It’s been surprisingly difficult to find places with wi-fi, or with computers that aren’t obsolete, especially considering how much more western Argentina is than Mexico. But, I soldier on. It’s a hard life, but I guess somebody’s gotta do it.
We are currently in Mendoza, a Ballarat-and-a-half sized town about 200km east of the Argentinean-Chilean border. The weather is starting to get cooler, although this is making it more comfortable than cool. This was particularly a blessing the last morning in Parana, when we went for a run. I know, we are great. It was certainly a LOT easier than the run in Chichen Itza, but geez he kills me on the hills. Stupid I’ve-had-three-years-of-running-up-and-down-mountains boyfriend. Ah well.
Between here and Parana we went to Cordoba and San Juan. Didn’t really do much to be honest, just walked around and lazed around. Until I got here, I was beginning to find a lot of the Argentinean towns to be similar. They DO have lots of trees, which I really like (and to top it off San Juan had a plethora of beautiful, beautiful gum trees. It’s amazing how much they make you happy and disgustingly homesick at the same time), but the towns lack the colour and character that I so loved in Mexico. Part of it can be contributed to the larger influence of western culture, and the fact that Argentineans don’t smile very often. I hit it right on with the lack of humour comment. So often I feel like a very unwelcome tourist. You do get the occasional friendly person, which I guess I’m awfully grateful for when they do turn up. One woman let Snuffy and I go through ahead of her in the supermarket isle because we only had 2 items and she had 10 (yep, not even a full trolley). Awesome.
Anyway….the towns all seem to have squares, peatonal areas, tree-lined streets…which is lovely, but bordering on repetitive, particularly when you add in the modern architecture. This is not to say that I don’t like Argentina; I do, just not as much as Mexico. Mind you, I find that Argentineans speak more clearly than Mexicans, though it’s harder to get them to speak slowly!
So, Cordoba, San Juan, pretty, walked around, nothing exciting. Mendoza is our last stop in Argentina before heading to Santiago, Chile, and so far (in the entire hour I’ve spent here) it has a wonderfully relaxing ambience. As I was saying, I like it better than the other towns I’ve seen. More trees, wider streets, older buildings, and the aforementioned atmosphere, though I must admit we haven’t really explored the city.
I did have one different experience in Cordoba, however. We had dinner at a Paparilla, which serves up lots of meat. And only meat. Well, plus a salad and a bread starter. Essentially for about $9 each we get a plate of 14 pieces of meat (7 different cuts), including corazon (heart) and many other words I didn’t catch. Heart? I don’t want to eat a heart! Cultural experience…cultural experience….cultural experience….yeah, I wasn’t really convinced either. I look at the plate, and there are two sausages, one which is definitely like black pudding, a long piece of ribby goodness, something that looks like a cross between a brain and the bronchi of lungs, something that looks like a fat-filled artery, something that looks like the main aorta connecting the heart, but filled with a marrow-like substance and a relatively innocuous looking piece of meat. I started with the innocuous piece and worked my way around everything. Nothing was as bad as it looked, though the fat filled stuff wasn’t too great. By a long shot the best tasting was the innocent looking piece of meat, which turned out to be the heart. Of course it was. I also had a small amount of red wine. You should all be proud. Needless to say, I don’t feel the need to eat any meat for while. Which is really hard here. They LOVE meat. Everything is either ham and cheese, or with steak. Ham, steak…take your pick. I am SO sick of ham and cheese. Thank goodness I’m not an actual vegetarian, though after I get home I think I might become one (if I’m allowed to have a good steak every now and then, that is).
Thankfully, in stark contrast to our Paparilla meal in Cordoba, we went to a gorgeous little vegetarian buffet place last night in San Juan. You pay about $6.50 for ALL YOU CAN EAT exquisitely delicious food. I was so surprised at how tasty it all was. Normally buffet food has that ‘bulk food’ groove to it, but this was all fantastic. Needless to say I was a big fatty boomba when I left.
Before we left for Mendoza today we went for a huge FO walk around San Juan, chasing museums. The first was a natural history museum (you know how much I hate those), which actually showed you the labs and process by which they excavate and prepare fossils for presentation, which was pretty awesome.
The next museum had less of an impact on me, but more interesting and jealousy-invoking for you: a wine museum. We had to walk for bloody ages to get there, but they walked us all around and looked and learnt about winey things, and then did a bit of tasting. I couldn’t drink it all, but at least now I know what you bastards are doing with the smelly-swilly thing.
Hope you are all well, I might actually finish my dinner and converse with my would-be boyfriend.
XX
Central Argentina photos
