Rotary District 7330 Argentina GSE Team

On Tuesday morning we met back at the Rotary club’s building and received small gifts from the club so we remember them. We dropped our bags and went to lunch with Juan, the president of the second rotary group. We got back to the club around 2:30, said our final goodbyes to everyone, then got in a minibus to head to our next town, Villa Mercedes.

We all got picked up around 9am on Monday morning by members of the third Rotary club.  We drove about 45min out of town to visit another small rural school that was receiving assistance from Rotary.  We arrived with boxes of new shoes and gave them out to the children.  The kids and teacher gave us a short tour of the facility and took many pictures.  I’m not sure who was more excited, us or the kids.

Our next stop was a secluded Benedictine Monastery in the mountains north of the city.  We arrived to a large gate and a long, steep, curvy driveway.  Perched on the side of the mountain were a stone chapel, living quarters, and large gardens.  We received a tour from a nun and were escorted to a gift shop where they sold products made by the nuns at the monastery.  They used the money from the sale of their products to maintain the beautiful, old building.  The nuns never left the monastery except for one, who made trips to the local town for supplies only several times a year.    Right before we left, a 92 year old nun greeted us and let us take pictures with her.  Despite living there for most of her life, she spoke English and enjoys writing email.

Later that afternoon, after driving back down the dangerously steep driveway to the dirt road which eventually met up with the real road, we went to a local university on the outskirts f the city.  La Punta University only has about 600 students and has been open for only 2 years.  The modern buildings and state-of-the-art technology was a contrast to the monastery we had just seen. 

After we toured the university and met the dean, we went back to the Rotary building and had pasta for lunch.  We talked about our plans for that evening and out schedule for tomorrow.  The Rotarians took us back to our respectful accommodations for a siesta before our informal pizza/beer dinner back at the rotary building.  

Sunday was a rather light day with only one scheduled activity.  The president of last night’s Rotary meeting invited us to come to his house for a Carne Asado lunch.  Words cannot describe this incredible BBQ.  In addition to the giant pieces of steak roasting over a brick fireplace, they also had many sausages, empanadas and desserts.  During lunch we got to know more about this particular Rotary club and learned about some of their community projects.  We were all impressed with the incredible house, the hospitality and their community service. 

That evening was free but we were all invited to the host family of Erin and Janelle.  There, we had pizza, wine, empanadas and ice cream.  They also had an inviting house and were very good hosts.  It was a relaxing, casual dinner with many laughs and lots of Spanglish. 

Saturday morning began with sightseeing and driving around local dams which supply water to the city.  These man-made lakes offered picturesque views and a relaxing ambiance.  As we continued to drive north-east, we came to a very rocky dirt road which led us back to a small, privately owned hostel.  We were served big steaks for lunch and some local wine.  After lunch, we noticed horses in the nearby stables and asked if we could go for a ride.  The owners were very accommodating and gave each of us a horse.  We had one guide between the whole group and we followed a path through the vast, rugged fields.  The 4km round trip lasted about an hour and was the highlight of the day.

We then go back into the cars and headed towards La Carolina, an old mining town in the mountains.  Although there is no active mines now, it’s still a well-visited area with amazing scenery.  Later that afternoon, as we began heading back to San Luis, we stopped at an old cave where native Argentineans lived thousands of years ago.  Scientists have found many artifacts and wall paintings in these caves. 

That night we got back to San Luis around 8pm, changed out of our horse-smelling clothes and into our suits for our presentation with the third rotary club in San Luis.  The interesting thing about this club was that they actually owned their building and would hold events there on a regular basis.  We gave our presentation after dinner and had the chance to watch a traditional “Gaucho Dance” during dessert.  

On Friday morning we got up and began driving to a small school about an hour outside of San Luis.  The last 7 kilometers of the trip was on a bumpy dirt road.  Finally we arrived to a rural school with only 15 students (aged 4-10,) one teacher, and two assistants.  The local rotary club has been assisting this school over the past year.  We met with the students, took pictures and exchanged addresses so our group can continue to keep in touch with them. 

Around 10:30am we left the school and began driving north to do some more sightseeing in the mountains.  The weather was again perfect and the views from on top of the mountains were beautiful.  We drove down the steep slopes back to San Luis for lunch.  For lunch we stopped by a restaurant owed by one of the Rotarian’s nephews for Argentina-style “chop suey.”  That evening, we went back to the lake hotel for dinner for dinner with about 30 Rotarians from the second San Luis club.  We enjoyed wine a seafood pasta with the famous dessert, dulces leche (sweet milk ice cream.)

On Thursday, we got up and our group met with the mayor of San Luis to discuss Rotary and the purpose of our GSE trip.  After our meeting we visited a local war memorial and then went to the local newspaper company to be interviewed by several journalists for an article to be printed for the next day.  For lunch, we went to hotel in the mountains overlooking a lake.  It was an amazing lunch with an amazing view.  After lunch we visited a small school outside of town.  There were about 20 students total in the school and they were very happy to meet us and take pictures with us.  They ranged in age from about 2 years old to about 10.  After this school, we went sightseeing around the nearby rivers and lakes.  Later that day, we met with students at a larger public high school in the center of San Luis.  The school was built to provide education for a neighborhood built with government funding.  We gave our presentation and met with more teachers and students.   That evening, we met the second Rotary club and had yet another fantastic dinner.  After dinner we presented to the group and planned our activities for the next day. 

We all met at the Pittsburgh airport around 4pm on Tuesday (4/15) and were all very excited for our GSE trip.  We left Pittsburgh at 6:30pm, changed planes in Dallas and arrived in Santiago, Chile.  On the flight Erin sat next to the GSE trip leader from Witchita, Kansas.  After we landed in Santiago around 8am, our team was able to meet all of the other members of the Kansas GSE team who were also going to Cordoba. 

Within five minutes of take off from Santiago, we rose above the smoggy city and crested the beautiful snow capped Andes Mountains.  We all agreed that these were some of the biggest, most rugged mountains that any of us have ever seen.  The mountains started to get smaller and eventually disappeared as we began our decent into Cordoba.  The vast landscape and random hills vaguely reminded us of Arizona. 

Once we got off the plane and made it through customs and baggage claim, we were greeted not by one Rotarian, but by 14.  As we passed through the exit, everyone began kissing, hugging, laughing, and taking pictures.  It was a whirlwind of attention (and fast speaking  Spanish) that nobody was expecting.  We were immediately ushered onto a mini bus around 2:15pm and were taken directly to a downtown restaurant for a very large and much-welcomed lunch.  After many hours of airplane food the Melbec wines, pastas and desserts were a hit.  Immediately after lunch the Governer of one of the Cordoba districts put our team back on our mini bus and sent us on our way to San Lois, a smaller town about 7 hours away. 

After the long bus ride on very rural, dark, quiet roads, we arrived to San Lois around 11:30pm.  Expecting to go directly to bed we were all pleasantly surprised to be greeted by one of the San Lois Rotary clubs.  The members were very excited to see us and brought us into the hotel restaurant where we had an enormous dinner consisting of  roasted goat, cow intestine, pickled vegetables and of course more wine (this is pretty standard food here in San Lois.)  After exchanging many pleasantries and gathering our bags we were taken to our respective accommodations around 2am.  It was a very busy day of traveling and meeting new people.  Our first day had officially ended and it was officially time for a real bed.

Hello! We are the 2008 Rotary District 7330 GSE Team from western Pennsylvania, USA. Beginning April 15th, our team will be visiting Rotary District 4870 located in Cordoba, Argentina. The team will spend 5 weeks traveling through the region visiting neighboring local clubs and attending many events. Representing a diverse vocational background, the five-member GSE team is very excited in building new friendships and connections in Argentina. We look forward to sharing our experience with you and hope you enjoy reading about our adventures. We will be at the Westmoreland Community College on April 10th to meet district Rotarians and give our presentation.

Hope to see you there.

~GSE Team