In Strangers' Arms

Christmas is the only day the city of Buenos Aires sleeps. Only this holiday has the power to shut Buenos Aires’ ebullient personality.

This anomaly begins on December 24th. The city’s spirit is gone. By 6 PM restaurants and cafés close their metal doors. Movies and theaters close. Gone is the mad traffic. No speeding vehicles or horns; even ambulance sirens seem on holiday. I welcome the silence.

By 8 PM Christmas night I stand on the outdoor patio of our charming colonial Iglesia del Pilar: it is filled to capacity. Loudspeakers bring us the priest’s initial words: “We are congregated here tonight to repent for our sins …” Ouch!