Córdoba! Córdoba! Córdoba!

I arrived in Córdoba at about 7 AM. I didn’t sleep at all on the night bus so I was exhausted and cranky. Luckily, my friend Camila is cordobesa, and her family still lives in Córdoba. I met her wonderful parents a few months ago when they came to visit Salta, and because I was going to Córdoba, her mom kindly offered to meet me at the bus station. She found me and we headed to her dad’s house (Camila’s grandpa). They kindly invited me in, we drank mate together, took some pictures to send to Camila, and I freshened up. Next Camila’s mom took me to Sofía’s apartment, where I was staying while in Córdoba. I decided to try couchsurfing for the first time in Argentina and had a great time staying with her! I dropped off my bag and then Camila’s mom and I drove all around so she could show me the city. She had to go to work at noon and I had a meeting at one, so she dropped me off at WalMart… that’s right, WalMart! It was amazing and overwhelming. It felt like America. I don’t think I liked it. But it was kind of cool nonetheless, and I bought myself some M&Ms.

At one I had lunch plans with Carolina, the director of an English institute who worked at Lago del Bosque Bemidji with Lauren, who I know through my involvement in WAFLT (Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers). We ate with her husband Guillermo, talked about my experiences in Salta, discussed her English institute, and they were amazingly nice!! After that I had a little time to rest before I headed downtown to explore and later go to a Rotaract Córdoba meeting.

I wandered around the plaza and was amazed at how beautiful the city was. It’s like Salta because it is colonial, but it is just so much more lively!

Cathedral in Plaza San Martín

I was also lucky to have gorgeous weather the whole time!

I had the chance to visit a museum dedicated to telling the story of Córdoba’s desparecidos from the military dictatorship in Argentina. The “Comisión y Archivo Provincial de la Memoria”  is in a building that was used by the police, the “C2,” to hold and torture people who were kidnapped by the government/police/military. I had goosebumps the entire time, because this was a really dark period in Argentine history and I hadn’t seen any museum or space that was as impacting as this one. 

“Comisión y Archivo Provincial de la Memoria”

Then I met up with Tincho, who is from San Pedro de Jujuy (a town about an hour and a half north of Salta) but moved to Córdoba for college in 2007. He has been super active in Rotaract there and a Rotarian in San Pedro connected me with him. I went to their meeting and it was really, really fun! I love Rotaract and wish that Salta had it! It’s like Rotary, but for people ages 18-30. They were all really nice to me and excited that I was there to visit. I got to talk a little bit about myself and got to learn about the things their club has been doing in the community.

The next few days I simply explored Córdoba – the plaza, the university, museums, the Jesuit part of the city, the park, the canal and river that run through the city, etc. And I went to Starbucks… twice.

Venti cinnamon dolce latte!

On the weekends they have an enormous “Paseo de artesanos” or Artisan fair. You could spend 3 hours there and still probably wouldn’t hit all the stands. You can find anything from clothes to jewelry to food to plants to ceramics… you get the idea. I bought an amazing mate that has lyrics from a Calle 13 song, Latinoamérica. I love how alive Córdoba is — there are always people out, the city doesn’t really have a siesta, and it is so full of young people because there are 7 universities!!

View of Nueva Córdoba, the student area, from one of the museums

On Sunday I took time to go to Alta Gracia, a city about an hour outside of Córdoba. The city is famous for a huge Jesuit estancia and also for the childhood home of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. If you haven’t seen Motorcycle Diaries, watch it. Che is the emblematic revolutionary who helped Castro in Cuba, but also did a lot of consciousness-raising in Argentina and really all of South America in respect to a variety of social issues. He was eventually killed but the home was converted into a museum that celebrates his childhood and life, period as “Che,” influence in South America, etc. The strangest thing for me was that Fidel Castro visited the museum so there’s an entire room full of pictures of him… for an American, to be that “close” to Castro was really weird, considering our diplomatic relationship with Cuba (or lack thereof). The city was beautiful and I had a great, relaxing day!

Motorcycle!

Center of Alta Gracia – gorgeous!

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I kept exploring Córdoba and also left my resumé at a number of English institutes and bilingual schools. I honestly have no idea what I want to do next year, but I am basically split between coming back to Salta, moving to Córdoba, or living in the USA. So, I took advantage of my time there to set up interviews and whatnot just to see what my opportunities in Córdoba would be. It’s hard because most of the places told me that they don’t know if they will have a job open next year but would absolutely love to have me. It would be hard in some ways to have to readjust to a new city, and the busses there are really bad (they come every 25-30 minutes) and expensive (4.10 pesos vs. 2.50 pesos in Salta). So, I still have no answers about what I want to do. I am in the process of making a super detailed pros and cons list about each place, and hopefully I will make up my mind soon! I came back to Salta on Thursday morning and returned to my life here, with a new appreciation for the smallness and tranquility of this town after spending 5-6 days in the craziness of gigantic Córdoba. It was great to see my students again, go to Rotary, and go to my class at la UNSa. I have a good network of people here, both friends and acquaintances, and I’m not sure if I am ready to give this up!

Santiago del Estero!

On the 17th I traveled to Santiago del Estero, a province about 6-7 hours southeast of Salta. Santiago is known for a few things – mostly a really long siesta, super hot weather, and a very relaxed culture (even more so than Salta). I arrived at about 10 PM and Cristina, a Rotarian from the Club Autonomía picked me up at the terminal with her son Nacho, who is about 8 years old. We went to their house which is absolutely beautiful, had dinner, and I went to bed because everything would start early the next morning.

I woke up at 6:30, ate breakfast and the day’s events began. Cristina and Ana (the club president) had a lot of things planned for me. At 8 AM I gave a presentation, in English (to be fair it was more Spanglish) to about 50 high schoolers. They asked some good questions and one girl came up to me afterwards and said she was really happy to meet me and it was great to hear me talk about my experiences! How cute!

With the kiddos at the private school

Next we went to Canal 7, the local TV news station. I was interviewed for TV and my segment aired later that day… which I never saw. I talked about my life in Salta, what I was doing in Santiago, etc. By this point I was accompanied by Cristina, Ana, and three more Rotarians – Silvia, Yoly, and María Inés.

TV interview! Terrifying!

At Canal 7 after my interview – Yoly, Ana, me and Silvia

After that we went to El Liberal, the santiagueño newspaper, where I was interviewed again. A short article (in Spanish) ran the next day about me and Verónica, a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant who has been living in Santiago. Ironically we already knew each other, because travelled together in July in Bolivia, but it was great to see her again!

Being interviewed at El Liberal

After that, it was time to visit the huge museum and cultural center in Santiago. Apparently the governor of Santiago del Estero is good friends with Cristina Kirchner, the Argentine President. So in the last few years they have gotten a ton of money from the federal government and have done a ton of re-building and constructing of different public spaces – plazas, cultural centers, the bus station, a convention center, etc. We got into the museum for free because Silvia’s brother works there.

Outside the cultural center

We were surrounded by santiagueño culture and about 50 school children dressed in their little uniforms learning about the history of their city. Adorable. We had a coffee break, Cristina took me around Santiago and we met up with Ana again for lunch.

Coffee break with the Rotarians! Me, Yoly, María Inés and Cristina

After lunch it was time for the classic Santiago siesta… most things in Santiago are closed from 12/1 until literally 7 PM. It is SO hot in Santiago in the summer time (and to me, it was scorching and it is springtime here now). It usually gets up to 52 degrees celsius, which is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. After my nap, it was time for more presentations! First I headed to an English class to talk to them about myself and the USA. Then, Verónica and I had about 2 hours to relax, catch up, and enjoy “merienda” (snack time). After that I headed to the profesorado to give a presentation to about 100 pre-service English teachers who are studying there. It is common for teachers here to study at a profesorado, which is like a community college, to get their teaching license/certification. They asked me some great questions and one of the teachers was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Florida back in 2005, so we each talked about our experience living in two cultures.

That night we had the Rotary Autonomía club meeting and asado (barbecue) at Cristina’s house. They have a quincho in the backyard near their swimming pool, which is an enormous separate space devoted to a second kitchen, huge grill, and large table for big get-togethers. It was great to meet more Rotarians and be surrounded by a ton of caring Argentinians. Verónica came too, and it was a ton of fun!! The people in Santiago are absolutely wonderful and I am so glad I was able to meet all of them and enjoy the city! At 1 AM I had a bus to Córdoba, so I said my goodbyes and headed onwards to another province, about 7 hours east/southeast of Santiago.

Those days.

A lot of this blog has highlighted all of the really great, happy, and amazing stuff I have been experiencing this past year. Very little of it has been devoted to those days. You know, those days where the second you step onto the street you know you would be better off just staying inside, laying in bed and watching something on Netflix while binging on a guilty pleasure food.

Today was one of those days.

I had the morning to bum around my apartment and made some homemade pita chips. Good start.

Got to Portuguese class at 1:23. Class “starts” at “1:30.” Professor showed up at 1:47. We were supposed to be starting a movie today but she told us that all of the projectors at my university were already checked out by the time she went to reserve one. So we read an article in Portuguese about birdwatching in Brazil and Argentina. We learned a lot of new bird names in Portuguese. Which were explained in Spanish. I found out today that I know basically no bird words in Spanish, because the entire time I just stared at the board and didn’t recognize anything on it.

Left class and got on bus #1 of 2 to get to my English teaching job at a private school. Spaced out and got off one stop too late, so I had to walk an extra 3 blocks to get to the next stop (6 total). Made it to the next stop, and the first bus passed totally full. The second one came.

Got on it and then got off it, and walked 6 blocks to the school. 3:53 PM, class starts at 4:15. As soon as I got inside I realized that I left my English notebook at home so I had none of my graded work, no attendance sheet, no grade sheet, etc. with me. I am subbing for another teacher this week so I am teaching 2 different classes at the same time. Which really means 3 classes, because within my class I am already teaching two different levels. But in my class, half the students were absent on Tuesday. So I was really teaching four classes at the same time. After getting them split up into separate rooms, on-task, timers set for their various practice tests and writing assignments, two of my students told me they forgot the articles we had done on Tuesday at home. I had no more extras and the photocopier at the school was already closed for the day.

Finally the long 1.5 hours of teaching 4 classes at once was over. I spaced out and turned the corner instead of walking straight and so I decided to try taking a different bus home to save me more walking. I got on it and realized I had no idea what the route was like on this particular bus. So I just went with it until I saw Café Martínez, where I decided to stop and grade for a little. 6 PM. I sat down outside at one of the tables, and within 15 minutes a cold front rolled in and it got chillier out. It took a total of 37 minutes for me to get my drink. They didn’t have what I wanted (a cold frappuchino thing) so I went with a smoothie. 37 minutes.

The grading was horrendous. I realized that one of my students really should not be in my class, she should be in the previous level because her listening comprehension and writing are not at the level of my other students (this is an extra class after school and the parents pay for their students to get more individualized attention to prepare to take the Cambridge FCE (other teacher), CAE, and CPE (me) exams. So no judging about how I have to differentiate more or whatever). I emailed my boss a long, detailed email expressing my concerns about this student (I started in September so I don’t really know them that well yet because I only see them 2x a week), trying to be proactive and responsible.

I decided to go home after awhile because I was so cold and couldn’t concentrate anymore. 7:30 PM. I finally got home and realized I had to look over powerpoints for my master’s class tomorrow because we have to write something about what was in the powerpoints. I started eating the pita chips I made this morning. I opened the document.

93 slides that all look like this. Look at the lefthand side there, you can see that all the slides have that much text. This not only hurts my eyes, but COME ON! Just write an essay. Or at least bulletpoint an outline or something. What’s the purpose of a PowerPoint if it looks like this? About 20 minutes later I had eaten all the pita chips I made this morning. Bye, pita chips.

I gave up on reading the slides and decided it wasn’t worth it. I put on dress pants fixed my hair and left for the Rotary meeting. 9:00 PM. The old restaurant where we used to meet is changing ownership so it’s closed while they’re remodeling it. I used to be able to walk to the meeting in 14 minutes. The new location is about 20 minutes away by bus. I was nearing my stop when my phone buzzed. I hit the end call button just so the screen would light up. It was a call from the club president. He left a message.

I got up so I could head to the bus door and hit the button so the driver would stop at the next stop. As soon as I did this I heard in the voicemail, “I hope you’re not already at the restaurant, we’re not having a meeting this week because most people are out of town.” 9:23 PM. Meeting was supposed to start at 9:30. The bus driver stopped the bus. I just awkwardly shook my head at him, swore out loud at my cell phone, and sat back down.

Rode the bus all the way back around to my apartment. Got home at 9:50 PM. Looked down and saw an e-mail from my boss at the school. Her response about the concern about my student. (This is in English). “She is going to take the FCE exam (the level below the class I teach), she is preparing CAE but is going to take FCE. The class teacher will help you practice and from now on you can give her mock tests of FCE with answer sheets. She will have to practice both at school and at home.” What? Who is “the class teacher”? I’m teaching for a maternity leave here but she is totally uninvolved in the class. What? Why is this girl in my class preparing for an exam above her level if she’s taking FCE? The format is different, and the writing calls for totally different things.

I’m in my bed with a bunch of Oreo cookies and a container of dulce de leche. I’m going to find some crappy movie on Netflix and fall asleep. Because this day needs to be over.

Drinks in Argentina

To complement my post on food in Northwestern Argentina, I decided to write this post about drinks in Argentina. I’m not specifying Northwestern Argentina because I think a lot of these things go for the entire country (with the exception of maybe one or two). This post really has no particular order to it, but I would say that the top three are the top three here.

10. Licuados

Clémence’s last licuado in Argentina before going back to France 😦

A licuado is a smoothie or a shake. At any restaurant or café, or at specific places for licuados, you can get any combination of fruits blended with either water or milk, and with or without sugar added. My personal favorite is strawberry-banana with milk! These usually run about 20 pesos ($3 ish) for a huge one at a cheap little licuado place, or 20 pesos for a small-ish one at a restaurant or café.

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9. Fresh Juices

Fresh juices at Aniceto

Fresh-squeezed orange juice and grapefruit juice is all the rage here. Not much more I can say, other than YUM! Sidenote: That picture is from Aniceto, my all-time favorite breakfast place! Juices are on the right in big pitchers, and there’s yogurt and milk on the left. It’s a huge breakfast buffet that goes all the way down the bar. Mom, we’re going there when you are here. I promise 🙂

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8. Flavored Water

Also at Aniceto. They offer you a glass of this grapefruit-infused water the minute you enter the restaurant!

Pink grapefruit, grapefruit, apple, orange, pear, pineapple, lemonade

I feel like flavored water was a more recent trend in the US. Maybe it was here, too. I don’t know. But there is a huge variety of flavored water products out there, both regular and carbonated in a bunch of flavors. Of course, anytime you get a small bottle of this they will give you a straw, because no one drinks out of bottles here without a straw. I still can’t figure out how to get the last of the water at the bottom with the straw. I usually give up and go all American on it and just drink it “normally.”

The print is small, but it totally says “Berries”

Out of all the flavored waters, my personal favorite would have to be “berries”  (above). The word on the packaging is literally “berries,” pronounced “berries” with a very strong Latin accent. And the “rr” is a little rolled. Why it’s not just called “frutos del bosque” or “frutos rojos” I will never know.

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7. Coca Tea

This one has a LOT of coca leaves in it, but you get the idea.

This is very particular to NW Argentina and other Andean countries (Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador). In a cup of hot (boiling) tea, you just put in some coca leaves and let it steep for a little bit. Yes, coca leaves that are eventually used to make cocaine. Family and Rotarians, before you freak out that I’ve been consuming cocaine, think of it this way, though: considering an entire bottle of wine as one grape is the same thing as thinking of cocaine like one coca leaf. It’s not cocaine. Anyways, enough of that rant. It’s basically a mild stimulant (keeps you awake) and also suppresses appetite and gets rid of altitude sickness (hence popularity in Andean countries).

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6. Submarinos

Stir until combined!

The submarino is the Argentine after-school snack for kids, during merienda (snack) time from about 5-7 PM or so. It’s can also be for breakfast but I don’t think it’s as common then. You get a large glass of hot milk, and a chocolate bar. Drop in the chocolate and wait for it to melt. Stir it up, drink, and enjoy! It’s called a submarino because the bar of chocolate is like a submarine going underwater! Cute, right?

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5. Malbec

If you know wine, you know Malbec. Most people know Mendoza for their wines, but I am a strong supporter of Cafayate! Etchart and El Esteco are two of the big bodegas there, but I’m fairly sure that any bodega in Cafayate produces Malbec. Though originally from France, the Malbec grape is now associated with Argentina because it’s done well in the warm and dry climate here. I’m quoting from the Nanni bodega description here, but “On the nose, it’s intense and fruity with aromas of red berries and fruits of the forest. There are notes of plums, cherries, cassis, and berries. It is a lively red wine with very good structure, a perfect match for red meats and pasta.” For more information about Malbec, check out this fact sheet from Colomé.

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4. Salta Rubia/Negra

Quilmes is the big national beer. Salta Rubia and Salta Negra are the two big beers in Salta (obviously). A liter bottle will run you about 10 pesos from a convenience store ($1-something), or about 30 pesos at a restaurant ($3-something). Salta Negra is a dark beer but is really quite light – it isn’t heavy at all. And Salta Rubia is basically like Miller Lite.

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3. Fernet

If you see a group of Argentinians at a festival or fair with a Coke bottle, there is a 99% chance that there’s also fernet in that Coke bottle. It is (thanks Wikipedia) “A type of amaro, a bitter, aromatic spirit. Fernet is made from a number of herbs and spices which vary according to the brand, but usually include myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron with a base of grape distilled spirits, and colored with caramel coloring.”  That description sounds horrendous. Oh, and even better, farther down the article it says “Its smell has been described as “like black licorice-flavored Listerine.” Thirsty yet?

It’s super super popular here at bars and convenience stores — you will see promos for a bottle of fernet, coke, and ice for 70-80 pesos ($9-10). Apparently they make 25 million liters of Fernet a year in Argentina. It’s not my favorite thing ever created.

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2. Torrontés

Torrontés is the lesser-known Argentine wine, but in my opinion I think it’s worthy of much more fame! This fact sheet from Bodega Colomé explains a lot (if you are really into that kind of stuff). Torrontés is from Salta province — the grapes for Torrontés thrive at high altitudes where there is a big daily range in temperatures. In Salta, most of the vineyards are at about 1700 meters and it gets hot (75-80) during the day and chilly at night (40-45 or even cooler). It’s a very light white wine that is fruity and very fresh tasting. There is also Cosecha Tardía at many bodegas, which means “Late harvest” – the grapes are left on the vine longer, so the wine is sweeter. Nanni is a bodega that is certified organic and they have a good Cosecha Tardía Torrontés. Grandma, I will try to bring you a bottle because I know you like white wine! 🙂

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1. Mate

This is what grad school looks like here: reading and mate.

Mate is the great Argentinian drink. Pronounced mah-tay (not mate, like g’day mate), it’s literally is defined by law as the national infusion. The Wikipedia article is actually super informative and well-done, but here’s my explanation.

Glossary: 

Mate: The physical gourd/holder – mine at left is striped and made of wood. These can be made of a gourd, a number of different types of woods, ceramic, etc.

Bombilla: The special straw used for drinking mate. It has tiny holes at the bottom so that the water can get through, but not the…

Yerba: Literally yerba mate, a plant. In Salta most people add other herbs like rica rica, burro, cedrón, and other stuff. My apologies for not knowing these words in English, I’ve only ever had to describe this stuff in Spanish. Anyways, the flavor of brewed yerba mate resembles an infusion of herbs and is reminiscent of some varieties of green tea. Mate has caffeine in it. There is an entire aisle of all major grocery stores in Argentina that is devoted to different kinds of yerba mate. There are many different brands and also different infusions – you can get orange mate, lemon mate, grapefruit mate, coffee mate (which I have yet to try), and just regular old mate. They ALL taste different, though, and it’s a huge process trying to figure out which one you like best.

Termo: A vital sidekick to mate is a thermos, usually a large one that holds 500mL-1L of water. This is because each little mate doesn’t actually have much to it, so you end up drinking a ton.

Process:

Pour yerba mate into the mate, filling it about halfway or maybe 2/3. Covering the top of the mate, shake it hard and then dump it into your palm and then back into upright position. Your palm will have a bunch of dust from the yerba mate on it. Brush it off. Repeat this process 2-3 times.

Then I add different herbs into mine, usually mostly just cedrón (which is lemon verbena, I do know this one in English! Go me!)

Then add some sugar (option) into the bottom and gently shake the mate so that the yerba is kind of on an angle. Put in the bombilla and then add a little bit of hot (not boiling water). I usually let it steep for about a minute, just to get the yerba at the bottom wet, and then add a little more water. Then drink until the straw makes the “Knock that off stop slurping with your straw!” noise. Totally not rude in mate-drinking land! 🙂

Add more water. Repeat. After about 10-15 times, the mate starts to lose its flavor so you usually dump it out and re-do the process.

Social Norms:  Drinking mate is done in many different settings. At work (no matter where you work). In the car. At the library. In the plaza. At the park. In class (high school or college). In private tutoring classes/lessons. When someone invites you to their house. On long-distance busses. The list goes on.

When drinking mate with friends… see left, long story behind that picture but that’s me, Clémence, and a friend of hers/federal police officer who invited us to drink mate while we were waiting for her delayed flight at the Salta airport… Sorry. I digress.

When drinking mate with friends, the person preparing the mate (Person A) is always the first one to drink it because the first mate is a little bitter/everything isn’t mixed together right. Person A holds the thermos so they have all the power. They fill it back up and pass it to Person B, straw facing that person. When Person B is done, they pass it back to Person A, again, straw facing them. They refill it for Person C, and give it to Person C. So on and so forth.

Mom, I know you are having a panic attack about germs at this point. This could be why I keep getting sick, now that I think of it. Some people will wipe off the straw with a paper towel  but most of the time you all just drink out of the same straw.

The important thing about mate is that you aren’t supposed to say “gracias” until you are done (done as in you don’t want anymore).

All of these insane minute cultural things took me FOREVER to figure out/learn/have explained to me.

Other Fun Facts:

Tereré: It can also be made with cold water or fruit juice, and this is popular in NE Argentina where it’s all rainforesty (by Iguazú), in Paraguay, and Southern Brazil.

There’s also a thing designed to hold your mate set for mates on-the-go. Apparently there’s one with the Pope on it (he’s Argentinian in case you didn’t know that). I just found this on GoogleImages and I literally can’t stop laughing.

And there’s mate on the go. It’s a plastic cup and comes with a plastic straw.

And that’s Argentinian drinks in a nutshell! 🙂

Food in Northwestern Argentina

Disclaimer: I stole this post idea from my friend Adam, who is a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Barranquilla, Colombia. You can see his discussion about food in his part of Colombia here.

If an American were asked about food in Argentina, I think they would probably respond with “meat.” I can confirm that those rumors are true. There is a lot of meat here. But food in northwestern Argentina goes way beyond that. Here is my Top 10:

10. Turrón

Turron is a traditional dessert in NW Argentina. The ingredients are eggs, flour, baking powder, anise, honey, sugar, dulce de leche, and walnuts. You basically layer dough and dulce de leche until you run out of dough, and cover it with a merengue topping and chopped walnuts. It is really, really sweet! It’s mostly available at restaurants or people make it at home.

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9. Empanadillas de Cayote

Empanadillas are available at most bakeries, street corners during holidays, and on long-distance busses. At any given stop people will get on and yell, “Empanadillas! Empanadillas de Cayote!” The dough is made from flour, baking powder, butter, egg yolks, anise liquor, and water. They are glazed with a mix of egg whites, powdered sugar, and lemon. So what’s on the inside?

They can be filled with sweet potato, but more commonly they are filled with cayote. No, not coyote like the animal. The cayote is this giant, giant fruit that I had never seen before living here (see the picture above). It’s known by a bunch of different names in different Spanish-speaking countries. Apparently in English it is the “Seven Year Melon” according to Wikipedia, but I’ve never heard of that in my life. It is absolutely huge and to get to the stuff on the inside, when ripe they just throw the huge fruit thing on the ground until it smashes to pieces and the outside shell falls off. The inside is sweet but I personally do not like the taste of it at all. They mash it up to make the filling, and there you get Empanadillas de Cayote.

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8. Alfajores/Maicenas

There are many different kinds of alfajores. The picture on the left is called a “maicena,” assumably because it is made with cornflour (maicena). There are two cookies with dulce de leche sandwiched in between, and then rolled in coconut. You can find these at any bakery and are often eaten as a snack with tea or coffee. The alfajores on the right are the ones sold at convenience stores, grocery store check-out lines, etc. The major brands are Milka, Bon-o-bon, Havanna, and Oreo, among others. They are made up of two cookies with dulce de leche sandwiched between, and are coated in chocolate. Many variations exist – Havanna makes one that is coffee-flavored, the Oreo ones are made with oreo cookies, some have mousse rather than dulce de leche, others are covered with a glaze or with white chocolate… you get the idea. No matter the combination, I think they are delicious.

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7. Milanesa

La milanesa is another food that exists in many combinations. The picture is a milanesa a la napolitana con papas fritas. A milanesa itself is a piece of meat (usually veal, but also can be chicken or beef), coated in breadcrumbs and fried. It’s kind of like chicken parmesan but the meat is very thin. Then it’s covered in something or accompanied by something. A la napolitana means it’s covered with ham, cheese, tomatoes, and oregano. It can be plain, covered with a number of sauces, and accompanied with salad, lemon wedges, french fries, veggies… the list goes on. Milanesas are available at every restaurant in Argentina, more or less.

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6. Tamales

The outside of the tamal is made with corn husks and the inside is a mix of corn and meat.

You use the head of a cow or a pig (seriously, the head) and let it boil in water. Once it’s “cooked,” you let it cool and cut off the meat. You reserve the water that it was boiling in, and then add cornflour, lard, onion, salt, cumin, pepper, and broth. You put this mixture inside a corn husk and steam it. They are round in shape and tied at the top.

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5. Humitas

Humitas are made with corn, green onion, squash or pumpkin, salt, paprika, green pepper, cheese, basil, and water. They are a vegetarian alternative to tamales and are also square in shape, rather than round. You mix together all those ingredients, wrap them in a corn husk, and steam them.  I personally like tamales more (even though the process sounds gross), because I get bored with the same flavor and texture throughout the entire humita. But that’s just my humble opinion!

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4. Locro

Locro is the big “winter” food here (July-August/September). You basically throw a ton of stuff in an enormous pot and let it cook all day. It’s very popular at restaurants but also big family get-togethers and parties. The major ingredients are corn, beans, random chunks of meat (doesn’t matter what, even hooves and stomach and bones and things), squash, green onion, water, salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper. When it all comes together it’s delicious, I just had to not think about all of the random meat things in it… haha.

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3. Dulce de Leche

YUM. Dulce de Leche is the peanut butter of Argentina. You can put it on absolutely anything. Fruit. Cookies. It shows up inside things. Candies. Cakes. You can eat it alone out of the jar. I add it to chocolate pudding sometimes. They also make dulce de leche ice cream, candies, and a million other things.

I am addicted to dulce and will no doubt be bringing several jars home with me.

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2. Asado

Asado is normally pronounced “asao” (without the “d”). Most Argentinian families dedicate Sundays to asados, which just involves a lot of meat and a grill. Restaurants also offer asados, where you select which meats you want and they bring it to your table on top of a little mini grill that’s either placed on the table or next to the table. Blood sausage (morcilla) is very common, along with chorizo, and different steaks.

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1. Empanadas

I have probably eaten 1000 empanadas since getting to Salta. Want a cheap, easy meal? Empanadas. Most run about 5-6 pesos (less than 1 dollar) and are available in cheese, meat, chicken, and sometimes ham and cheese, caprese, or some other variety. You can have them baked or fried — my personal favorite, and the more common variety, is baked. They make a great lunch, or an appetizer, or a dinner, or a snack. And in Salta they are always served with “salsa picante,” a somewhat spicy red sauce (see bottom right of the picture). Salta is known for having the best empanadas in Argentina — I think it’s the dough that makes them so good. YUM!