Days 12-13: Buenos Aires to Atlanta

Today was our last day in Buenos Aires. We were all very sad to leave South America and even sadder to leave the Dukes. This tour has been such a wonderful and eye-opening experience that all of us will treasure for the rest of our lives.

After breakfast, we loaded the bus, which took us to a street market. This was the most eccentric street market we had been to yet, as there were shops selling every imaginable item, from old silverware to chandeliers. There was even one stall dedicated to towel racks. However, several of the stalls catered to the more touristy crowd with hand-painted matés (a popular Argentine way of making tea) or colorful scarves. Another section of the market contained artists selling their work. Every so often, we would stumble upon something interesting, like old tango sheet music with rather hilarious illustrations on the front.

From there, we loaded the buses and drove to an Italian restaurant named Il Gatto (the same name as our bus driver). We sat on the enclosed patio facing the riverfront, just downriver from the Calatrava bridge. After eating a delicious meal that was (thankfully) neither steak nor pizza, we had a little sing-off as a final farewell. However, the stipulation was that each group got to choose the other group's song. Of course, we were having such a great time that the rules evolved into singing two songs. We did "The Unknown Woman" and "Hide and Seek." I'm not going to bother attempting to spell the songs the Dukes performed, but rest assured that we asked them to perform the songs based on the movements that accompanied them. To wrap things up, we joined forces one last time to sing "Abanije" and "Singabahambayo."


Loading up the bus again, we returned to the hotel, where the Dukes picked up their luggage and loaded another bus that would take them to the airport. After lots of hugs and a "Round of Goodbyes" that dissolved into tears, we waved goodbye to the Dukes as they drove off and reloaded our own bus. The ride to Buenos Aires's trendy SoHo district (yes, they have one, too) was a silent and tearful one. Everyone was reflecting on the past two weeks and missing the Dukes already.

As we browsed the pricey stores and trendy marketplace (there are markets everywhere), people's moods starting improving slightly, though remaining somewhat muted for the most part. The hours seemed to drag by slowly. Finally, we met back together to load the bus to the airport.

Our journey home was generally smooth. Check in at Buenos Aires moved fairly quickly, giving us some free time to browse the airport stores (as though we hadn't had enough shopping all day). The flight to Miami was nice, or at least better than the Miami to Rio flight. The plane was large, and each seat had it's own TV (yea!).

We landed in Miami (around 6:30 in the morning) for customs and our transfer to Atlanta. Of course, U.S. customs were longer and more tedious than those in Brazil or Argentina. Nonetheless, we managed to make our connection with plenty of time to spare. The flight from Miami to Atlanta, much shorter than the first flight, was rather uneventful. And then we were home!

Though we were all glad to be home to see our families and sleep in our own beds once again, we will surely miss the times we spent together and all the people we met on this tour. These will be the memories that we will treasure forever.

Day 11: Buenos Aires

After breakfast, we loaded the bus to take us to Florida Street, a pedestrian street in the heart of Buenos Aires. In the three hours we had, there was plenty of time to shop at the various stores (and even a fancy mall) all along the street. The shops sold products ranging from souvenirs to leather (Argentinians love anything associated with cows).

After grabbing lunch on Florida Street, we met back at the bus to ride to the amphitheater where we'd be performing our second concert. We ran a quick sound check, apprehensive of how this outdoor venue would be freezing during our evening concert. We then reloaded the bus and drove to the Metropolitan Cathedral, where we would be singing our first concert. The neoclassical portico belied the exquisite interior.





After a short warm up, we began the concert. Though it wasn't the best concert of the tour, it certainly wasn't bad. Like several of our previous concert venues, this cathedral reverberated nicely (big, fancy, old churches tend to do that, though…).

We then had to run to the bus to transfer back to the amphitheater for our second concert. When we arrived onstage, Coro Kennedy, a popular show choir from Argentina, was already performing their lineup of Beatles hits. They dragged both us and the Dukes onstage to sing "Hey, Jude" with them. Though most of us knew the song, we weren't sure how to sing along as we hadn't learned their harmonies and didn't want to detract from the quartet singing the melody. Thus, we stood there awkwardly making deer-in-the-headlights faces until the "Na na na na na na na" parts. But it was all in good fun…

After Coro Kennedy finished, we performed our part of the concert, finally able to sing secular songs again. We even retaliated at Coro Kennedy with a rendition of the Beatles' "Blackbird." The Dukes performed after us as we watched from backstage.

Once the Dukes had finished their set, we joined them onstage to sing "Abanije." Then, we pulled Coro Kennedy back onstage and made them sing "Singabahambayo" with us. It was great fun singing with such a large group of people from diverse backgrounds (several of whom we had just met).

Things only got better after the concert. We three choirs formed a cluster (a bit of a mosh pit, if you are familiar with the term) and started singing quite the eclectic assortment of songs, including a popular South African folksong that both the other choirs knew but that we failed be aware of.

We were finally shooed out of the amphitheater and onto the bus. From there, we went to a sports bar (fútbol, not football) to have our farewell dinner with the Dukes. We were served inordinate amounts of cheese and/or margherita pizza (all with whole olives on top, of course), and Hernan kept walking around trying to shove more down our throats. As both of these types of pizza were vegetarian, we were glad to escape all the red meat that had plagued us throughout the trip, though it seemed like pizza was the only other meal we ever managed to come up with…

After stuffing ourselves with pizza and several rounds of the Cup Game, we returned to the hotel for the evening.

BUT

The night wasn't over yet. The Dukes invited us to their nightly meeting, which (instead of being more business-oriented) was more of a close to the trip. The Dukes even allowed us to sign an Argentine flag that they brought. As flag signing is one of their tour traditions, we were greatly moved to be included. Then, we sat and talked and even played a noisy round of a hand-slapping game that I don't really feel like explaining all the rules of.

Since it had gotten pretty late, we were ushered to bed and I didn't write this blog until a week later.

Day 10: Buenos Aires

Today after breakfast, we loaded the bus for an hour-long drive to a gaucho ranch 80 kilometers outside Buenos Aires. After being greeted with hot empanadas (Argentinian meat pies), we lined up for horseback rides around a small field on the ranch. For a few of the singers (the Dukes included), this was their first time on horseback, so it was a new and exciting experience. After the horseback riding, we got to ride in a horse-drawn carriage (essentially the same route backwards). Due to space issues, some people rode in the cart while others were on horseback and then switched. I myself was the last person on the last carriage ride and had the wonderful opportunity to stretch myself across the other riders' legs in an attempt to fit in the carriage.




Following our riding adventures, our tour guide, Hernan, quickly showed us around the ranch house museum, telling us about traditional life on the Argentinian pampas. From there we proceeded to lunch (steak again, with blood sausage – ack! – as an appetizer). During lunch, we were entertained by a bit of a variety show. Somehow we got pulled into the performing, alongside acts like a pair of tango dancers and singer-guitarist duo. We even had some time to dance to the music ourselves.

After lunch, we went to the field again to watch a demonstration by a few of the gauchos. After herding horses grouped by color around the paddy, the played a traditional gaucho game in which they hook small hanging rings on sticks while galloping under them. For each ring they capture, they trade it to a lady for a kiss, so you could say a few of our girls got a little face time with the gauchos.

At the end of this demonstration, we loaded the bus to return to hotel. Back in the city, we had free time for the rest of the evening. Our choir decided to rest for an hour and a half and then meet to go to dinner as a group. We walked through the center of Buenos Aires to a nice Italian restaurant (where I accidentally ordered pasta made with squid ink). After dinner, we walked around the block to an ice cream shop in a mall. On the way to the hotel, we stopped by a grocery store to grab some bottled water and headed to our rooms for the night.

Day 9: Buenos Aires and La Plata

This morning following breakfast, we proceeded to the room we rehearsed in yesterday for a master class with Oscar Escalada, an Argentinian composer and arranger. We spent about two hours working on his piece "Libertango," a choral arrangement of a popular instrumental tango song. Escalada also enjoyed telling us long stories that pertained to his piece and the music of Argentina in general. Altogether, it was a very enlightening experience.

After running to grab our uniforms from our rooms, we loaded the bus for La Plata, the capital of the state of Buenos Aires. This city, founded in the late 1800s, was master-planned, as evidenced by the clear grid pattern of the streets (with a few diagonals).



After lunch (steak again) at a restaurant across from the zoo, the bus dropped us off in small groups all around the city. Our objective was to hand out a large stack of flyers and find our way to the cathedral by talking to the locals in Spanish. The people were very friendly, and several stopped and tried to talk to us about the concert. As La Plata also hosts a large university, English students had a chance to practice their English while we practiced our Spanish.

We gathered at the cathedral for a sound check and ate a boxed dinner afterwards.




At 8:00, the concert began. Once again, we were the first on the program, though this time the Philadelphia Boy Choir participated in addition to the Dukes. As we could only sing songs approved by the priest, our repertoire consisted only of sacred music this time. Despite the limitations to our repertoire, the cathedral was a fantastic venue. The high pointed arches and stonework of this exquisite neogothic cathedral provided us with superb acoustics, with floating in the air even longer than our first concert in Rio de Janeiro. To put the cherry on top, we performed quite well musically as well. The audience didn't compare to those in Rio, mostly due to the more reserved nature of the Argentine people. We even had a decent turnout for the ban on public gatherings due to the swine flu outbreak.

After the concert, we loaded the bus once again for the ride back to the hotel. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we went to bed fairly shortly.

Day 8: Buenos Aires

Today has been a busy day. We had a relatively early morning to grab breakfast at the hotel and then rehearse at 9:00. After about an hour and a half of rehearsal, we switched with the Dukes (who had arrived late the previous night), which gave us a bit of down time and then some free time for lunch and a bit of shopping.

At 2:00 (which means 1:30 in Argentina), we met in the hotel lobby for a bus tour. On the tour, we passed many important and beautiful sites, including the Argentinian capitol building, the obelisk commemorating Argentinian independence, the "Pink House" (the president's house famous for Eva Perón's balcony speech), several other governmental buildings, a famous sundial bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, and the Boca Jr. soccer stadium. We even had time to stop and get out to see the National Cathedral, Carminita street (from a famous tango song), and at one of the most important cemeteries in the world.






Back at the hotel, we had over an hour to rest before meeting for dinner. The restaurant at which we ate is tied to a local tango venue, so after our three course meal, we crossed the street for a tango show. Between the three pairs of dancers and the tango band, the experience was pretty incredible, and the intermission by an Andean band just added to the experience.

We finally returned to the hotel around midnight and went straight to bed (hence this blog being in the morning instead of the evening).

On the Home Front

We would like to extend our thanks to the families and friends who worked at the Georgia Dome earlier this week as part of the tour fundraising efforts. We appreciate the many long, tedious hours of work you put in to support the tour team while abroad.

Day 7: Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires

This morning, we got to sleep in just a tad extra because we didn't have to be packed and ready to go until 10:00. After breakfast, we loaded the bus for the drive to the airport. Upon our arrival, we bid adieu to our bus driver, Stefan, with a relyricized (yes, I just made that word up) version of "Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie." Likewise, the adult staff performed their own song for our tour guide, Fernando. They will be sorely missed as we leave them behind in our venture to Argentina.

At the airport, we checked our luggage and then had plenty of time for lunch. Unlike the Atlanta airport, most of the shops and restaurants are outside of security. After we passed through security, there were only a few duty-free shops to keep us entertained.

The flight was quick and smooth. Although the flight was only three hours long, we got a full meal (despite just having had lunch). To top things off, we had nice views of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires during takeoff and landing.


At the Buenos Aires airport, we met our new bus driver (nicknamed "Gato") and our new tour guide, Hernan, a very eccentric man to say the least. We checked into our new hotel, a very beautiful and historic building just off Buenos Aires's main avenue.

After about an hour to settle in, we met in the lobby so that we could walk to dinner. Though we had copious amounts of pizza again tonight, the experience was completely different. We munched on several different types of Argentinian specialties, notably a ham/bell pepper/olive combination.

After dinner, we returned to the hotel for a relatively early night to bed.

Buenos Aires seems like it's going to be entirely different that Rio. The people seem a bit more reserved with their emotions and more adherent to stricter etiquette than the people of Rio. The city also has a far more European flavor, with architecture reminiscent of Paris or Washington (which was designed by a Frenchman).