Asado

Last weekend I had the chance to eat asado not once, but twice! Asado is a common dish in Argentina, and is usually cooked on Sundays. It is basically a distant cousin of bbq, but the similarities end there. Asado is cooked over coals, usually in an elevated fireplace. The fireplace might be outside, in its own outbuilding, or in a garage. Around San Luis the coals are usually from wood, but in other places they use charcoal briquettes.

Jorge tending the grill

Before cooking the raw meat is seasoned with salt and other spices. There are almost always several different cuts of meat... matambre is my favorite, it is a type of thin flank steak cut from the belly. Costillas are ribs, which are sometimes called asado as well. Lomo is tenderloin, vacío is a flank steak, and a bife can either be a T-bone or a rib-eye depending on where it is cut from (bife de chorizo or bife de costilla). There is almost always sausage (chorizo) and blood sausage or sweetbreads if you're into that sort of thing. These names seem to vary a little bit depending on who you talk to, but it gives you a general idea of what can be on the menu.

Most asados include at least 2 but perhaps as many as 5 different cuts of meat. I was told that the seasoning and cooking of the meat isn't nearly as important as the quality of the cut, which defines the overall taste. People seem to have a butcher that they trust to get them good meat, otherwise it isn't worth going to the trouble of preparing everything.

Asado!

The meat tends to have a lot of fat and isn't really trimmed at all before being tossed on the grill. This is one of the reasons that it tastes so good, but it's much different than a typical Sunday afternoon bbq in the states. Another reason is that the majority of the cattle here are grass-fed. Argentines are serious about their beef and eat a lot of it- sometimes beef is on the menu twice a day.

Chopping garlic

On Friday night I went to a weekly gathering of guys with a professor from the university. I've tagged along before, but never for the main event until now. There was asado, as always, but the main dish was actually something called bagna cauda, which is akin to fondue. The dipping sauce is made from cream, milk, a ton of diced garlic, anchovies (later filtered out), and finely chopped walnuts. There was a wide variety of food to dip: chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread, cabbage, celery, etc. Very rich!

The crew

Bon appetit!

Trucking!

The past few days have been pretty exciting. On Sunday I struck out on my own in search of adventure. I started the day by taking a bus up to El Volcán, a town about 2 km outside of town. The river was pretty neat looking and I walked around a lot, but didn't find the hike I was looking for (probably because I didn't know where to look).

So I headed back toward town and caught a bus up to Potrero, where I've been before. I walked around town for a while and eventually found a stream, which I followed until the pavement ended. I kept going until I found nice shady spot to eat lunch. A family was coming downstream and their son bragged to me about seeing the waterfall further up. Not to be outdone by a 4 year-old, I took off my socks and shoes and wade upstream until I found the waterfall. He's right- it was cool. Well worth the wading. And the waiting!

On my way back I ran for the bus and caught it- now I finally know that a short jog is well worth not having to wait an hour for the next one!




On Monday afternoon I went back to visit Aleluya again.  This time I gave a conceptual survey to the 6th year students, which is roughly equivalent to the senior year in US schools. They weren't thrilled about, just like my students never are. I think it went as well as it could given the circumstances, and the students set the stage pretty well for their younger counterparts to take it on the following day. I promised that the next time I come I won't make them take a test! I'm also hoping to get some pictures of the classrooms and students when I go back later this week.

Monday night was one of the highlights of my week- I made my way to the local climbing gym (FB and homepage). I didn't have any gear but had a great time- everyone was really nice and it was a good workout. There are some strong young climbers there, and Mauricio kept making up problem after problem for us to work on. I'm hoping to track down a pair of climbing shoes, but in the meantime I'm looking forward to Saturday, when the gang is taking a trip to climbing outside. Plastic never really agrees with my fingers, so I can't wait to get out.

On a cultural note, I continue to be fascinated with the cars here. Not that I'm really a car buff, but in the US it's not too common to see a Ford Taurus from the early 80's in pristine condition. With the high import duties there seems to be a lot of motivation for Argentines to fix their vehicles or make do rather than buy new ones. Some of the models here are really similar to cars that are sold in the US- the Nissan Versa has an Argentine doppelganger called the Tilda. There are some cars that are available in Argentina but not in the US- I've seen several Volkswagens that are new to me. In particular there is one called the Amarok, which is a pretty sweet looking truck (if you're into that sort of thing).

http://www.vwamarok.com.ar (Snowcat included?)

The VW website lists the average fuel economy as 7.6 liters/100 km. Any intrepid students out there looking for a challenge? Tell me how this compares to the US Ford F-150, which boasts a highway mileage of 23 miles/gallon. Just to make this interesting (and to see if anyone is reading), the first student (American or Argentine) to provide an apples-to-apples comparison in the comments section will find themselves the recipient of a prize, which has yet to be determined but will be awesome.

Continuing on the topic of fuel economy, most of the cars here are small. The taxi's in most cities back home are the size of a Chevy Impala or a minivan. Here they're Chevy Aveo's, which an average size vehicle. Many of the cars on the road are smaller. A CRV or RAV4 looks pretty big by comparison, and a 4Runner is monstrous. No minivans either... many people ride scooters or motorcycles here, partially because the fuel is so expensive. They also tend to have an easier time moving through traffic jams, but that's not always the case. Kids ride on the scooters with their parents on the way to work or school- you can fit a whole family on if you play your cards right! Helmets are officially required, but not always present. Oftentimes you'll see the helmet worn in a fairly relaxed fashion: tilted up on the head you you're looking out from below the mouthguard, carried under the arm, or strapped to the back of the bike! Some of these bikes are pretty impressive- I saw one last night on my street where the seat flips up to reveal a sound system hidden beneath, replete with neon accent lighting. However, I've only seen one or two Harleys, which looked absurdly large in comparison to the nearby scooters.

Finally, yesterday I attended my first class of Spanish for non-native speakers. It was an impressive turnout: an Italian instructor who lived in Spain for 15 years (and speaks French and English and some Portuguese as well) and students from: Iceland, Austria, Germany, Thailand, China, France, US, and finally, 3 students from Brazil. I felt like I learned a lot, not only about Spanish, but also about where everyone else was from. It was reassuring to talk to other outsiders who are as confused by some of the Argentine customs as I am. We commiserated a bit and ended up having some really good conversations. I'm looking forward to our next class!

And finally, apparently I'm slightly famous: http://webfmn.unsl.edu.ar/boletines/boletin387/noticia8-fisica.htm

Comfort Food

Yesterday I finally arrived in San Luis after a crazy trip. First I was stranded in DC after a delayed flight caused me to miss my connection, and then the airline lost my baggage (which will hopefully arrive tomorrow). I was exhausted, but happy to see my friend and fellow Fulbrighter Silvia and my mentor Julio when I walked into the airport. They took me to my apartment to get settled. The apartment is good, but definitely not too spacious. It's really close to the center of the city though, and it's got all the basics.

Julio took me out to buy a cell phone and groceries, and then I slept a bit before Silvia picked me up for dinner at her place with her son Fernando. Today I did some reading in the morning before Julio picked me up. We went for coffee where we met up with one of his colleagues, who teaches at both the high school and college. He was at the coffee shop doing work along with his daughter, who was working on an assignment for her statistics class. It was great to chat with a fellow teacher and he helped me refine my ideas a little bit. He also invited me to come visit his school and is willing to work with me on my project, which is fantastic. Afterwards Julio showed me around the university and then we went back to his house for lunch, where I met his wife Ayesa and her son Carlitos along with the family dogs.

This evening Julio and Ayesa took me to Potrero de los Funes, a park up in the mountains near town. As we drove up we stopped at one point and there was a family finishing up a climbing trip. It was great to know that there is climbing of some sort so close to town, even if I don't have gear or transportation. It's basically a ring of mountains around a reservoir, but the kicker is that there is also a Formula 2 racetrack around the lake. The track has stores and restaurants on it, as well as cabins, hotels, and a theater. We stopped at one of the larger hotels, which is adjacent to the theater, and walked down to the floating bar/restaurant. We just looked around and I took some pictures of the fish, which apparently like the lights of the bar.

We drove a bit further along and stopped at a restaurant for a light dinner of pescados, which is basically appetizers. It was perfect after the large lunch earlier in the day, and I learned a lot about their families and jobs. They also helped me understand the way that the Argentina education system works and had great suggestion s about courses for me to take at the university. It goes without saying that the food was excellent.

In fact, I ought to explain the title of this post. I'm not really a foodie, though I certainly enjoy eating. During my travels so far things have gotten hectic and stressful, but it seems like at just the right moment something pops up that keeps me going. Lately it's been food.

A superb burger in Boston with my brother before flying out on Tuesday was the start. The pad thai I had before leaving the states helped mitigate the frustration of being stranded (along with the great company, of course). After landing in BA and discovering that my luggage had been lost I was tossed in a taxi and rushed across the city to the domestic airport, where I learned that the "reservation" that the carrier I had flown on from the US didn't actually exist. I was put on standby and rushed through security where I finally arrived at the gate with less than 2 minutes to spare before I would have missed the flight. I didn't have time to eat or even think about eating, but on the plane the in-flight refreshment was the Argentine equivalent of a Moon Pie, which was an extraordinary pick-me-up. Last night after a really long day I was feeling pretty beat down. I discovered the Argentines secret weapon: dulce de leche. Traditionally it's eaten with bananas, but it also makes for a terrific caramel apple. What a way to end the night.

Aside from missing my family terribly, life here is pretty good. I'm excited to get started next week but it's nice to have some time to get my thoughts organized. I can't wait to get my luggage!

p.s. in my original post I wrote that I ate "pecados," which translates to eating sins. Luckily a friend corrected me. The proper word is pescados, which I image are tastier.