Meals – Part 2

Ok, just a quick note here.  The computer I am using does not seem to have an apostrophe on its keyboard, so this post might sound a little more stilted than usual.

Now, on to the food.

Puerto Varas:  Enjoyed the German influence here.  Ate the most amazing apple strudel.  It was so dense and syrupy, it reminded me of baklava.  I still have dreams about it.

Chiloe:  Seafood.  So much seafood that I actually got tired of it.  I had a few curantos, which are pretty cool.  Traditionally cooked in a pit in the ground filled with coals, but normally just steamed in a big pot, it is a big mess of food.  On a platter you get a bunch of mussels (maybe about 20), some clams (maybe about 10-15), some chicken, ribs, sausage, potatoes, and a couple of “breads” – discs of potato and flour that get steamed with the rest of the stuff.  Pretty tasty and damn filling.

Argentina:  It is all about the beef.  Argentines eat an insane amount of it.  More than any other country, per capita.  150 lbs. per person every year.  I had some of the best steak I have ever eaten.  Completely sublime.  And cheap.  For 10 bucks you get a gorgeous chunk of meat, 4 or 5 inches across and at least 2 inches thick (at least!).

Argentina has received a lot of Italian immigrants over the years, and they brought with them their expertise with  gelato, although now it is referred to in Spanish – helado.  Some of the stuff I tried was a revelation, almost a religious experience with light shining down from the heavens and angels singing.  Banana with dulce de leche.  I always avoid banana flavoured ice cream because it is usually bright yellow and completely artificial.  This was a true banana grey and tasted like sweet, ripe bananas with swirls of gooey dulce de leche.  Merengueche – dulce de cleche flavoured ice cream with chunks of meringue.  Seeing a trend here?  Dulce de leche flavours constitute a whole category unto themselves in Argentina.  I do not like chocolate ice cream – it does not really do chocolate any justice – but I had chocolate helado that was dense and chewy.  Amazing.  And while Chile is nowhere near the Argentine level of helado expertise, I did discover a great pizza/helados place in Santiago that had some great flavours.  One of my favourites was harina tostada – literally toasted flour, semolina in this case.  It was sort of like a slightly nutty cream of wheat.  A nice contrast to the sweeter flavours.

Cars, Pt. 2

While Villa La Angostura seemed to be teeming with classic sports cars, Mendoza seemed to be teeming with everyday cars from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  I used to hate the automobile stylings from the 80s, but, and I don´t know if this is nostalgia or a more refined design sense, I really enjoyed looking at the clean lines of the cars I saw in Mendoza.  Some examples below (sorry so many of the photos are in shadow – too many damn trees in Mendoza).

I also dug the more curvy lines of this van.

And this classic little Fiat.

And this Renault 4.

It´s hard to see in the above photo, but Renault 4´s remind me of a képi, the hat Charles de Gaulle wore.

Cars

I´m not really a car guy.  But I can appreciate them as design objects.  And when I was in Villa La Angostura a while ago a whole bunch of classics came rolling into the local gas station as I was walking by.  I had to take a few snaps.

This is a sleek looking Ferrari in a lovely, understated grey.

This is a more muscle-y looking Ferrari.  I like the sporty stripes.

This is a sexy little Maserati.  It looks like a 1957 200SI.

And this was my favourite.  An Argentine car called the IAME Justicialista.  It looked even cooler in person.

Cartoneros

Many aspects have improved since the Argentine economic crisis of 2001, but it still remains difficult for many people to make a living.  On my travels I´ve met a few Argentines that were on vacation.  They were employed in white collar jobs such as librarian and economist.  While they made enough money to be able to afford to go away on vacation, they were sleeping in dorm rooms just as I was.

And then there are the others that don´t make as much.  Here in Buenos Aires I´ve seen men in their fifties, obviously well kept and well groomed, probably employed somewhere, but sleeping on the street with all their belongings in a suitcase.  I´ve seen a parent and child hunker down for the night on a traffic island in the middle of the biggest street in the city.  And I´ve seen the cartoneros.

The cartoneros are the people who go through all the trash bags that are put out each evening, looking for cardboard and other materials that they can sell to recycling depots.  They appear all over the city centre when night falls, working hard, hauling huge bags made of tarpaulin, hustling for a few pesos.  Small children often work beside their parents.  It is simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring.

Check out these great links for more info.

A photo essay on the cartoneros done less than a year after the economic crisis began:

http://www.worldpress.org/photo_essays/cartoneros/

A blog post from a year and a half ago.  The rest of the blog looks really interesting too:

http://www.magicalurbanism.com/?p=149

An article from a couple of years ago.  Talks a bit about the cartoneros organizing politically:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0125/p20s01-woam.html