Last night we had to say adios to Barbi, our generous, funny, kind, and patient Spanish teacher as she returns to Bahia Blanca this morning. Many hugs and kisses later, I’m reflecting on our experience here in South America as part of my language learning process. Our days were filled with many mini-Spanish lessons as we navigated the streets, restaurants, taxis, ticket offices, and sights of Uruguay and Buenos Aires.

I’ve really admired my companions, Janice and Marsha, from my Cada Día Spanish class, as they bravely jump in and engage in conversation with the locals. I’m more reserved, and speak when necessary. Yesterday, as Marsha was in the front seat and conversing with a taxi driver, Janice and I laughed as she predicted correctly that Marsha would next turn around to us and ask, “Now… what did he say?” and we would translate for her.

I’m sad to say that I dropped out of the Diamond League of Duolingo after having stayed there for nearly 160 consecutive weeks. Here in Argenting, there just isn’t time to sit around and practice Spanish with Duolingo like I’m able to at home, where I try to use the app for at least an hour a day. You may recall that last November I completed the Duolingo course for Spanish but was still obsessed with earning XP points, so I started the English course for Spanish speakers. I’m still continuing to learning vocabulary plus more about sentence construction and conjugation so that’s a good thing. Plus— I’m keeping my streak going which now is at 1367 days.

We were now on our own, so we started the day with a breakfast at a nearby museum restaurant, Croque Madame. I remember with fondness the Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame sandwiches I had in Paris when I was studying with virtuoso Marcel Dupré.

We decided to take a taxi to see the Woman’s Bridge (Puente de la Mujer) in the upscale Puerto Madero area. The bridge represents a couple dancing tango, with the white mast symbolizing the man and the curve of the bridge, the woman. It has a large turning mechanism, allowing it to swing open to allow sailing ships to pass. The bridge was constructed in Spain and donated to Buenos Aires through a private donation.

After lunch in a Japanese restaurant, we walked through a nearby park. It was beautiful, and the weather was cool and breezy.

We took a taxi to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and admired the art and sculpture inside. But when we wanted to go back to our hotel, I couldn’t figure out how to use Google to go by foot instead of by car! With the one-way streets, we went way out of our way and had to stop and ask directions! Of course, the people we asked didn’t speak English and we had to rely on our Spanish to find out where to go.

Janice and Elliot were anxious for Marsha and me to meet Carlos, Janice’s language exchange partner of three years, at Mudrá, a vegan restaurant, which they had visited a few days ago and they raved about the food and presentation. Janice made a reservation online, and then followed it up with a phone call. When we got back to the hotel, she received a message asking why she didn’t show up for her reservation. Seems like Janice had made a reservation at a restaurant called Mudrá in Madrid, Spain! However, the local Mudrá had our 8:00 pm reservation and we don’t know if the two restaurants were related. The food was absolutely exquisite, and you had no idea that vegan food could be so delicious! Marsha and I shared a risotto and a caesar salad.

The dinner was, again, a non-stop Spanish lesson!