San Isidro and Florida

This past week went by fast.  Just school, spin, etc.  I keep forgetting to tell you all about the pastry guy in the cafeteria.  So this guy brings pastries and food to all the staff rooms on campus, which is fairly large.  And instead of pushing the cart like most people, he gets on his bike and rides it while holding the cart beside him - maneuvering over speed bumps, dodging potholes, breaking world records, etc.  I am so impressed. I always want to ask if I can ride on the cart too, just to see if he can do it still without spilling everything.  What a champ.

I hung out with the boys on Friday night.  And I wasn't the only girl because Rosario came to town for the Muse/U2 concert.  And then on Saturday I went into capital and did some shopping on calle Florida.  Got some cheap knock off shirts.  I walked by this helado place so, of course, I stopped and got some.  And there I was just minding my own business, enjoying my ice cream, when this random guys yells across the store in Spanish asking me if I like the ice cream.  Of course I like it, it's ice cream, even when it's bad it's still good.  So I tell him yes in bad Spanish and he's like "Okay cool, I made it myself. I work here."  Oh really?  I tell him good job and turn back to my ice cream but then he asks me if I'm "from Brazil" ?  Okay, I may not look like I'm from Argentina, but I most definitely do not look like I'm from Brazil.  I mean, I wish I did because Brazilians are beautiful, but come on.  I guess it just means I'm moving up the old cultural chain.

After I was done shopping I made my way to the train station to go to San Isidro to see Manu.  On the way though, I had to pass through this park called San Martin, which is beautiful.  But there's this part where you walk down these steps to get to the train station and there's a patch of grass on the incline where everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, on it (and it was quite populated) was making out.  A little lover's knoll.  I really wish I had my camera with me.  Brought back memories of Madrid where people would just start sucking face on the street corners or outside a shop in the middle of the day.  Wow, I miss seeing that. I still don't understand how it's considered rude to stretch or yawn in public, yet making out and picking your nose in front of everyone is no big deal.  Nbd.

Manu picked me up from the train station and brought me to his house.  I finally got to meet his family,  they're so friendly and welcoming.  I pretty much want to be his mom.  She was a teacher and then got into writing professionally.

We had to go get groceries so we went to Walmart specifially so I could get some peanut butter because they're the only place that carries it.  But of course the one Walmart we went to didn't carry it anymore.  I give up.

After dinner we went out with some of his friends and his sister's friends.  It was fun, but of course I fell asleep again.  And, OF COURSE, Manu documented it with a picture.  Thanks for that.  And I learned he has been lying to me all along!  He always told me I was his favorite of EA's friends, but alas, he tells that to everyone.  Mentiroso. The truth is out.

Came back to Quilmes Sunday afternoon, but I took the wrong bus.  I still ended up in Quilmes, but it took 3 times as long and the bus went through some...interesting places.  Not going to make that mistake again.  Other than that, not a whole lot different than before.  Might go see the Flaming Lips tomorrow night, so I'll keep you posted.

Food. Warning: it's a long one!

Sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve updated everyone on what’s going on in Argentina.  I wasn’t feeling well all last week so I wasn’t too keen on sharing the details.  But there’s nothing a long weekend at the beach can’t cure!  I went to Pinamar again because it was probably one of the last weekends it will be warm since fall is now here.  It’s a bit weird for me since it’s usually getting warmer this time of year in Texas.  It will be a bit of a shock when I leave winter here in July and head on back to good old 100 F Dallas. 

Anyway I realized I haven’t really shared much about the eating habits here which are quite different then the U.S.  First off, they don’t really eat breakfast like we do.  A cup of instant coffee and a banana or some bread is pretty much the extent of that.  While I don’t mind the coffee, I would kill for some scrambled eggs and bacon, but I guess I’ll manage.  Actually, it’s probably best since they eat more than 3 times a day here, I don’t want to surprise my parents with “a little extra Bridget” like I did when I came home from Spain.  Oops…

Here’s a typical eating schedule:

Breakfast 7:30AM: Coffee and a banana or yogurt.

Staff Break 10:25AM: Coffee or Mate and usually some alfajores or some sort of pastry.

Lunch 12:25PM: they’re pretty good about only letting the students have water here, unlike the US which feeds them milk and cokes.

La merienda (afternoon tea):  Either tea or mate and some banana milkshake!

Dinner 8:00PM: They eat much later here than we do in the states, and I think 8PM is even a bit early for them. 

So as you can see it’s really hard not to have gained 20 pounds at this point, and that’s even with me skipping the second staff break in the afternoon! I guess that’s why I go to spin class.  Well, sometimes ;)

Here's some traditional stuff:

Beef, or lomo, is very common here.  And they cook it quite different than in the U.S.  It’s also very common to have “un asado,” or barbeque here.  But you’ve got to pace yourself because they bring you all these delicious sausages (morcilla, etc.) and so of course, you put it on your plate and eat it, but then they bring you another round with pork and you want to try it, even though you’re getting pretty full.  And then they bring another round, yet again - Café de Brazil style - and it just doesn’t seem to end.

Some other popular things are Alfajores which are a type of cookie.  They’re like a dulce de leche sandwich with a chocolate coating on them.  Dulce de leche is also huge.  They put it on everything: bread, cookies, cake, bananas, ice cream, etc.  Tasty.

A traditional drink here is yerba mate, which is almost like a tea, but it’s more of an herb that everyone drinks.  I think it gets its name from the cup they drink it from which is called "a mate".  It has this straw that has a spoon shaped bottom.  They put in the yerba, add some hot water and pass it around.  Not the most sanitary thing, but it can’t be worse than communion at a Catholic mass. 

Looks a bit like you're drinking pot doesn't it?

Fernet is also very popular.  It’s an alcoholic drink similar to Jagermeister but not quite as gross because it doesn’t taste as much like black licorice (sick).  They usually mix it with coca cola to dilute it a bit.  It’s pretty good, you just have to be careful how much you drink though because Fernet used to be used as a cure for digestive problems.  My favorite drink here though, don’t laugh, is their Manzana flavored Gatorade.   The best.  It tastes like apple juice, but better.  I don’t know why the U.S. hasn’t caught on to this one because it is so much more refreshing than nasty G2 artic glacier freeze chill or something ridiculous like that. 

Oh, and kind of random, all the boarders eat frosted flakes here, but instead of putting milk in, they put vanilla yogurt in their bowls.  I mean, I guess that’s not too weird because we put granola in yogurt, I think it just throws me off because it’s not like they’re putting cereal in their yogurt, they’re putting yogurt in their cereal. Hmmm?

For the most part the food is good, I do miss a few things though, like a peanut butter.  And a proper hamburger!  If you order one here they give it to you one way, and one way only.  You can’t choose your temperature, cheese, topping, mayo/mustard, etc.; I miss the mushroom swiss burger (and you too Aaron Denney!).  Pizza is a bit of a disappointment as well.  Very different, don’t really know how to explain it.  But they do have empanadas which are delicious!  So good.  And I really miss some good old, fresh, whole milk.  It might just be me, but I’m a bit skeptical about drinking a glass of milk from a carton (or bag! (?)) that doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Dicey huh?

I think that’s it as far as food goes.  I haven’t made it to Mendoza yet for the wine, but I’ll let you know when I do because it’s supposed to be wonderful. 

Anyway, sorry this one was a bit boring, I just wanted to share a few of the differences I’ve noticed so far.  I like some of them, but it’s still so hard not to miss things like peanut butter and freshly brewed coffee.  But I guess that’s part of the fun of traveling! I'll update again in a few days with some more exciting pictures and stories from the beach.

Oh, and lastly, I want to give a big shout out to my friend JOE WELSCH! Hi.