BOTTOM LINE:
All day outing to Lake Steffen
NOTEWORTHY:
BACK STORY:
It seemed like a very short night and before we knew it our alarms were going off.
After showering, grabbing a little breakfast and packing up, we headed to the reception area to meet up with our tour group at 8am. We were heading out to spend an entire day at Lake Steffen.
Lake Steffen was located south west of our resort. We positioned our vehicles in tight formation so no one would get lost along the way...especially the "Gringos!"
Our first order of business once we left the resort was to stop at the "Supermercado" or super market to buy all of the food and beverages that would be needed by our group. Once the purchase was made the price was divided by the number of participants and that's what everyone owed.
We then took off from the market the road was paved but quickly turned into an unpaved road, which turned back into a paved highway and the final 20 miles of the 76 mile trek was a dirt road. Any hope of keeping a clean rental car in Argentina is an absurd dream!
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| typical road in Argentina |
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| Lake Steffen & Lake Martin |
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| Our picnic caravan |
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| our resort leaders |
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| fire heated water for park |
There are no picnic tables as we know them. There are posts of different heights around the park which are used to support slabs of wood that people are obliged to go get from the camp office along with cooking grates for the BBQ wood fires...no briquets or BBQ's.
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| Picnic food prep area |
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| lake side view |
The group was heading out for a hike to a water fall. Bruce was busy rigging up his fishing line to try his luck. I decided to stay back and help the chef with his lunch preparations while learning any tips from his trade!
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| The "chefs" Barb and "Kenji" (from BA, lived in NZ 8 mos.) |
When I offered my help he immediately said that I should go relax and enjoy myself. I insisted that helping would be enjoyable...so he put me to work making a traditional Argentina salad of red peppers, onions and tomatoes chopped with salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. I asked for a knife and he handed me a little serrated steak knife. I then asked where I could wash the vegetables? He pointed to the lake and said, "we wash them in the lake water." Where he pointed was where I had seen a cow just minutes before and I am thinking to myself...no way in heck! So, I called out to Bruce who was up at our car and asked if he would bring down the big gallon of water that was in the trunk.
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| water to be used for cooking!?? |
After washing the veggies, I started chopping and talking with the chef...who was 22 years old! We had a great exchange of conversation and laughter and by the time the group had returned appetizers were ready and the meat was cooking. The traditional picnic was various cuts of meat seasoned and BBQ'd. The meat was placed on a split roll and the salad that I made is used with the meat. It's a very nice complement. The steak was most popular however the blood sausage or "black pudding" as they call it came in as the second favorite! I am always open to trying new things, but I couldn't even begin to move towards a bite of the sausage.
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| traditional "black pudding" or blood sausage |
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| picnic enjoyment with new friends |
Beverages throughout the day included wines, beer, water, juices, coke with a hard liquor of some kind that is very bitter to the taste. The traditional Mate' hot drink was sipped throughout the day. I asked one of the few English speaking women to explain to me what the drink was all about.
Mate' is ground leaf/stems from a plant and resembles tea. Hollowed out and "cured" small gourds are used as cups for drinking the beverage. The gourds because of their imperfect shape are typically wrapped in an outer leather cup trimmed with metal and either stand alone or are placed in a metal wire stand for stabilizing. A metal straw that has a filter on the bottom end is used to suck the drink. The method for preparing the drinking has some very strict steps that must be adhered to or it isn't considered good mate'. Water is never boiled when making the beverage. Sugar may or may not be used. Whenever mate is being consumed it is a sign to all other people (whether friend or stranger) to come enjoy a sip and conversation. It is a social drink to be shared. YES, that's right...everyone sucks off of the same metal straw, whether you know the person or not!
After lunch the group went to the beach to swim or relax for a couple of hours. Snacks were shared upon their return and volleyball followed. Bruce and I headed home about 8pm wanting to maneuver the unpaved roads in daylight. The scenery at dusk was just as spectacular as it was in the morning.
It was indeed a glorious day. One of the reasons that it was so enjoyable was because of the people who were willing to practice their English with us and attempted to translate and include us in on what was happening. We felt like part of the group and for that we were thankful. Traveling in a foreign country where few people know English can be challenging and isolating. I can understand more than I can speak. Bruce does amazingly well with his Spanish...so I don't get too far away from him!
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| leaving the lakes |
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| heading back to the resort at sunset |
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