HELADOS (Ice cream)

The most important word in the Spanish language is "helados" pronounced ay-la-dos.  Just ask any missionary and you will find that this is the word that brings comfort, joy, and the courage to keep going.  It helps that Argentina is known worldwide for its delicious ice cream, and Buenos Aires boasts an ice cream shop on nearly every block.  We live in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires which is known for its parks with their beautiful trees and flowers.  There are also many paths to follow and park benches to enjoy, so of course there is much ice cream.

There are some flavors of ice cream here that you just cannot get anywhere else.  McDonalds which is just two blocks away does not have chocolate soft ice cream like you find in the States.  Instead they have soft dulce de leche ice cream (also available in twist with vanilla).  It is to die for!  It has a very rich caramel taste and is everyone's favorite down here!  They also have the McFlurries and Sundaes which are available with this flavor.  Yum!

We have 4 little ice cream shops within 2 blocks of our apartment.  They are pictured below.  The little shops do not have soft ice cream.  They sell it either by the cone, the quarter kilo, half kilo, or whole kilo.  It comes in Styrofoam containers with fun little plastic spoons.  It is expensive, with a quarter kilo sometimes costing 30 pesos.  That would be about $2.50 USD and is usually what one missionary orders.  Desiring to be dedicated missionaries and good neighbors, we have become very good friends with the owners and workers in these shops and are certain that they all have pass along cards and copies of the Book of Mormon!  We remember what Elder Ballard said in conference about "follow up" being important and feel a need to stop in often to make sure our "contacts" are progressing!

The chocolate "flavored ice cream comes in dark, very dark, and almost black!  They have almonds, swirls of dulce de leche, brownie chunks, raisins, or little crunchies if you like.  By far my favorite!
Janet likes dulce de leche the best and depending on her mood chooses, chocolate chips, almonds, brownies, swirls of chocolate, raisins, or all of the above. 

They also have cream flavors, with any word you want in front of the word cream, like almond, cherry, strawberry, cookie, chocolate, peach, coconut, banana, orange, mango, American, or lemon.  Of course you can have your ice cream bathed with a number of sauces, dulce de leche, chocolate, strawberry, and caramel to name a few.  You can have nuts put on top if you choose as well.

The non-cream flavors are more the fruits and are so rich and delicious.  They are not really sherbets like in the States, they are much richer, smoother, and creamier.  Lemon is by far the favorite flavor of the non-creams and especially if you add chocolate chips and nuts!  Delicious!  The watermelon and mango flavors are also really good and cherry is one to make your mouth really pucker!  Janet likes the orange with fresh peach chunks.  We also really like one called "Coco My Place" which has coconut flavored ice cream with swirls of dulce de leche, chocolate chips and almond slivers.  It is really good bathed in chocolate.

We have an open chapel to present every Saturday afternoon and it has become kind of a ritual to go a little bit early, drive around the area until we find an "heladeria" (ice cream shop) and stop for a treat before we start the program.  It has been really fun and we have become well-acquainted with lots of ice cream shop owners all over Buenos Aires, who now have copies of the Book of Mormon and our Open Chapel cards.  We love this work!

Well, now you know the truth.  The truth is, we have fallen in love with the ice cream capital of the world and have to work really hard to fit into the clothes that we brought down with us to Argentina 22 months ago!