Dan Coleman

We have now finished our work in Recreo. But it is still necessary to update the events that took place between the last blog and our departure from Argentina.

We left Santa Fe on the bus in mid-morning, arriving in Buenos Aires about 5 PM. Our Habitat Coordinator, Marcelo Ortelli, was there with a mini van at the bus station to meet us and take us to our downtown hotel, the Best Western Monumental. Before going to our rooms, we met in the hotel conference room for a brief evaluation session, during which time we filled out a form and discussed the positive and negative aspects. In general, the team felt that the logistics and assistance from Habitat could not have been better and all were very positive about this. On the negative side, the team felt that some of the contruction aspects of the build could be improved. My opinion on this is that the team was facing some new building concepts and systems that were a little confusing. Regardless the team’s overall response was that the build had been successful.

After the meeting, we checked into the hotel and then went to a tango show at the Cafe Tortoni, which is oldest cafe in the city, having been founded in 1858. For anyone who has visited cafes in Vienna or Budapest, for example, he or she would have felt right at home. The cafe also has a back room where they put on two shows nightly for about 75 people. This show consisted of four man band, a singer and a dance duo. It was very traditional. They played one song from a movie that, before playing it, they asked us to guess the name. No one could, however, we all groaned aloud when they told us it was from “The Scent of a Woman", with Al Pacino. Nearly all of us had seen this movie. Afterwards we dined around the corner at the Restaurant ” Museo de Jamon".

The next morning we took in a typical half day city tour. Everyone was free in the afternoon to do as he or she pleased. That evening we had our own going away dinner at a delightfull Italian restaurant just a 1/2 block from the hotel. Frank and I were surprised when we each received a gift from the team, one that I will treasure forever, as I am sure Frank will as well. The next morning, Sunday, was the day of departure. Hugh left early, even before the rest of us were up, then Peter. By the end of the day 11 had left, then Frank and I the following day, with the remaining four straggling out by the end of this week.
I hope to continue adding a few blogs during the month of November. So please stay tuned.