abril en buenos aires: Thanksgiving in the Andes

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Thanksgiving in the Andes

My friend Emily, a way cool missionary girl living here in BA, invited me to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her in Mendoza, a desert town at the base of the Andes, where a group of missionaries has a Thanksgiving celebration. So Wednesday evening we boarded the bus for the 12 hour ride to Mendoza. However, buses in Argentina are much nicer than any in the States, and are actually more comfortable than sitting on an airplane. We were traveling coche cama class, which meant our seats almost fully reclined, we were given a cold dinner, a hot dinner, breakfast, and a movie! With its two levels, meals, sleeping passengers, and gentle swaying, it reminded me of The Knight Bus from Harry Potter.

We arrived in Mendoza Thursday morning, and because we were not celebrating Thanksgiving till Saturday, headed to Cacheute, beautiful hot springs up in the mountains. Friday we went white water rafting on the Rio Mendoza, which was a blast. Saturday we loaded up two vans with about 24 people to head up to a cabin in the Andes, where Thanksgiving was being held. One thing I have learned since being here, though, is that everything is an adventure. En route to the cabin, a large semi in front of us insistently motioned for us to pass him, despite th

e fact that it was a double yellow line. As soon as we did, however, both vehicles full of hungry extranjeros were pulled over by a group of police waiting on the side of the road. The two dads spent a tense 40 minute trying to convince them not to make us go all the way back to town to pay the ticket, and trying not to give in to the temptation to bribe the officers, which they had hinted was a possibility. However, the officers finally showed us grace and let us go. Thanksgiving itself was amazing. There were about 40 plus people there, almost all missionaries serving in Chile and Argentina, and was incredible to hear about their experiences and eat turkey at the base of the Andes.