Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Counselors of the Round Table

I'm back in Buenos Aires!! And there's lots of photos for you visually stimulated fellows out there. Where to begin. Right, OK, so we took the two buses you take to get to Marciel where were picked up by Santiago. We bought Lomito sandwiches with slightly moldy but yummy bread, and headed to Carcaraes, the hotel I had previously visited and would be spending my next three days. Here is the church part of Carcaraes:


A word about Carcaraes: its cold, the food is not good, and the staff is mean. Besides that the place is perfect for a camp. There are many places to hide things, obstacles to course, rolling hills, a bridge, statues, a tent, a camp fire ground, and a football pitch (hehe, I said pitch not field). Ideal for missions, ice breaking, general running around and tomfoolery.

So we ate our Lomitos, and of course the complaining started in right away: "The bread is moldy!" "Its cold!" My bed isn't comfortable!" The boxes aren't well organized!" Man those people can complain. I told them to stuff it and tried to go to bed early, but its tough when people aren't happy and can't deal with it cause they make a lot of noise. Truth is, it was freezing and there were no heaters till the second day, so I was happy to again be sharing the double bed. It is more comfortable, and I forced Tara (a nice Irish lass) into some spooning time that kept me warm. However, that morning people were very reluctant to get up, and more reluctant to end the warm snuggle sessions:


I have the pleasure of introducing Aidine and Will to the blog. Neither were happy about getting up but had different ways of showing it.

The kids showed up around one, and we had plenty of time to get things ready. The first thing they do when they get off the bus is go through customs. They get a passport, they get a stamp, they get their bags searched for Spanish paraphernalia, and often have things confiscated. For our personal amusement we sometimes plant a pink bikini top in a boys bag and confiscate it. I was on room duty (requested because it pains me to see these kids faces as I bag their new gel or shampoo), but here is what customs looks like:


from the left: Patrick (Irish), Fiachra (pernounced Feekra and very Irish), Aidine (Irish) and Joanna (British)


After customs they take an oath to speak only in English or Irish and then promptly break it about 20 second later.

Will had a bit of trouble getting the fire started with his limited resources, and all the Argentine guys had suggestions seeing as they are all little asadors in training. Finally we got it going and we sang. If I never hear Wonderwall again I'll be ok:


The second day we made an amazing Camelot video with the older kids that I will put on the blog as soon as it is on the Internet, but to keep you from too much suspense I'll give you the low down: Arthur pulls the sword out of the stone after countless (four) knights try before him and fail. He grows to be a man. He has a party and meets Guenevere after knighting his knights. He marries Guenevere, but as they step away from the church he looks lovingly at Lancelot and realizes that it's Lancelot he has loved all along. At the same time Lancelot and Guenevere fall in love. Then Arthur is called to battle to fight a witch, and Lancelot stays home with a cold. Him and Guenevere are caught canoodling by Arthur who remains hidden and cries out for Lancelot!!!!!! Later, in a jealous rage he tries to kill Guenevere so he can keep Lancelot all to himself, and Lancelot steps in front of her taking the mortal blow to his own stomach. Arthur cries out "I killed the only man I ever loved!!!!" as Lancelot reveals with his dieing breath that it was Merlin who he loved all along. Merlin shouts " I knew it!!!" and kills Arthur. With very few characters left, he and Guenevere skip into the sunset. Also we kept switching the Gueneveres, so as they run off the other Guenevere runs after shouting, "No!! I'm Guenevere!!!" Its going to win prizes. I just know it.
That night we had a banquet and every (well, almost everyone) dressed up:



Will and I were the King and Queen


Introducing Sonya (Australia) who was head of the Wenches!


The sky in Carcaraes is pretty

And of course, we had pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast. I had restraint and only ate four this time.

2 comments:

Ann Behar said...

Julia, only you could land a gig like this! You are a born camp counselor.

Julia said...

I think that's my problem...how can I keep this up for the rest of my life?