able to use Skype (on my laptop) to talk to my husband in Minnesota.

As I need to spend several hours today correcting journals and quizzes, I am going to keep this brief. On Sunday we took a city tour with an agency that specializes in academic tours of Buenos Aires. The guide, Diego, gave us an incredibly good tour -- he was clear and organized yet he managed to describe the complex history of the founding of Buenos Aires, the Perón era, the dictatorship of the 1970s, and the Madres of the Plaza de Mayo. We visited the Plaza de Mayo, the colorful port area known as La Boca, and the Recoleta Cemetary.

Below are some pictures. I should also have said this much earlier, but all of the really wonderful photos in this blog were taken by Marisa Kalbermatten. She is a great photographer -- her photos have so much color and life in them that I always prefer them to my own.

Back to Day 15 - Kalbermatten family home

On Thursday evening, we were invited to an "asado" at the home of Marisa's parents, Imelda and Nestor Kalbermatten. Now retired from work as a teacher and judge respectively, they live outside of Santa Fe, in a private community. We used the pool at their club before sitting down to the best meal we have had so far in Argentina! When you eat "asado" you are eating grilled meats, which are cooked over wood charcoal on an emormous brick barbecue called an "asador." Every Argentinean house has an outdoor asador -- asado is traditional Sunday fare. When I lived in Buenos Aires, I used to get invited to friends' homes for asado. It was an all-day event, starting at 1:00 and ending late at night. (This made for comical culture shock when I returned home to Iowa City. I once went over to a friend's house for Sunday brunch. After about four hours, I realized that she was hinting that I should leave.)

Since we were dining on a Thursday night, we had a somewhat shorter visit. We arrived for the pool at around 4:00, starting eating at 9:00, and were finished by around 11:30 pm. The Kalbermattens were so sweet to invite us -- they kept assuring me that it was their pleasure to have 15 strangers to dinner. The students were very appreciative -- Nestor loved the positive feedback about his grilling. (Every Argentinean man prides himself on his skills at the asador.)

Day 16 - January 23. And we meet the Mayor.

On Friday we were invited to meet with the Mayor of Santa Fe, Mario Barletta. Click here for a link to an article on the official web site of the city of Santa Fe. Really, being celebrities can be such hard work!

You'll notice if you look down at the article, that all of our names are there (and spelled perfectly)!

Days 14-15 - January 21 and 22 - The Governor

After class on Wednesday, we all needed to catch up with reading, writing and -- for the professors -- correcting papers. The incredible heat continues, along with the drought that has destroyed 100% of the corn crop in Santa Fe province. This is going to be an even more difficult year for Argentina economically.

On Thursday, we walked to the Casa de Gobierno (Government Building) where we met with both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Santa Fe. This was an incredible honor, and both were very gracious. The Governor, Dr. Hermes Binner, beat long odds to become the first Socialist governor of the Province of Santa Fe. (Argentinean socialism is akin to European style socialism.) He is a physician, and he is interested in forming connections between young people in Argentina and in other countries. "Older people are tied to the past," he said. "But young people are committed to the future. If we get young people working together, that would be good for both our countries." Marisa was very moved by meeting him, as he's known to be a hard-working governor, sincerely interested in the future of the province. The Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Griselda Tessio, is a lawyer and university professor. A former federal prosecutor, she gained national recognition for her investigations into human rights abuses from the last dictatorship. It was fascinating to meet them -- I was amazed that they took so much time out of their day for us.

We were all holding gift bags -- with key rings and information about Santa Fe.