Urban Expedition 2014!

Saturday, September 20

Today I went to the church because the youth group invited me to a scavenger hunt.  We met up at the church and got into groups.  At first I was nervous because I didn't know many people, but I recognized a couple of people that I met last week and I was getting to know new people. We were split up into groups and given a picture.  The picture was of a place in the city where we had to go to receive our first clue. I'm glad I was in a group of Argentinean people because I had no clue where the picture was taken! So all of us ran out of the church and made our way to the Plaza de Intendencia.  When we got there, we met Marcos (Hey! We've got the same name!).  Marcos told us that in order to get the clue, we had to ask a stranger to juggle 5 balloons! One of the girls with us boldly walked up to someone nearby and asked.  He said ok and we got our clue!  Soy muy pequeño, y paseo con los perros. ("I'm really small, and I ride on dogs..."). Paseo de las Pulgas! (the flea market where artisans sell their wares.) 

So we quickly walked to our next destination, while asking people to answer survey questions and doing silly tasks (these questions and tasks count as bonus points in the scavenger hunt.) When we got there, we eventually found Flor, who told us for the next clue, we had to be artisans and make something to sell here.  One of the girls made a bracelet out of wire and sold it for 25 cents! Yes!! Next clue went something like: Soy perezoso y me gusta la miel. ("I'm lazy and I like honey"). The answer was bear, so it had to be Museo Caraffa! (Caraffa Museum of Fine Arts has a statue of a polar bear in front of it.)

As we quickly moved towards the museum, we continued to do bonus tasks.  Like sweeping the street, giving free hugs, and other things. When we got to the museum, Mica was waiting for us.  This time we had to dance in the street at a red light in order to get the next clue. So after a little group discussion, we decided to do the Macarena during the red light.  The people in the cars were laughing and probably wondering what in the world we were doing!

After the dance, it took us a while to receive our next clue, because it was starting to get dark and we couldn't find it. As we looked, we continued to do bonus tasks.  I ate hot sauce.  Mati raced someone and gave a piggyback ride. And then we found the clue. John 10:11 Yo soy el Buen Pastor: el buen pastor su vida da por las ovejas. ("I am the Good Shepherd...") We had to go to Paseo del Buen Pastor (it's a place downtown where a lot of people go to hang out.)

When we got there, THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE!!! Apparently there was a concert going on. Anyway, in order to get our last clue, we had to convince a group of people to sing a song for us. That was difficult. But we finally did it, so we got our last clue: telling us to meet up in Plaza San Martín.  We had to hurry! As we went, we kept doing bonus tasks, like making a human pyramid and asking someone to sing a verse from a love song. We finally made it to the Plaza. We were the 2nd group there. When all the groups came, we all went to the church together. 

At the church, there was an asado waiting for us!!! Good. I was sooo hungry! As we ate, the judges were looking at all of our photos and videos (that's how we proved we did what we did) AND OUR TEAM WON!!!!!!!!!!!!! We won some chocolates. I had a really good time.  Not only because we won, but because I got to get to know the city better and I made new friends. 

Some new friends