Catamarca Poncho Festival and Traditional Folkloric Dancing

This past week Catamarca sponsored a Poncho Festival for a week.  They sold many artisan items from wood to leather to knitted items to TONS of jewelry featuring their rhodochrosite, which is mined in the Catamarca province/state, toys, flutes and other music instruments, items from metal and so forth.  It was delightful looking at everything.  We attended a folkloric dance program with a family we've been working with as 5 of their 7 children participated in it.  A couple weeks before that we attended a program featuring Margarita Palacios who was a Catamarcan woman, born in 1911, who performed in the Buenos Aires area for many, many years.  She sang using the dialect of this area and, as you can imagine, they're extremely proud and honored for what she did for the province.  She died on July 9th, Argentina's Independence Day, and they honor the death date, not the birth date of people.

Inside the foyer were displays of Margarita.  She was known as Margarita de los Valles.  The full name of Catamarca is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca and there are many valleys (valles) throughout this region.

A girl from our ward, Daiana (pronounced Diana) Cruz was one of the dancers.  Her aunt, Ada Aguirre, and her niece, Tamara, were there to enjoy the program.  Ada and Antonio Aguirre are very involved in raising Daiana.

Yolanda Castro is in the Young Women's presidency and came to support Daiana. 

At the Poncho Festival these young men were one of the groups performing (not with the family we went to support) and we loved it and wanted to share it with you.  Their fancy footwork is truly amazing.  They're dressed as gauchos - Argentine cowboys - and we saw many groups performing this dance, which is called El Malambo, but this group was truly outstanding.  Enjoy!!

Poinsettia Bush

Have you ever wondered what a poinsettia plant would look like if it was planted in the ground and had a chance to grow and grow?  It wouldn't happen in Colorado so I've really never thought about it.  One day not too long ago I started noticing these beautiful bushes with familiar looking red flowers.  Then it dawned on me they're poinsettias!!  Of course, I had to take pictures and now I want to share them with you.  Enjoy!

This is just one yard that has these but now that I know what I'm seeing, I recognize many throughout the city.  Remember, it's also wintertime right now in the southern hemisphere so it's perfect for...their Independence Day (July 9th)?  Naw...but I'm sure it's perfect for something!  Believe me, they don't produce any poinsettias during the Christmas season.  That's when we're boiling and thinking sandals and cold sodas and hoping to get into a house with air conditioning.

An Early 4th of July Celebration and a Catamarca Parade

We celebrated the 4th of July 2 days early - on our usual P-day - with our zone.  They came to our home and had pancakes with dulce de leche AND maple syrup.  They were happy campers.  Today's another holiday in Catamarca, celebrating the birthday of their province.  There was a parade held this morning and we went to it to see Sara and Aaron Castro perform with the youth band.

Elders Puma/Peru, Slade/UT,  Kayser/CA, Bridge/MT, Skinner/UT, and Bethers/UT are anxiously awaiting their pancakes.

Elders Marquez/Chile, Short/CA, Gallacci/WA, and Bethers/UT

Elders Slade/UT (behind the flame), Kayser/CA, Bridge/MT, and Skinner/UT who was enjoying a very festive candle for his birthday, which was a few days before.

Elders Bethers/UT (in front), Goggins/GA, Kohler/UT with Elder Melendez/CA with the cameras.

Front row:  Elders Marquez/Chile, Melendez/CA, Bridge/MT, Goggins/GA, Kohler/UT, Puma/Peru, and Skinner/UT

Back row:  Elders Gilman/ID, Bethers/UT, Kayser/CA, Slade/UT, Gallacci/WA, Hermandez/Chile, and Short/CA

The sister missionaries never made it to our house for the activity and we missed them.  We got a picture of them at the next zone meeting.

Sisters Paz and Zaballa are both from the Buenos Aires area.

No parade in Argentina is complete in Argentina without their gauchos.

Next it was followed with folkloric dancers, which is very popular down here.

Aaron Castro is the smallest drummer in the back.

Sara Castro is the smaller one in the back of this picture.  She plays the clarinet.

Sara and Aaron with their instruments after their part of the parade.

We gave them some money afterwards to buy a treat.  They had these kinds of vendors all over the place.  All in all it was a very fun experience for us to watch.

Zone Conference in La Rioja

Last Friday we had another zone conference, which was held in La Rioja, about 100 miles south of Catamarca.  We always love being with the missionaries and feeling their love and seeing their dedication.  We went down with all the missionaries in our zone in a little 19 passenger bus and it was great being with them (and not having to drive)!  Here's a collage of pictures, mostly from lunch:

  Elders Cerda/Chile, Kayser/CA, Skinner/UT, and Kohler/UT

From the front and around clockwise:  Elders Goggins/GA, Hernandez/Chile, Gilman/ID, Kayser/CA, Skinner/UT, Bethers/UT, Puma/Peru, and Short/CA

Our two sweet sisters: Sisters Zaballa/Argentina and Paz/Argentina.  In the background on the left is President and Sister Salas, mission president and wife.                                                               

Doesn't Elder Bridge/MT look like he's enjoying his bowl of ice cream?

Elders Larsen/ID, Barrionuevo/Argentina, Larsen/AZ, and Ferro/Canada relaxing after their meal. 

Elders Contreras/Chile, Melendez/CA, and Hebertson/UT are very happy to accommodate me and smile for this picture!

Catamarca Zone

Back row:  Elders Bethers/UT, Marquez/Chile/ Puma/Peru, Melendez/CA, Skinner/CA, Slade/UT (in front of him), Short/CA, Bridge/MT, Kayser/CA, Hernandez/Chile, Kohler/UT (in front of him), and Gilman/ID

Front row:  Lawsons/CO, Elder Gallacci, President and Sister Salas, Elder Goggins/GA, Sisters Paz/Argentina and Zabala/Argentina

La Rioja Zone

I don't know everyone in this zone by name.  I do know that Elder Critchlow/UT is the first one on the left of the middle row.  He used to be in the Catamarca Zone. 

Argentina's Flag Day

Today was Argentina's Flag Day, a national holiday.  It's June 20th to commemorate the death date of Manual Belgrano, the man who created the flag.  He died June 20, 1820.  The flag was created February 27, 1812 and as this year is the 200th anniversary, that date was also a national holiday.  Here are a couple of pictures we took of various government buildings:

One of the things they do this day is have all the 4th grade students pledge their support to the flag and to the country.  It's a very big deal for these students to do that.  As all students wear uniforms to their school, whether public or private, we saw many children in school uniforms today getting ready to go to this special occasion, which was held at a very large park.  As you can tell from the blue skies, we had a perfect day for the occasion.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful fathers!  Our ward had an activity last Friday where all the fathers were invited to a potluck dinner - furnished by the sisters in the ward.  We brought sandwiches, empanadas, and pizzas plus there was plenty of sodas to drink.  All yum!  Also, the Relief Society, our church's organization for the women, made pillows and bufandas for all the fathers, which they gave out today.

THE MAKING OF THE GIFTS:

Angelica Valdez painting leaves on one of the pillows.

Monica Sachetti is busy making the fringe for a bufanda.

Ramonita Rojas was the instigator of the bufandas and pillows and here she's busily working on the projects.

Here's Elvita Alduncin, the Relief Society president, enjoying some mate.  We worked on the gifts at her home and she kept busy giving all the sisters some mate, except me as missionaries can't drink it.  As they all share the same straw and spend hours sipping and chatting and relaxing, it's not conducive to missionary work.

THE ACTIVITY:

Ramonita Rojas and Monica Sachetti visiting before the start of the activity.  Ramonita also made the delicious cake!

Gladys Brandan's very pleased with the sign she made.

Monica and Ignacio Sachetti and Carlos Bayon

From left around to the right:  Daniela and Gladys Brandan, Monica and Ignacio Sachetti, Carlos Bayon, Bishop Brandan, Ariel and Rosana Guerrero

President Valdez, Carlos Bayon, and Daniel Maidana

A great group of men:  Ariel Guerrero, Ignacio Sachetti, Doug, Bishop Brandan, President Valdez, and Daniel Maidana

THE GIFT:

Here's Doug with his new bufanda.  They gave a few pillows to some of the fathers and the majority received a bufanda.  Today was cold - didn't get above the 50's - and with practically no heat in any of the homes, you really feel it.

Córdoba Temple update

We were in Córdoba last week and took pictures of the temple and wanted to share its progress.  Again, they were taken from an upstairs bedroom window in the Córdoba Mission home.  It's wonderful seeing the temple being built.  Many, many members are anxiously awaiting its completion, which is still scheduled for sometime in 2014.

Beyond the fence you can see the beginning stages of the temple construction.  It's actually bigger than I thought it would look.

This is the back of the temple and the side street beyond the fence.  This street is what the Córdoba Mission home/office faces.

Just another view above of the temple construction.

It will be absolutely beautiful when completed.