Sea Lions & Late Night Tango!

Our first official day in Mar del Plata started off with yet another good breakfast. Although there were not as many choices in the Hotel Riviera than in the Hotel Presidente, my plate of croissants and small bread slices were satisfyingly good with a heavy drizzle of dulce de leche. We departed shortly after to our rehearsal at the Colon Theater. We rehearsed for about two hours in the cozy theater and got acclimated to the relatively dry sound in the hall.

After finishing a fruitful rehearsal, we had time to eat lunch and wander the cities. My friends and I first went to the beach to take a couple of pictures and take in the beautiful seaside scenes. We then went to a very good seafood restaurant—recommended by our tour guide—one block from our hotel. The restaurant was called Cocina Mama, which means mother’s kitchen, and the food there was just splendid. Mae Leigh ordered a seafood rice dish and shared it with Caroline, while Sam ordered a big plate of fried, fresh calamari. Antonia ordered white salmon with French fries and Isabella ordered fried white salmon with whole baked potato. I invited Maynie and Mary to sit with us at lunch, and they ordered chicken with rice and ravioli. I ordered a wonderful seafood dish that came out about 10 minutes after everyone else got their meals. It consisted of 2 huge, fresh prawns, 4 clams covered with mozzarella, and 3 huge fish fillets covered in a shrimp sauce with mini shrimps in it and an avocado-infused mash potato side. It was so delicious and definitely worth the wait.

             

Finishing off our lunch payments, we hurried quickly back to the hotel to go on a Mar del Plata city tour. We drove along the coast, went into neighborhoods with beautiful houses, and even went to the boat pier to see a sea lion! Unfortunately, with all the wild dogs roaming at the pier, the sea lion was scared away. I spent time after the guided tour to buy a cup and straw for mate.

                

We then had about two hours of free time at the hotel after we came back from the tour. I went ahead to practice my WYSO music quietly in my room for the concert in the evening. Sam came back to our room from a candy store nearby the hotel and practiced a bit with me before we had to get dressed up for our 8:30 concert. We arrived there with plenty of time to set up and practice on stage. 

We were all surprised that there was a long line outside the theater, waiting to get in and see our concert. About 20 minutes before the concert, the audience all squeezed into the Colon Theater. The hall ended up being packed full to the limit before we started. We played the usual concert order: Candide, Billy the Kid, Liturgical Scenes, Tchaikovsky, and then Ginastera. The audience seemed very enthusiastic and excited to see us, and after every piece, they cheered and clapped really loudly. They cheered and clapped so loudly after our encore piece Ginastera that we played it again! The audience was so enchanted that they even started clapping along with the music during our second performance of the Malambo. The thing that was really unexpected was that after the concert, there was a group of musicians who came up to congratulate us. They invited us to have dinner with them but since we already planned to go to another restaurant, we invited them to eat with us. It turns out that the group of about 12 musicians were from the youth string orchestra of Mar del Plata.       

We arrived at the restaurant Montecatini three blocks from the Colon Theater. The Argentinian musicians were already there waiting for us and we all went in to have dinner together. All of the musicians were so friendly to us! Mae Leigh, Antonia, Sam, Thea, Caroline, Vivian, and I sat with the musicians to have a great dinner. As a gift, they even offered to play to WYSO some tango pieces in the restaurant. And they performed so well and with great expression! I even got a chance to play Eine Kleine Nachtmusik with them and it was such a fun experience. Before we had to leave, we shared ice cream desserts and exchanged names and Facebook contacts. It was sad to see our Argentinian friends waving at us as we drove away back to our hotel. We ended up arriving at our hotel around 2 in the morning, but it was definitely worth it to stay at that restaurant with our new Mar del Plata friends.

                                                                                                                                               ~David Cao