Last Day in Tandil and an Excellent Concert

Things have been busy down here in Argentina with little time to access computers, but we have most certainly been amusing ourselves. Our last day in Tandil (Tuesday, March 24th) was fabulous and extremely eventful. We all met later in the morning to rehearse at the school we would be performing at later that night. Despite the extreme heat in the chapel, the rehearsal was a good one, mostly thanks to the cool stone floors and water that our guide Iggy brought in for us. The little chapel was beautiful though unusual--it was attached to the main school building right next to the courtyard with low, intricately-painted arches and ceilings. We walked back to the hotel after rehearsal to change and drop off our music and then headed to the outskirts of the city in the buses to go for a small hike up a hill that had a great view of the city. We stood on top of a castle-like building and took pictures for a while and then ate a late lunch in the restaurant downstairs. After lunch we were taken to a beautiful lake outside the city which had a small park next to it. About 20 of us decided to stay and spend some time outside and in the sun. We sat with our feet in the cool water for a while and then started up a soccer game with some locals. We played on a sand pitch: Argentina v. USA. The Argentine team had Iggy and men around his age, as well as a bunch of smaller boys, which were surprisingly good for their age--I guess that´s to be expected in a society where soccer is such an integral part of the culture! It was a great way to spend some time with Argentine people--not only was it a great game which gave us the opportunity to get some exercize, but there were also some hilarious moments that really helped bring the two sides together. After we got back to the hotel around 5:30, we were all on our own to grab a small dinner before meeting for the concert around 7:30. The concert was AMAZING. Although most of us were pretty exhausted beforehand, the audience was so enthusiastic and appreciative that we all felt great afterwards. Many of the people in the audience were singing along and even dancing to the Argentine pieces and they even loved the Vigil piece (a contemporary one composed by a Colby professor in which there are no actual notes--only sounds) and they clapped before we were finished with many of the songs. We sang TWO encores for them because they never stopped clapping! It was an amazing experience. Afterwards, we wentto a small reception to celebrate, and we got to know some of the audience members that belonged to a local choir. A great day all around to get to know a more tangeable side of Argentine culture, which is sometimes hard to grasp in the busy life of Buenos Aires!

Susannah