Photo Diary of Arroyito

It is already my last night in Arroyito, we leave for Hanko tomorrow morning! 

For my post today, a photo tour through Arroyito.  As I mentioned previously, I am staying at hotel Xanes...shown below:

It is the one of the nicer hotels in the area: it accepts credit, has wireless internet, and a restaurant in the lobby that serves breakfast and dinner:

Like I mentioned before, the people working here don't speak english.  It has been challenging ordering meals from an all spanish menu, but Osvaldo has been around to translate much of the time.  In the morning, they keep bringing me orange juice (yuck!) even though I say 'solo cafe con leche!'. Its quite frustrating :)

And my room:

Very simple with two small beds.  Although they look stiff, they are actually very soft and comfortable.  I have not had any trouble sleeping here!  Above the second bed is a televison...the only channel that comes in English is MTV... I feel out of touch with American News!

The bathroom is actually quite nice too, no complaints.  Before I left Tyler hooked me up with all kinds of convertors and adaptors for the outlets, and they have all worked out well.  The only problem is they tend to overheat easily, so I take breaks every few minutes when blow drying my hair.  Hey, it could be worse!  The other challenge was the faucets...not H and C but F and C.  Don't get confused, C is not for cold but instead caliente! F is for frio (cold). Luckily I was forewarned about this!

Now to recap my last couple of days in pictures.  On Monday after work Filip and I spent some time walking around the town.  Unfortunetly, none of the stores accept credit or dollars, so no souvenirs from here.  We stopped at a grocery store to browse:

I found it strange to look around at familiar items with labels all written in a different language.  We also checked out the detergent section (of course!) to find Latin American brands by P&G and RCBK, two of our biggest customers.  The ingredients labels read 'enzimas'...!

We walked to find the town square, a church, and later wandered through some of the neighborhoods.  It is actually Spring here, about 78F and sunny, with all the trees in bloom.  It makes it hard to think about the snow we will get in Iowa in a few months...

There are some very nices homes in town...

...and some not so nice areas. 

There were many children playing near the street...and no stop signs in the roads (yikes!)

Also as I mentioned before, there are many stray dogs.  I was a bit nervous to be around them at first, but they dont pay any attention to passers by.  They have their own agendas.

This guy is just chillin'.

Everyone puts their garbage in these baskets out on the street.  I thought these people looked like they would be fun to spend time with...

...vino!

And this is the school that Osvaldo's girls attend, literally behind bars.

After work yesterday, we were invited to have dinner at Osvaldo's home.  It was one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had, memories I will never forget.  As an engineer in town, he has one of the nicer homes.  Beyond his front gate was a lit fountain, and stone walkway with beautiful tropical landscaping.  Inside the entryway and living room were also all in beautiful etched stone.  His wife and daughters (8 and 12) do not speak english, but were very friendly.  They greet by kissing on the cheek, and were very eager to take our coats.  Although much of the town seems poor and the citizens somewhat careless, this family is the opposite.  They are very proper, religious, and pure people, very kind at heart.  Osvaldo told us that he invited us to his home not only to offer his hospitlaity, but to show his daughters that the world is a big place.  He has high hopes for them, and is a very proud father. They were very curious to listen to us speak English, and got very excited if I spoke any words in Spanish, so adorable!

A formal dinner was set in the dining area, but we went outside to the terrace for a while before dinner.  It was also beautiful, quiet with a warm breeze and soft lighting.  They have a traditional Argentinian barbacue, which looks a lot like an Italian pizza oven.  He grilled beef and pork ribs for us, and some sasuage that I actually liked!  We drank wine with dinner, and had great conversations about work and the differences between our cultures.  The engineering manager from Arroyito also joined us, and has visited Chicago many times.  It was intriguing to hear his point of view on America!

Work has been going well, I am learning a lot about the RBC and how I can improve our process in Cedar.  I am very comfortable working with these people, although this was not something I could not picture myself doing a few years ago, (or actually a few weeks ago!). 

The RBC tower is the tallest structure in the town.  Unfortunetly I cannot post any pictures taken inside the plant, but here are some from the road:

The RBC is the tower on the left. 90 feet tall.  Lots of stairs!

Here we are (that is Osvaldo) this morning on our way into work!

Tonight we will have dinner out again, and then prepare to leave tomorrow by 9:30am.  My 12-hour flight to Madrid leaves around 1:00pm US time.  I hope that everything goes smoothly like our last trip!

I will check in when I arrive in Hanko! I think I am in store for something quite different from where we are now, but from what Filip has told me I am looking forward to it.

Some things on the agenda for the weekend and next week:

-  Checking in to the hotel b8, an old police station re-modeled

-  My first trip to the plant and 'granulation heaven' (they have 2 RBCs and 3 coaters our size)!

-  The GGRT meeting (Global Granulation Ring Team) that will take place Mon-Wed

-  A 'safari' on the Baltic Sea (I am promised there will be seals!)

...and much more.  I am starting to feel pretty homesick, but the pace of this trip is very fast.  I will be home in no time! Love you all, thanks for reading!