We are back in our respective countries after an exciting five weeks traveling and working on our business in South America. We spent one week in Argentina (Buenos Aires and surrounding areas), took a daytrip to gorgeous Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, and spent a month in the very modern capital of Chile, Santiago. This is our first post in this series, where we'll focus on all the wonderful things of this trip. More to come on the challenges of working from abroad in another post.
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| The best dinner in Argentina. |
As always, it's the people who make every trip special. Judy's hubby, Keith, spent two weeks traveling with us, and we all had the chance to meet some wonderful fellow translators. Here are the highlights:
Dinner at our wonderful colleague Dolores Rojo Guiñazú's house outside of Buenos Aires
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| Visiting Dolores' adorable family. |
We still cannot even begin to believe her level of hospitality; and here we thought that we went out of our way for friends and colleagues! Dolores' husband, Sergio, drove four hours round-trip to pick us up from our cute bed and breakfast and to drop us off afterward. They treated us to an amazing homemade Argentine BBQ (asado) which was just to-die-for. Sergio was a true master of the BBQ, and Keith was very impressed. (We might become vegetarians some other time.) We spent the evening at their gorgeous house with their four adorable children. Of course, we came bearing gifts, but Dolores had actually had bought gorgeous gifts for us, too. We couldn't believe their level of generosity and hospitality. Needless to say, the dinner was outstanding, and the company was simply wonderful. During dinner, we talked about the translation business in Argentina, the role of professional associations, and our travel plans. We are truly lucky to have colleagues like Dolores Rojo Guiñazú. Thank you!
Meeting our graphic designer, Sandra Busta
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| Judy, Peter, Dagy, Sandra at dinner. |
Readers of this blog might remember Sandra Busta, whose services we have recommended to colleagues who need a logo or other corporate imagery services. She's Chilean-American, and she and her super-nice American husband, Peter, had already offered to help us find an apartment in Santiago (that didn't go so well, more on that in the future post). As soon as we'd landed in Santiago, we made arrangements to meet for a great dinner in the Las Condes neighborhood. Sandra and Peter insisted on treating us -- thank you!
Spending time with colleagues and friends at COTICH
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| Fun dinner with the COTICH folks. |
Before heading to South America, Dagy had made contact with the local Chilean translators and interpreters association, COTICH. The outgoing president, Claudia Iglesias, played a key role in making our stay as wonderful as it was. FIrst off, she suggested that we spend a month at her house -- how kind is that? Looking back, we should have probably done that, but made the poor decision to rent an apartment on our own. In addition, Claudia volunteered to lend us an old cell phone, for which we bought pre-paid minutes. It was wonderful to have a local cell phone and saved us from spending way too much on international roaming. Claudia also organized a get-together with fellow COTICH board members and other translators, which we enjoyed at a restaurant in trendy Patio Bellavista in Santiago. We raffled off a copy of our book (we love raffles!), and had great conversations about the state of the translation industry in Chile.
Travel advice from Judy's friend and colleague, Silvina Jover-Cirillo
An Argentine who grew up in Uruguay and former resident of Vegas, Silvina Jover-Cirillo spent a significant amount of time patiently answering many questions about her two countries. She volunteered to help us with all kinds of things, even volunteering the services of family members. Thanks so much for all your help, Silvina!
All in all: it was a fantastic trip, and we are glad we reached out to fellow translators before we headed to the southern hemisphere. We knew we had wonderful colleagues, but we had no idea just how wonderful. More reports to come; stay tuned!
Dear readers: have you met up with fellow translators and interpreters while on the road? We'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments section.
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11 comments:
Sounds like you had a wonderful time! I agree, our colleagues are fantastic. I once met up with a small group at a Proz Powwow while traveling through Germany (I live in France). There definitely is a strong sense of community. That's one of the things I truly love about our profession.
@Delia: yes, it was absolutely wonderful. Good to hear you had fun at the Proz Pow-Wow. We've been to quite a few of those ourselves, and Dagy has even organized a few in Vienna. They are a fantastic way to get linguists together and out of the house.
Judy :) Peter and I had so much fun with you and Dagy. The conversation just flowed. Looks like you all had fun south of the border. If we're ever up in sin city I'll give you a shout out :)
Sandra :)
I couldn´t agree more! Just a couple of months ago I went to a Proz Powwow in Florianõpolis (south of Brazil), which, besides being a wonderful opportunity to make new friends among colleagues of the profession, has also landed some very interesting ideas and even new jobs. I can't wait for the next one!
@Sandra: we had tons of fun too, thanks again for the wonderful invitation and the great company. Absolutely -- if you are ever in Vienna or in Vegas, we must get together again for sure!
@Sheila: glad to hear you also enjoyed the Proz Powwow and even got new jobs from the event -- that's awesome. Thinking about it, we should probably organize another one in Vienna this summer. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Hi Judy, Daggy, Keith! Sorry I am so delayed in the response… time flies, but friends and good times are forever!
You are a great team! It was a real pleasure to receive you at home. Sergio loves preparing barbacue, “asaditos”, and we enjoyed a lot your company.
We are very happy to hear that you also enjoyed a lot being here and visiting our country.
My children also had a great time. You are the living proof that it is possible to work, keep on learning, travelling an had fun, all at the same time!!!!
Hope to see you soon!! You know you can come any time.
Really missing you already.
Kisses!!!
@Dolores: you are so sweet. We are so lucky to have friends and colleagues like you. :)
So fun to see pictures of your adventure and read the whole story! Looking forward to more updates too, what a great idea.
Hello Judy and Dagmar,
Just found your post! It was very sweet from you to mention me. Thanks! Argentina and Uruguay are both wonderful places with incredible people. (You can obviously tell I miss it very much!) I'm very happy you enjoyed your trip and learned about our customs and traditions. Eating a good asado is indeed a MUST in any of these two countries. I'm glad you had that opportunity! Can't miss the best meat in the world :)
@Silvina: thank you so much for all the great advice. As you can see, we loved both of your countries, and the food was just sublime (still salivating over it). :)
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