Feliz Cumple Paz!

On Sunday, after a very late dinner in Puerto Madero on Saturday, I dragged myself out of bed and made the three-hour bus ride to a small town north of Buenos Aires called Arrecifes as one leg of my journey to another small town called Salto.

The reason for my trip was that my friend Fernando and his wife Patricia, both Argentines but living in Connecticut, are in the country spending time with their families on vacation and they kindly extended me an invitation to attend their daughter's 6th birthday party.

His father and aunt picked me up at the bus station in Arrecifes, at which time there was flash flooding and the water in the street was probably around two feet high. As we approached Salto, the sky cleared up and I thought it had passed. But, another storm from another direction hit as we arrived, with a torrential downpour lasting about 30 minutes, well before the party actually started, giving everyone time to set up underneath the canopy. Just before most of the guests started arriving, the sky cleared up and all the clouds disappeared.

The party was at his brother's house, which is a spectacular and beautiful estate set in the country, surrounded by farmland, a tennis court and swimming pool. They had two dogs, Chocolate and Maria, and a horse that his brother had bought for his son. Paz, the daughter of Fernando and Patricia, had a Hannah Montana-themed party to welcome her 6th birthday and the kids had a great time dancing to her CD. A nice surprise for Paz was that Anna, the daughter of Belen and Javier, made the journey there all the way from Mendoza!

On the way home, Fernando's uncle graciously offered to take me to the border of Buenos Aires city, close to where they lived, so I didn't have to take a bus, where I then caught a "colectivo" back to my apartment after a long day spent with old and new friends.