Asado Summer

Like the word barbecue, asado means both meat and the act of grilling it, which usually becomes an all-out party. Back in Buenos Aires there were no less than 3 asados in the first 3 days of my return, all with meat as lovely as the friends who grilled it. It's good to be home.


Caught up with an old friend from elementary school in LA, Bret, who happened to have been living here the past couple of years working in South American investments. Facebook got us together for lunches and comparing notes on Argentina. Nate, of Alternative Latin Investor, helped me say goodbye to him at the Evita Museum cafe the other day.

Dick El Demasiado y Los Exagerados (peep the translation!) played at the Hotel Bauen and I went with good friends for good times. The Hotel was taken over by its employees after the peso crash and runs as a collective to this day, a real commie hotel (doesn't sound that glamorous does it?). There I met an Italian Spaniard from Texas who lives in Belgium and was traveling north to Bolivia. And I decided to go with him to Cordoba to the folklore festival. Which was amazing.








The festival included legendary performers of traditional and contemporary song and dance. But the after-hours parties were the best, local peñas where bands played and everyone danced the chacarera, zamba, vidala, all these cool dances that everyone knew and loved and it was anything but old and stodgy, Cosquin made folk music cool and, well, sexy.





After a lot of great music, we got to explore the local watering hole and river shore scene. Cows and horses grazed freely and so did all ages of locals from families to couples and old folks. My multilingual friend and I were the only foreigners and we enjoyed waterfalls and rocky treks. I biked my way around after loading up on steak sandwich for a picnic, he wasn't as gluttonous in the heat but I needed ammo for all that trekking about.

In the evening, there were concerts at balnearios along the river. I caught a couple of great shows before heading to the bus back to BA.