Biblico Instituto de Pantigonico (by Mary)

We are in the middle of NOWHERE! We took a bus here through Patogonia with literally NO scenery at all. They played three movies on the bus ride before we went to sleep. They were all war and shooting movies. When we went to bed there was a really bad movie on. As we were all falling asleep, we could here shooting and banging sounds from the t.v even without our headphones on. It was a very nice bedtime lullaby.

When we arrived in Trelew, we got picked up in a big white van. There were three argetnine college students in the car as well as the three missionaries. They showed us around the town of Gaiman which is the closest town to the bible college. The college is very cool. It already has about 5 buildings that are finished. We are staying in an apartment where the professors stay when they come to teachduring the school year. We have the only apartment in the whole building with a bathroom. Thank goodness.

The first missionary couple lives on campus. Their names are Charolette and Martin. They are really great and have a million things to do. So, we are always busy with building, painting, cleaning out storage or helping Charolette do things around her house. The three students here are helping Charolette with whatever needs to be done. That's how they are getting money to attend the college. They also cook all of the meals and clean up everything. They don't speak any English but we communicate with them as well as possible.

The second family has a girl Chase's age and a boy my age. (Felicia and Jeremy) The dad is Eddie but the people here call him Joel but that's really his middle name; The mom is Diana and she is very nice (she let us bake and eat oatmeal chocolate chip cookie even though there wasn't running water that day) They tasted just like at home because she had all of the same things from California. (AMAZING!)They live in California when they aren't here. We went to there house for dinner and had lasagna. mmm. They also had a snowcone machine which was cool because it was so hot that day.

There is a group from Kentucky coming for a week. There's 21 people coming to help with the construction. We're all very excited to meet them. We get to go to the Casa de Te. (House of Tea) I've already tried "mate" with extra sugar. It was actually very good to my suprise. Thanks for reading the blog and hope to hear from you in our comments!

Eastern Argentina

Now we are 2/3 down the eastern coast of Argentina in a small town called Gaiman, but first let me tell you about our past few days . . . we journeyed south from Buenos Aires to a group of beach towns called Pinamar, Ostende, Valeria and Carilo. We stayed at the Old Hotel in Ostende, built in 1914. Nothing fancy, but I loved seeing old photographs of guests from the earliest years, in all their fancy clothes in the dining room and bathing costumes in the dressing tents at the beach. We, too, had an assigned tent and from my shady place I watched the kids spend hours body surfing and laughing. People sat around in groups of family or friends, shared their mate (mah-te), and surrounded me with the sing-song sounds of the Argentine dialect. Mate is an interesting custom. A bitter herb concoction in a shell cup often trimmed in silver, they pass it around while they chat, each sipping from the same silver, filtered spoon straw. Everyone has a thermos of hot water from which they continue to add to the cup all afternoon.
After dinner, the five of us returned to a moonlit beach and saw the southern hemisphere’s version of a starry night. No Big Dipper! And Orion’s Belt is upside down! Chase and I have also been thrilled to see a whole variety of new birds down here. Green parakeets fly around as commonly as blue jays in California. We haven’t identified any, of course (no room in the suitcase for the Audubon book), but we get a new surprise every day.
Our trip to Trelew, named for Welsh founder & pioneer Lewis Jones, was by BUS. Picture the bus depot in Oakland or Sacramento or Tijuana and you’ll have some idea. But inside the coach was very comfortable and relatively clean. It was an 18 hour journey and we were glad to sleep away most of the “scenery” en route. AG missionaries Charlotte and Martin Jacobsen, Eddie and Diana Echevarria are our very kind hosts and they picked us up in a big van to take us to our lodging at the Instituto Biblico Patagonico. They warned us, but I’m here to tell you, it is WINDY in the Patagonia! The picturesque mountains, lakes or glaciers that typify other parts of the region are not near here. We are in a small town in the dessert, I mean desert. We got to take showers and settle in before going to the Jacobsen’s home for dinner. The Echevarrias have a daughter, 14, and a son, 11, who are wonderful and we all attended their local church for a Saturday evening service. Today we had lunch with the Jacobsens and discussed our upcoming days -- I'm bubbling with ministry opportunity excitement. More to come . . .

Last Day in BA

The Spanish language here really caught me off guard. During the past two weeks we have met people from all walks of life and I realize that I can understand many of them, but it is certainly a difference from castillian Spanish in Spain. The Italian influence in Argentina is huge. And on Saturday we’ll arrive in Trelew which is a Welsh community!

Have I mentioned the word “parilla”? Can you say “MEAT”? That is the staple meal here – and not just steak, but sausage, sweetbreads, ribs, and more beef. I feel far away from Berkeley! Thankfully, beautiful fruits and vegetables are also in full array.

Today we leave Buenos Aires and drive down to a beach town about 4 hours south. Charlie was commenting that although he has been here several times on business, it has been a treat to know the city thoroughly over the course of two weeks. Yesterday we had lunch with the missionaries who run the Patagonia Bible Institute in Trelew, so we’re eager to get our hammer, nails, and cement-mixing shovels ready for some work. We’ll be joining a group from Kentucky who has organized a Vacation Bible School during the first week of February. Our kids are looking forward to working with the local children.

Buenos Aires

We’re onto the next chapter. We’ve gone from plug o o to plug \ /, from yo to zsho, from a church of 60 attendees to 25,000, and from winter to summer. We are fortunate to have an apartment located in a great area of Buenos Aires thanks to a workmate of Charlie’s. I’ve noticed that our kids are much more comfortable with big cities after their European experiences. We’ve hit the Eva Peron museum, the fancy flea market in San Telmo, the colorful barrio of La Boca, visited the zoo and walked in La Recoleta. Generously blessed by family friends, we had dinner at the gorgeous home of Gisa & Carlos, Ella & Andres, reminding us of the sweet advantages that multi-generational living conditions can provide. I’ve always loved that idea, but it would certainly be easier if you had a four story home with an elevator as they do! The grandma is 94 and the youngest children are 4-year old twins. Can you imagine?
Our plans for South America are evolving slowly as we gather information and figure out how best to proceed. Quite a difference from the well-laid plans of Europe! It seems that traveling by overnight sleeper bus is cost-effective and comfortable, so we’ll give it a shot when we head south. It is peak season, so while we're trying to be spontaneous, it isn't always possible to find lodging along the way.

We took a vacation from our vacation in Colonia, Uruguay, which was fantastic. A classic historic centro and great beaches. Always nice to take the winter white glow off these bodies. We climbed the old lighthouse for a birdseye view of this former Portuguese colony. When we left our posada to catch the last ferry back to Argentina I turned to Charlie and said "Well, back to the grind. Oh yeah, there is no grind! :)"

Yesterday, Carlos took us to the Delta in his boat, which gave us a wonderful view of Buenos Aires that very few enjoy. We were windswept, sunburned and happy when we disembarked at 9:30 (the sun just about to go down).

We continue to pray for all of you at home as we've been reminded how life can change in an instant based on a couple of scares that you've told us about.

Goodbye Sevilla (by Jane)

Well, due to popular (very forceful) demand I, Jane, am writing a blog entry. Currently we are in Madrid, ready to take off tomorrow for Buenos Aires. Although we are very excited for what is ahead of us, leaving Sevilla is very hard. Unlike for the rest of our trip, where we were continually moving, we were able to really establish ourselves in one place. I don’t know if it is because of the longer time spent there, because of the amazing friends we met, or just the unique culture of Sevilla, but I feel like we really experienced the Sevillian life. And not only because I got to sleep in till 10 almost every day, though that was a bonus, especially if you know how I am about waking up in the morning. The lifestyle of Sevilla seems to be less about schedules and more about enjoying life. In other words, having a fiesta at every opportunity. So New Years Eve, as you can imagine, was very fun. We started the night at our piso (apartment) with all of our family friends. At midnight, the tradition is to eat a grape for every dong of the clock. Unfortunately, I misunderstood and thought that you were supposed to stuff all the grapes in your mouth without swallowing, like the chubby bubby marshmallow game. Besides almost spitting up on my dad, I was successful! After that I went to a dance party with my friends Aurora and Marta(yes, I arrived at 1:30 am). It was a blast, lots of dancing and meeting new people (it’s really easy to meet people here), and the party ended at 6:30 am. I looked at my watch and realized it was the same time that I get up for school, but to the Sevillanos it was just a regular party night.





(with my friends Julian and Maria)





This last week has been filled with activity up to the last day. But it was very hard to say good bye to everyone, especially Cesar and Isidoro’s families. We already miss them!! But we are counting on them coming to visit us in California! Well, we’re onto a new chapter. I miss you all especially now that we have reached the halfway point. But we are on the second leg, closer to returning than departing. Thank you so much for staying in contact with us, it really means so much!! You can be sure I’m soaking up every minute, and taking Unca’s advice to take every opportunity that shows itself (so far, I have never regretted it!). Hasta South America!