Argentina, Days 4 - 7, 10:05 AM

There are a few things of note about Argentina that I would like to tell you all about:

1. The cars are either very old or falling apart (rust, no mirrors, cracks everywhere, missing hubcaps). I´m not talking old, I´´m tlking about cars that their owners have to hold on to because no alternative is available. I haven´t seen any new models. It´s sad that the economy is in such bad shape--and it´s only been that way sicne 2001 when the economy collapsed.

2. No matter how poor you are, you can afford a cell phone and to smoke. Plus, crackberries are universal. Priorities, people. I also noticed this in Hawaii and Romania. Maybe there is nothing better to do? I don´t really have any answers. In Hawaii, one of the dads we were building for showed up un a brand new truck with shiny rims. How does Habitat pick these families? It really makes me question Habitat, and I don´t like to do that.

3. There are a ton of stray dogs. Lizeth found out its because of the 2003 floods, when a dam broke amd buried the city and its buildings. The families had to get out immediately and leave there pets behind. (Curiously, we´ve only come across one cat.) 2003 is also the year Habitat came to be in Argentina.

Days 4 thru 7 here (days 2 thru 5 on the worksite) were been pretty much the same. On Tuesday, there was more scraping and filling in cracks. Mariano really wants us to get these houses done, although he says we don´t always have to be working. On Wednesday, I broke rocks all day with Thea, James, and Jack. This task continued on Thursday (which was only half-day ending at 12, after which we walked around Recreo, the city where the worksite is) and half of Friday. After lunch yesterday, I painted until we quit at 3:00. There was a soccer match between our build team and the construction crew when we ended the day. Our team is starting this tradition, and we hope it will continue with the rest of the teams that follow us. We even bought a trophy with a soccer player on it. Mind you, soccer is so huge here, and our team lost 5-1. But we had a complete blast and did score the first goal. Aferwards, we shared beer and these amazing, iced dulche de leche cookies that Don, a team member, had so generously purchased.

We´ve been told that our actions, just by coming here, serve as inspiration to the families we help out. That´s a lot on our shoulders. I never quite know what to think of my Habitat trips. I know it´s a great thing to do, but to me, it´s nothing extraordinary, it´s just another part of who I am or what I do. Just that.

Rebecca and I continue to get a lot of compliments from the entire team that we´ve picked a great bunch of individuals. The main question has been, "How were you able to do that? What were your criteria?" We just wanted a range of ages and experiences. And we totally lucked out. Everything happens for a reason, I say. Mark told me and Rebecca personally that he´s glad we invited him, Lizeth said she hasn´t laughed this much in a long time; Jake and Don are happy, too. The one exception is Janet from Colorado; she seems to have a chip on here shoulder. She´s made some comments about the food and seems real set in her ways. Maybe she resent us being younger and in charge somewhat. I don´t really know. The past few days she seems to be having a better time. That´s our only real goal for the people we have brought along: To make sure they are happy and having a blast. Which we hope will translate into them wanting to go on another trip.

There is so much more I want to write about in regards to where we are building,how things are going on the site, team dinners, and in general, but I must log off to go and pack. We leave at 11:30 for our two days of R&R and the room is a mess.