The sky cried a lot

Yesterday I woke up suuuuuuuper early - 8am. I went to the bus station to go to Villa Maria to visit Andres, Esteban, and Marcos in their college city. Andres was waiting for me at the station and told me that we had a 25 minute walk to get to his house. I think "No big. I am an Aggie and walking long distances with a backpack in 90 plus degree weather is nothing." I tried to stay strong and not put my hair in a ponytail during the walk because I miss getting to wear my hair down, but eventually I had to cave and bun the locks. During the trek, Andres tells me that the house is really big and old...uhhh, their house was probably the coolest place to live I have ever seen in real life. There have been a few houses on Extreme Cribs that beat it though. When we stopped in front of it I didn't believe him when he told me to go through the gate. It had a sign on the sidewalk marking it as a historical building. I didn't want to fall for a joke so I just kept standing there until Esteban walked around the corner of the house with his bike, and then I believed that was really the house. I forgot to take pictures of it, but I am hoping to go back sometime next week and I will take pictures then.

So what does this house look like? It was built in 1915 (yeah nearly 100 years old) then converted into a Evangelical School of some sort in 1965ish, and then back into a house sometime later. The front part looked like it belonged to the Tower of Terror in Disney World! The front door isn't used, so we went around the corner Esteban appeared from and went inside what seemed like an extension. This part was a bit more normal house-like. Marcos was inside chopping up some veggies. (Side note - lots of guys here know how to cook.) Andres gave me a tour of the magical, Tower of Terror, probably ghost-inhabited house. There were so many just straight up old things in there: a type writer, a card catalogue for a library, a safe, and lots of wardrobes. I think I saw a snowy lampost in one of the wardrobes.  When we got to one door Andres said that the room inside was his favorite room. So I was pretty excited to see what was inside. He opens the doors and announces that it is a library full of old books! We had to wait a moment for him to find the lights, but once he turned them on it was a like a delayed Beauty and the Beast library scene moment except a lot smaller and the books are in Spanish. It was so cool. Then we went into another room that had bunches of old books in English.One was titled something along the lines of "Modern Science and Christian Beliefs" and it was first published in 1954 - modern science. I can't wait to go back and check out all of those old school gems. Literally - oooooold school. Upstairs were some bedrooms with chalkboards, a mainroom, and a bathroom. The upper floor kind of reminded me of Water Oak with the school/house feel to it.

That afternoon Andres and I went to the river. I love love love the river and all of the waterness and how it makes a hot day so much better. While we were walking to the river I saw that there were some dark grey clouds in the sky. I said "va a llorar?" which means "Is it going to cry?" I meant to use the verb "llover" which means "to rain." So of course Andres thought the Yanki was funny mixing up the similar sounding words. So I tried to recover by asking if the sky was going to cry. Kind of worked.

The river was awesome and the current was a bit strong. It was strong enough to give me a hard time to stand/sit my ground in the shallow waters, but not strong enough to push Andres around. Sexist river. The sky continued to appear as though it would cry at any moment. Eventually we went back to shore to have cookies and maté. A few tears fell from the sky, but I thought we could tough it out. Apparently that offened the sky and it started to bawl. We rushed to gather everything and run under a covered sidewalk type place with lots of other damp people. We waited and waited while the sky let all of its feelings out. And the wind decided to join in too and blow the rain under the cover at times. Finally I said, "Let's just go." I wanted to prove that I am not a Barbie. (A term here for the girls that are kind of prissy, don't like to get dirty, go camping, etc) So we braved the storm. I had a towel wrapped around me, but my shirt underneath was completely drenched within 5 minutes. It was an adventure through the giant raindrops, slippery sidewalks, teeny tiny hail for a few seconds, and streets that were more like rivers.  Here is a pic of Andres and I after the adventure.

Once we dried off and I got some new clothes from Marcos, it was about time to start making dinner. I made (helped, really) pizza!!!! So yummy. Here is proof.

After dinner was a quick walk around the park then back to Bell Ville. Marcos told me when we were supposed to get off the bus, and I had no idea where we were. There is a lot of trust required in this trip. We stopped at a relative's house to get a car to drive the rest of the way back, but it wasn't there. So Marcos asked if I was a Barbie and wanted a taxi, or not a Barbie and wanted to ride a bike back. So naturally I picked the bike. We kind of stole a bike from his grandparents and I rode on the back. At one point we had this typical Marcos conversation while riding the bike through the dark forest out in the country: (naturally, the following in translated)

Marcos: Are you uncomfortable?

Me: No.

Marcos: Me either....Can you see anything?

Me: No.

Marcos. Me either! hahahaha

Very reassuring considering he was the one driving the bike. Haha. 

Chau chau!