Asados, driving...and cockroaches

Time is flying by here! I'll be at the half way mark next week. I haven't taken any trips yet but the Iguazu waterfalls and Perito Moreno Glacier (down south) are on my list. I got out of the city for my first asado (BBQ -- Argentine style) last weekend. We went to my roommate's boyfriend's house out in Pacheco, about 30 mins outside of the city. The food was great. We had some chorizo (sausage), bife de lomo, and morcilla. From what I understand, the morcilla is congealed pig blood mixed with some kind of meat. It has a very distinct flavor but is good stuff. Apparently, you have to slit the pig's throat and collect the blood while the pig is still alive so the blood doesn't congeal. Nice visual huh? This guy's house was great. Big backyard and pool...definitely how the "other half" lives in Buenos Aires. It was great getting out of the city for a few hours.


I've kind of un-immersed myself in the local culture here the last few days. My roommates and I went to an expat bar the other night and last night we joined a pub crawl, where it was impossible to speak Spanish. Both were a lot of fun. I'm lucky that my Argentinian roommate doesn't speak English, so I still get to speak some Spanish even among all the expats.


We have a major cockroach problem at the apartment. I put some bread in the toaster yesterday and when it popped up, there was a cockroach hanging out on one of the slices. It scarred me for a few hours but I made some more toast later...after cleaning the inside of the toaster, of course. An exterminator has come a few times but it's not helping...the apartment's just too old. The roaches are all behind the walls. The GOOD thing is the roaches are all pretty small -- nothing compared to the ones in Houston...

I drove for the first time here last week! It was...a lot of fun. I hadn't driven a manual in a long time but it came back to me (after a couple of stalls). There are few rules to driving here...no blinkers, no real lanes, no blind spots. It's defensive driving on a whole new level. Speaking of blind spots, they don't teach it in driver's ed here! Ford, my coworker, was driving with his girlfriend once and she changed lanes and nearly hit someone. Ford freaked out and asked if she had checked her blind spot... Blind spot? What's that? She had NO idea...

All the police constables drive around here with their lights on. All the time. No sirens. You look in your rearview mirror and see flashing lights...you're not getting pulled over. Just a cop roaming around.