Arriving in Buenos Aires
Having made it down to Buenos Aires in a luxury coach with full length beds, I wandered through the city with my two bags, making my way slowly to the subway entry. On the way to my destination, the YWAM base in Ituzaingo, I stopped at the home of some old friends from the
LIFE Argentina ministry.
At this house I heard how two of the workers had left over the time since I last saw them, and how well things were going for the ministry these days. It was good to see some old friends again, and I marvelled at how our friendships had lasted during a break of well over a year.
My luxury bus
Moving onward, via train and bus and walking, I finally arrive at the Ituzaingo base and get acquainted with both the new and old faces that are still here. Most of the staff have gone for the holidays but there are still around 60 people including students left here. The students have just finished the training part of their course and are about to leave for their outreach phase in a few days.
This Christmas was my very first Christmas ever in Argentina. The year before I was alone in a hotel room on the beaches of Viña del Mar in Chile, and the year before that in a hostel in Barcelona, Spain. There is nothing like spending Christmas with friends.
Welcome to Buenos Aires
Christmas Dinner
On Christmas Eve a group of tables were placed out on the grass between the buildings. The temperature was a moderate 25 degrees (Celsius) and cooled off as the night progressed. Scheduled to start at 9.00pm, we were now accustomed to waiting significantly longer before seeing things truly get underway. True to form, our dinner started sometime around 10.00pm. I say sometime around then because we all started wandering out and filling up the tables at this time. Even as late as 11.00pm people were coming out to sit down at the tables. But it was around 10pm that we started.
Everybody was very dressed up for this night. Girls in evening dresses and sparkling jewellery, guys in dress pants and fancy shirts, and all oozing the sweet scents of perfume. In my casual jeans, t-shirt and a casual button-up thrown over the top as a coat, I felt noticeably out of place, although the unshaven stubble probably helped me to remain consistent in my style.
With most people seated, food was initially served to us, and then left on the dedicated food table, where we were able to help ourselves to more as we desired. There was an abundance of food present, more than any of us could possibly eat, and a large range of choice from which to select. My preferences were the pizza slices, juicy chicken breasts, and special ham and cheese sandwiches with a flavour all of their own. Of course there were salads and other niceties, but I hardly noticed those.
Some still hovering around the desert table.
After dinner was desert, with specialities from all over the world. My favourite was the special cake from Latvia that Maija made, based on her grandmother's recipe, although the chocolate and sugar coated peanuts and the large range of cakes and sweet breads were also very enticing. With so much to choose from and all so delicious, it was no wonder that everybody converged onto the desert table until we had eaten our fill.
Celebrating Christmas
It was getting very close to midnight by now, so we all wandered over to the sound system where we gathered as a group and chatted while we waited. Only moments before midnight the countdown began. It felt just like the New Years Eves that I have experienced in Australia all of my life. At the stroke of midnight everyone cheered and then kissed and hugged each other, wishing each person in turn a "Feliz Navidad" or "Merry Christmas." The kissing of course was kissing on the cheek, typical of greetings in this culture.
It took some time to move around our group of around 60 people, kissing and hugging each one, and wishing them a great Christmas. Some of the girls danced and jumped in the joy of the moment. Couples clung to each other and stared into each others eyes, rejoicing in the joy of the moment. An emotion of joy and contentment touched us all.
4th of July Celebrations
As our well-wishing came to an end, the boys pulled out the multitude of fireworks that they had purchased for just this moment. This was a night to celebrate, and judging by the sounds of explosions all over the neighbourhood, everybody was celebrating hard.
Even before our fireworks could be lit, there were bangs and splashes of light reaching above the trees and buildings surrounding us. Dozens of bubbles of glowing paper rose into the night sky as the candle inside them continued to heat these crude hot air balloons and the wind carried them to unknown places. As I was pondering the safety of all of these glowing torches floating through the sky, one caught alight, and its ascent turned rapidly into a plunge as this flaming ball of fire crashed down on some unsuspecting house below.
One of the fireworks that behaved.
Soon our fireworks were lit, and shooting flames of fire and splashes of light into the night sky, their bangs, pops, and whizzes joining in with the already loud cacophony of noises echoing throughout the area. Everyone gathered together to watch this wonderful display of amazing lights, oohing and ahhing at each creative display.
Suddenly and without warning a box of already firing fireworks toppled over onto its side. Instead of shooting its payload of a dozen flaming rockets upward, it was now pointing directly at the crowd and hot balls of fire, one after the other, were launched at high velocity into their midst.
This group of elegantly dressed people took a moment to realise what was happening, but as they did there was a wave of panic set amongst them and they all soon started running to escape these fireballs. The expiring box of rockets under the force of each launch, managed to move just enough so that each proceeding rocket continued to aim directly at the crowd. No matter where they ran, a rocket was heading their way.
Finally the box expired and the crowd, now dispersed, were a lot more wary.
War Games
The boys, after the larger fireworks had launched, pulled out some Roman Candles which are the long hand-held sticks that shoot a coloured ball of fire at regular intervals. Rather than being satisfied with watching the balls of light reach into the sky, they push one of their friends out in front of them, and proceed to try and "shoot" him with their fireballs.
Playing wargames amongst friends.
This unfortunate fella then has to run around the place, dodging each ball of flames, until the sticks finally burn out. Sometimes there is only one person "shooting" at him, but often there are two. Both those wielding the Roman Candles and him who is the "prey" of the moment, consider this to be a great game and the amount of laughter and shouting that goes along with it all would indicate this to be true.
The Party Afterwards
With the fireworks finished, the music was turned up loud and the party got underway. Dancing, chatting, and just plain having fun was the order of the night. One by one, people slowly started to retire for the night. I turned in at around 2.30am with the music still blaring at massive volumes, some stayed up until 6am or later.
From my room, our music blended with other noises and music all over the neighbourhood. This was an Argentine Christmas.
Everyone dancing in front of the tables after dinner.
Christmas Day
Most rose very late today. It was the day after for most people. Those of us from western countries wished each other a merry Christmas for today was the day that you do this. Wishing one of the Argentines a merry Christmas, he looked at us and asked us why we were doing this now, since last night was the time for that. We explained that this was what you do in our culture. He smiled and thanked us, but the puzzled look never left his face. For him, Christmas had already been welcomed.
We smiled as he left, then turned and wished everyone a merry Christmas once again. For today was Christmas.