Spring Into Summer

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Our travel writer friend Charlie published a short article announcing the arrival of summer in Mendoza. He wrote: "Spring is three or four hours on a Tuesday afternoon and summer is suddenly here with the streets and vineyards abruptly full of color". In Mendoza, everything is green, as the trees that line the streets are filled with leaves and flowers, the jacaranda trees turn suddenly purple, and the park starts to really show off its roses, gardens and mountain views. The temperatures have been in the 80's and everyone is wearing shorts and sandals. Aristides is a trendy street with lots of open air cafes, bars and restaurants. On a warm night it is the place to be in Mendoza. It's a great place to meet travelers from all over the world and enjoy conversation at the outdoor tables.

These past few weeks we've been busy with music, volunteering and language lessons. The work at The Children’s Hospital, Conin, is our most satisfying. Some of the little ones we work with are noticeably more responsive and social. The older children enjoy jumping on Ian's back and chasing him down the hallway. They are thrilled when they see him at the door and hate to see him leave in the afternoon. Last week, Ian, Matt and Rich performed some original music at a fundraising event at the Conin Foundation. Thank you to Jaime, who has been putting together the playhouse which we purchased for the playground at Conin. Jaime and Rich painted it today and it should be ready for kids in the next day or two! In the next blog, we will show photos of the finished playground, something we are very proud of. Jaime, David, Matt and Andy continue to teach English at the Lavalle High school, where it is sometimes challenging and sometimes rewarding to lead a class of high school students.

Wendy, Matt and Andy have made a number of visits to Brasos Abiertos (Open Arms) Orphanage to help out with the kids there. We are looking forward to getting more involved with the kids who live there, ranging from ages 5-13.

Julio has taken David, Ian, and Jaime to Nino Cantores School for volunteering and intercambio. Ninos Cantores is a school attended by children ages 4-18. The students take regular classes but there is a strong music component in their curriculum. This week two students, Maria and Deigo recorded an original song in our studio. It was a lot of fun and the song has real potential.

The past few weeks there have been escapes from the city to the river by the mountains for asados, relaxing, 4-wheeling, and a dip in the rio. All of the students are big fans of the Argentina Asado and have steak dinners at least twice a week, if not more. Evan is still the most experienced asador and cooks quite a bit at the Quinta Rufino.

Ian is headed to Patagonia this week to work and explore the countryside at a large estancia. He will be working alongside real gauchos on the ranch. We look forward to seeing his photos. We are also preparing for our end of the semester trip to Bariloche. There are two pages of photos on the blog, be sure to click on both.

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Comments

[Betsy Woodruff]

Spring into Summer
That looks absolutely beautiful (as all the flowers are dying here, and everything is turning brown). Scott sure has something to look forward to. You are doing some great things. Keep up the good work!!