Argentinian Steak

A few thoughts about food - although my thought is pretty one-tracked as you will see. But start with first things first.

Breakfasts are included here. They consist of toast, some cake, maybe cookies, cheese and ham, a juice and tea. Enough to keep us going all day. The time till dinner is bridged with some Läckerli which by the way are great as they last long and taste good (at least for us), at times we have same crackers and on a hike we eat a tablet of chocolate. All from home! And of course water which is way better than in Bolivia as it is mountain water (Mendoza) like at home...
Then for dinner which in Argentina is earliest at 10pm (!) we really dig in. Almost without exception we have beef steaks. Yesterday was the meat highlight with fillet mignon at about 11 Swissies. The meat is great here. Worth the trip alone. Alternatives are limited, even the night we thought we would eat pasta, they didn't have any and the next cheapest option was beef (and good at that). I guess there are veggie side dishes. Chicken is the same price as beef as there are no chickens here - just sheep and cows. We had a platter of sheep as a starter one day, enjoyed it and returned to beef. We also had Salmon in the nation's capital of salmon (Camarones) which was good, but we returned to beef. So there is filete (mignon), (bife de) lomo (next best, without a trace of tendons or fat) then lomo de chorizo (still a great steak, but with a rim of fat). I suspect fish would be the next best alternative as these places along the Cordillera have lots of trout. But then we have that at home, too. And I don't feel like picking fish bones while I could just be licking my fingers from the tenderest meat one will encounter - and the good thing is that the cows were originally from home, too (Simmentaler).

At the beginning we were careful and ordered medium (a punto), but we are now at the bloody (jugoso, rojo, vuelta y vuelta or what ever they want to call it) stage. In most places they overcook it anyways, but no harm done. I think this meet is still tender when it is charcoal.
Both countries, Argentina and Chile, have good wines. So usually we have a bottle for dinner. Quite a challenge for me since after one glass I already feel quite happy, after half the bottle I am walking on clouds. The wines are very good and go well with meat (see above). The price for the gluttony is not a headache next morning but some restless nights with crazy dreams - one of them being: We enter the customs' office. However, it turns out it's in the sky and we are falling towards the ground. They take so long and it's only at the last second that we have the papers signed and passports stamped and we are allowed to pull the parachute... we're still here obviously.

Well, gotta go eat and you best believe it won't be chicken!