I started this post last night, but for some reason I couldn’t get my photos to load. I left it to finish today — and they still won’t load! So I decided to post it anyway with just the story. Let’s hope it sorts itself out before my next post.
My first Christmas Day in Buenos Aires! Quite a different experience from Canada, Scotland or even from last year in Ecuador. They are all lovely in their own way, and all different.
Funnily enough, Christmas doesn’t seem to be as BIG in Buenos Aires as in other places. The decorations are there, but low-key. Preparations don’t seem to happen until the day or two before Christmas, and there isn’t that over-the-top hype I’m used to. I kind of like it.
They celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day here, in the European style. I was invited to my friend Cecilia’s home to share their family Christmas. We were 6 people and 3 dogs! The meal was a delightful collection of dishes, but the main event was roast suckling pig. I had never had that before, and I must say it was delicious.
Pan Dulce — a variation on Panettoni — is very popular here, and we had some that was made by a friend of Cecilia’s. Very dense and moist, and I’m sure much better than the ones available in the supermarkets.
An interesting component of the whole experience was the weather. Christmas Eve dawned bright and clear, and the temperature soared to the low thirties, as it has been for the past couple of weeks. The doors and windows were wide open and the dogs ran happily in and out to the courtyard. At the end of the evening, after everyone else had left, Cecilia, her daughter Maracena and I took the dogs out for a walk — at 3 am! It was a lovely, balmy night, with soft warm air wafting over us as we walked along the river bank. Perfect ending to the day.
And then…
During what was left of the overnight hours, the weather changed and we had the loudest, wettest thunderstorm you could imagine! The open windows banged, the shutters banged, the inside doors of the house banged — my bedroom door even flew open and banged against the wall! The dogs were hiding under the furniture! What a change from yesterday!
And although the thunder has gone, it has rained steadily all day long. Weird. Anyway, it’s still Christmas and I still enjoyed it. Tomorrow I’m meeting some visiting Canadian friends for morning coffee, whether the weather is back to normal or not, and I’m looking forward to hearing how they spent their first Argentine Christmas.
I hope you had a lovely Christmas, wherever and however you spent it. Now we have that sort of strange week between Christmas and New Year when we’re kind of in limbo. Kind of working, but not full out.
I find it a good time to reflect on this year and look forward to the next. Undoubtedly for me, the most exciting thing about 2016 is that I spent the first three months and the last six weeks here in my beautiful Buenos Aires. It’s a new dimension to my life that I never would have envisioned before, and it’s a blessing I give thanks for every night.
That’s it for Christmas Day. I’ll keep you posted on the events of the coming week, and of New Year.