Weeks 17, 18 and 19: Project 365, the 2016 Edition

Catching up on Project 365, so this is a long post with three weeks worth of photos. If you don't feel like reading it all, just skip to May 17th for the funny bit.

Sunday, May 1

Our last Sunday with the group at Iglesia de Gracia Monte de Luz. We have so enjoyed their fellowship and have been blessed by each one!

They had a going-away lunch for us after the service, and I'm borrowing this collage put together by Vanesa (top left photo).

Tuesday, May 3

Moving Day! We moved out of the casita -- and mostly out of the garage -- to the Hoyt family home in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita. You can imagine it was not easy to drive away from our dear little casita. Just in case you don't remember, it looked like this when we bought it...

...and this when we moved out.

A lot of hard work, sweat, tears (many tears!), as well as some blood went into the transformation of the casita.

Saturday, May 7

We made a trip back to Carlos Paz to get the remaining things out of the garage.

I took a few shots of the inside of the casita before we left for the final time. Sad, but also excited for what's coming next and for the young family who bought the property and are making it their home now.

It was a looooooooooooong day! We left Sta. Rosa at 7 a.m. and got back at 9 p.m. I failed to get a photo of the trailer, but we had it loaded to the gills, and the car was filled too.

Monday, May 9

The house in Sta. Rosa is out in the boonies, in an area where we can't even get a landline. Only in the last few years did they run the city water line out this far. Our cell service is sketchy at best. We've discovered that if we go by the river, we can get a better signal.

Tuesday, May 10

Lots of gray rainy days since the move, but the occasional burst of sunshine sends us scurrying out the door for a walk. There are more deciduous trees out here than in Carlos Paz, and we are enjoying the burst of autumn color.

Wednesday, May 11

Marce, Stefi, Carlota and Tómas came to visit! We enjoyed merienda and then a few games of Jenga. So much fun!

Thursday, May 12

We went to visit good friends, Victor and Dori, who returned after some years in the U.S. in order to be closer to family. Victor is quite the woodsmith and built all the cabinetry in their kitchen (you can see some of it in the background).

Friday, May 13

My only photo today is quite blurry. Spent the day getting various annual exams done. So much fun. NOT!

Monday, May 16

Stopped at a store that sells pork products and they had a display of spices that caught our eye. We have a good friend named Wally, so of course I had to take a photo :)

Tuesday, May 17

This is one of those days that makes a good story -- after the fact! -- because it was one thing after another...

We had appointments for haircuts in Belgrano in the morning. As we neared the round-about on Route 5 in Sta. Rosa, two things happened simultaneously: the light for the battery came on the dashboard, and the car quit. Ivan pulled over, popped the hood and immediately saw the problem (the alternator/water pump belt had come off).

We coasted down the road at the round-about that goes toward our friend's tire shop. Got almost there when the grade leveled out and we couldn't coast any more. Pulled over, got our gear and walked the remaining block to the shop. Our friend wasn't there yet (learned later he was having trouble getting his car started) but Ivan reached him on the phone, and he told us to go ahead and take a work truck he keeps at the shop. So off we went...

Only to get stopped a couple kilometers down the road because we didn't have our lights on. It's a requirement here, and because on our car, our lights come on automatically when we start the car, we hadn't even given a thought about turning on the truck lights. We were just trying not to be too late for our appointments. Ten minutes later (and more story I won't go into now), we were on our way again, ticket in hand. We joke that it's a despedida from Argentina :)

Got our hair cut, chatted for a while (the stylist is an old family friend) and came out to find the truck battery was dead because Ivan had forgotten to turn the lights off. hahahaha  Is this starting to resemble a Laurel and Hardy movie, or what?!

Pamela let us use her car to jump start the truck, and we made it back to the tire store just as they were closing for lunch. Our friend helped Ivan tow the car to the shop and put it into one of the bays. The parts store was closed for lunch/siesta so there was nothing more we could do at that point. Our friend told us we could use the truck until things opened back up, so we headed home.

As we pulled off Route 5 onto the road that goes down to the river (and our place), I remembered that the keys to the house were in the car! Seriously?!?! 

Rather than go all the way back to town, we just crossed the ford at the river and drove over to Miguel and Mari's house. They are the couple who manage the property for us and live 1 km on the other side of the river. We ended up staying, having lunch and visiting with them for two hours... and getting their set of keys so Ivan could change into work clothes and drop me off at the house. Thankfully the parts store opens back up at 3:30 so he was able to get the new belts and get right to work on the car, and he had it fixed within a few hours. Not a quick or easy job since the belts are lined up, and he had to take off the first two before he could get to the alternator/water pump belt (he just changed them all while he was at it).

So grateful we had car trouble when and where we did, because the next day we drove over the mountains and back to Carlos Paz and then Cordoba. Can you imagine if it had happened out in the middle of nowhere?

Wednesday, May 18

A day of despedidas with friends in Carlos Paz. From left to right:

First we had coffee mid-morning with Sabrina, our friend and trusted dentist. I am so NOT looking forward to finding a new dentist! Sabrina has taken such good care of us, and gone above and beyond what normal dentists do. She was also very careful about making sure I didn't experience any pain during various procedures -- and remember, I've had a bunch the last few years!, including three implants, multiple crowns, root canals...

Then lunch with Nestor and Graciela, who were some of the first people we got to know, even before we moved here! We met them in 2007 during a visit. Our first year in Argentina Graciela was such a help and encouragement as I worked on learning Spanish. She came over once a week to help me practice conversation. They pretty much adopted us and included us in family get-togethers over the years.

Eduardo and Mariana have been a huge blessing! Eduardo helped Ivan finish up a bunch of projects on the property before we moved; we couldn't have done it without him.

God has blessed us with so many good friends here!

Late afternoon we headed into Cordoba and checked into the Sol de Piedra hotel, chosen because it's a block from the clinic where we'll be spending a good portion of our time. The hotel has lots of photos of historical places in the city, and each room is named after one of the buildings. We're in the Paseo del Buen Pastor room:

Thursday, May 19

We actually started planning this little pre-anniversary get-away months ago. Who knew it would turn into a medical "vacation" instead? Since we wanted to get as much medical stuff done here as possible, it just worked out that we both had doctor appointments during this get-away, plus I had another test. All this to say we've spent a lot of time at the clinic over the past couple months and have the layout down pat, knowing where to go for what. Here's Ivan in the front lobby where we pick up test results.

The hotel has a very nice breakfast spread each morning, but not much on offer for the celiacs of the world. I had rice crackers and fruit salad with my morning coffee. Plenty of variety for Ivan though.

Another despedida this evening, with long-time Hoyt family friends, the Colles. We weren't able to see everyone, but did get to visit with Mirta, Roberto, Lorena and husband Miguel plus their children. Cannot even begin to tell you how much this family means to us!

Friday, May 20

Ivan went with me in the morning for my doctor appointment (I still don't trust my Spanish enough for important things like that), but I went on my own for the afternoon CT scan because he was stuck in traffic while running an errand that had to be done today (since we're heading back to Sta. Rosa in the morning), and it doesn't take much translation to get a test like that done. It was with a huge sigh of relief that I walked out of the clinic at 2 p.m. Done, finito, finished with the medical stuff (we hope!).

We met up at the hotel a short time later and headed to the nearby mall where they have a huge food court. We thought that by 3 p.m. the lunch crowd would have thinned out. Boy, were we wrong! But at least we were able to get our food fairly quickly, and eventually found a table. The walk back to the hotel was nice; the sun was shining and we enjoyed the sights. Cordoba is a happening city!

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Pretty sure this will be my last post from Argentina. No internet at the house in Sta. Rosa and so much going on the next two weeks, it's unlikely I'll have time to do more. We still have projects on the house, packing, and more despedidas.

D-day (departure day) is fast approaching. We'll be driving to Buenos Aires a few days before we fly out, so we can get the title on the car changed into the name of the friend who is buying it. Hard to believe but we'll arrive in Chicago two weeks from tomorrow!