The Strangest Christmas I´ve Ever Had
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2006
1
15
33
Trip End
Sep 04, 2007
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Monday, December 25, 2006
That being noted, Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere was already setting itself up to be strange. Prior to my arrival in Buenos Aires I had spent two weeks in the high Chilean desert. That didn´t exactly leave me picturing Santa and his sleigh being led by Rudolph down the massive sand dunes and dodging cacti while passing out presents.
So I flew into Buenos Aires on the afternoon of the 23rd to find my friends Isabel, Meghan, Jasmine, Nia and Michelle already set up in our rented little one bedroom appartment and really excited to see me (we actually jumped up and down, it was really sweet)
christmas dinner
. They had decorated the appartment with the usual Christmas garb, complete with stockings and a little plastic tree. We all really became each other´s family in Concepcion, not having anyone else who could fully understand us when our language skills were so underdeveloped (well as much as one can understand another) to turn to. In short, they were some of the best replacements for the family and friends that we all left back home.We relaxed that night and prepared for a Christmas Eve party like no other. Isabel found this giant club with 3 dance floors and what seemed like an acre or 2 of patio. The upstairs balconies afforded stellar views of the muddy waters of the Rio de la Plata. This was a stark difference from my usual Christmas Eve state of exhaustion, cooped up in a Utah hotel room that undoubtedly reaked of feet and farts, semi-comatose and watching some made for TV movie about Jesus with my dad, brother and sister as we recovered from and prepared for a long day of skiing on the Wasatch slopes.
We arrived at the club around 1:30 (the time that most clubs in the US are wrapping up and kicking people out) and found that we needed to wait in the line because they WEREN¨T EVEN LETTING PEOPLE IN YET!
christmas eve
Around 2ish they let us in and thus began a neverending Electronica dance fest. We got to see the first rays of light shining over the river but viewing the sunrise was impossible because of the North-facing balcony. Being the old lady that I am my Electronica gene shut down around 7 am and was ready to go home. After finally convincing Meghan and Isabel that we should leave so we didn´t sleep through the entire Christmas Day, we hopped in a taxi and got home at 8am. And the club was STILL packed when we left.
We woke up around 4:30 that afternoon to the voice of Jasmine yelling," We´re going to miss Chrismas! Wake up!" Everyone groggily got dressed and we had a surprise visit from 2 other friends who were also staying in Buenos Aires. More hugs and excitement and then we realized that we needed coffee.
When we returned Jasmine was cooking up the famous Argentinian steaks that she had bought and all of the carnivores seemed to be salivating. I had a bite of veggie lasagna and decided to take a shower so I could wear my pretty Christmas dress that I probably shouldn´t have bought in Valparaíso.
We feasted on potatoes, pasta, salad and (for some) steak and drank wine while discussing the past 3 weeks of adventures that we´d each separately had since the program ended. And from this Christmas I realized 2 things. First that all of my friends are admirably crazy and Second, that the Argentinans really know how to party!
