16 June 2014 –Tuesday

This morning I woke up really early. I couldn’t go back to sleep and anointed my head to fast. I fasted for the entire day.

I also help my roommate, Tina, make breakfast for everyone. I think Dr. Anderson felt some type of way having me make breakfast but I reassured her and Tina that I was fine cooking. I’ve cooked plenty of times for my family while I was fasting.

Today we traveled to Chascomus City. A city not very close by Buenos Aires. We had to take a van to get there and the van ride was horrible. People already are upset with each other and poor Dr. Anderson had to sit on a broken chair the whole 2 hour ride! I felt sorry for her. Marta got upset with me for singing out loud. All she had to do was ask me kindly to stop. I would have stopped.  I did stop and apologized to everyone. I felt we were all walking on egg shells with one another. The tension in the air was great. I couldn’t wait to get out of the van!

When we finally reached the city, it looked more like a college campus. The first place we went was to the main building the city (I think it’s called the Chascomus Laguna…I think) and used the restroom. This building was my favorite building because it had a dome inside that had fantastic acoustics! I mean, it was better than any church I’ve been in. You could really sing without a microphone and I felt like singing under that dome all day. While I was there testing, a young man came up to me with a camera and another young lady. They asked me if I could talk Spanish or French. Then in broken English asked me if they could interview me.

I turned to ask Dr. Anderson but she was gone with the rest of the group and sent Lauren upstairs to tell me to hurry out. He followed me down stairs and I was glad because Juan ended up doing the Interview which I think came out great. I wish Dr. Anderson would have spoken but she pushed us to do so. I forgot what I said, when the reporter put the camera in my face. I know I was blunt and told them that we were there to study the afro- argentines.  I also remember  my classmates sighing heavily and making snide remarks about being blunt or people there coming after us for what I said.

Finally, the tour of the city begun. Our tour guide name was Gabriela and she only spoke Spanish. She looked like my friend Edna from High school and they even had the same demeanor. I jotted down a few notes such as:

• City founded in 1779
• City preserves history of Afro-Argentines
• 40,000 people live there and all maintain peace
• The Indians were kicked out and only allowed back in if they were willing to adhere to the immigrants rules
• 1865 the city begin to grow
• A group of Indians called Malones (I think) learned how to fight the immigrants using guns and horses

Gabriela also told us about the building I fell in love with

• It originally had 6 arches attached to the main entrance.
• San Lamon was the architect

Gabriela continued to speak about other buildings. I begin to take fewer notes and more pictures.