santiagueños
time flew in argentina, i was there for 18 days but it felt more like 3. what did i do?
santiagueños, people living in santiago del estero in the north of argentina, are known for sleeping all day and going out all night and boy is it true! its so hot there during the day (summer time well over 100) that no one can stand going outside so everyone sleep or chills in the house from 1-5 in the afternoon, nothing is open and the streets are empty. lunch, the biggest meal of the day happens at about 130. merienda is like a small breakfast with bread, sweets, and tea or café con leche and happens about 5 or 530. Then there´s la cena, or dinner, and it happens about 11 pm and normallay consists of a tasty sandwhich. argentina has excellent meats and almost every meal was rich and tasty for me, a meat lover. thats about the daily schedule and for those who don´t work or have school early in the morning it is very easy to sleep in til noon on a daily basis, and thats pretty much what i did...thing is it is quite difficult to eat a massive lunch 5 minutes after waking up. but i wasn´t the only one who slept in half the day, ceci and ines also did because their university classes didn´t ever start before 6 pm!!!
so i met a group of high school kids who played basketball with me several times. it wasnt great competition but it was a blast! they were great kids, asking me all kinds of questions about the US and offering every nuance about their own country and city. i ended up going to 3 professional basketball games, the team Quimsa, which were all a blast and all victories! It is true that argentinians take their futbol quite seriously...but it is also true tha basketball is without a doubt the second most popular sport and well supported. Their were approximately 3,000 screaming and chanting fans in attendence and the game reminded a lot of college basketball with respect to the fans, the concessions (just a table with some people making food behind it), and the skill level. Though the skill level is definitely higher than our college basketball i wouldn´t say its much higher than say final four ball. The best players on the teams were almost always african-american players from the US. They were definitely not head and shoulder above their teammates, but it was obvious who was the go to man in key situations...As for my own basketball play...let´s just say im a bit rusty. one afternoon i went to the park with my young friends and their was a group of older men who ran us off the court so they could play full-court 10 v 10, except they were only 9...so i filled in. i was already mad at their behavior, and on top of that i was arrogantly thinking i would likely dominate the game. well, i played ok but i definitely did not dominate... it was fun though.
what else? i met some friends at a local ping-pong club, where i met some stiff competition and others who were easily whomped. in one stretch of three consecutive nights i stayed out until 815, 730, and 630 respectively. i got a bit tanner, every day i laid out in the sun while the rest of the world slept the night off. i met quite a few beautiful girls, mostly friends of cecilia and her boyfriend benjamin. i enjoyed immensely the warm hospitality of cecilia´s family, their generosity and friendships. i especially enjoyed getting so much closer to cecilia, we talked a ton every day about everything under the sun, but mostly her relationship issues. i truly can´t wait to see her again!!!
well, im in asunción paraguay now, the trip (as always in latin american) had quite a few of unexpected surprises which i will write about next...thats it about argentina, what a wonderful place!
love
santiagueños, people living in santiago del estero in the north of argentina, are known for sleeping all day and going out all night and boy is it true! its so hot there during the day (summer time well over 100) that no one can stand going outside so everyone sleep or chills in the house from 1-5 in the afternoon, nothing is open and the streets are empty. lunch, the biggest meal of the day happens at about 130. merienda is like a small breakfast with bread, sweets, and tea or café con leche and happens about 5 or 530. Then there´s la cena, or dinner, and it happens about 11 pm and normallay consists of a tasty sandwhich. argentina has excellent meats and almost every meal was rich and tasty for me, a meat lover. thats about the daily schedule and for those who don´t work or have school early in the morning it is very easy to sleep in til noon on a daily basis, and thats pretty much what i did...thing is it is quite difficult to eat a massive lunch 5 minutes after waking up. but i wasn´t the only one who slept in half the day, ceci and ines also did because their university classes didn´t ever start before 6 pm!!!
so i met a group of high school kids who played basketball with me several times. it wasnt great competition but it was a blast! they were great kids, asking me all kinds of questions about the US and offering every nuance about their own country and city. i ended up going to 3 professional basketball games, the team Quimsa, which were all a blast and all victories! It is true that argentinians take their futbol quite seriously...but it is also true tha basketball is without a doubt the second most popular sport and well supported. Their were approximately 3,000 screaming and chanting fans in attendence and the game reminded a lot of college basketball with respect to the fans, the concessions (just a table with some people making food behind it), and the skill level. Though the skill level is definitely higher than our college basketball i wouldn´t say its much higher than say final four ball. The best players on the teams were almost always african-american players from the US. They were definitely not head and shoulder above their teammates, but it was obvious who was the go to man in key situations...As for my own basketball play...let´s just say im a bit rusty. one afternoon i went to the park with my young friends and their was a group of older men who ran us off the court so they could play full-court 10 v 10, except they were only 9...so i filled in. i was already mad at their behavior, and on top of that i was arrogantly thinking i would likely dominate the game. well, i played ok but i definitely did not dominate... it was fun though.
what else? i met some friends at a local ping-pong club, where i met some stiff competition and others who were easily whomped. in one stretch of three consecutive nights i stayed out until 815, 730, and 630 respectively. i got a bit tanner, every day i laid out in the sun while the rest of the world slept the night off. i met quite a few beautiful girls, mostly friends of cecilia and her boyfriend benjamin. i enjoyed immensely the warm hospitality of cecilia´s family, their generosity and friendships. i especially enjoyed getting so much closer to cecilia, we talked a ton every day about everything under the sun, but mostly her relationship issues. i truly can´t wait to see her again!!!
well, im in asunción paraguay now, the trip (as always in latin american) had quite a few of unexpected surprises which i will write about next...thats it about argentina, what a wonderful place!
love
posted by dk at 9:34 PM
1 Comments:
did anyone make that apple dessert while you were staying with ceci's family. that stuff is delicious.
ceci, if you read the blog, post the apple dessert recipe you used to bring to dan in athens.
Post a Comment
<< Home