Second course
As Im sure you are all keen to know, the heart attack lunch comprised a substantial plate onto which a field of potatoes in chip form had been uncarefully arranged, then the chef had slopped 17 onions, sliced and fried, lumps and chunks of beef and the absolutely fabulous latin american chorizo (they do excellent sausages over here). I then proceeded to carefully drool over this pile sufficient quantities of mustard. To my shame I was not able to finish my meal. Though, on the flip side, I am still alive.
Anyway, let me speak of BA (the capital city of Argentina and so abbreviated by all and sundry, including the locals, most likely because they also are not able to accurately spell Buenos Aries)....and also Argentina in general.
I will speak on the following topics, tango, steak, shopping, absurd Argentine hair styles and a proposed new definition for non developed countries.
Tango
Flic and I took a tango lesson. From a gentleman called Fabrizzio. I cannot remember his surname, it could have been Furlano (although he did not have a mustache or cape). He informed me that a lack of dancing experience was not a barrier to tango. Tango is all about the sensitivity.... However, Im not sure that he immediately understood when I informed him that Australian males, as I have been reliably advised by an expert (a perhaps slightly bitter Australian female) do not possess the sensitivity gene. This misconception was quickly corrected once the lesson commenced.
Later on that night, after a coffee that contained more than a generous helping of rum and an elaborate stage performance of tango, we ventured into Plaza Dorrego in the San Telmo district of BA. It was a Saturday night after the antiques market (I struggle to see how anyone can be interested in antiques - not only are they other peoples junk that they no longer want, by definition they are also old junk....), and we found that the locals, enthusiastic tourists and assorted show offs had taken over the plaza and were dancing tango. It was a sight to see. Flic had palpatations and wanted to join in, but showing great sensitivity, I encouraged sanity to prevail. Maybe in a decade or so....
Steak
When the Argentines eat a cow they are not kidding. A mixed grill (which can be purchased for about A$7 or less) consists of all parts of the cow. Personally I prefer to stick to rib fillet (Im expensive to keep) and so on, considering that one eats intestines and other wobbly bits only because rib fillet is too expensive.
I have found that most traditional delicacies involve icky bits and are primarily eaten by tourists, to the significant amusement of the locals (who are eating rib fillet, or a macdonalds burger). By example, I remember visitors to our place when we were branding and castrating steers being encouraged to eat the resulting freshly roasted testicles. Some of them did so, never wondering why we did not partake and the bits were usually fed to the dogs. Anyway, traditional delicacies generally appear to have derived from a time when the locals were hard scrabble subsistence farmers and the next mouthful was uncertain. Effectively, I think, when one is hungry, one will eat even boiled cow hooves or guinea pig....
A final note on steak (I will not bother you with a recounting of tonights planned visit to an all you can eat steak place), regardless of Argentine assertions, I am not convinced that Argentine steak is better than grass fed Australian beef.
Shopping
I have 5 pairs of shoes now, all bought on this trip. I left with 2 pairs (one of which was a set of thongs...). I also have a, possibly fake, YSL suit. Unfortunately I could not find a fedora that suited me. Also, I thought better of a pair of two tone zapatas...If you ever are by BA, take an empty suitcase and be thankful that some countries still persist in populist, economically unsustainable monetary policies.
Absurd Argentine hair styles
Which are primarily confined to the males and caused by a significant influence from Argentine and international soccer stars. Who are all well known for their excellent taste and grooming...think David Beckham and his sarong. The mullet is alive and well in Argentina. In all shapes and forms. It is obscence. Moreover, folk are proud of it. If there is one flaw in globalisation, it is perhaps the ability for sheer wrongness to quickly spread across the world til it takes root and flourishes, like a cane toad. Not many people with glorious burns though, which is strange.
Soccer players have a lot to answer for...
A definition of non developed countries
I intend approaching the World Bank with the following -
A non developed country is any country where, when one attempts to pay a shopkeeper, merchant, or any purveyor of goods and services with a note commonly available from atm´s, they experience significant difficulty, look sideways, um, ah and ask if one has something smaller.
In Argentina, and elsewhere we have been on this trip, atm´s spit out 100 peso bills (bolivianos, whatever). But it seems no one ever has sufficient change to break one of these bills. The problem is that it is not obvious where a tourist finds change, especially if people dealing with money cannot!? So, one must eat enough for the bill to reach near to 100 pesos (a tough job when a 700g steak is worth 20 pesos) or stand blankly admiting that one has no change until the salesperson runs about town to find the necessary change. Or one must give a big tip (to which I am opposed on principle).
Anyway, that is enough for today. Ushuaia appears an interesting place in a cold, grey, wind whipping in off the Antarctic sort of way. I am impressed that from this computer I can walk 7kms out of town to the bottom of a glacier, and then take a stroll up. Actually, this is what I am about to do.
Also, you, dear reader, if you have reached this far, are probably almost asleep.
Later.
Anyway, let me speak of BA (the capital city of Argentina and so abbreviated by all and sundry, including the locals, most likely because they also are not able to accurately spell Buenos Aries)....and also Argentina in general.
I will speak on the following topics, tango, steak, shopping, absurd Argentine hair styles and a proposed new definition for non developed countries.
Tango
Flic and I took a tango lesson. From a gentleman called Fabrizzio. I cannot remember his surname, it could have been Furlano (although he did not have a mustache or cape). He informed me that a lack of dancing experience was not a barrier to tango. Tango is all about the sensitivity.... However, Im not sure that he immediately understood when I informed him that Australian males, as I have been reliably advised by an expert (a perhaps slightly bitter Australian female) do not possess the sensitivity gene. This misconception was quickly corrected once the lesson commenced.
Later on that night, after a coffee that contained more than a generous helping of rum and an elaborate stage performance of tango, we ventured into Plaza Dorrego in the San Telmo district of BA. It was a Saturday night after the antiques market (I struggle to see how anyone can be interested in antiques - not only are they other peoples junk that they no longer want, by definition they are also old junk....), and we found that the locals, enthusiastic tourists and assorted show offs had taken over the plaza and were dancing tango. It was a sight to see. Flic had palpatations and wanted to join in, but showing great sensitivity, I encouraged sanity to prevail. Maybe in a decade or so....
Steak
When the Argentines eat a cow they are not kidding. A mixed grill (which can be purchased for about A$7 or less) consists of all parts of the cow. Personally I prefer to stick to rib fillet (Im expensive to keep) and so on, considering that one eats intestines and other wobbly bits only because rib fillet is too expensive.
I have found that most traditional delicacies involve icky bits and are primarily eaten by tourists, to the significant amusement of the locals (who are eating rib fillet, or a macdonalds burger). By example, I remember visitors to our place when we were branding and castrating steers being encouraged to eat the resulting freshly roasted testicles. Some of them did so, never wondering why we did not partake and the bits were usually fed to the dogs. Anyway, traditional delicacies generally appear to have derived from a time when the locals were hard scrabble subsistence farmers and the next mouthful was uncertain. Effectively, I think, when one is hungry, one will eat even boiled cow hooves or guinea pig....
A final note on steak (I will not bother you with a recounting of tonights planned visit to an all you can eat steak place), regardless of Argentine assertions, I am not convinced that Argentine steak is better than grass fed Australian beef.
Shopping
I have 5 pairs of shoes now, all bought on this trip. I left with 2 pairs (one of which was a set of thongs...). I also have a, possibly fake, YSL suit. Unfortunately I could not find a fedora that suited me. Also, I thought better of a pair of two tone zapatas...If you ever are by BA, take an empty suitcase and be thankful that some countries still persist in populist, economically unsustainable monetary policies.
Absurd Argentine hair styles
Which are primarily confined to the males and caused by a significant influence from Argentine and international soccer stars. Who are all well known for their excellent taste and grooming...think David Beckham and his sarong. The mullet is alive and well in Argentina. In all shapes and forms. It is obscence. Moreover, folk are proud of it. If there is one flaw in globalisation, it is perhaps the ability for sheer wrongness to quickly spread across the world til it takes root and flourishes, like a cane toad. Not many people with glorious burns though, which is strange.
Soccer players have a lot to answer for...
A definition of non developed countries
I intend approaching the World Bank with the following -
A non developed country is any country where, when one attempts to pay a shopkeeper, merchant, or any purveyor of goods and services with a note commonly available from atm´s, they experience significant difficulty, look sideways, um, ah and ask if one has something smaller.
In Argentina, and elsewhere we have been on this trip, atm´s spit out 100 peso bills (bolivianos, whatever). But it seems no one ever has sufficient change to break one of these bills. The problem is that it is not obvious where a tourist finds change, especially if people dealing with money cannot!? So, one must eat enough for the bill to reach near to 100 pesos (a tough job when a 700g steak is worth 20 pesos) or stand blankly admiting that one has no change until the salesperson runs about town to find the necessary change. Or one must give a big tip (to which I am opposed on principle).
Anyway, that is enough for today. Ushuaia appears an interesting place in a cold, grey, wind whipping in off the Antarctic sort of way. I am impressed that from this computer I can walk 7kms out of town to the bottom of a glacier, and then take a stroll up. Actually, this is what I am about to do.
Also, you, dear reader, if you have reached this far, are probably almost asleep.
Later.
posted by Flossie | 11:02 PM
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