Day 2 in Argentina – the city of Rosario

After a breakfast that featured hot croissants baked on the premises, we began our 2nd day with a tour of the nearby city of San Lorenzo, known for a very famous battlefield where Argentinian troops, led by General José de San Martín, defeated Spanish troops. We visited the battleground and the adjacent Convent de San Carlos, famous for hiding Argentinian troops during a surprise attack to defeat the Spanish soldiers in San Lorenzo.

We enjoyed some free time in the afternoon before having to leave at 4:45 PM for a sound check in preparation for our first concert of the tour at the Teatro de Circulo – an opera house in Rosario. The acoustics in this space were quite good.  After the sound check we ate a very typical Argentinian meal, with a huge cut of beef and potatoes.

After the dinner, we returned to the Teatro to change into our dress for our concert. The acoustics were good enough that the choir did not use microphones on this concert, except for soloists.  Despite our concert being on a Thursday night, we enjoyed a nearly full house. The audience was very appreciative.

We learned one song famous in Argentina  – Gracias a la Vida.  We sang in Argentinian Spanish – a little different than what most of us learned in school.  They were very appreciative although I knew that our pronunciation could have been better.  People around the world usually appreciate one attempting to understand their culture by learning a familiar song.  This song was a huge success!

After the concert, we tried to quickly get back to the hotel, as we had a 5:30 AM wake call for our long drive to Córdoba the next day.

Again, it was a very good day!