November 2nd Update

So I guess it's about time for another update from rainy, stormy, and occasionally blissfully beautiful and sunny Bariloche. I'd guess it's pretty apparent from that introduction, but the weather has continued in more or less the same vein since my last posting. We've had a few nice days that we've luckily been able to take advantage of by going hiking and climbing but otherwise we've been into playing "inside" games. 


Sometime last week a new friend of ours mentioned that the hostel he was staying at was having an asado (barbecue) and that for the mere price of around ten USD we'd be served a couple of sausages, some other meaty animal parts, and something like three or four steaks in addition to various sides and unlimited wine. Not wanting to miss out on the Argentinean cultural bastion of what is more or less a weekly drunken meat binge, we signed our names on the sheet without hesitation. A puddle of drool was practically already forming at my feet in anticipation of what Friday would bring and sure enough, my expectations were fully met. Things started out nicely with a couple glasses of wine around ten thirty at night and a chorizo sausage in a roll. This was followed by blood sausage, and a tasty little treat familiar to the Irish folk at the table called "sweet breads" (or, thymus/pancreas made into little grilled bits). At this point the first steak was brought out and we commenced with the real business of the night: consuming massive amounts of beef. As the night went on, each progressive steak cut was one better than the last until a culmination of something so bloodily awesome that I still salivate in thinking of it. 


Of course this was all good and fun the night before, but come the next morning not only did we require a fair bit of yerba mate (an herbal infusion that the people here drink at all times in all situations with an obsessive mania bordering on full blown addiction), but the very thought of a single bite of steak made me cringe in revulsion. I think I even told Kate at one point that I wanted to subsist fully on raw vegetables and fruit for the day (anyone who knows me can attest that this is a sign of something gravely wrong) and I seriously began to wonder if eating over one and a half pounds of meat in a sitting might have some sort of overdose effect (yeah, yeah, I do realize that it does in fact, and whose sweet name is triple bypass, though apparently all the bases are covered as the yerba mate thins the blood and the red wine does something good too...).


The next night we planned to attend a Halloween party and thus spent the day running errands around town in a sort of meat induced coma and trying to put together some sort of outfit that could be vaguely called a costume. This night though we vowed to go in early as Sunday was forecast to be sunny, clear and perfect for climbing. We went as something that was called a mix between Rambo/Bulgarian Trucker/Myself in Ten Years. In a show of great success we managed to get back early by around one and up in time the next morning for the hour walk or so up to Piedras Blancas, a stretch of white granite towers situated on a hillside overlooking the city. The day was great and we had a nice time finally being able to climb outside. It's supposed to be sunny again later this week so hopefully that will be the case and we can go out again. 


Our daily efforts at Spanish continue on and some audible progress seems to be occurring from both of us. Not that either of us are analyzing Márquez in his native tongue yet, though perhaps with a little more time...


Some pictures will be added later but we're both tired and must be up early tomorrow as usual for running (outside now!) and class.