ARGENTINA

Last week’s blog post covered my adventure in Chile. This week’s post is with regards to my visit to another South American country, Argentina. Even as a young child, when my family and I were on trips, I asked myself: How would it be to live HERE? That could be in a small mountain village in Switzerland or in the middle of London. To be able to visit another country and stay with locals is priceless. It makes my heart warm to the core and I know I am very, very lucky to have amazing friends all over the world who open their homes to me. This time I stayed with my Argentinean friend Laura in her hometown of Mendoza and my friend Tiziana in her current city Cordoba and later on in her hometown of Merlo. To be welcomed with open arms by these two, and their family and friends, was magical. The following is the tale of my Argentinean “home stays”:

Asado

Laura and I crossed the border from Chile and after a few more hours on the bus we arrived in Mendoza. I was greeted by her lovely mom, sister, twin sister and her twin’s boyfriend. The first Argentinean meal blew me away! They made asado (BBQ) for me and here is an expected amazing experience: the meat was just as amazing as one reads about in the travel books. It seemed as if they just threw the meat on the grill, left it there, checked on it from time to time and voila, it transformed into a piece of meat heaven. That was just the first of many wonderful meals Laura’s mom treated me to. Later during my stay, we had empanadas (stuffed bread/pastry) and milanesa (slice of breaded chicken or other type of meat which is fried or baked in the oven). In Argentina they know how to make wonderful desserts and I enjoyed alfajores (two round cookies with a middle consisting of e.g. dulce de leche – sweet milk

Empanadas

heated up to make a kind of caramel), dulce de membrillo (fruit/sugar cooked to resemble a thick marmalade consistency which you can eat with cheese) and chocotorta (chocolate cookies dipped in coffee layered with dulce de leche). I think I can just stop writing now as I am sure you are all ready to jump on a plane headed for Argentina after just hearing about the treats. The food was indeed amazing, but more importantly, to feel completely and utterly welcomed by Laura’s family, that was incredible!

I was invited to come along with Laura to the institute she was teaching English at. It was very exciting to see her everyday life and see how the teaching went down. Some of the students were eager to speak to me in English, others were more shy. The more outspoken students loved to see how much (well, how little) Spanish I spoke and quickly and sternly pointed to various things and said: “ventilador!” (fan!) and “galletas!” (cookies!). I needed to be on my toes! It was a lovely institute and Laura’s coworkers could not have been sweeter to me. This reminds me of the first unexpected amazing experience for this post: the kiss on the cheek (or by the cheek). Of course I knew that Argentines kiss hi and goodbye, but I did not know how very much I would enjoy this. I think it is so lovely to be greeted that way and it truly feels like the other person acknowledge that you are there and welcomes you. Everywhere I went, meeting Laura and Tizi's family and friends etc, the kissing occurred and I LOVED it! Absolutely LOVED it! I know some people in countries in Europe kiss as well, but us Northern Europeans don’t. I will try to import that tradition.

Laura, Tizi and I 

After spending a few great days in Mendoza with me shadowing Laura and truly enjoying being with her family, we took a night bus to the city of Cordoba. The bus trip took about 9 hours and we slept very well in our comfy seats. We arrived in Cordoba and I was so happy to be reunited with Tiziana! She showed us around the city (where Ernesto "Che" Guevara went to medical school I may add) and we were introduced to her friends. They were so friendly and quickly included us in their evening plans of going clubbing. As I try to take part in lots of various experiences when I travel I wanted to drink a local drink at the club: fernet with coke. This proved to be a bit strong for me, but I am always game to try. The drink was readily passed on to someone who had the stomach for it. We spent the following evening with Tizi’s friends again and for dinner we all had lomo/lomito sandwiches. It was amazing! How can a sandwich be that good you may wonder? Well, let me tell you that a lomo consists of heavenly goodness: e.g. dry-cured tenderloin of pork, salad, cheese etc. I can’t do it justice, you just have to go to Argentina and try it. I am realizing this post is very much a food related piece of writing. Food is very important when you travel and again, I am game to try everything. The evening of eating lomos also consisted of us sitting in one of Tizi’s friends apartments playing a card game called “El Gran Dalmuti” (Google it, I am rubbish at explaining card games). Unexpected amazing experience indeed! To hang out with locals, playing a card game and joking with each other as we were old friends, seriously, that is priceless. I was so incredibly happy and honored to be included in this group!

Merlo

Laura had to return to Mendoza to teach and Tizi and I caught a bus to Merlo, where her parents live. Merlo is a small (okay the city was not so small) artistic oasis at the foot of a mountain. The air was crisp and fresh, the mountain majestic and you quickly realized that this is a place where you can have great outdoor adventures. Tizi’s parents could not have been more welcoming and we had many great discussions. And this is without us not really sharing a common language. But with their knowledge of some English words and my few Spanish words and with Tizi translating, we could bond anyway, a great gift indeed. Her parents treated me to many, many tasty dishes made from fresh vegetables and fruit. And while we are on the topic of eating/drinking again, I think now is the time to explore my love for mate. Mate is simply put a kind of tea you drink using a gourd (also called a mate) and a bombilla (a special type of steel straw). The drinking of mate is a very social thing and there is a whole little ritual that goes with it. I have had mate before and knew I liked it although it is an acquired taste. The whole ritual/sharing of mate is something I find very interesting. I bought a traditional gourd made from calabash (a squash/pumpkin) and

Mate

Tizi helped me cure it by putting mate leaves in it and leaving it for a few hours. I would recommend watching a YouTube video of how to drink mate if you are interested. On a side note, I brought home over a kilo of yerba (the leaves). Later on, Tizi and I hiked up the mountain, well part of it, and walked along a spring. The surroundings were beautiful and other people were up there too, enjoying the day. We took a dip in a pool of spring water and although it was very cold, the water was smooth and it was a great unexpected amazing experience indeed!

To return to Mendoza I was taking yet another night bus. But again, I am really impressed of how comfy the buses are so I did not mind the 7 hours long ride. The 7 hours however turned into 14 when a strike broke out at the border of the two states Mendoza and San Luis. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere (or so I thought) in pitch darkness and people started getting off the bus and then on again. I tried to ask “Que pasó?” What happened? The driver spoke to me in rapid fire Spanish and walked away. Laura’s take on this was that my Spanish pronunciation was so good that they didn’t realize I was not a native speaker…hahahaha. After a few hours of me just chilling on the bus, (it was a bit scary to not understand what was up, but in moments like this I just relax, it’s bound to work out somehow) Laura texted

Bodega Vistandes

me and she was the one who explained about the strike. Finally I came back to Mendoza! The Farias family continued to show me their life in the city and I got to see where the girls had gone to school, visited a supermarket etc. This type of “tourism” is golden for me! We also visited two wineries (as Mendoza is one of the best wine districts in the whole world and I am totally into wine) and an olive oil farm. These visits were thrilling too, but in a more traditional touristy way. I was also invited to participate in a yoga class with Laura and her sister and that was absolutely wonderful! Unexpected amazing experience!

My visit to Argentina was great on so many levels! But I can’t say enough how special I think it is to be included in my friends everyday life. A massive MUCHAS GRACIAS to Laura and Tiziana and their amazing friends and families. And speaking of muchas gracias, I loved the sound of Argentinean Spanish so much that I contemplate to sign up for Spanish classes taught by an Argentinean lady back in Sweden. Perhaps this will allow me to learn a bit more than “Estoy mareada”, probably my most used phrase on the trip. It means “I am dizzy”, which I rarely am, but I used it for when I felt lost, I didn’t know the Spanish spoken or when I was tired. Only in the company of my friends of course hahaha. Hasta luego mis amigos!