Day 3 in Argentina was the biggest travel day of our tour!
We received a wake-up call at 5:30 AM. We were scheduled to leave by
7AM. To the credit of the hotel, I am told that the hot croissants were
in the dining room as early at 6AM for our breakfast. We left the
hotel, surprisingly by 7:15 AM. Given the early hours of the morning,
we had a very quiet trek to Córdoba with one rest stop on the way.
Unfortunately,
the slow travel speed of the bus and distance needed to be covered made
it impossible to make our 12 noon arrival time. As stated earlier, we
have a double-decker bus, which is generally comfortable for the group,
but difficult to negotiate in an urban environment with low trees
overhead. Buses in Argentina like many foreign countries have
limitations on their gears to not allow them to go any faster than is
considered safe. We did not arrive at the Maestro Marcelo Lopez City
University Public School until after 1:15 PM. Despite our late arrival,
the school who had been waiting for our arrival since noon, was all
ready for a much anticipated exchange. The Music School had a lower,
middle, and upper school choir that each performed for our US
delegation. After their performances, the Morgan choir sang about five
selections from our repertoire for them. Beyond a wonderful music
exchange for both choirs, this was set-up as a teaser event to encourage
the parents of the students to attend our concert in the evening at the
church. Like children will do, they were all up over members of the
group shaking our hands (where is the Purell) , giving hearty welcomes,
and of course taking photos with us. We enjoyed the afternoon. The
only angst was knowing that we were going to be late and keeping
students waiting with the end of the school day fast approaching. We
would have had to leave by 6AM to make it on time. On the surface this
may have seemed like poor planning, however, given we did not return to
the hotel from our concert at the Teatro Circulo until around 10:30 PM,
and Friday was the only school day we were going to be in Córdoba we
did not have any choice, if we wanted this exchange. As a result of
this long travel day - over six hours to Córdoba from Rosario - our
meals were out of sync - and the day drudged on much slower as a
result.
See link to lower school choir performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebhHVJsaGQc
In
addition to the long travel day, we had a huge concert here in Córdoba.
We quickly checked in to the hotel in Córdoba found lunch and rested.
We skipped the soundcheck given the length of the day to get
to Córdoba We have a group dinner, that could have been good, however,
given many finally ate their lunch as late as 3:30 or 4PM, many were
not hungry for the early dinner.
So
far, our concerts have been much better attended than any of our tours
over the years. Although we have only had two concerts, both had huge
audiences who enthusiastically appreciated our music. Last night’s
concert was at a church called Compañía de Jesús Church. One of the
choirs from the music school opened up our concert. After they
performed two selections, we sang a 75 minute concert to a crowd that
was beyond capacity for the space. In the United States, fire marshals
would have never allowed this many persons to be in such a structure.
Every seat in the church was taken. Every space in the aisle was taken
with either someone siting or standing to hear our concert. Again, we
sang their Argentinian favorite Gracias a La Vida to great acclaim. One
of the persons accompanying us proclaimed, you all must feel like rock
stars! Again, we are trying to carry the name of Morgan with honor and
excellence!
EC
See link to concert at the Teatro Circulo in Rosario (1:37:58):
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