CM3's Argentina Adventure

Mar del Plata - Thursday, Jan. 12

Hey, I'm actually blogging about today! Imagine that! I may once again catch up! Yeaaay!!! Ok, OK, Mike still hasn't finished writing up this weekend, but if I finish today imagine all the peer pressure he'll have to finish off himself! We're leaving Mar del Plata Saturday morning, so it'd be really cool if we could be up to date by then.

Anyway, let's race through the day. It was short and boring so it shouldn't take too long.

Mika woke me up telling me that the bell was ringing. It turned out that it was the guy who'd come to measure the windows but as Mike didn't realize that and he didn't let him in immediately (he came back up all 11 floors to ask me about him, instead of asking him) he left and the curtains are unmeasured. I was super-tired but awake so eventually I got dressed, went to get facturas and that whole morning thing. Yep, it was once again late before we went to pick up Gladys. It was also windy and had been rainy.

We went to their hotel and spent an enormous amount of time hanging out there. First for Luisa to come, and then for Luisa to go back up to the room and get Gladys' sweater. The woman is slower than a turtle - but she's really nice and takes good care of Gladys which is all that matters.

We then took Gladys out for a walk (went to the supermarket, did some window shopping, nothing much) while Luisa went shopping on her own. We met back at the hotel an hour later and after waiting half an hour for both of them to go to the bathroom and come back we had lunch. It was another slow Argentinian lunch, and I was thinking all the time what would my partner, Goyo, think about my eating at the restaurant of the Navy's Hotel in Mar del Plata. I can't wait to tell him :) I did get in a fight with the waiter and didn't leave him a tip.

Afterwards, we left Gladys and Luisa for their nap and Betiana and Marina took the girls to Betiana's house while Mike and I enjoyed an afternoon for ourselves. WE soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo needed it! We smooched, got some ice cream, Mike got a tattoo of the Che on his arm, we both got our portraits painted (by an amazingly talented artist for only U$10!!!!! - he also works from pictures.

Forget souvenirs from Argentina, you are all gonna get portraits! Just send me your pictures!), had a soda at a cafe, checked the internet and that was it.

We got the girls back, got some sandwiches and then Mike rushed to the theater with Michaela for that magic show I spoke about. The show started 2 hours ago and they're not yet back. He'll have to blog about it himself.

Camila and I got some sandwiches, drinks and ice cream ourselves, we ate it, watched part of a movie and then I put her to sleep. Since then I've been blogging. And now I'm done. Ha ha ha, I'm done, I'm done! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! So I'm off to watch more of that movie and hide the evidence of the ice cream as I think I hear my kids coming back (false alarm).

Now it's Mike and I'm back from the magic show with Mika. The show was called La Magia de Emanuel and it was at the Teatro Lido. Like every show we've been to here, the show started off with people clapping as a way to get the show to start. Before this one started, however, there was much confusion over the seating arrangements. There was only one seat in each row that was numbered and that one was hard to spot. In addition, we had been warned that there might be problems because there was a problem with the computer at the time we purchased our tickets. This appears to have resulted in a problem for at least two people, who were screaming at the ushers. After a few minutes of screaming, the audience yelled back at them and shut them up.

The show started with a face projected onto a large white ball hanging at the front of the stage. Then two scantily-clad women dancers appeared at the sides as the magician Emanuel appeared on stage. The show was pretty good but I wouldn't be as happy with it if I had paid US$35 for it. In between his big illusions, he did card tricks with members of the audience. The big illusions generally were performed to music (U2, Van Halen, Evanescence) with Emanuel and one of his female assistants attempting to dance sexily. One of his illusions involved placing his female assistant atop of a sword, but it was obvious that she "clicked" into place before she appeared to balance on it while lying on her back. Another illusion involved moving the head of one of his female assistants from one prop to another on the other side of the stage. However, even though the assistants were wearing wigs, it was easy to tell that they were different people and some clumsiness revealed how the "illusion" was performed. That said, Mika stayed awake for the whole thing (it started at 9:30, when she is usually well on her way to sleep) and appeared to enjoy it - all except for the loud music. Whenever he asked for a volunteer for an illusion, Mika's hand went up forcefully.

We are very fortunate to be here at a time when the exchange rate makes these shows so inexpensive for us. I don't think I'd take Mika to a show that costs $35 in the US, but the exchange rate makes it just $12 here.

It seems that most of Argentina vacations in either Villa Carlos Paz or Mar del Plata, the largest of the Atlantic Coast destinations, to escape the heat in Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. That gives Mar del Plata a kind of festive and relaxed atmosphere that kind of feels like a family friendly spring break.