Dancing and Dresses

Despite going to bed early the day before, Mom and I managed to sleep until almost 10:00 a.m. the next day. Luckily, it was Saturday, which meant that the complimentary breakfast would be open until 11:00.  We were now well-rested, but very hungry (remember, we'd only eaten one meal the day before), so we threw on some clothes and headed down to breakfast.  When we'd arrived the day before, we'd see the breakfast area, and it looked just big enough to have coffee and maybe some toast.  To our surprise, what we'd thought was a wall was actually a giant door that opened into a large dining room with a breakfast buffet on an entire wall.  Of course, we went straight for the coffee.  Chile isn't known for having the best coffee, so we (especially me) had been feeling a bit deprived.  Argentina, on the other hand, was settled by a large population of Italians, so they can do coffee right.

Chilean Alfajores

Argentinian Alfajores

The breakfast was mostly a cold spread, with pastries, cakes, meats, and cheeses.  There were also some scrambled eggs and toast, and even a fresh fruit bar.  They had cereal available, but the bowls they provided were so tiny you would have needed about 5 of them to equal a "normal"-sized cereal bowl.  Most of the selection was a bit on the sweet side (they even had something that looked like pecan pie with chocolate and caramel), but we were still feeling adventurous (and very hungry) so we tried a little bit of everything.  We even got to try Argentinian alfajores--sugar cookies filled with dulce de leche and bathed in chocolate.  Alfajores exist in Chile, as well, but are a bit different.  The Chilean cookies are thinner and not as sweet, and are filled with manjar, which is thicker than dulce de leche.  Chilean alfajores also do not usually have chocolate, but are instead coated with coconut flakes.  The two types of cookies are so different, I can't really say I have a favorite.  Although the chocolate did go quite nicely with fresh coffee!

After getting our fill at breakfast, we headed back up to the room to shower and plan the rest of the day.  We decided to check out Parque San Martín, the oldest and largest park in Mendoza.  We figured it might be a good idea to get a map this time, though, so we stopped at the front desk on our way out to ask for one.  The map showed the whole city, but also seemed to have a pretty decent layout of the park, so we took it and made our way in that direction.

We passed by Plaza Independencia on the way over and heard some loud hip-hop music and saw a large crowd gathered in the center of the park.  We took a slight detour to see what was going on.  Turns out there was a youth dance competition, so we stuck around to watch for a while.  There was a new act starting just as we got there--a large group of middle-school aged girls doing a hip-hip routine.  We were a bit shocked by the vulgarity of the lyrics, but no one else seemed to be too concerned with it. I guess that's the beauty of not understanding English--you can play all the popular songs without worrying about offending anyone!  The girls were of varying skill levels, and there were a ton of them--about 30 all dancing together!  And the entire routine lasted over 15 minutes and through at least 4 different songs.  It was just as entertaining to watch the spectators cheer the girls on as it was to watch them dance.  We took a seat and thought we might stay for a while to watch the other acts, but when the first routine was done, a large camera crew came out onto the stage and started interviewing the dancers.  It would've been interesting to hear the interviews, but they weren't broadcast to the crowd, so everyone there just had to sit and wait until it was done.  It was a short interview--less than 10 minutes--and then the group left the stage.  It looked as if another group of older girls would go next, as they started arranging themselves on the stage.  They were just about set up when the camera crew once again came over and ushered them off to do some interviews off-stage.  This time, they started interviewing each girl individually.  We got bored after about 10 more minutes of waiting, and decided just to continue our trek to the park.

Along the way we passed through one of the more upscale neighborhoods of the city where high-profile people, such as politicians, live.  The houses were very large and gorgeous, although none of them seemed that old, which confused us a bit.  Mendoza was founded in 1561, and this was supposed to be the main part of the city, so we thought we'd have seen some older architecture.  We found out the reason we didn't during our trip to the history museum a few days later.  I'll explain that part in a while, but for now it must remain a mystery.

It took us a while to reach the park, but that was mostly because we had to stop fairly often to admire the mansions and also to say "hello" to some of the dogs that resided in their yards.  Eventually we arrived at the gates to the park, and immediately felt as if we had been transported back to 19th century Europe.  Apparently, that is exactly what the designers of the park wanted.  There are actually three gates--a large one in the middle with two smaller ones on each side.  The structure was actually designed in Scotland in the late 19th century for the Moorish Sultan Abdul Hamid II.  Unfortunately, his kingdom fell upon hard times, and the doors were left unfinished at the factory in Scotland.  That is, until the governor of Mendoza heard about them and decided to buy them from the fabricator and modify them with definite Mendocino flair.  They are made mostly of iron, and stands 22 feet at the highest point.  On each door, the coat of arms for the city is carved and painted gold.  On the top center is a statue of a condor, another symbol of the city of Mendoza.  They were installed in the park in the year 1907, just over a decade after the inauguration of the park in 1896.  It really is a splendor to see, especially with the beautiful green trees outlining the park and the snow-covered mountains in the distance.

We admired the gates for a few minutes before entering the park.  As we walked in, we saw a visitors' center off to the left and realized that we were actually quite thirsty.  We'd already walked a bit farther than expected, and it was about 85 degrees out.  We stopped over at the center to grab some water and see if we could find more information about the park.  We tried to get a more detailed map of just the park area, but couldn't find any.  We glanced at the large map on display and figured that we could just explore a bit and use our small map if we got lost.  The park was grand, but it didn't look unmanageable based on the map.  On the map we'd seen an icon for a zoo and thought it might be fun to check that out, so we began walking in approximately the correct direction.  We followed the main street within the park for a while, but began to get tired of the fumes let off by all the cars and buses.  There were some trails leading into the forest, so we though we'd try for a shortcut through one of them.  There were only about five streets marked on our map, and none of the pedestrian trails were marked, but we figured it wouldn't be too hard to make it as long as we continued towards the direction of the zoo.

We walked for another 45 minutes or so and passed through a couple playgrounds full of children, some exercise areas, a large parking lot, and even through a row of families barbecuing in preparation for the lunch crowd, but still didn't come upon the zoo.  We sat down to take a look at the map, thinking that we must have been nearly at the other end of the park by now.  We sat next to a large building surrounded by barbed-wire fences, but couldn't manage to find it on the map.  Eventually we found some street signs and saw that we had made it about a third of the way to the zoo, and had made even less progress towards the end of the park.  Of course, we only realized much later that the entire park covers nearly 400 hectares, and that a large portion of that is a very steep hill with a tense tree cover.  We probably made the right decision when we decided to forgo the zoo and head back into town.

By this time it was early afternoon and we were getting thirsty again.  We remembered seeing a coffeeshop on the street leading to the park, so we went back the same way to stop there for a break after our two hour adventure in Parque San Martín.  We found a nice spot in the shade on the patio and sat down to relax.  Mom ordered a Diet Coke, and I ordered a cappuccino.  We didn't realize it at the time, but we had just started our Mendoza tradition--a mid-afternoon break every day for soda and coffee.  I tried to get a photo of every coffee I ordered throughout the week to compare them, but there were a few times when my need for caffeine outweighed my desire to find a camera.  I did manage to get a photo of this one, though, and I must say that I believe it was the best one of the trip.

www.damen.nl

While enjoying our drinks, we chatted about the day and plans for the rest of the week.  A young man about my age sitting across the patio overheard us speaking English and asked us where we were from.  He was relieved to meet some other English-speakers, because he was from Holland and was only in South America for a short time to visit a friend.  His friend was ill that day, so he was on his own.  He heard us talking about the park, and asked us for some advice because that's where he was headed next.  We started out talking between the tables, but eventually we just invited him to come over and sit with us.  His name is Kun, and turns out he graduated from university last year and has been working for an international ship-building company called Damen ever since.  It was really interesting talking to him and learning about how ship-building works!  He even got to spend two weeks at the factory in Romania just to see how everything goes together.  We talked with him for a while and gave him some advice for South America, and he gave us some for Europe.  We talked for quite a while, but eventually said our good-byes (and warned him about conserving his energy if he wandered in the park), and went our separate ways.

Kun headed off for his adventure in the park, and we went back for some more tranquil shopping downtown.  We browsed some of the shops for a bit and bought some odds and ends souvenirs for friends and family (well, mostly Mom did.  I'm not that nice).  We were still pretty tired out from our excursion to the park, so we started heading back to the hotel around 5:00.  Before we'd left for Argentina, I'd shown Mom some of the ideas I had for wedding dresses, so (unbeknownst to me), she'd been keeping her eye out for some dress shops.  Right as we turned off from the main shopping street, she saw exactly what she was looking for.  There was a small boutique shop with a beautiful blue dress displayed in the window.  It was more of a fancy beach dress, with a large floral print and beading on the bust and straps.  It wasn't exactly what I'd been thinking of for a dress, but I did know that I didn't want a simple white one.

I'm not really into clothing, especially not formal outfits, but Mom convinced me to go inside and look at some of the dresses.  The shop was more of a formal/quince shop rather than a wedding shop; in fact, I don't recall seeing any white dresses at all!  It was also quite small--there were only two racks of dresses on display, and apparently they had a small storage closet in the back where they kept a few other ones.  I only hate trying on clothing a little less than I hate trying on shoes, so I agreed to go in and take a look but nothing more.  Of course, try saying that to a mother who's excited about her daughter's wedding.  And this might actually be the last time we see each other before the actual wedding, so Mom really wanted to at least see me in some dresses.  After much coercing, I agreed to try on a few, just so she could see them.

We asked about the one in the window, but apparently all the pieces are one-of-a-kind and that one was already sold.  Instead, Mom pulled out a purple gown with one beaded strap.  I'd never imagined myself in a dress of that style, but I tried it on anyways.  I did really enjoy the color!  It was a size 10, so the saleswoman really had to pull it in an put clips on it so that it didn't fall off.  I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, although felt a bit nervous when they had me come out to step on the podium in front of the windows.  Not only was it way too wide for me, it was also quite long and I nearly killed myself taking the four steps out of the dressing room and onto the podium.  It looked pretty good, but I really wasn't thinking about buying dresses; I was mostly just trying them on to humor Mom.  I thought I could get one on and that would be enough, but by the time I came out, she already had three more picked out for me to try!  The next one was similar to the one in the window, but the straps crossed over each other in the front and were made entirely out of large (heavy) beads.  It was very colorful, but it seemed more appropriate for a beach setting.  I liked it as well, but once again it was about 8 sizes too large, and the crossing straps at the front bunched up.  This only served to make me look like a 6-year-old trying on mother's clothing.  I reluctantly came out onto the podium, and everyone agreed that this wasn't the dress for me.  "Good," I thought, "we can be done now."  Not quite; now Mom handed me a light pink strapless dress with silver and pink flowered beading on the bust.  The skirt can only be described as "fairy-like"--it was straight when I stood still, but whenever I moved a little it flowered out in all different directions.  It was still much too big, but when I walked out of the dressing room with that one on, everyone (including the other customers) gasped and agreed that this was "the dress."

I wasn't really sure, and I definitely didn't want to make such a quick decision, so I asked the owner, Monica, if we could come back in a day or two.  She said we could, but that if I wanted to have the dress ready before we left town on Wednesday, they'd have to start altering it soon.  I was really reluctant to decide at that point, especially since the dress was so different from what I'd been picturing in my mind.  As I was about to just say "no," the seamstress came in and saw me in the dress.  Monica asked her about alterations, and they both agreed to take my measurements for the dress, just in case I did decide I wanted to buy it.  By now it was around 6:30, and the store was going to close at 9:00.  They said they'd pin up the dress for alteration, and that if I let them know before closing they'd get started on it right away.  If not, I had no obligation at all.  Mom was really excited about the dress, and took some pictures so that we could show Jaimee and get some fashion advice before making the final decision.  As you can see by my expressions, I was a bit overwhelmed by how fast everything seemed to be moving.

The seamstress had me stand back up at the podium to pin up the dress, and as she did she asked me about the occasion.  I told her and Monica that the dress was for a wedding, and they inquired whose.  When I told them that it would be for my own, they both gasped and squealed, shocked that a bride would wear such a thing.  I thought they might try to convince me not to do it at first, but then Monica's eyes lit up and she ran off towards the storage closet, yelling "don't move!"  I thought, "uh oh, here she comes with a 'real' wedding dress and I'm probably going to have to put it on just to please everyone."  Instead, she'd pulled out the most stunning princess gown.  "Now this," she said, "would be perfect for a bride."  It did look more like a "traditional" wedding dress, but that was kind of what I'd been trying to avoid.  Everyone just looked so excited, though, so I agreed to try it on before we rushed home to ask Jaimee about the other dress.

When I put the dress on, it fit perfectly right away, no clips needed.  That was a definite plus, not having to worry about it falling off as I stood on the podium to show it off.  Even before I came out of the dressing room, I felt like a princess.  And despite being strapless, it was actually quite comfortable (except for the bag of extra beads that they had stuffed inside of it to hide as I showed it off to everyone).  This one was pink, which wasn't really the color I'd originally had in mind, but it looked beautiful anyway.  The top part was a shaped corset that hugged my body just perfectly and was adorned with hundreds of small beads.  Beneath the beading was the silk corset with a beaded flower accent.  The skirt was very princess-like, and poofed out just enough to give me the "perfect" figure.  It gave way at the bottom, giving the look of a small train.  Everyone fell silent as I stepped up to the podium, and even I had to agree that it took my breath away (and just not because it was tight-fitting).  It was completely, 100% opposite of everything that I'd had in mind, but it was gorgeous.  The seamstress took a look at it and said that it really didn't have to be altered at all--maybe just shortening the skirt if I wanted to wear flat shoes.  She could definitely have it done by Wednesday, no sweat.

Of course by now it was 7:30 and we still wanted to get back to the hotel to quickly ask Jaimee's opinion on the fashion and Dad's opinion on the price.  And I was so overwhelmed, I felt like I wasn't even in my own body anymore.  The Brittany I know doesn't wear poofy, pink princess dresses, even if it is her wedding.  But she had also never felt so beautiful.  This was quite a dilemma.  I was very flustered, and Mom was so excited, so we rushed back to the hotel to get the opinions quickly.  We couldn't get a hold of Dad, but Jaimee gave us the go-ahead, and Mom also agreed that it was perfect.  I don't think I can even make a decision about lunch this quickly, but I decided to go for it.  We hurried back towards the shop, only to realize that we'd left in such a flurry that we didn't remember the street it was on!  We only got slightly lost, and managed to get back to the store just before closing.  We told Monica the good news, and she sent me next door with her saleswoman to run the credit card.

While we were gone, Mom somehow managed to tell the whole story to Monica (even though she doesn't speak Spanish and Monica doesn't speak English--I have no idea how she keeps doing that!).  It really is a great story, and I'm sure we'll have lots more to add onto it as the years go by.  So far, we've gotten engaged in Chile, bought a wedding dress from Argentina, will be married in the U.S., and then live in the U.K.  The rest of the story is a mystery, and I can't wait to find out how it unfolds.