Part II: Lag Esmeralda y el asado numero tres

Lagoon Esmeralda - Yesterday I went with the President of Rotoract (the young professionals/twenty-somethings arm of Rotary) and his friend and his friend's friends to a lagoon outside of Ushuaia. Gorgeous. The pictures below are from the trip. Departed at 7:30am from my house, drove 15 minutes or so outside of Ushuaia (on Route 3 if anyone is perusing a map right now), pulled over on the side of the road by a small wooden sign reading, "Lag Esmeralda", and dove into the woods. Not literally. That would hurt. It was forest, then marshland (like the peat bogs in northern Minnesota), then the lagoon - opaque aqua because of the chalky rocks (limestone?), then glacial spitup, then mountain, then glacier - the view - and back.

Returned in the afternoon after approx. 5 hours of walking and climbing and mucking through the mud. Our trekking party included zero other English speakers. All Spanish, all the time. Not only was my body exhausted but my mind as well. Both needed a little break. Nap time. As a side note: I love naps.

3 hour nap. No problem. Get up, shower, walk with my roommate (also from the US - Boston) to fetch the other student in the school (US - Washington DC) who is currently living with a Argentine family closer to the city center. We return later for the asado. (The grand evening of grilling.) It was "scheduled" for 8 or 9pm. We eat at 11pm. Things operate on a different schedule here. Again, per usual, it was meat. Chorizo (sausage), morcilla (blood sausage - black pudding in England), vaca (beef), cordero (lamb). Only four types of meat this time. Thankfully, Sergio, house papa and chef, also grilled eggplant. ¡Que rico! Food was great. The house, the yard, our clothes, everything smelled like asado. Actually, during the evening, on the weekend, if the weather is anything close to clear, the whole city smells of grill, of cut up grass-fed cow sizzling on the grates, over the charcoals, mouths water and it mixes with the red wine.

The company at our asados is always entertaining. This time, Anni, the daughter of Olga - The Olga who used to live here, who was supposed to be my family here, who is now hanging out in Buenos Aires - an endless spring of Argentine energy, and Anni's friends, a couple in their 40s, friendly/crazy/spirited - in other words, the norm - have joined. That makes seven in total. The spread includes: rice, potatoes, salad (always lettuce and tomatoes, sometimes with olive oil and vinegar), bread, wine and the meat. Talking, laughing, eating, enjoying.