Christmas in Northern Argentina

Christmas celebrations here are on the night of the 24th, and just as in Australia, is spent with family, presents, lots of food and drinks, and the continual effort to seek refuge from the oppressive heat and humidity. But after midnight it is totally different as all the "youngies" leave the family house and head out to massive parties or nightclubs to celebrate with friends. From midnight to 5 or 6am (maybe later) the streets, pubs, clubs etc are buzzing with the sounds of frenetic youth partying - kind of like New Years back home. Pretty crazy. Then there is the firecrackers and fireworks that can start to be heard in the afternoon of the 24th (the first one scared the sh@t outta me as I happened to be plugging in the christmas lights at the time!), then it gradually increases to Baghdad-like warfare in the streets for the entire night.


We had a big dinner with Marcela's family and also some visitors from Denmark (Marcela's host family from when she went on exchange there as a 17 year old were visiting for 2 weeks). Unfortunately the goat stayed in the freezer to be saved for another occasion, but we cooked a whole lamb instead (it was slow cooked in the local bakers oven in the afternoon then finished off on the open flame brick bbq by Marcela's old man). After dinner, drinks, presents and then a few parties we got home about 5am and just spent the 25th recovering and relaxing in the local pool - the perfect recovery and refuge from the northern Argentine heat.

The key to a successful asado (bbq) is totally dependent on the fire - you have to have steady, even heat for the many hours it takes to slow cook the meat. To achieve this, the fire is started in the afternoon to warm the coals up. When the coals are white-hot they are ready to be evenly placed under the grill, but the fire is kept going on the side in order to prepare more coals for later.

Quique tests the warmness above the grill (which is expertly placed on some broken bricks).

Many hours later and Quique is still labouring away over the grill. The lamb in the foreground was already started in the oven of the bakery, and is about to be finished off on the grill.

This is one of the more interesting firework type things for the Christmas/New Year celebrations - its a mini hot air balloon made of very thin paper. When successfully lit at the bottom it can fly away to great heights - and to the great amusement of the many (drunk) people who send them on their way.

This is a popular drink in the hot climes of Northern Argentina - its called tereré and is the cold equivalent of the most popular hot drink here - maté (a herbal tea drunk through a metal straw in a communal cup that gets passed around amongst friends). Tereré has the same communal cup of herbs as maté (but is usually just in a glass and not a specific maté gourd), but has ice cubes and is filled with cold fruit juice instead of scalding hot water for maté. Very nice and refreshing.