Hija y Yerno
Well it was quite an ordeal, but Rachel and Jonathan finally arrived in Buenos Aires on Christmas morning. A huge winter storm moved into Denver on the day that they were to depart DIA. They made several valiant plans to get out of town, including driving south and east to Dallas/Fort Worth to catch a plane to make their Miami connection, but each plan was thwarted by the weather. As flights continued to be cancelled, and all of the roads out of Denver eventually being shut down, it became clear that they would be delayed. Some quick calls were made, and they were confirmed on flights three days later, albeit Denver to Las Vegas to Miami to Buenos Aires. It was great to see them waiting for us at EZE.
Although we missed out on a few days, we got to do much of what we had hoped - the subte to downtown, the bus to Boca, a car trip to Pinamar for a couple days at the beach, a day trip to Adulam, relaxing at Casa Holden, and of course, many fine meals at some of our favorite places as well as a couple of new ones. One of the new restaurants specialized in cuisine from Southeast Asia, and how we found out about it was a most interesting multicultural experience. Background - Rachel and Jon both did service work with the Mennonite Central Committee, Rachel in Nicaragua and Jon in Viet Nam, and thus learned the respective languages. Jon also studied in Spain, and thus speaks some Spanish as well. And, the Viet Nam Embassy is just a few blocks from Casa Holden. So, on one of our neighborhood walks, we approached the embassy as a car with several Vietnamese was parking. As they got out of the car and headed toward the embassy, Jon addressed them in Vietnamese. Needless to say, they were a bit taken aback!! After chatting for a bit, they invited us into the Embassy for tea and more conversation, mainly in Vietnamese, with some Spanish and English thrown in now and then. The four members of the diplomatic service did not fully endorse any restaurant, but they did give us two suggestions. Quite a memorable experience!!!
