Meet Mario

Dan: Dear Readers, I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Mario. My employer’s 12-year old son just got a new guitar and so was looking for a buyer for his old one. He told me that he gave it the name Maria, but honestly this guitar looks more like a dude. It isn’t a delicate instrument. It is a beat up oldtimer with a few buzzy frets, not unlike me. Here is a picture of Mario relaxing out on the patio.

On Monday we’ll move to new apartment, about 4 blocks from the old one. It’s maybe not as cute, clean or new, but it is cheaper and closer to work and school. But it’s not a bad place. Most importantly, as far as we know, it won’t have nearby construction making peace and/or quiet impossible each morning and afternoon. More about the new pad later.

It’s Holy Week of course, so many places are closed Thursday and Friday. On the other hand, people from Chile and other parts of Argentina are coming to Mendoza to vacation, so the hotels and restaurants are still hopping. The other night, out of curiosity, we stopped into the Park Hyatt, the fanciest hotel in town, to check out their casino. We’ve lived two blocks from a casino for the last month but hadn’t peeked in yet. Once we passed through the metal detector, it looked like pretty much like every casino you’ve ever been to in your life. Lots of smoke, serious faces and the gentle ding ding ding in the key of C.

Today we went with our yanqui friends Ben and Aya to Lou´s teacher´s house for a nice little asado (BBQ). Enrique has a grill on his rooftop. We ate many parts of cow. I´m not sure how to describe it any better than that. Hopefully someday when I´m more knowledgeable I´ll be able to dedicate an entire entry to beef, because it is certainly the national dish. For now I don´t feel qualified to do it justice.

Food: The shop across the street from where we live now is a carryout joint. It is open around lunch time, then again in the evening. They’ve got a couple glass cases full of Argentine comfort food. They’ve usually got 4 or 5 kinds of empanadas (beef, cheese, veggie, corn, ham), a few kinds of milanesas (breaded beef, chicken, fish or soy), corn pies, ¼ chicken dinners, fritatas, pastas and various hot dishes. You take a number, pick out what you want, maybe ask them to nuke it for you. It’s convenient, especially being right across the street, and fairly cheap. I, for one, prefer it to the U.S. version of fast food. I lament that in moving to another neighborhood next week, I probably won’t get to try everything on the menu.