Back to the normal day.

The ladies and I were off to the airport by 7. I dropped them off and came back to meet Bob and Theresa Schwinghammer and Roger Nickerson at the golf course. I had several good holes but several bad ones too. I didn’t score too well though. On the way home I stopped to get some forever stamps. I went to the local Ship and More and bought 8 books. I had a brain freeze and discovered I had paid a collar surcharge on each book--after I got home. I quickly mounted the bicycle and went back to return them. They took them back but not without a struggle. I came home and we finished the leftovers from yesterday at Dirty Al’s. Evelyn spent the afternoon ironing, and I worked on trying to purchase airline tickets for the Beelis. This is a very difficult process for some reason. I have to find a airline that will fly into Knoxville. We got ready and rode our bikes to the hospital conference center for a celebration of life in honor of cancer survivors and caregivers. They served a light meal featuring a delicious cheese and jam dip. I made several trips to the cheese tray. I also won a door prize of a $10 gift certificate and a stationery gift set. We came home and I poured 2 cans of Coke onto our rust stained concrete driveway. The neighbor thinks it will help remove the stains. We will use their power washer on it tomorrow. We discovered that the appointment we thought we had with the endocrinologist tomorrow is actually next Thursday. We will probably go to McAllen anyway because I may get myself into a study concerning a hearing aid. We watched the Purdue women put up a valiant fight against the #1 seed in their regional. I continued trying for the airline tickets.

The last day of visit

We were not any earlier but on the routine. Some of the men in the park are still trying to find the external shut off valve. I helped them a bit and then we all left for South Padre Island. We were out there by 11:30 and drove up the strip to look at the construction and shop. We had planned to walk on the beach but it was cool and very windy. Neither of the women wanted to go out there. We just drove and then went to Dirty Al’s for their famous, jumbo shrimp. Doris and Freida bought our lunches. We had agreed for them to take us out once but not twice. I was stopped for speeding on the way to the island but escaped with a warning ticket. I had not seen the 55 sign. We stopped at the Prime Outlet Mall on the way home because Doris wanted to buy a dress. She found nothing acceptable. We returned home, ate some leftovers, and watched Dancing with the Stars before retiring. We have to be at the airport around 7:30 tomorrow morning.

Some possible good news

We all went to worship and were surprised that 32 people came. Many of the residents have gone home but those still here came out in force. We went from there to Immanuel in Mercedes for a special service rededicating the stain glass windows that had been covered on the outside for protection from future hurricanes. We had missed the fact that the service had been changed from 10:30 to 10 so we were late, missing the first number the choir sang. We joined in on the others. We all went to the celebration dinner after and enjoyed the catered beef meal. We came home and relaxed in the afternoon, watching the college basketball games. Our visitors are UNC fans. At 5:30 I went to the hall to help serve ice cream. The ladies followed at 6. The object was to empty the ice cream containers for the summer. We did a good job. We all came home and the visitors ate ham sandwiches. We also had popcorn while we went through the first half of our South America trip. I was blessed to learn that Air Tran may have a flight to Asheville beginning in June. This will remove a burden from Stacy who is not crazy about driving to our house 2 times while Emily and her girls visit in July. I will pray that the contract is signed between Air Tran and the Asheville airport. We are planning a trip to South Padre Island with our visitors tomorrow for their final day of visiting with us.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

We were exercising as usual. The guests were up and dressed by 9:30. Evelyn had planned to take them to several places around town. They went off to lunch also after picking up another winter Texan that attends Immanuel. I rode my bike to the hospital, carrying a copy of Pieder’s manuscript to mail. I couldn’t mail it at the park nor the hospital so I had to ride on to the Ship and More on 6th. I had just missed the postman but saw him nearby and took the package to him because the postage had been prepaid. I rode back to the hospital and sweated for almost an hour after being in the air conditioning. Did I mention that the high temperature was 101? I made a couple of plans for next week and a rescheduled appointment to have our vascular screening. We had forgotten our first appointment. I returned home at 5 to find everyone asleep. When they arose, we decided to go to the Remington House for dinner. Frieda and Doris wanted to take us out for having them visit. I used a 25% off coupon to save them money. I shared my meal, an appetizer of nachos deluxe, and then Evelyn and I shared a type of fajita that was delicious. We had been unable to find any activity we were interested in so we just came home and watched a bit of the NCAA tournament before retiring. We plan to go to Mexico tomorrow, and, praise God, it is supposed to be in the 70s. It would be impossible to go if it were 101 again.

Busy day with the visitors

Evelyn went to exercise again and I walked. I drove to pick her up and took her to the oncologists at 8:30. I went on to the bank to cash a check. I returned a got Evelyn. Her report was good, and we went on to the Rehab center to perform with the kitchen band. From there we went to get some napkins for Evelyn’s party tonight and on to a discount paint store to get some primer for our front door. We made it to the airport at exactly the time the flight carrying our friends arrived. We picked up the ladies and offered to take them to the Iwo Jima museum, but they weren’t interested. We went out for fish for lunch and came on back to Weslaco. We stopped to get some birthday cards and came home. Evelyn fixed the baked beans for the kitchen band party and then we went to the Horseman for the winter Texan appreciation party because one of the owners had personally invited me. Also the ladies wanted to see a real Texas honkey tonk. I had 1 beer and we danced 1 dance. We returned home and went across the street to the party. I drove the golf cart to pick up one of the ladies who can’t walk far enough to the party. We had hamburgers and many carry in dishes. We took our guests too and had a good time. Evelyn had to leave around 7 to go to the LWML meeting. I watched the Purdue/Uconn basketball game. Evelyn returned blessed by the Lord as usual. The ladies who had been awake since 4:45 this morning went to bed at 9 and 9:30.

Choir at church

Evelyn was able to return to exercise while I walked around. A couple approached me to enroll in the Driver Safety Class I will hold April 2. I have just enough books for the 7 signed up. I spent some time yesterday contacting the students about the cost and the time we will meet. Evelyn had been invited to a brunch held for the evening Bible study group, so I just ate my breakfast of cereal and yogurt. I worked on getting the top off the table where I sit my grill. Bob Schwinghammer had given me another top to put on. I also put the mulch around our back yard. Some men are still looking for our water valve without much success. I worked on the message during the afternoon while Evelyn worked on preparing her strawberry dessert for her Mary/Martha group tomorrow night. We had found a bargain on strawberries yesterday. The Lord is good at providing bargains for us. The man who called and promised to look at the golf cart failed to show. I don’t think we will ever sell that thing. I pray the Lord has a different plan. We left for church and choir practice just before 7. We had an “expensive” supper of empanadas that Evelyn made. They were quite good. We went off to Lenten service and stayed to practice with the choir. The windows in the church have been refurbished, and there will be a special praise service this coming Sunday at 10:30. We will go there after our worship at Trail’s End.

Surprise change of plans

I was up at 7 but allowed Evelyn to continue sleeping. I took the key to unlock the video cabinet so the exercise group could go on. I walked around and returned home around 9. Evelyn woke but went back to sleep around 9:30. She had been awake until 1:41 Monday night. I went on to the Bible study in case someone showed up. No one did. I came home around 11 and found Evelyn awake. We had our breakfast and then lunch later. We did keep our points down. We went shopping because we needed some last minute items for our visitors and some things from Walgreen. I got gas on the way home and had the car washed in the system attached to the gas station. I don’t remember if I have ever done that before. It only cost $4.50 because the deal was 10 cents off per gallon with a wash. The machine did a good job. We came home and took a long walk around the park. I did some more review on the sermon. I called NC to confirm the arrival time of our visitors tomorrow and learned I was one day early. They won't arrive until Thursday. I would have made another dry run to the airport had I not called. It was late or I would have made golf plans for tomorrow morning.

looking for water

We were up walking/exercising at 7. Evelyn had slept through the night for a change. She had been awake 32 hours aside from yesterday’s hour nap. We went to the park meeting and then came home. Several men were digging in our yard looking for our main water shut off valve. No one can seem to find it. I tried to contact the previous owner but learned he is in the hospital. Perhaps he can tell us where the valve might be. We had breakfast and then I found 2 couples to use the tickets I won this morning to the Killer Bees playoff game. I just happened to call in as the 2nd caller and won a “family 4 pack” for tonight’s game. We couldn’t go because we had plans for dinner and cards with the Bauknechts. We rested in the afternoon after I worked a bit on the sermon. We were having chips and salsa by 4:30 and dinner by 6. All people are trying to eat everything from their freezers and refrigerators. We will be here a bit longer than many in the nearby parks. We always have great meals prepared by Alice. We played Hand and Foot afterward as usual, but the women won this time. We were home shortly after 10 and were in bed after Jay Leno’s “Headlines”. Some of the headlines people send in are very funny.

figuring income taxes

Sunday was the last big attendance at our service. We had 43 but many are leaving this week to return north. I enjoyed preaching God’s Word to them and will miss them. We were also blessed with Holy Communion. Afterward we talked with a Canadian widow lady from the park next door, planning to go to the grocery and then pick her up to go to a Chinese buffet for lunch. When we got to her home, she had prepared a lunch for us. I knew she wanted to take us to lunch, and this was even better because it avoided an argument about who should pay. We stayed until 1 and returned home. It was a blessing from God because the man who had promised to help me with the tax return came at 1:30. Evelyn went for a nap, and we worked on the TaxAct website. He really helped me a lot because he could read some of the papers I had received concerning income. We finished and will file shortly. We will receive a refund. After he left, a man came to look at the golf cart but was not interested in buying. He had come a long way to see it. Evelyn worked outside with some of the plants and inside cleaning some of the couches. I made popcorn for our supper and then we took a walk. The evening was breezy and very pleasant. We returned home and she watched the final DVD in the evening Bible study series. I have to work on next week’s message early because the visitors will arrive Wednesday and take much of our time.

Last of the stock show

Saturday is the day to sleep in and we did. We didn’t get up until after 9. We cleaned up and readied ourselves to go to work the stock show. We heated some leftover soup before going to hand out programs. Interestingly enough we had several questions we couldn’t answer. The location of the first aid station should have been on the map but wasn’t. We didn’t know about a lost and found area or the ATM machines either. We did find them but after we left work. I wanted to see the new booth that handed out Christian materials. I worked in it several years ago but a new group was now in charge. It was not nearly as large. We returned to see a few of the winning animals auctioned off to large corporate buyers. I was surprised to see that many of them had been decorated in various ways. I was sorry I had not brought the camera. We returned home in time to see small snipets of the Purdue/Washington NCAA tournament basketball game. Purdue won by 2 points but will have to play one of the tournament favorites next Saturday. We ate some tamales from Christmas for supper and then took a walk. We visited with Bob and Theresa, telling him that I wouldn’t play golf next Wednesday because we have to go get our guests from NC that day. I came home and went over the service again.

Saving the last dance

I was up and spread the mulch in front of the house while Evelyn exercised. When she came home, she finished while I talked with a man who had expressed interest in our extra golf cart. He was afraid he would have to do something to it but was “no mechanic”. I am not either but have enough sense to find someone who could do repairs. He didn’t buy it. I showered and dressed for our hospital shift. Evelyn finished her work, showered and dressed too. She prepared a shrimp stir fry for lunch, and then we left for the hospital. We had a busy day where I work but Evelyn left early and went to Big Lots to get some marked down St. Patrick’s Day decorations for tonight’s dance. We set up some green decorations as did the band. We had asked some friends to help us and worked with them to get ready. The people who normally sell tickets were not able to work so I sold tickets. We had only 77 paid admissions so we lost a bit of money on the dance but made some on the 50/50 drawing and soda sales. We had another couple who stayed to help us clean up the hall before we went home. Evelyn had been up since 4 this morning and went to bed. We have pretty well decided it would be too expensive to take the granddaughters to a dude ranch as planned and Stacy would rather come to NC as would we. There are places to ride horses in that area and are probably prettier trails. We could stay at our house, saving boocoo bucks on lodging.

Thursday at the stock show.

Thursday we went to Valley Grande Manor to entertain the residents. We are sad to see the condition of the people and dread the day when our turn may come. We do thank God for the places that will provide care for us if we have to go. We left there and took things to the recycle center. From there we went to Home Depot and bought 8 bags of mulch for our home. I deposited the check I received for preaching at Llano Grande last Sunday and headed home. We received a call from Janice saying Morgan would be showing her hog at the Stock Show around 1. We rushed home, ate a salad and went to the show. We were there in time and saw her take second prize in the crossbreed category. Don and Janice wanted to go to the bull riding event in the evening so we came home so I could work on the sermon before going back to meet them for supper and the rodeo. We did that and had a loaded baked potato before going to the rodeo. It was a hot day but cool evening. There were around 30 riders competing but only 4 ever made the 8 second ride. It is vicariously painful to watch the young men fall from the backs of the bulls, sometimes even being stomped or kicked. The clowns do a fine job of protecting them as much as possible. We always enjoy the “fuzz buster” events in which kids around 5 or 6 try to ride a sheep as far as they can. They hold on tight to the wool and some make quite a trip. We came home and went to bed late.

golf and a concert

I was off to play golf at 8:30 with Bob Schwinghammer at Stuart Place. I had a couple of good holes but a couple of very bad ones. I was still under 50. We came home and began lunch before Evelyn was reminded we had planned to worship at noon this Wednesday. We did go and returned to finish our lunch. We went to Trail’s End to pick up Bruhns to go to dinner at Costa Messa Restaurant. We had coupons for 20% off but got 50% for some reason. We really liked the restaurant, the service and the food. I also had the permission of the owners of Lutheran Worship at our park to give them away. We have too many sets of hymnals, and the park is pressing us to get rid of some. We went on to the concert featuring “Pianafiddle”, 2 performers playing guess what instruments. They were great musicians but not the concert that was best to my liking. The pianist was 70, and the violinist was 35. They gave a very interesting show. We returned to Bruhn’s to see some pictures of the “teardrop” trailer he had built last summer. It was very ingenious in design and construction.

Tuesday in the green

Tuesday was normal in the routine. I walked quite a bit in the fog before returning home to clean up. We had to hurry to the Bible study at 10. We led some of it by watching videos about Mormons. We had dressed in our hospital clothes so we could go to the volunteer appreciation luncheon. One thing is in process, however. Some of the men in the park are trying to find the shut off valve to the neighbor’s water. We are interested because it is also our shut off valve. We can shut off the water inside our house but not outside. We might need to do that sometime. We rode our bicycles to the luncheon where I received my 250 hour volunteer pin. I have served 303 hours, but Evelyn has served 412 hours. She didn’t get a pin because the next level is 500 hours. We had a delicious filet mignon for lunch, prepared by the hospital chef. The meat must have weighed 6-8 ounces. We returned home just in time to attend the bike club pad party. We ate a bit more there so we didn’t have any supper. The Drews came to visit a while and left their portable storage unit with us. We took another walk and spent the evening researching dude ranches in the Bandera and Maggie Valley areas in case the girls can come in the spring. We finally found a couple to go to the concert with us tomorrow evening.

Monday

Monday was park meeting day. Many activities are closing down for the season. We still have 1 dance this coming Friday. We came home and ate breakfast before going to the stock show to work. On the way we met a Mary Kay dealer who gave us 25% off a lipstick and took a small golf bag to an upholsterer to have repaired. We went on to work. It was slow but very pleasant to work. We give schedule of events brochures to people as they come in. Things were so slow that we both were able to take breaks. Evelyn saw computer pictures of this year’s cotton fabric style show. I went around the carnival area. There was a tremendous number of rides but many were of the same concept, just different plastic shells on them. There were also many games of skill (knocking cats over with softballs, etc.) and even some side shows (2 headed turtle or 2 headed anything). We came back through Mercedes and brought the repaired bag home. We ate an early supper and then walked around looking for another couple to invite to accompany us to the concert Wednesday. Evelyn went to bed early, and I watched Headlines on the Tonight Show. I had prepared and practiced some of the liturgy for Sunday’s service.

Two blessed services

We were blessed with our worship this morning. I delivered the first sermon by just following notes instead of reading. I thought it went well but was worried in the beginning. We had a speaker from the Gideon’s International, then left for Llano Grande where I read a different sermon. There were 44 at Trail’s End and 280 at Llano Grande. I received many compliments there and praise God for them. We came home and ate a large lunch before watching Purdue win the Big Ten tournament. I also took the bike I bought and some other things to the trailer parked at Winston’s. I learned that Randy, their son who had borrowed it for his ski trip, had bought 2 new tires, reversed the Maxxaire vent, and installed some grease buddies to keep the bearings greased. We will offer to pay for some of the tires. Joe and Bonny came for popcorn and a travel show narration of our trip to Sud America. They enjoyed it and left around 10. We went to bed shortly thereafter.

Restitution

The steady light drizzle and cold led to the postponing of the wind up golf game. We had 4 items we wanted to sell, so I went to the park garage sale in the hall. We were blessed to sell all of them except the golf cart. We did have several people look at it but no buyers. Evelyn had some clothes there too but sold only 1. We brought what was left home and had our lunch. We ate light, knowing that we would have many “points” to eat at the wind up golf party that was not cancelled. We watched Purdue beat Penn State in the big 10 tournament in the early afternoon. Evelyn had been up since 3 this morning so she took a nap. I went to the hall without her because I was supposed to ask the blessing. I go the microphone but had to say something first. I had been mildly chastised for taking some beer home from the party in January. The reason I did that was that I was taking an antibiotic, requiring that I give up my alcoholic intake. Since I had paid for the party like everyone else, I took the beer I would have normally drunk home and drank it a few days later when I stopped the medicine. I was told that no beer was to be taken from the hall. I explained this to the crowd present and announced that I had brought the beer back and had added 1/5 to it (another beer). This seemed to satisfy the crowd. Some even applauded. I quickly went into the prayer so people would not have to wait. I went home, got Evelyn and returned. We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs. We ate too many points and I drank my usual 5 beers. There were items left over, and, since this was the final party of the year, the committee wanted to sell them. We bought 3 beers and some meat to bring for another day. We spent the evening tring to select pictures from our trip to print on paper so Evelyn can put them into an album that will rarely be seen. I also watched a Glenn Beck special that was very inspiring. I put finishing touches on both messages for tomorrow.

It was much colder this morning. It was also windier. The blessing was that it also rained slightly. We desperately need rain and are thankful for anything the Lord sends. Of course we would like more. Even this light rain, should it be steady over a period of time, would soak in and help the crops that are trying to grow. I was able to walk a bit before it became heavier. Evelyn came home from exercise and we ate. Then we wanted to exercise more (she had led yoga this morning) so we walked to the doctor’s office to ask for prescription renewal for me. We left the request along with a request to be scheduled for shingles shots. We don’t know whether the insurance will cover them or whether there is any vaccine in the Valley. The nurses are supposed to take care of it. We spent some time at home before coming to the party at the hall. It featured a group called Double Decker, the group including a mother, father, and son (he is in his 30s). They were good but a bit sacrilegious. This was followed by the annual bike picnic party. Due to the rainy, windy conditions, the ride scheduled for this morning had been cancelled but the party was not. The prepared items couldn’t be saved. There were more than 50 who came. We had a group picture taken after. Then we met with our dance couple partners to make a plan for next year. We returned home but had no supper because our lunch had been so late (3:00). I then went to the hall to post pictures because Evelyn hosted the Bible study at our house. The hall has WiFi and moves faster than my Internet card. I can’t post pictures from home. Here I can just go to our recreation hall. During the summer I must go to the local hotel.

The Texas buffet March 3

These are pictures of just some of the goofyness that goes on when geezers have too much time on their hands. This was a staged hillbilly wedding starring only men. As usual, the skit went on too long but was admittedly well organized.

Mabel's breakfast 2

The clinic is named after the lady who started a food bank years ago. There is a sausage and biscuits breakfast and even a band to entertain.

Mabel's clinic breakfast

Pictures from the breakfast held to raise money for the dental clinic in Mexico that services the poor children in the area. The van takes people on tours of the Neuvo Progresso area and the 2 people are the breakfast organizers.

March 6 dance

We and the Pedersons are coordinators for the dances. This was the Mexican Fiesta theme dance.

Late pictures

These are pictures from the free barbecue/beer dinner given to us volunteers who work at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show. We have volunteered 4 years and always look forward to this party. This was in late February.

Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday is our regular morning Bible study day. We went to that instead of participating in the kitchen band performance. The video was the last in the series led by our replacement. We will likely resume our leadership next week. We spent some of our day continuing preparation for our dinner guests from Winnipeg. They have been good friends since I visited them when she was fighting cancer. We had a WW type dinner that was good. We were surprised that Alice had never eaten a sweet potato and wanted to continue that. Of course, we were serving that with our pork loin. Oh, well. She seemed to be satisfied when we played hand and foot, the only game we ever play with them. They left around 10. It is unlikely we will see them again this season but would like to.
Wednesday was a golf day. Our club system is such that we must sign up to play at 7 AM even though we don’t T off until 9. I don’t like that system but have no choice. I picked up Bob and went to the local Executive Course, a par 3 that I had played before. I had a good day and played 1 stroke under bogey golf. We always enjoy beer after the game. This was my downfall. I planned to have only 1 but had 2 at the course and 2 more when we got back here. I introduced Bob to our neighbor Armond. They hit it off well because they are both fishermen. They plan to take a trip or two into the Gulf next year. Armond and Rose are leaving for Grandview, Manitoba tomorrow morning. We went to the Lenten service at Immanuel tonight because Bonny wants to have a choir sing on March 29. We have to have a couple of rehearsals, so we went to church. We said goodbye to the neighbors and came home. We may have a bike club outing tomorrow, but we hope it will rain us out. We have a drought here.

More work of every kind

Back into the routine. I went to the park meeting while Evelyn went to the grocery for food. I spoke, asking people to support the good people who contributed gifts for our dance last Friday. I came home and began reading Pieder’s novel. I didn’t get far. Evelyn came home and we unloaded the groceries before eating lunch. We decided to go back to town to get more items and a birthday card for Peter. I had called the man who painted our house to come and give me advice about what to do about our peeling front door. He said we had to peel the baked on paint off, prime it and repaint it with an oil based paint. We ate supper, trying to stay within the point allowance from WW. We have been doing fairly well. Evelyn likes “Dancing with the Stars” so I set the TV and she watched it. I worked on the message a while, but when I checked e-mail, I discovered 2 requests from Andrew, wanting me to edit some papers for him. I will have to rest up from all the sitting and reading.

worship and guests

This was another worship day. We were on time since we had adjusted our clocks. There were 51 worshiping with us and only 2 came in late. They had forgotten to adjust their clocks. We served Holy Communion and were blessed by the message. We had learned that one of the mainstays of the worship service has been admitted into the Harlingen Medical Center. We took Holy Communion to him there. We tried to connect with Don and Janice to meet with us for lunch but they didn’t seem interested. We came home and watched some of the Purdue/MSU game as we ate lunch. We walked to the hall and invited 2 couples for a drinking party on the 26th when our NC visitors are here. We also invited a couple to come for a bit of wine at 5 today. We wanted our next door neighbors to come too, but they were busy too. We prepared the porch for visitors, and they came at 5. We had a good time with them. They are from Winnipeg and have been here for more than 15 years. They stayed until 7. While I was sitting on the porch on one of our old green plastic chairs when both arms broke. When they left, I took it to the dumpster. Evelyn watched on of the DVDs used in the Bible study she had missed last week. I began looking at next week’s message. Oh, yes: I have finally posted all the entries from our long trip. It is on the blog for all to read.

February 17 in Santiago

Breakfast at 8 and then check out. Tom kept his room so we could store our luggage until the evening. We walked back to the park we had visited yesterday in our touring van. We rode cable cars across two mountains to the top of the one that had the statue of Maryolatry. I don’t like cable car rides, especially if they swing side to side. We were blessed with a calm day and didn’t swing. I sat very still holding on while Evelyn took pictures of Santiago. While we were trying a local drink called Mote con huesillos (stewed maize with dried peaches), we were interviewed by a local TV station for a program to be aired Sunday. We clowned around for the camera and were entertaining. We rode the cars back and then walked back to our hotel. We had picked up one of the many stray dogs who walked with us to the mountain but left us when we rode up. We couldn’t find him when we returned, but it is interesting to note how friendly all of the stray dogs were. We crossed the river that runs through the city and went to a restaurant in our neighborhood for a pizza lunch. All but Bob, Evelyn and I took a nap. We really like Santiago better than Buenos Aires despite the smog. It is cleaner and the neighborhoods are nicely landscaped. Evelyn was able to take a shower since we had kept one room. She tried to nap but couldn’t. Bob and I played cards for a while. About 6:30, all of us but Tom went out for a light supper but were confronted by a huge cloud of smoke and flame shooting out of a manhole in the direction we wanted to go. We were at least a block away, so we turned and went down the street opposite from the fire. The traffic came to a halt and the fire trucks had a difficult time getting to the fire. We shared a Caesar salad and returned to the hotel. We never really learned anything more about the fire situation but were relieved that our ride to the airport was not affected. We spent the 13,000 pecos we had left on a bright Chilean apron and cookbook. We flew for home at 11:30

Santiago Feburur 15

We were at the breakfast buffet around 8 and off to tour Santiago by 9:30. The guide was great and took us to the original square and old neighborhood and then to a newer one. Our neighborhood was more modern. The hotel was “Neruda.” We went to a cathedral dedicated to Mary and then to the government square. We learned things about the history of the Chilean government and how there was a great German influence. That was a surprise to me as was the Italian influence in Buenos Aires. We learned about many of the local “Saints”, including one who started what eventually became a nationwide chain of soup kitchens and shelters. We stopped in a business district where a man and woman sang opera for tips. She had an especially strong voice. We came back and Evelyn and I went to lunch and exchanged Argentinean pecos for Chilean ones. I had over 80,000 when finished. That was about $131 American. We ate at an outdoor cafe, keeping an eye on the pigeons who thought they were invited. I ate a “completo” (a local hotdog with guacamole and mayonnaise. Evelyn kept to lighter fare. We went to the room until 7 and went to dinner with the other 3. We went to a cafeteria recommended in Frommers, but I didn’t care for it. The others liked it fine. We went to bed and watched a movie until midnight.

Cruise day 14, the last

Evelyn had been sick until 3:30 AM, so I let her sleep as late as possible. I was up at ^;30 and ate breakfast shortly after 7:30. I went to the dining room and spent much time waiting. I rushed my meal and took 2 yogurts back for Evelyn.
We were in the lobby by 8:30 but waited until 9:30 to finally leave the ship. Evelyn’s key had stopped working yesterday and she had to get it reprogrammed before we could disembark. We loaded our luggage into our transport ban and drove through parts of Valparaiso (where we docked) and Vina del Mar a neighboring city. The cities are on high hills and the view of the cities and harbor are beautiful from the top. We toured the cities in our van and rode to the top on one hill in a cog railway car that kept us level while we rode to the top. We went on toward Santiago and had lunch at a winery. The food and the wine were very good but inexpensive. A great bottle of wine was $3 American unless we bought a case of 12 when the price was $2. These are fine Chilean wines! E and I were both very tired and dozed much of the remainder of the trip to our hotel. E. Went right to bed, and I went to get some Chilean pecos. I also got her some ice cream because she had eaten little all day. I thought that would be soft for her stomach. Jones went out for wine and snacks we got together to enjoy in their suite. They went our for dinner but I just stayed home.

Cruise day 13

After exercise we went to the dining room for breakfast and sat with a couple from Reno. We had conversations about travel and were told a trip to Mitsibushu, Peru was great. We came back and packed, trying to get what we need for the next few days into one suitcase. We mostly packed the others by random. We went to lunch of soup and salad after Evelyn washed and curled her hair. Back to the room for a nap after our final tango meringue lesson. We learned the gauncho. It is the move when the woman “hooks” her leg behind the man’s. We slept until 6 and readied for the evening. We had our wine party and went to dinner first because there was only 1 show--talent of the crew. We returned and put our bags out for transport to the dock and walked around to settle our dinner. Evelyn was sick before going to bed. We couldn’t figure out what she had eaten to cause the reaction.

Walking all day long

We were up early to join some members from the churches in Mercedes. We walked about 3 miles and donated some money. We returned to Weslaco to mail the disc of our pictures to Tom and Luann. We came home for lunch after getting some gasoline which was $1.699 at the Shell station. We ate light and walked around the park for a while. We talked to Stacy quite a long time, learning about Peter’s upcoming trip to snorkeling in Florida. We tried to invite some friends for a beer, but they had other plans. We did get a call from another friend inviting us to their house for a beer. Their 3 granddaughters and their son are visiting them. We enjoyed meeting them. We returned for our supper, after which I finished up the message and service for tomorrow while Evelyn continued working on sewing quilt squares for a pillow she is making. I also tried to contact a couple to invite them to worship with us tomorrow morning. They are Lutheran and might want to take Communion using consecrated elements. I couldn't catch them at home.

Cruise day 12

We docked at 6 AM and were wakened by the rumbling of the anchor outside our cabin. We dressed and went to breakfast before meeting Jones to take the tender to Puerto Chacabuco, Chile. It was drizzling as we rode the bus 8 miles to Aysen, a nearby town. Years ago it was the port, but the silt from the river clogged it, forcing the port to be moved farther down the river. We were blessed and caught a city bus and rode the 8 miles for $1 each instead of the $20 the taxis wanted. Aysen is a 2 street town, but the streets are long. Tom called his mother who had been in the hospital while we went to a small restaurant for coffee and potty break. The restaurant didn’t serve brewed coffee but Nescafe instead. It was raining harder when we returned by bus to the tender. We had a long walk to the boat and it rained hard and the wind blew hard. We were pretty wet when we reached the ship. We changed clothes and met for pizza and salad before heading off for a nap. We dressed for dinner: my tuxedo, Evelyn long dress. We met for wine and the 7:30 show. Wince we were dressed to the 9s, we went to Il Adagio (Italian restaurant with a cover charge) and enjoyed Italian food. After listening to the young dance troupe sing, we tried dancing to music by one of the worst pianist/singers I have heard playing professionally. We gave up and went to b ed around midnight.

Friday night dance

Friday is hospital day. It was also the day to pay our homeowner’s insurance, using the money that we received for roof repair. I also went to get the donated prizes from Holiday Liquors but couldn’t get them until the afternoon. I hooked up both golf carts to the chargers after taking decorations to the hall. Tonight is Mexican Fiesta dance night. We did our time at the hospital, and I was able to find a woman to help me burn the CD of our pictures to send to Tom and Luann. He will make a great CD of both theirs and our pictures, putting music and captions to them. We rested for about 20 minutes and then went to the hall to decorate using the items I had taken there earlier in the day. The couple we work with had already done most of the work. We helped prepare the sodas and popcorn and ice for sale at the dances. We were disappointed in the crowd, especially after I had pushed the dance at the Monday meeting. We did, however, have more people from our park than at the previous dance. The crowd was smaller because the group that follows Lyle Beaver, the band leader, was smaller. We gave away many door prizes, but I was disappointed that the man presenting them didn’t really emphasize the generosity of the businesses we had got them from. I should have insisted on doing the announcing myself. I will be very reluctant to solicit prizes in the future. We have to walk for a charity tomorrow.

Cruise day 11

Evelyn to exercise but late. I slept until 8:30 and bolted to meet her for breakfast. It was cold and rainy so we found a table inside. We may go to the dining room henceforth. It is too crowded to comfortably get our cereal at the buffet. We returned to shower and do more laundry in the shower--a seemingly daily activity before separating until lunch. I went to Latitudes lounge. I tried to exchange my Argentinean pecos into Chilean instead of US dollars. We met the people from Ohio for lunch in the dining room and had a good visit. I kept trying to steer the conversation toward Geneva to include Evelyn. They were familiar with both Geneva and Portland and didn’t want her to be completely bored during my “old home week”. We returned to the room for our daily nap, dressed and met for wine. We went to the show of one of the Jean Ryan Dancers and enjoyed it. He sang virtually every number and was joined by some dancers occasionally. When he sang “Mr. Bo Jangles”, he was joined by a dancer who actually did an interpretive dance that interpreted the song. Normally it just drifts off on its own. I wanted to compliment them, but they didn’t come to the back of the theater where the performers often go to receive the audience. We had eaten some hors doerves with our party of 5 but were hungry so we enjoyed dinner together. What was played in Dazzles was not to Evelyn’s liking so we tried the folk singer. We arrived for her final 3 numbers for the evening. We gave up and went to bed.

Cruise day 10

The captain had warned of rough seas ahead and we hit them. Despite continuing Meclazine, I felt odd and was afraid to get up and move around. I had slept through the pitch of the ship at noght but was concerned and stayed in bed until noon. I finally showered and went to lunch in the 7 Seas. Evelyn had exercised and was hungry. I ate light and was almost the last one out of the dining room. The seas had calmed considerably and the food helped stabilize me. We went off to the tango class and were late. They were demonstrating a new step that was confusing--back ocho. We worked on that until they stopped a bit early. We saw the people from Ft. Recovery and made plans to meet for lunch tomorrow. We had to rush to our room to change. I had tried to get Tom to wear his tuxedo but he wanted to wait until tomorrow. We met them at 6:30 for wine and went to the comedy show. We sailed through an inside passage similar to that in Alaska. The islands and d fjords are lovely when it is sunny. From the show we went to the observation lounge for an hour of practicing our tango meringa. We don’t seem to get better, especially me. I can’t get off on the right foot--literally. I am too used to starting with the left. We went to dinner and then to Dazzles to listen to the performers and dance. This was a night when those who had entertained in their own show joined together for sharing the stage. We couldn’t agree about whether to dance on the floor or in the back, so we just listened. To bed after midnight.

Energy plus

I was sore this morning and became more sore during the day. I have used some long neglected muscles while planting those crotons. We were up early and off to the hospital to have blood drawn to check cholesterol levels. We returned home for breakfast. Afterward we took the dirt that I removed from the plant holes piled on the tarp to the back yard. I then had to work on the sermon. Praise God! He gave me a message and the words to communicate it. We rested a bit and then I cut the grass. We dressed and went to the hall for the volunteer recognition party which turned out to be a very formal, catered chicken cordon bleu dinner. Unfortunately no one knew what was planned and we had planned to eat out with John and Sue before going to the concert series. The park manager permitted us to make carryout boxes to take home. We picked up our friends and drove to the Texas Roadhouse in McAllen where we shared a pulled pork dinner, blasting our WW day out of the water. It was twofer day so we packed one up and brought it home. We went to the concert, “American Jukebox”. It was one of the most fantastic shows we have seen in the Valley. The cast sang 67 different songs and danced with such energy that I was exhausted at the intermission. Even members of the band sang and danced. I rarely give performers a standing ovation but couldn’t help myself. Evelyn has slept through the night the past 2 nights. We pray for another one.

2 days

While Evelyn exercised Tuesday, I rode to the oncologist’s office where her blood was drawn to see if the lab had returned it. I got a copy and Evelyn before going to McAllen to see the endocrinologist. She said the thyroid was still overworking and took E. off some of her medicine. We returned home for lunch and prepared for our guests that we invited to hear about our trip. We put the computer on top of the TV and showed the pictures. We served empanadas and adult beverages. The Rahtos are interested in taking the same trip sometime. We counted the empanadas as our supper. I did open one of the boxes of Malbec wine to serve and then took some to a Canadian who wanted to taste some. He wasn’t home. I returned and worked on the sermon until bedtime.
Wednesday we began work on our plants for the front. I removed the mulch and then dug up the roots of the previous plants, making holes big enough to hold the crotons we had bought Sunday. We mixed some soil with compost the master gardener who lives in our park had brought for us to use. We were surprised as to how quickly we finished. We had dreaded the job, thinking it would take all day. We were done by 11, so we dressed and went to the noon Lenten service. We came home and I worked on the sermon some more. I am really having trouble putting it together and am running out of time because we have many things scheduled for the rest of the week. We took a walk in the pleasant evening before going home. We had watched the Purdue/Northwestern game and were disappointed in the outcome.

Gathering door prizes

Monday is park meeting day, and I was scheduled to talk about the Mexican Fiesta dance this coming Friday. I threw a Mexican blanket over my shoulder, put on a huge sombrero and carried a woven tequila container to the podium. I tried to be funny and attract some to the dance. Our park has poor dance attendance and would not have any dances if the band didn’t bring a great following. Several said I did a good job. We came home for breakfast and then went off soliciting prizes to give away at the dance. We got a few and then returned home for a late lunch. I worked on the sermon for Sunday while Evelyn worked on getting things ready for the party tomorrow afternoon. I got drowsy and rode my bicycle to the optometrist to see if I could get a temple for my glasses. They didn’t have one that would fit. I was glad I did because it revived me. I returned home after trying to straighten out the situation about Evelyn’s appointment with the endocrinologist tomorrow morning but couldn’t. We talked with the master gardener who lives in the park about how to plant our new croton plants. We will work on them next week. We had hamburgers for supper and they were delicious is almost anything while on a diet. We laid around in the evening while I was trying to catch up on the cruise blogs. I am doing better than I expected.

Cruise day 9

Wake up call came at 6:00. I showered (it is water conservation period) quickly and off to breakfast. We boarded our tender to shore by 7:45 and on a bus to Otway Sound and Penguin reserve. The bus traveled over an hour, mostly over a gravel road. We rode through Punta Arenas and saw trees growing and saw trees growing at a 1 o’clock angle because the wind is so constantly strong--often at 70 MPH--preventing straight growth. Ropes have to be strung on the streets to keep people from being driven into the buildings on especially windy days. But today was beautiful and relatively calm with winds at 20 MPH. We walked to the penguin preserve featuring Magellanic penguins up close. This is the month when the young are learning to swim and we watched. On the way we saw more than 5 condors, an endangered species. Some even landed and fed on something then took off. Many people never see these birds, and the bird lovers were ecstatic. We saw some Nandus--native birds resembling Ostrich) caring for chicks. The males do this. We had driven across the land portion of the Strait of Magellan to get to the preserve. The walkway through the preserve was slatted and dangerous. We saw a man later that had tripped and blackened his eyes. He looked to be in a lot of pain. We returned to the shop for lunch and a nap. I went back to town. I found an Internet spot and dumped 8 pages of e-mail and sent a few. I found an out door market and bought a key chain for the nurse in Weslaco. I returned with another box of wine and it passed the X-ray again. The wine cost 1210 Chilean pecos--about $2. Tom had got sick on the bus earlier and cancelled the wine party for today. Bob came to our cabin for some wine and went to dinner with us after we went to the early show. After that came the required chocoholic buffet. We were somewhat restrained in our consumption. On to bed.

Cruise day 8

We had to rise, breakfast and meet in the lounge by 7:15. We walked to the pier and boarded a catamaran for a tour of Ushuai Harbor and a trip through the Strait of Magellan. We went close to the rocks that have caused so many shipwrecks over the years. The sea was much more calm than when most of the ships hit them. We saw many penguins and seals sunning themselves. The land on the south side was called Tierra de Fuego because of the fires I discussed yesterday. We saw show capped mountains and a few lighthouses. We also saw the famous cut out statue of the albatross. We were all trying to quote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and were only partly successful. We saw blue eyed cormorants, sea lins and seals in the Beagle Channel. We were put on lakf and taken by bus through the Tierra de Fuego National Park of Patagonia. Rain had begun and it was cold. Evelyn couldn’t get out of the bus very often. We stopped at 3 sites, all for 15 minutes or less and returned to the ship. We sailed at 2:00 which found us eating and napping shortly thereafter. We are pizza and salad. Evelyn had been cold all day and stayed in bed until 7:30. I wakened and went out to photo the 5 plus glaciers we sailed past in the Chilean Fjords. We met for the show afte wine and dinner after the show. We were asleep by 11 so we could get up tomorrow. Evelyn bought a sweatshirt to wear tomorrow, anticipating another cold day. The shirt says “Rounding the Horn.”

cruise day 7

We were exhausted and slept until after 10. We dressed and wandered around until noon when the dining room opened. We sa next to couples who lived near Ft. Recovery, OH near where I grew up. We knew many of the same people. It was fun to talk, and we planned to get together for dinner in the future. We came back and napped some more. We also went to play some cards until wine time. Evelyn has been drinking the Pepsi light we bought at one of the ports. We also went to play some cards until wine time. Today was the day we sailed around Cape Horn at the bottom of the continent. There is a ceremony that involves the captain pouring water over the heads of those wishing to be “baptized as a Fuegan.” Fuegan is a term derived from the natives that live their lives naked and sit around campfires to keep warm. Their fires lighted the way of Magellan when he sailed through the Strait. I expected the water to be cold from the sea but it was warm. I guess it was taken from the swimming pool with water taken from the ocean. We went to dinner late and decided to forgo the gaucho show because we had an early rise planned again for tomorrow.

Cruise day 6

We had to get up early, miss exercise, eat and be ready to leave for Falkland Islands at 8:45. We were tendered to shore in a lifeboat. It was 54 degrees but beautiful and sunny. We had a tour of Stanley on a bus. A native woman and her son were in charge. She talked about how things have changed over 40 years while her son drove the bus. They used to cut their own meat in the house but not now. There were other changes too. The houses have various colored roofs on ole houses, on narrow streets. They have been recently paved but are still rough. The inhabitants have Brigtish backgrounds and sided with the British in the 1982 war with Argentina.. They even acted as spies, revealing Argintine positions. They helped the British to invade the island where the Argintines were not expecting. They wanted to remain British in language and background. We drove through mine fields near where the invasion was expected. They came over the mountains instead and surprised them. We were returned to the dock and walked around some of the town until about 1:30. We were tendered back ad immediately went for lunch. We shared a salad and a calzone and pizza. We then took a nap until time for afternoon wine. After that we went to the show by our dance teachers, Andre and Francine. They were good and used videos that showed their dance from the past. They showed clips of Rogers and Astair, Marge and Gower Champion and even Carlos Gardel. They danced some if the same routines, There was a wild Latin Carnaval starting at 10:30our dinner. It was quite wild and many of the sailor staff and even the assistant captains danced. We danced some too and retired at 12:30.

Cruise day 5

We had a wake up call for 7, and Evelyn went to workout. I slept until 8. We planned to meet for breakfast at 9. I walked a mile around the ship. It was misty and cool so few wanted the outdoor seats, making the inside eating area quite full, but we found seats. We are back to muselic and dry cereal. We talked with Jones and plan to meet for wine again at 6:45 before going to the early show and dinner. We came back to shower and nap until lunch time. As I had walked I spotted 3 or 4 porpoise off the starboard side. They like play beside ships. Several lady walkers enjoyed watching them too. I had drawn the attention to the fish. Tom and I are frustrated by one woman who walks against the traffic flow. The deck is clearly marked with arrows pointing the way everyone else walks. She won’t change. We left our cabin around 1 and wandered around looking at the different places for lunch and decided on the teli. We had a cold meat sandwich and cheese and a bowl of soup followed b ice cream. Once again it was difficult to find a place to sit. We played cards until it was time to take tango lesson at 3. We are beginning to feel like we can do it. The sea was smoother today than yesterday. We took salsa lesson at 5:15. We were very hot under stage lights. We napped until 6:30 and then off to Jones. After wine we went to the magic show. He was an intensely animated comedian too and we had a very entertaining time. From there we went to Las Ramblas sports bar and restaurant for the evening repast. We must rise early tomorrow.

February4--cruise 4

Evelyn was early to stretching but finally was served. Not so with erobics. She walked the deck as did I (2+miles) but we never met. We ate breakfast in the sports bar. I had an omelet. We left for shore at 10. We walked the town with Jones and I dumped e-mail (7 pages. I also sent one to the girls. We saw 2 young couples dancing tango in a mall where we bought earrings and a leather wallet. All of Argentina has fine leather goods. We were back on board by 1:30. Evelyn showered and we left for lunch. We returned and slept until 4:30 when we rushed to the Argentinean tango/goucho show. It was great. We came back, dressed for dinner and went to Jones for wine than the show. It was an exciting female performer named Elvy Rose. She fluently went from English to Spanish and drew the crowd in marvelously. We went to dinner and hoped to hear one of the waiters play the piano and sing, but he was too busy. We went to the Observation lounge again and watched dancers. We didn’t dance any and I am not shre why. Was the sea too rough? Will it be too rough for the tango lesson tomorrow? We will see.

Worship and decorations

We had a great worship this morning and saw a couple that has not been in the valley for a few years. We had become good friends and were glad to see each other. We went from there to visit a parishioner who is confined to a nursing home. She is a small, frail woman but did recognize us. We came home and changed clothes. We went back to Mercedes to the church to get some more of the piñatas to use as decorations for our Mexican theme dance next Friday. We got placements too. I also took some of the tablecloths but had to take them back in the afternoon because they had been rented. We asked Joe to come to lunch of an new Weight Watcher recipe. It was pretty good as was the dessert. We visited a while and he gave us his tickets to the concert series performance that has been moved to next Thursday. We will go with the Hamels. We took a long walk around the park, and Evelyn went to an art show at the park next door. We are trying to find a way of showing our trip pictures on our TV screen, so, when I called Atlanta to talk with the grandkids about the snow there, I talked with Tom and think I can find a cable to use for that purpose. I never got to talk with either of the kids. We waited for the couple that chair the dances with us to come and see the decorations we found. We were going to serve them popcorn but ate it all since they didn’t come until after 8. We went to bed thinking of the errands we have to run tomorrow.

Cruise day 3

We changed time zones and had an extra hour of sleep. Evelyn went to aerobics while I walk 3 ½ times around deck 6 which supposedly 1 mile. We met for breakfast and I enjoyed muselic again. I like the stuff. We made reservations for dinner at the Pacific Heights restaurant. We had some of our clothes pressed because the cruise had a special half price offer. We went to Argentinean tango lessons at 11:45 with about 100 other people. There was a professional dance couple, Andre and Francine, teaching. It was a slow process with so many people so we learned 1 basic step. We had lunch at the buffet. We had a salad and ice cream. We returned to the cabin until 3 when we met for a dance review. We returned to the cabin to dress for a Latitudes members reception and cocktail party. The heads of various staffs were introduced and prizes were given away. There was 1 couple that had taken over 20 cruises with NCL. We went to the Pacific Heights for dinner after playing cards until our 6:30 reservation. We enjoyed clam chowder, but Evelyn didn’t like her entree or dessert. I liked mine. We generally share so she ate some of my pork chop and apple cider pie. We went to the show, “Hey, Mr. Producer” presented by the resident dance troupe. Ironically, since we had sailed on this same ship when we went through the Panama Canal, we had seen this production before. I even recognized some of the dancers. It was a good show. We went to the Observation Lounge to dance to big band music, but I ruined things by pushing Evelyn too hard when she wouldn’t follow my leads. She won’t stay in front of me. She was rightfully angry and we parted company. I went to watch Purdue play but only saw soccer even though the basketball game had been promoted all day. I went back to the lounge to listen to the music as did Evelyn. I apologized and we slept well until morning.a

Cruise day 2

We slept late. Breakfast at the buffet. I got a large bowl of Muselic and dry cereal. We sailed to Montevideo, Uruguay, expecting a poor city but were surprised at the high standard of living--and the high prices. We had a free van service to a leather factory that had everything priced in US dollars. They were high prices. We walked from there through an old city plaza to some of the side streets of the new city. It is the capital of the country and has 4 million inhabitants. We saw interesting architecture and a federal ceremony having something to do with women’s liberation. Evelyn bought a dress but none of the over priced artisan products. We ate or drank nothing but did buy El Mago de Oz for Stephen. Close to the ship we bought 3 bottles of Pepsi light for $7. The ship has only Coke products. Back on board we ate lunch and went to the cabin for a nap. We hae walked more than 5 miles in town. We were up, dressed and at the early show by 7:30. This followed the wine drinking hour in the balcony cabin. The act was a mandolin player from Dczech Republic who had come to America for blue grass. We went to dinner at the “mess hall” as Tom calls the restaurant. We also went to Dazzles, the disco lounge, and danced some in a crowd before going to the Observation Lounge. The band played many Latin dances and many Latino dancers. We had smooth sailing and were up dancing until around 1.

February1--cruise day 1

We were up mostly packed, showered and eating breakfast by 7:45. We went back and borrowed the maid’s vacuum to suck air from our hanging space bag. We took it and our other 5 bags to the hotel storage and called a cab to take us to Dorrego Plaza to buy a sign for our porch. We found a small one and some earrings. We had walked looking for a Methodist church we had seen yesterday but couldn’t find it. We took a taxi back to the hotel where we were picked up by our transport and taken to the dock. We stood in line for at least an hour to check in. We were blessed in that it was very temperate. We were concerned that our smuggled wine would be detected by the X-ray but it arrived unchallenged. We discovered that Luann’s brother had the same cabin number we had. We learned we had been upgraded to an outside cabin, giving us a window to the ocean. I didn’t get any thrill from that, but Evelyn was delighted. We met in Jones’ balcony suite for some champagne. We met in the 4 Seasons for dinner at 8:30. The Super Bowl was being played but not telecast to the rooms so I didn’t watch much since I didn’t want to go to the disco lounge.

January 31

We slept until 8 and met our friends at the breakfast buffet. We ate only yogurt and “colon blow” and fruit. We plan a large lunch at Las Nazarenas with all 3 of them. We returned to the room where I showered and “stomped” the dark laundry in the tub. We had bought more wine and some laundry detergent yesterday. Hopefully the clothes are cleaner. We also began packing suitcases since we board the cruise ship tomorrow around 1 PM. I bought 1 more box of Malbec and 5 of us left for Las Nazarenas and lunch. We all had the lomo special, empanada and postres (dessert). For the second time we had our meat cooked as we like. We finished with Dulce de Leche. We walked back through the Florida Malls, looking for a sigh for our houses and some tango clothes. We found neither until we got back close to our hotel. The clothes we found were cheesy and Evelyn decided to just wait until we return to the US. We returned to our room to shower and rest until we meet for pizza and beer for supper.

January 30 in Buenos Aires

We slept until 9 and had the breakfast fuffet. We were on our own until tonight’s show. Luann’s brother Bob flew in and went on a tour of the city via bus. We prayed and searched our luggage for Evelyn’s medicine. The Lord allowed us to find it. Thanks be to Him. As I showered, I “stomped” our white laundry instead of seraching for a lavender. They aren[t clean but have been washed. Our travel partners were touring the city with Bob and I went to a local foto store and bought a blank disc so Tom can put our pictures on it from his computer. He has them there so I can clean my memory stick. He will make the CD when we are in the ship. We put on our train slickers and walked through the off and on rainto a restaurant Evelyn had spotted for an Italian lunch. We then tried to walk to where she could get a tango dress, but the rain was too hard. Instead we rented an hour of computer time for 3 pecdos and read/dumped e-mail. I learned that my friend Sam had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Another friend, Larry Yazel, had suffered a stroke. We came back and took a short nap until time to dress for the tango show at La Piazolla. The theater was inside one of the elegant buildings now serving as a mall we had already visited. We had a table at the edge of stage left. Marvelous seats. An appetizer, entree, and dessert were included as was wine. We both had NY steak cooked much more to our liking than any before. It was garnished with an eggplant, onion, pimento vegetable and a potato stuffed with chimichuri sauce. Dessert was a brownie or tiramisu. The show featured much dancing, orchestra, male and female soloists and instrumentals by the orchestra. I only saw 3 dances that I thought were tangos, but everyone else thought they all were. I think the best tango dancers we saw were at the small one we saw in the first night we were in Bueno Aires. We had also seen a couple at Dorrego Plaza yesterday evening that was good. We were home around midnight after waiting 20 minutes for our ride to return us to our hotel.

January 29 in Buenos Aires

Due to reading a woman’s watch without using spectacles, Evelyn wakened us an our early. We wrestled with our luggage in this small room and found some things we needed. After breakfast Tom and I went to a small grocery and bought 3 liters of wine to take on the cruise. My 2 white and 1 Malbec red cost 14 pecos--$5. They are in small boxes to put into our luggage. We may lose them to the X-ray examinations our luggage undergoes before boarding. The cruise line doesn’t like people bring their own liquor since they sell it. If we lose them, so be it. We all met in the lobby and walked down Florida Street to the street mall. It is blocked to traffic and features virtually every type of shop imaginable. Each store has someone out front soliciting business. We went to a store and bought a tango CD and 2 small leather purses for Emily and Stacy. There was a man painted in silver as an angel in a frozen pose gave me a blessing when I gave him a coin. We went into the many buildings containing more stores, many upscale. The most elegant fast food restaurant in the world--Burger King--is in a beautiful old building that was a house for a very wealthy family. We went to a Versace store near an elegant salon for coffee and a petifor, compliments of our hotel. We walked through San Martin park and had lunch at a popular pasta restaurant where the waiter knocked over our bottle of wine, breaking it on the floor. He was hardly around after that until time to pay. The place got very busy and he never brought the ice we wanted. We walked to and through a train station like the ones in Europe. We caught the subte back to the hotel and took a nap until time to prepare for dinner before another tango show. We ate a delicious salad and loin at La Viejo Rotiseria, another recommended restaurant. From there we took a taxi to Senor Tango for a big production show. The dancers danced in groups and in couples to music by the 5 piece orchestra--accordian, violin, cello, bass, and piano. All women’s costumes were skimpy but 1 in only a thong and sheer skirt broke the limit. Two women and one man sang at various times. Fog machines pumped throughout. A native Indian group from the Andes played wonderful music on flutes. Several old maestros played in one segment. All the accordions are long and narrow. We agreed it was not a tango show but a fine variety show. It began with 2 live horses on the theater in the round stage. Early on, the 2 women singers brought a man from the audience to “dance” with them. We weren’t home until 1 A.M.

January 28

We were up and mostly packed for departure by 7:15. We then went to the breakfast buffet and ate mostly what we did yesterday: cereal with strawberry yogurt (theirs is much creamier than we get in the states) and other items as yesterday. We went to (house of birds) for a great tour. The guide had served in the US Army but was of Argentinean descent. He was very interesting and talked about the tropical birds and animals that were being rescued in the preserve. It was a jungle within the real jungle that surrounds Puerto Iguazu. We rode a short distance in a tractor pulled trailer and then walked through the trails to see the wildlife. We left there and taxied into town, got more money and then walked around shopping for souvenirs. We ate Milanese (veal) for lunch in a barbecue restaurant. We took a taxi back to the hotel. We played some cards and sent e-mails until time to be transported to the airport the customary 2 hours early. Our flight was pleasant, and we had a cab driver we had used before. Our stored luggage was brought to our new room at the Bristol hotel in Buenos Aires which was smaller than the previous one. We hardly had room to store things Evelyn showered off the DEET she had applied for the jungle toured we were off for supper at 9:15! We ate fish at the Cafe de Cuidad listed in the Frommers Guide book. We went to McDonald’s for a sundae and then to bed circa midnight. I drank no beer or wine today. I have been drinking too muc h--always loggy and sluggish.

2 kinds of showers

We slept a bit later than usual but dressed in shorts to run some errands. We went to the hardware store to get a gift for the shower at Immanuel for Kyle Eilers, a future groom. It had begun to drizzle and blow, dropping the temperature to an uncomfortable 60 degrees. We continued to the grocery and spent almost $100, to Sally Beauty Supply and then back home for lunch. I practiced the service much of the day and was able to watch Purdue play basketball after we attended the 50th anniversary party at the social hall. This events honors the couples celebrating 50 years of marriage sometime during the calendar year. It is a nice ceremony featuring answers to question about how they met, etc. We rested and dressed for the shower/dinner celebration. On the way we visited a friend who had a stent inserted into his heart yesterday. He is pretty good but tired. The shower was built on a Mexican theme, and we were able to borrow some of the decorations for our Mexican theme dance next Friday. We were blessed to revisit some of our friends from the church where I used to serve. More practice on the message followed.