Día del Campo

One of the excursions with my program was a "Día del Campo" (country day), where we head to Luján, a nearby town northwest of Buenos Aires and spend the whole day in an estancia, or small family farm.

First though, we stopped at la Basilica de Luján, which was a beautiful cathedral! It happened to be Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) though, so it was packed.

Blessing the palms/other personal items with holy water.

There were a ton of stands outside selling various goods... Warning: I'm going to buy a tshirt with the Pope's
face on it before I leave Argentina. I promise not to wear it here... but I might wear it every day when I get back. (I will wear it every day when I get back)
Guillermo (one of the leaders of our program) was saying how now that the Pope is Argentinian, suddenly everyone wants to be Catholic here. Me.. too..
(Sidenote: I was shocked and appalled yesterday when I learned that the Pope's name in the rest of the world is Francis. I thought his name was just Francisco everywhere like it is here. That disappoints me more than it should...)

Because when cotton candy is offered you do not decline. Even if it's 10:00am and you're at a Cathedral...

This was lunch. This was the meat (one of three racks).

The estancia (kinda like a ranch, in English) was beautiful. For some reason I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of the actual place... sorry about that.

And this is the Great Hall where we ate drank and were merry.

The workers were dressed up in traditional Argentine clothes, and performed typical country dances and music for us. It was pretty cool! It seemed really tourist-y to me--which I didn't love, like the elitist travel I am (sarcasm)--but there were just as many Argentine families there as there were Americans, so I guess some people just come out from the city to spend a day in the country and see the old lifestyle too!

I'd say we spent about 80% of our time there eating. Just. Eating. You'd think it was the last course but they just kept bringing more... and the meat. Argentines love their meat. They played a special meat song and everyone cheered when the meat was brought in on platters!

Adorable boy on his pony is adorable. 

Six peacocks siting on a roof. Sounds like the beginning of one of mom's preschool songs...

I didn't take any pictures of the beautiful house, or scenic countryside, or folk dancers, but I did take a lot of pictures of these birds, because I know what the people want. (Joke).

Also I got bit by a dog. No sign of rabies so far.

WELL. In 24 hours I will be 4 hours in to one of the biggest adventures of my LIFE. (13 days, 5 hostels, 4 cities, over 2000 miles, and 1 ticket to Lollapalooza Chile.) And quite honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen. I should have internet in most of the hostels so I'll try to check in every now and then to let you know I'm alive, but I probably won't be able to upload pictures til I get back--so look forward to a HUGE update in about two weeks! 
Love you all!
¡Que te vaya bien!
Besos,
Abby