Asado does not mean Barbecue

Asado is considered to be the traditional dish of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil. I had heard about it and read about it but I had not experienced one. On one of my last days in Baradero I heard we were going to be having an asado for lunch. I asked Agustin if this was the Argentine barbecue that I'd heard about. He agreed that it was somewhat like a barbecue but advised that it was best not to compare it to a barbecue as some Argentines may take offense to this!


So what is an Asado? There appears to be a cut of beef that is called asado but it is also a way of cooking and is somewhat like a barbecue but after seeing the amount of work and effort that goes into preparing an asado I can see why people may get offended when someone says "oh its a barbecue".


Preparations for the asado started early on Sunday morning. A wood fire was started and constantly topped up with firewood as the morning progressed. Close by a small pit was prepared and a grill was setup. The grill appeared to be an old metal frame from a bed but I maybe wrong on that!

Preparing the asado

The meat was not marniated just well seasoned with salt. There were lots of different cuts of meat (all beef) and also some chorizo like that used in choripan. I got a picture of the last few cuts of beef before they went on the asado.

Beef for the asado

The cooking process lasted for 3 or 4 hours. New coals were taken from the fire and placed under the grill as required whilte the meat slowly cooked.

Asado coals and the asado grill

There was always someone tending to the asado ensuring the temperature was correct and everything was in order. The result was some really tender, juicy steak.

beef cooking over the coals

More beef!

Almost ready!

Tables and chairs were moved out to the garden and about 25 of us had a lunch that lasted about 3 hours! I never got a photo of this :(

Almost Famous in Argentina

One of the last tasks I did in Baradero was to paint their logo on a big tank. Daniel knew I liked sketched so he asked if I’d like to do it. It was challenging due to the size and height of the tank. Normally I sketch on paper so sketching on the side of a tank while on top of a ladder was quite different. Once I was happy with the sketch I painted the design in white.

Work in Progress

The end piece worked out quite well and is visible from almost everywhere on the site. In hindsight it probably would have been much easier to have sketched the design on paper and created a stencil to paint the design on the tank.

Swimming pool and sports grounds with Logo visible in background

After a week I left Baradero returned to Buenos Aires, moved into my apartment and started Spanish school. My intention was to return to Baradero for their official opening which was a weekend a few weeks later. I went to the bus station after Spanish class on the Friday to get a bus ticket but they were all sold out. Baradero isn’t a popular tourist destination, actually I should say it isn’t a tourist destination so this was surprising. Turns out the weekend in question was a long weekend in Argentina so the same as in Ireland everyone goes away from the long weekend. All buses for Friday and Saturday were booked out so the earliest I could get was Sunday morning. I’d miss half of the party but seeing as it was a long weekend it wasn’t too bad. When I got to Baradero I saw their invite/flyer for their opening party. I am now famous in Baradero.

Almost Famous

One week volunteering in Argentina

I spent a week in Baradero, working on a range of different tasks each day. They are very flexible in relation to what work you do. You don’t have to do anything you don't want to do and if there was something you interested in then you can ask to work at that.

Some days I was working in the vegetable garden and feeding the animals, another day I cleaned out a room, helped lay carpet and assemble the gym equipment. The room is now the gym! Another two days were spent digging a trench around the swimming pool and another day I helped with some tree’s that needed to be cut down.

Emptying the trailer!

Feeding the Chanchos (pigs)

My time in Baradero was a great introduction to the way of life in Argentina. I was introduced to Mate (This deserves a blog post of its own), how people greet each other (again maybe a blog post in itself), food and meal times.

From the time I had spent in Buenos Aires I knew it was common for people to have dinner late at night. For example many restaurants are full of people eating dinner at 12am in Buenos Aires. Breakfast isn’t really a meal in Argentina, well not like it is in Ireland. Generally people will have a drink such as tea, coffee or mate and maybe a pastry. Lunch is usually around midday and in Baradero was a large meal. Then around 5 or 6pm people generally have an afternoon snack (biscuits or pastries) again accompanied by tea, coffee or mate. And finally dinner is normally around 9pm or later and it is a big meal.

Getting to Baradero and la comunidad

I heard about a project to build a sustainable community (Comunidad Hogar German Frers) on couchsurfing. I arranged with one of the project founders to go and help them out for a few days. The project is in a place called Baradero which is about two hours from Buenos Aires.


I decided to take the train and got to the train station about 45 minutes before the train was due to leave. There were a few different train stations all beside each other, after trying a few I eventually found the correct one and found the correct counter to buy the ticket I needed. But they would not sell me a ticket, I know the Spanish for why so I said that, it was a bit pointless as I still don't know any Spanish so I didn't understand his reason. I concluded it was full as there is only one train per day.


The bus station was nearby so I went there and got a ticket. I had an hour to wait before the bus so I found the correct platform and decided I'd wait there listening to my iPod. 3:00pm, 3:15pm, 3:30pm and still no bus. I knew the final destination of the bus and it was never displayed on the list of departures. Eventually I asked someone if they spoke English (I know this much in Spanish) and they said 'un poco' which is a little. So I showed them my ticket and they said bus not arrived yet. So I waited and eventually at 3:45pm the bus appeared on the departures monitor and soon afterwards it arrived.


2 hours later I was in Baradero. I tried calling the guys who I'd been talking to on email to get them to collect me but I couldn't get in touch with them. So I got a taxi, luckily I was prepared for this and know how to say my destination in Spanish. Baradero is quite a small town and after driving for about 2 minutes the road disappeared and we were driving on a dirt track, eventually we came to a junction with a main road.

Here I saw the sign for la comunidad. I paid the taxi driver, got my luggage and was greeted in Spanish by lots of people. The guys who I'd been talking to that spoke English were away and not due back for another hour. Next week I'm going to start learning Spanish.

Choripán in Buenos Aires

Choripán is an Argentinean sandwich made with chorizo and bread (the spanish for bread is pan).

Choripán

You get a choice of pork or beef. They cost about a euro and are sold by street vendors throughout the city.

Parrilla on the street

Arriving in Buenos Aires sin equipaje

Our plane stopped in Sao Paulo to refuel, some people got off, some new people got on. This took about an hour then we had a 3 hour flight to Bueno Aires. About 1 hour before landing in Buenos Aires the flight attendant came down and asked if I was David. I said yes and he said that I had to contact the ground staff when we landed. He didn't say anymore and he didn't give me the opportunity to ask more. I had no idea what it was about so I figured I'd find Seamus and see if they had said the same to him. On my way to find Seamus the guy we had met earlier from Buenos Aires saw me and decided to join us also. Turns out all 3 of us had been told the same thing. When we were running the get the connecting flight we never considered our luggage. It was probably still being unloaded from the plane when we were taking off.

Our Plane after landing in Buenos Aires

Once we landed in BA we got talking to the British Airways ground staff. They were very helpful, took our contact details and the name of the hostel and said that our luggage would arrive the following day. They also gave us £35 each on a prepaid debit card so we'd have money to buy whatever we needed until our luggage arrived.


Unlike a lot of airports the taxi setup in Buenos Aires is quite good. There is an official taxi desk where you tell them where you want to go and you pay in advance. 45 minutes later we were outside our hostel. The taxi driver thought it a bit strange that we had no luggage as did the hostel staff. My luggage was delivered to the hostel the next day. Seamus was not so lucky, they had some problem finding his so it took a few more days before it arrived.

I need to learn Spanish.

Our flight from Dublin to London was delayed by over an hour, then when we got to Heathrow we had to wait 20 minutes for a landing slot. Once we were off the plane we had less than an hour to get to Terminal 5 for our connecting flight. I knew Heathrow was big but I didn't realise it was this big. We were told it was going to be tight to make our flight and that we would have to run. So we ran through a maze of corridors, duty free shops and escalators until we reached the bus to terminal 5. This bus took over 10 minutes then more escalators and corridors and security checks. We met a guy from Buenos Aires somewhere along the way who was running for the same flight. Finally terminal 5 except we now needed to take a train to get to the building where our boarding gate was located. There were lots of people in the same situation as us, some made their flights some didn't make it too the security checks as they were told they would never make it in time.

We made our flight. I found my seat and sat down. The two passengers either side of me spoke to me in Spanish. Then the flight attendant said something to me in Spanish.

I need to learn Spanish.

Busses, Planes, Trains and a Ferry

I'm home after 2 long bus journeys, two flights, numerous train journeys, a Stenaline ferry that had "technical difficulties" and finally an Irish ferries ferry that got me to Dublin.


I took the maglev train to the airport in Shanghai. The Maglev Train is high speed magnetic levitation train. It has a maximum normal operation speed of 431 kmh (268 mph). The maximum speed varies depending on the time of day. The photo below shows a sign that illustrates the train times and maximum speeds throughout the day.

Shanghai Maglev Train speeds

Shanghai Maglev

I took the train during one of the "slow" times so we only traveling at 301kmh.

301 kmh on the Maglev

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Squat Toilets in China

During my first month in China I had complained or commented on the toilets to friends. Well not just me the other westerners that I was traveling with did similar. All of the hostels I stayed in had western toilets but in shopping centers, restaurants, bus stations, train stations and even on trains you encounter squat toilets. At the time some Chinese friends said that these toilets are fine, wait until you get to Yunnan.

2 months later I am in Yunnan and taking an 8 hour bus journey from Dali to Shangri-la. 4 hours into the journey the bus stops at a restaurant for food and a toilet break. Squad toilets is to be expected they are the standard all over Asia but normally they have walls and doors surrounding them. Not the case when you leave the major cities in China.

Chinese toilets

Squat toilet in China

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Smoke, ganja, ganja, smoke?

A common problem you have to contend with when traveling is touts trying to sell you stuff such as drugs, hotel rooms, taxis or asking to take you to their "friends" shop or to a market. In Asia most of these touts seem to assume that every western tourist wants to buy drugs and as a result when you are in the main tourist areas you are constantly harassed by them.


In Shanghai when walking down the main tourist shopping street guys will walk along side you whispering "marijuana, cocaine". In Thailand things are a little different due to their strict approach to drug dealing and drug possession. Drugs are still offered to tourists but those offering them are quite discrete. Next you have Cambodia where restaurants will have "happy" items on the menu, for example you can order a regular pizza or a "happy" pizza. Marijuana is illegal in Cambodia yet it is sold in many restaurants and bars. The owners pay bribes to the local police and they are left alone.
Vietnam is a little more discrete than Cambodia but yet the moto taxi drivers ask if you want a taxi when you refuse their next question is if you want Marijuana. Malaysia is a little different, when you arrive in the airport you see a big sign saying "Drug possession is punishable by death".


Finally Dali in the Yunnan province in China is different, you are regularly offered drugs but they are far from your stereotypical drug dealer. When you walk around the old town you are constantly approached by elderly ladies who say "Smoke, ganja, ganja, smoke?". They are quite aggressive, they will follow you down the street repeating it over and over again and they do this everytime they see you. I was in Dali for almost two weeks and it was took until the second week for them to recognise me and to realise that I wasn't interested. I was not brave enough to take a picture of them when they were following me but I got a photo of them walking away.

Not your typical drug dealer