June 2010 – The Omnivorous Bear

Argentina: a taster of things to come

Well, we’re still here in Argentina. What a fascinating country this is in terms of culture, stunning natural scenery and (best of all) food. I’ve made it my mission to taste everything, try everything offered, no matter how strange it may seem to me… and I have enjoyed every bite.

What can you say about a country that has a massive selection of cakes for breakfast? Everywhere we go the pastry selection ha been incredible. I must have photographed hundreds of cakes, pastries, tarts and brownies. I may well have sampled a few along the way.

I have walked for miles (so that justified the pumpkin pie for breakfast) and explored the strangest (to my eyes, anyway) parts of Buenos Aires

found Evita’s tomb, Argentina’s most famous icon, in a far corner of La Recoleta cemetery and wherever you go you hear “Don’t cry for me Argentina” playing

The cemetery is the size of a small town and is filled with the most beautiful tombs and mausoleums. Can you imagine the love and devotion that went into celebrating the life that came before the death with such beautiful statues?

It’s not just spiritual, you know. They also celebrate the life of the animal that was killed so you could be fed by eating every part of it… intestines and sweetbreads are featured on most menus as starters.

From Buenos Aires in the east, we travelled to the north west, to Iguazu – stunning waterfalls, bigger than Niagara

Then we flew further south to Salta so we could catch the Tren a las Nubes (the train to the clouds) up the Andes

And even then on the train there were food adventures – it climbs so high up the train company serve you coca tea and coca leaves to help stop altitude sickness. It didn’t help me,much, though… I ended up being given oxygen because I was so ill.

I have so much to tell you all, but, as you can see, I have been busy. When we have reached a hotel at night there just hasn’t been time to write up everything…. but there has been time to quickly load pictures onto Facebook.

If you want to see more, add the Omnivorous Bear on Facebook and follow by pictures until I have time to do more!

And now? I’m off to breakfast then visiting a vineyard and checking out various cheeses!

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Argentina

You know how some days can go wrong…. and keep on going wrong ? It´s as if the tone of the day has been set.

Well, that didn´t happen to us.

I went in to work, did what I had to, came home and started cleaning and packing… everything was done quickly and my small suitcase shut easily.

I knew things were going to be good when we got to the M1

That is the M1 on a Friday afternoon.

Anyone of you who has driven on the M1 at any time knows that it´s not normally like that. And as for a Friday afternoon? Unheard of.

It´s normally nose to tail traffic and there we were, swooping down to Heathrow. The sun was beating down and the air con kept us beautifully cooled… the radio was on and I sang along happily. OK, so the Bear wasn´t that enamoured of AC/DC but I liked it and that´s what counts, eh?

That is a good omen for our trip.

As was the fact that the hotel, despite its rather faded glamour, had a restaurant with open doors to a decked area and our chilled rose was perfect.

We flew first to Frankfurt and from there to Buenos Aires.

Now the way we were flying involved me taking the Bear´s airmiles to pay for my ticket. He travels so much there was enough there for me to fly out… and what was even better was the fact that there were no economy seats left for airmiles passengers. Just business class.

(See what I mean about things falling into place?)

The fact that his ticket, booked for him for his conference , was economy… well……

Imagine the luxury, I thought, the space… the comfort … the good food served on china plates… the fine wines….

And this is what I ate.

Before you think that Lufthansa business class isn´t worth it, I´d better explain.

The poor Bear was working so hard that it seemed really rotten to cramp him in the back of the plane for well over 13 hours so I gave him my seat. Off he went to the front of the plane and luxury and off I trotted to the back of the plane and the delights of some truly bizarre spaghetti and a luridly coloured jelly topped cake.

Lufthansa had somehow managed to swap the window economy seat that was checked in for us at 4.50am into a middle seat between two large men. That could have been a disaster until I had a word with the airhostess and got myself moved to a lovely window seat with a spare seat between me and Maria – my new friend! We talked for ages about travel and blogging. One of the great things about travelling is you never know who you will meet or what friends you can make.

See? Everything turning out well.

We soared over Europe and down across Africa and over the flat calm of the Atlantic

See how the clouds are reflected onto the sea? Perfect.

I wish I could say the same for the food, though.

That was turkey with mashed potatoes and carrots. Apparently.

The potato appears to have been squirted from some high pressure nozzle and had the strangest taste and texture. Still, it was better than the spaghetti.

That wasn´t going to keep me fed for the full thirteen hours so when the Bear came back to see me (having had food served on china plates, delicous and dainty starters, main courses, puddings and cheeses) I sent him to get me something

Corny Big.

Not the world´s most appetising snack

Seeds (and I presume corn) covered on the bottom with a thin layer of not very good chocolate with that odd white bloom on it that suggests it has got too hot somewhere along the journey and an overwhelming smell of oranges.

There will be fans of this somewhere, I suppose but it certainly didn´t make me start searching the internet to find suppliers when I got back to the UK.

Maybe they would need to tweak it for the British market.

Like, change the name, the chocolate and the taste of it.

The other thing he brought back for me was

Exquisa snack.…. a European cheesecake. Or that´s what it said on the packet. It also said “mmmmmh”

Maybe I don´t have a European palate?

I ate it though.

Thank God the Bear trotted back from business class bringing me the truffles he had been served with his coffee. I would have taken a picture of them but I was too busy stuffing them in my mouth. Now THAT was chocolate.

I read books on my Sony eReader (surely the greatest development ever for a voracious reader with limited baggage capacity.. I read three books on that flight and I have another 22 in there ready to be read) and looked out of the window