Yesterday blended into today, as we landed in Buenos Aires close to midnight this morning (last night?). After making our way through customs, immigration, and a pit stop at McDonald’s, we left the airport (finally!) in buses and headed to our hotel. After around 36 hours of traveling, and not being able to brush my teeth (sorry mom), let me tell you, a bed and shower have never looked so beautiful. Needless to say, the five hours I slept on a real bed were heavenly.
Our first real day in Argentina started out with a quick breakfast in the hotel, and then we all hopped back into our buses for the road trip to Rosario and our first concert. We drove through the city (Buenos Aires) on our way out and saw lots of parks and statues. Even though it is chilly (technically winter, but comparable to late April in Wisconsin), there are people out walking dogs in parks with modern sculptures. There are also many statues, in parks and the center of roundabouts (glorietas), of famous Argentinians. One I saw, for example, was dedicated to Dante and another to the Congress of 1853.
After we left the city, our view changed, and the landscape went from tall white buildings with balconies, to open grassy areas. I spotted horses and cattle grazing along the side of the road.
After a three-hour drive, we arrived in Rosario. We got to our first performance venue, and had a quick, (desperately needed) rehearsal. We kind of freaked out a little (in a good way) when we saw a poster outside the theater, announcing our performance.
It only got better; as we walked onto the stage for the first time (and the second), we were blown away by the beauty of Teatro Círculo.
Still, the orchestra was exhausted. However, as we practiced after dinner and warmed up on stage, we slowly began to forget about being so exhausted. Or at least it wasn’t the most prevalent thing anymore. We started to really enjoy ourselves and relax more. The performance itself was a blast, all the songs were great and the audience loved it all. We gave the two encore pieces and the audience kept clapping. The tour group left Teatro Círculo to cheers of “MYSO” on a performance high to carry us all the way back to Buenos Aires.