With temperatures in the 90's here, it really didn't feel like Christmas. Gabriel invited me to spend Christmas with his family in the southern part of the province along the sea, but my friend Paul from the US was flying in that week so I decided to stay in Buenos Aires with Paul.
Two days before Christmas, Paul and I went to San Antonio de Areco, in the north of the province for a mini-vacation. While we were at an estancia there, we ran into a British guy who was in Buenos Aires awaiting his girlfriend to arrive from Brazil. So, since he would be spending Christmas alone in BA, we invited him to dinner on Christmas Eve. We had reservations at a great local Italian restaurant that had a fixed-price menu with all the wine you could drink all night. Before we arrived at the restaurant, Paul and I stopped for drinks at the Park Hyatt. The Park Hyatt is probably one of the top three hotels in all of South America and, as we sat outside on the garden terrace listening to a live orchestra perform Christmas carols, it was difficult to think of the poverty that engulfs much of this city and it made me very fortunate to have been able to celebrate the evening before the birth of Jesus Christ in such a fashion.
The dinner was excellent and between the three of us, we polished off about 6 bottles of wine. On Christmas morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and attended a bilingual mass in Microcentro. The parish was a mix of Brits, Americans and Argentines. After the service, a woman in her 80's came over to us and introduced herself. She was an American who has lived here for many years and she was spending her Christmas with her niece and her boyfriend. She was so proud to have them there and it was so cute to see how she introduced them to the congregation.
After the service, Paul and I went home and changed and spent the afternoon in Bosques de Palermo, where the above picture was taken. Surprisingly, the park was mobbed, as everyone wanted to take advantage of the good weather to work on their tans and relax.
In my upcoming posts, I will write about San Antonio de Areco and how I celebrated New Year's Eve.
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