One of Miki's main goals in coming to Buenos Aires was to meet one of the Montenegrins (or descendents of the Montenegrins) who apparently immigrated en masse at the beginning of the 20th century. (Miki's family is from Montenegro.) She emailed the listserve of a Montenegrin affinity group and arranged an ill-fated meeting at a cafe in Palermo. No one showed. But some people did email her to tell her they would be singing in the choir at a Russian Orthodox Church on Sunday morning. So the day Miki left, we trekked to San Telmo and ascended into a church with brilliant blue onion domes, hoping to spot one of Argentina's elusive Montenegrin specimans.
I had never been to an Christian Orthodox service of any kind and was both a little nervous and incredibly curious as we walked through the elaborately painted lobby and in up to the main sanctuary (is it called a santuary in Christianity?). We were handed skirts to put on over our jeans and when we were properly garbed, we entered - and gaped at our fantastically painted surroundings. Within 30 seconds, a man in has mid 30's approached us. Was she Miki? Was I her friend? (I guess we stood out.) It was the Montenegrin man Miki had been emailing with. Mission accomplished! They arranged to meet after the service (he was in the choir).The sounds that echoes through the halls and the domes were a mix between choral music and the deep baritone of the priest which strangely resembled the chanting of the Jewish Kippur liturgy. For Miki, the experience was surreal as well . . . she's in the choir at her Serbian Orthodox Church in Chicago, and she walked in to hear identical music - just in Spanish, with occasional phrases of old Slavonic thrown in for good measure. Not exactly on hte regular tourist itinerary, but definitely one of the coolest things I've seen in Buenos Aires.
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