Lucia's Birthday...

was the 31st! We got up about 8:30 and drove out into the mountains again, only this time we went north. This trip encompassed the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The first stop was the little old town of Purmamarca, which had unfortunately become rather a tourist trap since the last time Tio Juancho had been there; the main square was full of tables with all sorts of things to sell. We wanted to go into the church, but it was being mended or something so we couldn't. We did do a bit of shopping, though!

We had a delightful picnic by the Rio Grande, which was ice cold (we sat on the little board bridge and dangled bare feet in the rushing water), and Ignacio stood on the shore and soaked us with big rocks! We all wanted to kill him, but he ran away over the rocky ground too fast for us to catch up... After lunch we drove on to Humahuaca, which is a beautiful old place. We climbed up the monument to those who fought for freedom, looked at the gorgeous Hill of the Seven Colors and took lots of pictures, and went on a mission to find a bombo which ended up failing because we couldn't find one within our price range or of a transportable size. On the long drive home we stopped at the big salt plain, where there must have been a sea a long time ago; the building of the small outpost was built of salt too! When we got home, we headed out to look for a peña, a restaurant where people get together to play traditional music. Most now just have a show; but we ended up (about 11 at night!) finding one where we ate locro, the traditional stew, and the guitarist asked somebody to come up onstage and sing! So Tia Coty shoved me out of my chair and I obliged with the popular Zamba de mi Esperanza. Ignacio went later, and sang a chacarera. At the very end (after they sang Happy Birthday, in case of any birthdays -- there was another gentleman, besides Lucia,) I went and asked the guitarist if he could follow me in the chacarera Lucia had requested for a birthday gift. I forgot the words then from pure nervousness, but here they are now:

Rosa de Luz
Mi hermana pa' su cumpleaños
Me ha pedido chacarera,
No soy gran compositora
Pero venga la primera.

Se llama Lucia Rosa,
Luce rosa florecida;
El capullo de mi canto
Florece para Lucia.

Chacarera, chacarera
Rosa 'e luz que florecio
Feliz cumpleaños Lucia
La primera termino.
--
Con trenzas de seda oscura
Y una voz de ruiseñores
Lucia pasa cantando
Una flor entre las flores.

A ser novia 'e Jesucristo
Se nos va a Nueva Zelanda
Y sin dejar de ser mia
De toditos sera hermana!

Chacarera, chacarera
Que ya esta por acabar
Feliz cumpleaños Lucia,
Y que cumplas muchos mas!

(I may be able to translate it, but Argentinian folklore doesn't lend itself to translation. We will see.)

Yesterday we just went on a picnic with the family and later went up the mountain where Our Lady has been appearing every Saturday to a lady of Salta called Maria Livia, under the invocation of Immaculate Mother of the Divine and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. The apparition is not as yet approved by the Church so I was a little uncertain, but I did get a chance to say my Rosary as we climbed up to the shrine, which is quite small and very pretty. The "no smoking" and "don't pick the plants" signs along the trail amused me quite a bit!

Today we got up pretty early for our flight back to Buenos Aires at 8 am. We got in about ten and are spending the day resting at Tia Uki(Lu's godmother)'s house. The next plan is to go to Mar del Plata tomorrow after Mass and stay there for three or four days with Tio Claudio, Tia Valeria, Gaspar, Alba and Carla.