Instead of traveling by bus down the east coast of Argentina as I originally hoped to do, I've spent the last nine days taking a from being a tourist and resting up before the last stage of my travels. I've been hanging out with my VIF friend Mirta in Tandil. It's about four hours south of Buenos Aries. A city of 120,000 people, where all the shops close from 1 - 4pm each day for siesta time. A city without any international fast food chains, they were shocked when I described how many Launceston has. Instead it has beautiful local produce, like processed meats and cheeses and had many great local restaurants. They even have a farm high school that commercially produces cheese and dulce de leche.
This week involved eating lots of veggies as they had been hard to find in Chilean and Argentinean restaurants. But it also involved eating authentic Argentinean food and developing a taste for Malbec wine.
The week started with Mirta's brother in law cooking Asado, Argentinean bbq for Sunday family lunch. Mirta's 16 year old nephew was my translator and informed me that you must purchase 500 grams of beef per person and it is always cooked by the man of the house, outside in a special wood fired bbq. The meat is eaten with crusty bread and wine. I enjoyed the roast beef and the chorizo but not the intestines!
We finished off with some traditional music.
This week I discovered my favourite Argentinean dessert, "flan casero mixto". Homemade flan with real cream and dulce de leche, I think I might need to learn how to cook it.
From my last visit to Tandil I had developed a fondness for Figlio ice cream. The banana split is still my favourite, with banana ice cream but note also lemon meringue pie, a three layer ice cream. Ice cream is a big deal in Argentina, particularly creamy, handmade ice cream. Ice cream is sold by cup size, as it isn't scooped and then weight for over 250 grams.
I also spent three afternoons being a guest in English classes from grade six through to teacher training. My favourite was an adult conversational class, I'm inspired to start up one at home as it was so much fun. My favourite trick was to tell them we eat kangaroo in Australia, it always got a great reaction. Most reckon they couldn't eat it!
One afternoon we were tourists with a student and visited the new Christ statue that watches over Tandil. It was built because the pope suggested Tandil needed one and is located on Pope Francisco Way.
We had planned to spend the long weekend in Buenos Aries but due to the unexpected presidential run off election we couldn't abd the long weekend wad moved to next weekend anyway.
Voting is very different in Argentina to Australia. There are no postal or early votes, and you must be further than 500km away to be exempted from voting (and go to a police station to complete a signed statement).
To vote you must turn up to your assigned table at your assigned school (320 - 350 people per table). After showing your id you're given an envelope and go into the matching classroom, where the windows have been covered and select the paper slip for the party of your choice and place it in your envelope. Then you bring it back to the ballot box for your table. Nobody else is allowed in the voting room with you. There are four teachers assigned to each table for the day, working without being paid. The two schools we went to had 4 - 7 tables each. Tables are assigned alphabetically so most married couples must visit two different schools. Each school had at least two armed local police outside. It was an interesting cultural event to accompany Mirta and a friend of hers to.
I'm now well rested ready to complete a three week tour through Patagonia.
This week involved eating lots of veggies as they had been hard to find in Chilean and Argentinean restaurants. But it also involved eating authentic Argentinean food and developing a taste for Malbec wine.
The week started with Mirta's brother in law cooking Asado, Argentinean bbq for Sunday family lunch. Mirta's 16 year old nephew was my translator and informed me that you must purchase 500 grams of beef per person and it is always cooked by the man of the house, outside in a special wood fired bbq. The meat is eaten with crusty bread and wine. I enjoyed the roast beef and the chorizo but not the intestines!
We finished off with some traditional music.
This week I discovered my favourite Argentinean dessert, "flan casero mixto". Homemade flan with real cream and dulce de leche, I think I might need to learn how to cook it.
From my last visit to Tandil I had developed a fondness for Figlio ice cream. The banana split is still my favourite, with banana ice cream but note also lemon meringue pie, a three layer ice cream. Ice cream is a big deal in Argentina, particularly creamy, handmade ice cream. Ice cream is sold by cup size, as it isn't scooped and then weight for over 250 grams.
I also spent three afternoons being a guest in English classes from grade six through to teacher training. My favourite was an adult conversational class, I'm inspired to start up one at home as it was so much fun. My favourite trick was to tell them we eat kangaroo in Australia, it always got a great reaction. Most reckon they couldn't eat it!
One afternoon we were tourists with a student and visited the new Christ statue that watches over Tandil. It was built because the pope suggested Tandil needed one and is located on Pope Francisco Way.
We had planned to spend the long weekend in Buenos Aries but due to the unexpected presidential run off election we couldn't abd the long weekend wad moved to next weekend anyway.
Voting is very different in Argentina to Australia. There are no postal or early votes, and you must be further than 500km away to be exempted from voting (and go to a police station to complete a signed statement).
To vote you must turn up to your assigned table at your assigned school (320 - 350 people per table). After showing your id you're given an envelope and go into the matching classroom, where the windows have been covered and select the paper slip for the party of your choice and place it in your envelope. Then you bring it back to the ballot box for your table. Nobody else is allowed in the voting room with you. There are four teachers assigned to each table for the day, working without being paid. The two schools we went to had 4 - 7 tables each. Tables are assigned alphabetically so most married couples must visit two different schools. Each school had at least two armed local police outside. It was an interesting cultural event to accompany Mirta and a friend of hers to.
I'm now well rested ready to complete a three week tour through Patagonia.
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