January 2011 - Summertime in Argentina

Temperatures will reach the high 90's today.  I've been hanging clothes in the backyard and thinking of the ripening grapes shading above.   The gnarled branches and thick trunk of the vine that produces these grapes shows it has been growing there for many years.  I counted three of them around the walled-in yard.  Three seeds that took root long ago.  The fruit since then would be uncountable.   Could that be like our lives?

I've been here in Argentina a little over two weeks now, first in Buenos Aires, then Rio Cuarto, and now in San Rafael.  I've been in this place twice before, and it is special to see these people again.   Some things here are different; others much like we are familiar with.    The language is Spanish.  I find myself thinking in it.  I catch myself speaking in Spanish to our visitors who don't understand it; in turn, I say things in Engish to the people here who don't understand English.  Ha

People here mostly come from a European background, and look very much like us, though blonde's are much less prevalent and do stand out.  Young people and others on the streets look altogether TOO much like us....not dressed up.  Of course, summertime, school vacation, and a warm climate have a big influence on that.

I suppose this part of the country could be described as west central Argentina.  It is mostly west of Buenos Aires.   On the day bus trip last week,  the view out the bus window could have been in our Platte River valley of Nebraska.  It is prairie land with pastures, windmills, cornfields and such.  In Spanish it is called the Pampas, which is prairie in English.   South America shows itself plainly in the towns, though.  They are distinctly different than ours.  

I've tried to compare things here with the Russian countries I've been in, and at first didn't see much similarity.  One thing lacking is the endless apartment buildings that make up every town and city over there  .    There are a few here - and of course many more in Buenos Aires, a city of millions.

 Time now to go out to a different home for lunch.     Happy New Year to all, and I'll to enclose a little warmth from here to there!