Argentina loves Ham

After a week in Santiago we headed back to Mendoza in Argentina. The journey itself should only take about four hours, but took us close to the whole day after we arrived at the border and found ourselves to be the 27th bus in line waiting to cross (I counted).

With only two customs officers working for over 30 busloads of people, it took an achingly long five hours to get our passports stamped and luggage checked. Once we arrived in Mendoza we had to take another bus to Buenos Aires, so Stacey and I decided to splash out (read: I convinced Stacey that we should splash out) and upgrade to Full Suite bus seats.

The Full Suite bus is really more like a plane; with personal LCD screens, blankets, curtain dividers, seats that recline 180 degrees and a foot rest that comes right up - meaning a fully flat bed and an actual chance at a decent sleep. There was even a safety video at the start of the trip, much like a plane, where they announced that the toilet could be used for liquids only, no 'solids'. At first I thought I has misheard this (after all, what is one meant to do with one's solids? What if you really need to go?) but then they repeated it, just to be sure. No solids, not ever. We were also told not to take our shoes off, but I did anyway, and I didn't regret it for a second. (Who wants to sleep with their shoes on? I ask you!).

The Full Suite bus also meant an upgrade in terms of food. Usually on buses you get a ham sandwich (the ultimate combination of two Argentinian favourites: bread and ham). On our last bus we'd had a platter with about five different types of ham, followed by ricotta balls with chunks of ham. Needless to say it is hard to be vegetarian here. After my meat frenzy, which lasted about a month, I was really getting over it. I've been doing my best, but sometimes you just have to eat ham.

This time we received a cold plate, followed by a hot plate. The hot plate was a piece of beef, rolled up with cheese and ham, and served with mashed pumpkin and potato. The cold plate consisted of a bread roll, a piece of garlic bread with (spiced?) ham, a slice of ham with a slice of cheese, some cold rice with peas and carrots, a packet of breadsticks, a small savoury ham, egg and cheese pie; and the kicker: a slice of sponge roll, with a rolled-up piece of ham wedged in the middle. Honestly!

Nicola

Something sweet?

Colombia's obsession with sweet things is not doing me any favours. Ok it's my obsession with sweet things, and I'm not doing myself any favours by being in Colombia, Land of Delicious Sweet Things. Today it was sweet doughy bread filled with arequipe, a caramel sauce similar to dulce de leche. And a cinnamon roll. And half a Gol bar. The problem is there are so many sweet things available here, and I’m the kind of person who wants to try everything – so needless to say I’ve been eating a lot.

Arequipe, cinnamon rolls, tres leches cake, milk fudge, dark chocolate, gelato, peanut squares. They’re available everywhere. They’re even available on the public transport, which is something I initially found really odd. Buses are one of the best places to buy snacks. There are people who seem to make a living hopping on and off public transport and selling food to the passengers.

An example: a couple of days ago we took a bus to Guatapé, a cute Disney-esque lakeside town two hours from Medellín. On the two hour bus trip we had no less than eight different people hop on and off the bus peddling their wares.

It goes something like this. A man hops on the bus (it’s usually a man), wipes the sweat off his face with a hankerchief and introduces himself.

“Hello, good day, my name is Diego Estéban Ramirez". (Pause. Wipe brow). "Today, I have with me chocolate bars. These are imported chocolate bars, ladies and gentlemen, of excellent quality. I have two flavours - " He produces them with a flourish "Rollero and Golpe Black” (He proceeds to hand them out) “Here you go, here you go, here you go”. (We all sit there, having a moment with the chocolate bars. The first time this happened I thought, ‘Yay – free chocolate!’, but this is just so you can look at it). Diego Estéban Ramirez (or whoever he is) goes back along the bus collecting them up again. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is a very economical price today ladies and gentlemen, just a thousand pesos for both” (less than £1) “Two for you Sir? Thank you. And for you? Thank you”. Our host collects up any money and/or remaining chocolate bars, then hops off the bus.

They aren’t always that lengthy. Sometimes people just jump on and move quickly up the aisle, firing off their produce as they go: “agua-jugo-gaseosa” (‘water-juice-soft drink’) or “pan-mani-chuchirron” (‘bread-peanuts-pork crackling’) until somebody puts their hand out. Or not.

The curious part for me is that the buses actually pull over to pick these people up. Most commonly they’re selling dry breadsticks and round wafers, or bags of chip and pork crackling. Surely the buses could sell this stuff themselves, but no. It’s a surprise every time. On the way to Guatapé we were also treated to a fifteen minute presentation from a man trying to sell (pirated) children’s DVDs - but I’m only interested in the sweet things, of course.


Nicola