Cultural Confusion - Swiss hangi in Argentina

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On the circuito chico yesterday we passed a sign to the colonial suiza. This is a small village that was established by swiss immigrants. We didn't stop at it yesterday because we wanted to visit on a Sunday. On a Sunday and on a Wednesday there is a market and food for sale that is cooked underground. This sounded very similar to a hangi in New Zealand and we were curious to see more.

Harriet was desperate for another long sleep in and so we left her in bed and went to mass at the cathedral. It was obviously all in Spanish, but there was a lovely atmosphere. We were pleased to see that there were lots of people attending and that they weren't all from the older generation. The cathedral itself was very beautiful and like many places in Argentina was decorated with Argentinian flags.

When we got back from the church service, we got Harriet out of bed and drove back past Cerro Campanario to the Colonial Suiza. We were nearly killed on the way by another driver. We were merrily tootling along the main road in the stream of traffic, when this car pulled out of a side road and would have fone straight intomus if Toby didnt veer off the road. We were all a bit shaken but not hurt and were soon laughing rather than upset.

It was a tough dirt road and a few kilometres off the main one until we got to the village. There were loads of cars parked and some pretty buildings along the road but the main hive of activity was at the market area. We walked down to it and immediately saw the queue for the curanto, the food cooked underground. We soon figured out the way to order which was very different for what we are used to at home. It was like at the chocolate shop. You order at the stall and then take the docket to the till. We had got there too late though and there were no more servings of curanto for sale.

There were lots of other stalls so we walked around until we saw something else that took our fancy. We chose a pie stall. Toby had trout, Fiona had cheese and onion and Harriet had a chicken empanada. We tried to buy a local beer, but they weren't selling it. We eventually worked out the barrel needed changing and that we could order later. So instead we opted for dessert - a huge piece of chocolate cake with lashings of dulce de leche and a piece of strudel. The beer was back on tap pretty soon. We tried the light and dark. Fiona only liked the light one but Toby liked the dark one too.

There were local handicrafts for sale on the other stalls including ponchos and lots of wooden items. We didn't want to buy any wooden articles as we don't want to have them taken away by Australian customs and the knitwear wasn't really our taste. We did however buy some rosa mosqueta oil. It is made from a the hip of a rose that grows in the Andes and has a multitude of uses especially for the skin. We will give it try and see if it's claims are truthful.

Back in Bariloche, Harriet wanted to try a restaurant that we had walked past nearly every day. There were a large number of Italian immigrants to Argentina, hence the popularity of ice cream. They also brought with them pasta and the restaurant had gnocchi on the menu or noquis as it is in Spanish. It wasn't far from the apartment and had reasonable reviews so we were happy to go there. The service was impeccable. For the first time in Argentina the waiter gave the menus to the girls first- a small gesture but one which we have come to expect at good restaurants and had been missing here. Harriet predictably ordered the gnocchi in a blue cheese sauce. Fiona had liked the trout in Toby's pie at lunch and so ordered trout and Toby had a venison goulash. The food was reasonable but didn't match the standard of the service.

There were chocolates and Catherine Tait to finish back at the apartment and we wanted an early night for a long drive to the black glacier tomorrow.

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Photos

Picnic time
- the beer stall in the background