Lost in the Andes

Argentina Fast Food

I have not seen a single drive through fast food place since we have been here.  They do have a couple of McDonalds in the City but that is as close as it comes.  I don’t miss it.  Never-the-less let me tell you there version of fast food.

It was a lazy Sunday.  We slept in drank coffee and lounged.  About 11:30 am we decided to walk to town for a little shopping.  A forty minute stroll through the crisp Autumn air brought us to the Plaza where we perused the Artisans wares that are there every Sunday Morning.  After a while we began our shopping in earnest with a stop at the local pasteria; two kinds of pasta’s, three containers of sauces, and a loaf of French bread.  Next, at the outdoor barbecue stand we selected from the 30 or so chickens roasting with lemon and herbs on a open pit called a parilla.  The chef pronounced it spectacular, cut it up, put another squeeze from a fresh lemon on it for good measure and placed it in a bag.  Next door was the vegetable and fruit stand where we made our selections and proceeded to the winery.  We picked up a 5 liter jug of table wine in a returnable basket/bottle and headed back with arms full.  Total price we spent on everything came to about 24 dollars US.;probably enough food for several days except for the wine(it might not last that long ;-).  Twenty five minutes after we got home we ate the meal you see.  Now that’s fast food.  Later that day my beautiful live in soup chef made the killer soup you see.  I bet you will never guess which four of the ingredients on the table went into the soup.  I am trying to talk her into putting the recipe for it on this site.  Well don’t worry about us.  We get plenty of good food to eat South of the Equator.

One Hundred Days

One hundred days or so into this adventure might be a good time to step back and look at what we have accomplished south of the Equator. 

Tramites means legal paperwork in Argentina and my wife thinks that the similarity of that word with the English word Trauma is not without merit.  We were sent on endless errands to fetch everything from a proper translation with the correct stamp by the registrar to bringing in two argentinans who could swear to it that we had been in the country for 45 days(even though the passport was stamped by Argentinan immigration more than 45 days previous).  The trick was to simply outlast them.  We kept showing up until they couldn’t think of anything else to send us after. 

The Spanish Language is still a mystery to me.  I am able to communicate in a cave man type of Spanish in which no verbs are conjugated and word order doesn’t matter.  Kristi on the other hand seems to have had a revelation after the second month that has allowed her to understand most of what is said.  I am so jealouse but I guess this explains why she has always kicked my but in Scrabble.  I don’t know what made me think I could be good at a second language when I still haven’t mastered a first language.

We have looked at many properties and studied the grape business.  We know what areas grow which grapes and we have learned the commercial end of growing and selling grapes.  We know what is required  in buying a property.  We began the process of purchasing a small finca(farm) and found out what we don’t know about is negotiating Argentinan style.  After two rounds of offers and counter offers instead of meeting in the middle the price had raised substantially above the asking price.  We had been told that this is the way it goes but were still floored.  We withdrew our offer and will try again.

Well that’s about it.  We have returned to the states to take care of some U S style tramites so this is my last update for a few weeks but in the mean time Don’t cry for me Argentina.  I will be back.

It snowed last week.  Too warm to stick on the ground where we live but the Mountains look nice as seen from this Orchard.

Here are the groceries we bought for abouut US$ 24

Twenty five minutes later...Argentina fast food

1. We have a temporary permanent residence visa; ie, check in with immigration once a year and if we keep our nose clean for several  years we can change the oxymoron from temp/permanent to permanent.

2. We have a CDI number which allows us to open a bank account, buy property and maybe star in a hit TV show about crime scene investigating.(or am I confusing my acronymns)

3. We have completed the tramitus for our DNI which is similar to a social security number which when we get it in six(wink) months should allow us access to congress and the president for as hard as it was to get.