Visitors Arrive

As all of you loyal readers know, my mother, younger brother, and sister arrived in Buenos Aires two Thursdays ago. For me, the anticipation was both nerve wrecking and exciting, more so the latter, of course. Yet, hosting family members in a foreign city is quite the task. If they had come here on their own without any connections, their stay would depend on their own volition to explore the city and expand their horizons, or maybe the weather. But the fact that I was here as their host and resident tour guide added some pressure in that I felt partially responsible for the success of their trip. And even more, whereas I had nearly three months in Madrid to prepare for their arrival, I had just about half that time to do that same in Buenos Aires. Still, I was more excited than anything else, especially since it was around Thanksgiving. I requested my mom bring some Thanksgiving provisions (along with peanut butter and hot sauce) for a planned Turkey Day feast with our friends from the States, so there was little doubt that we would in fact be having Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires.
But Thanksgiving was to be just the proverbial icing on the cake of their incredible week here, and sure enough it unfolded perfectly. I need not recount all the details, seeing as Julia has already done so (which is why this post as not as long as it should be), but it goes without saying that they had a spectacular time. From their first meal at Des Nivel on that initial Thursday night to a week later when close to 20 people happily crammed into our apartment for a Thanksgiving feast, Mom, Hannah, and Jacob got a great taste of the city. We explored the rich Jewish histort of Buenos Aires (including a riveting service in Belgrano), our fair San Telmo, and the Recoleta fair, even though it was oppressively hot (which led us to take advantage of their pool one afternoon after walking around La Boca). They witnessed a Cadillac victory, superior Tango in an equally grand venue, and mulitple near car crashes that are so familiar to those of us who live in this fine city. Hannah and Jacob each got to spend a night alone with us, the former involving plenty of backgammon, the latter ending as the sun rose. My family met our friends here who have made these first two months so much fun, and those friends got to spend a memorable Thanksgiving with my family and me. And appropirately enough, I'm incredibly thankful for them both.