Día del Amigo

No, it's not a fake holiday invented by the greeting card companies (how could it be in a city that doesn't even have greeting cards?)  But ask any Argentine about Día del Amigo, or Friend's Day, and he's sure to tell detail his celebration plans.

Although this holiday doesn't involve a day off from work, locals become more excited over Día del Amigo than say their Independence Day or Flag Day.  Restaurants are notorious for booking up a month in advance and queues of the reservation-less can last for hours.  Many of my students either celebrated at home or postponed their plans for the weekend, leading us expats to proclaim it "Semana del Amigo" or Friend's Week.

The Argentines were surprised to learn that we don't celebrate Friend's Day in the United States, since it is, according to them, an international holiday that started after the first moon landing.  My friends and I were surprised by this too and decided to investigate.  It turns out Día del Amigo does come from the Apollo 11 mission, although it was an Argentine teacher named Enrique Febbraro who first lobbied to make it a holiday.  Febbraro maintained that on July 20, 1969, everyone was friends with the three astronauts, and the world was united.

A chocolate mousse cake makes Friend's Day even sweeter

According to the highly reputable Wikipedia, Día del Amigo is primarily celebrated in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.  But given the history, I'm surprised Hallmark hasn't jumped on the bandwagon.

As for me? I celebrated Friend's Day the way I celebrate every holiday: with sweets (and friends too!)

Nine days and eight cows later...

There's something surreal about hosting company when you live overseas.  Think about two television shows that have completely different plot lines until a crossover episode tosses story arcs, characters and setting into a giant salad bowl.  While the episode might be chaotic with no clear direction, it's a guilty pleasure to watch two worlds collide.  In a nutshell, that's what it's like to have family visit you in a foreign country.

As I was getting back into the swing of things with my own Argentine dramedy (or is this a sitcom?), students would ask about my recent sabbatical.  To keep it short and sweet: We ate; we went on day trips; we took a bus tour around the city; we ate; we went shopping at the outdoor ferias; and then we ate some more.  Seriously, we must have eaten a small herd before the trip was over.

Although my uncle called me "comandante" a few times (type-A tour guide), all three of my visitors enjoyed their time in Buenos Aires and our day trips to Uruguay and San Antonio de Areco.  My uncle even said I might have a future in the tourism industry... yeah, no!

Here's a little recap of our adventure:

Day 1: Of course my mom makes a beeline for the Recoleta Cemetery

Day 2: Visiting Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Gardel in Cafe Tortoni

Day 2: Shouting "GOOOAL" in El Caminto

Day 3: Enjoying a long lunch in Colonia, Uruguay— just mind the bird bombs

Day 4: Posing with the Terminator Flower

Day 6: Forty years later and they can still find their house in Vicente Lopez

Day 7: In the quintessential gaucho town of San Antonio (this ones's for you Aunt Nati)

Day 8: Shopping in Palermo Soho was, of course, mandatory

Remembering a true adventurer

It's been weeks since my last post and I've got oodles of stories and pictures to share.  But before I get down to recapping, I'd like to dedicate a post to my grandfather, Don Duncan, who passed away just last week.

Generally people credit my travel bug and wanderlust to my mom's side of the family since she and her siblings grew up overseas.  And while the Sancho-side has been a great influence on me in this respect, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about my grandaddy and his influence on me.  

Whether he was exploring the Northwest wilderness or carving hiking sticks out of birch branches, my granddad was always up for an adventure.  As a child I remember marveling at the breadth of his knowledge— this being the man who showed me how to make hollyhock ladies, brought me back a handmade barrette from Alaska and taught me early on that taking a "prescription" of chocolate chips is the best cure for the blues.  As I grew older, I admired how despite all this expertise and experience, he still wanted to learn more.  It's a mindset that leads people to explore, take chances (say, move to Argentina?), make mistakes and keep moving forward.

My granddad lived to be 83, and I don't think he ever fell out of that mindset.  That's the mark of a true adventurer: one who never ceases to wonder at the world and all its workings.