The best day

This Saturday was quite possibly my favorite day of my time here so far. Like, I was literally smiling at least 80% of my waking hours (and, given my tendency to laugh in my sleep, probably of my non-waking hours too).

Several weeks ago my host parents had mentioned a country music festival that was coming up in San Pedro, a small city about 2 hours outside of the capital. Due to improving but still-rocky communication between us (ya know, that whole language thing), I only realized about a week ago that they were referring to a plan that included me... Once I finally put it together they wanted myself and a friend to join them, I still had no idea what to expect (so obviamente I invited Natalie, who's always game for ambiguous but potentially fun activities).

The car ride was surprisingly enjoyable, complete with ham and cheese finger sandwiches and hot coffee (¡en serio!). Oddly enough, at moments I had the sensation that I was sitting in the back seat of Daddy Bill's Cadillac, since the smell of our recently-applied sunscreen and the voice of Johnny Cash (host dad's CD of choice) filled the car.

By the time we got to the park, the festival was already in full swing (like people were actually swing-dancing slash doing some sort of line dancing that wasn't quite salsa but also not quite square dancing...). As soon as we found a spot in the middle of the (seated/non-dancing) crowd I felt like I had been transported back to home sweet North Carolina. We were surrounded by plaid-shirt wearin', cowboy-hat-sportin', beer-drinkin' Argentines (plus some hipsters and normal-ish families mixed in). Though some of the music was a sort of unfamiliar Latino bluegrass, I actually recognized the majority of the songs! The bands covered classics like "Landslide," "Jolene," and "Act Naturally" (I'll admit I didn't know the title of that last one, but it's part of one of my favorite movie scenes of all time), all in endearingly accented English. AND in the breaks between acts the speakers blasted current hits that I'm pretty sure no one besides me had ever heard before...

We spent the afternoon singing along, browsing the booths of the mini-feria, walking by the lake, and of course snacking like there was no tomorrow (Lili & Gus treated us to dulce de leche churros and torta frita!). Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, a gospel ensemble took the stage and, in my opinion, stole the show.

That's right, TWO Remember the Titans connections in one day. 

(p.s. "Me and Bertier's mama went out on the town last night!") 

The funniest mix of old (my high school best friend, Nat) and new (my lovely stand-in parents), of familiar (the music I grew up listening to) and unfamiliar (every other foreign-country-related aspect) made for the most wonderful of days! Who would've thought I'd find a little taste of "the South" in the middle of South America?