Buenos Aires - Day 4

Have you ever been a missionary? Have you ever been to a missionary's house/compound/facility in a country outside the US, say in South America? I haven't been a missionary, but I've been to a missionary compound two hours outside of Buenos Aires, in San Miguel del Monte. It was awesome from a people perspective, but there was no running water (you flushed the toilet with a bucket of water) and they used the "swipe and drop" toilet paper disposal method (versus the common US method of "swipe and flush").  It's simple really, the septic can't handle toilet paper. I understood that and I happily adhered to that process.

Why am I bringing this up? Because today I finally translated a sign in the ladies room of our Buenos Aires office. This is a "swipe and drop" location. Oh dear. I never expected that to be a possibility in the city, yet it is an old building and who knows when the plumbing was installed. And for three days I have not properly adhered to the appropriate procedure. I'm truly sure that it would take a lot more toilet paper to cause real damage and a backup, but who knows who else can't read that sign? I'm glad that God, in His infinite mercy, did not let anything horrible happen! How would you like explaining that the American gal who talks really fast couldn't read the sign in Spanish and flushed her TP? Dear God. No way. I have to work with these people!

We also had a blackout today. Apparently the power company lost it's ability to maintain power to the facility. This stuff happens occasionally here and the staff kept on working for awhile.  We were then informed that we should leave because the toilets would no longer flush and the network was down. Oh, dang. Ultimately, after about an hour in the dark (and thankfully no need to use the facilities) the power came back on (apparently nearly an act of God because they told the staff that it wouldn't be back today). I'm just glad we weren't in the elevators or something when it went out (we're on the 9th floor of the building). YIKES that would have been no fun!!!

We did have ceviche mixto for lunch today... I've included a picture (albeit not a good one thanks to taking it on my crappy work Blackberry). It was so, so good...

Tonight we finally made it down to Puerto Madero. It's so beautiful down there. There is the little river/port thingy and loads of restaurants.  It was fantastico. It looks just like I remembered it. It's one of my favorite places - very peaceful with the water and this cool bridge and such.  We walked down the riverfront and then picked a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.  One of the things I love most about Argentina is that nothing is processed when it comes to meals. Nothing. Tonight I started with ensalada mixta (mixed salad) that they prepared at the table. Salads are dressed very simply here - just olive oil, vinegar, and salt. That's it. And they are so good. Then I had hand-made fetuccini arrabiata - a spicy tomato sauce they made with fresh tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and bacon. It was simple and really fantastic.  My colleague had grilled fish and roasted veggies. again, simple and fantastico. 

Another thing I like about Buenos Aires is the walking. We walk to work - about 1/2 mile both ways. We walk to breakfast. We walk to dinner. Today I think we walked a total of about 3 miles. That's been about the average every day I've been here. Everything is within walking distance for the most part. We were very fortunate tonight, though. While we were eating dinner there was this little rain shower... Did we have umbrellas? No, of course not! Thankfully, God is merciful and it was a dry (but humid) walk back to the hotel. 

Day 4 officially at an end. And I'm going to bed.