I have a new kitchen sink cupboard! Hallelujah!

This was what was left of the old kitchen sink cupboard. I kid you not, once we took the countertop off, there was nothing left to hold the soggy, mildewy mess together and it just sort of disintegrated. YUCK!

I didn't think there could be anything nastier than the stove that was here when we moved in, which required HOURS of cleaning. I was wrong. This was so much worse I cannot begin to tell you...we even found a mushroom growing on the back of the cabinet! DOUBLE YUCK! I am definitely not showing you photos of the interior of the cupboard before we took it apart. After all, this is a family friendly blog, not some sci-fi horror freak show.

I scrubbed the wall, the floor, the sink and granite countertop (which we re-used) while the hubby finished building the base and cabinets, and voila! A thing of beauty!

The cleaning supplies are now put away in the cupboard on the right and all of yesterday's dirty dishes soaking in the sinks. The hubby replaced all the pipe thingies and drains so now I can use the sinks and not have to haul basins back and forth. Hallelujah! I might even come to enjoy doing dishes.

Nah.

Last night my Spanish tutor picked us up at 10 p.m. and we took our weary bodies downtown to enjoy a little free entertainment. During the summer the municipalidad sponsors a myriad of shows. Under the direction of world famous ballet master Julio Bocca, a group from Ballet Argentina performed Perfumes (pronounced "pair-foo-mess"), an hour and a half of "escencias de tango, vals, jazz y bolero" which is just a fancy Spanish way of saying tango, jazz and modern dance numbers.

Perhaps most shocking of all, it started ON TIME. LOL You can only appreciate that if you're familiar with the culture here. It wasn't easy finding a place to park ourselves. The gently sloping lawn was crowded with people sitting, standing, sprawling on the ground... Vendors, weaving in and out hawking their wares, distracted and annoyed as they kept blocking our line of sight. As more and more people arrived (I think the bulk of the crowd arrived late because they never expected it to, you know, start ON TIME) and encroached on our space (i.e., standing right in front of where we were sitting, thereby totally obstructing our view), we kept moving in an attempt to see the stage. The folks behind us were even more aggravated and kept shouting to those standing, "Sientese!" (Sit down!) Which those standing just completely ignored in true Argentine fashion. Watching the crowd was entertaining in and of itself ☺

Having worked on the sink cupboard right up until we had to get ready to leave for the show, we were hungry and stopped for pizza afterward. We managed to pick the one pizza place that was low on wait staff. I don't know how many pizzerias there are in Carlos Paz, but I would hazard a guess that there are dozens -- pizza is a favorite of the tourists and the locals. Anyway, we sat there for over half an hour without anyone coming to clean the table or take our order. Finally my tutor saw one of the owners and gave a shout out and he personally came and took care of us. The pizza was very good, the best I've had in Carlos Paz (I had some truly amazing pizza in Buenos Aires in November) with the crust thin and crispy the way I like it.

Pizza here is not at all like pizza in the U.S. There's little or no sauce and they layer on slices of lunchmeat and cheese and whole olives (with the pit). Or whatever you order for toppings. There are some things I just don't think should go on pizza but that's a personal preference kind of thing. I am no longer shocked that eggs go on almost everything, from hamburgers to pizza. Can I just say TRIPLE YUCK?! And yet they think we're nuts to eat eggs for breakfast!

So we didn't get home until 1:15 this morning. I'm just getting to be a regular late night party animal. LOL But it was fun and I'm glad we went. We missed the big folk festival in Cosquin last week; there just wasn't time. I think I enjoyed this more anyway. Next year we hope to get to Cosquin, though, so I'll let you know then how it compares.

Update: My FIL was transferred to Grace Village yesterday and he'll be there several weeks for physical therapy before he's ready to go home. We're hoping all the moving around doesn't confuse him too much. They live just down the block from G.V. so now mom can be home and yet close at hand.