Last weekend was a great way to end my ridiculously long break before starting up classes again. On Thursday the entire FLACSO program went to Tigre, a small town several hours outside of Buenos Aires. Tigre lies on the Paraná de Delta, and we took a lancha (motorboat) to arrive at our destination. The boat ride was beautiful, and I felt a little bit like I was on the African Queen, except in South America, and without Humphrey Bogart. Tigre is one of the places Argentines go to vacation, and there were some incredible houses along the water. After the boat tour, the lancha dropped us off at a small resort called Marco Polo on a tiny, secluded island which we had all to ourselves. Despite being relatively limited in space, we had a great time. I spent most of the trip relaxing on the sandy riverbank with friends during the day, and chatting inside at night, when the swarms of mosquitos (and the dreaded Dengue Fever!) came out.
Here is a picture of la lancha:
I sort of forgot that I was Argentina because everyone was speaking English, but some of the trip’s events were extremely porteño, and reminded me I was still right outside Buenos Aires. For example, for lunch we were each served a plate with two huge empanadas (a pastry stuffed with meat and vegetables). Side note- Argentines LOVE empanadas, and in Buenos Aires, you will see in the windows of nearly every other restaurant, and they are often delivered. Another side note- portenos LOVE delivery. Even a lot of the heladerías (ice cream parlors) have delivery service. Alright, back to lunch. Thinking lunch was over, I was making my way up from the table when the waiters brought us each an enormous piece of milanesa, a very thin piece of breaded and fried meat. If portenos love empanadas, then they are completely obsessed with milanesa. I have a friend whose host mom serves him milanesa every night, except when she decides to really spice things up and puts cheese and ham on top to make milanesa pizza. Luckily, my family is a little more diverse in their cooking. They also brought out a bunch of bowls heaping with salad ingredients, which we were all very excited about, considering Argentines tend to substitute salad for more meat to go with their meat. The one down side: there were no serving utensils. Though I was initially confused, this really should not have come as any surprise. Argentines share everything. The best example I can give is mate, an herbal drink served in a gourd with a bombilla (a metal straw), and which is most commonly passed around and shared. Now it is really clear to me why the H1N1 virus was such a problem here. I also had my first traditional Argentine asado, a huge spread of different cuts of meats which are cooked on an open grill. It includes nearly every imaginable part of the cow, and though some of the offerings were a little scary, I gave everything a try. So a very Argentine dining experience, and very enjoyable and relaxing trip.
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