In the middle of Melincué is a lagoon. Lagoon might not be the right term for it - it is actually a huge lake - and in the middle of the lagoon is an old hotel. In its heyday it was a hugely popular destination, everyone swam there, popular singers and groups performed there - it must have been a great place to go. However, thirty years or so ago, the lake flooded, completely engulfing the hotel as well as parts of the town. By the time the floodwaters receded years later, the hotel was gone.
It is about a 20 minute walk out to the hotel. The weather was warm but fairly blustery, so by the time we got back to the car we were quite hungry, so we dropped in to Esther's for lunch.
Esther's is a local haunt that does a very nice cannelloni with a cheesy tomato sauce. The cannelloni is actually a sort of pancake and the filling is very tasty and light. You get a fried (meat) empanada for starters which is really tasty too, filled with meat and carmelized onions and a few raisins. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a shot of the cannelloni, but the ravioli depicted here are somewhat similar, though having tried both the cannelloni are the ones to go for. It also comes with a small plate of meat, just in case you haven't had enough meat for the day.
I am discovering more about Argentine cuisine. They certainly like their meat. I have not seen a lot of vegetables though, but salads make an appearance quite frequently. The desserts are all very heavy and creamy and fattening, and of course wine is ever present. To be honest, without really researching it in any way, I had assumed it would be a sort of vibrant, lively mix of European (Spanish) and Mexican but is turns out to be quite a conservative cuisine. The most challenging flavour is the chimichurri sauce and even that is, well, a little bland. You see evidence of this conservatism in the supermarkets, which show quite a lack of variety. Coriander, for example, the world's most dominant herb that grows practically everywhere, is hard to find. Now, I have not been to a great variety of restaurants, but what I have been eating is pretty standard everyday food.
After lunch, we wandered round the town a bit. The centre is not huge, maybe a few square blocks, with a gas station, a couple of bars, a few shops, a bank, a post office, and a kiosco which is a sort of local general store. Add in a jail and the police station and that is about it. None of the buildings are above two stories high.
This is something I see everywhere. There are very few actual corners to buildings here. Instead they slice it off at a 45 degree angle and have a door there. Nice use of space!
We ended up down at the old disused railway station. The trains don't run through Melincué any more, though the big grain silos down by the station are still operational, and they are the only signs as to how money is made here.
This is the women's restroom (I presume). I peered in through the window which seemed slightly less dusty than the others, and saw there was someone actually living there.
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Around nine, we started to think about dinner. The hotel Ruca Malén offers a parrillada, which is a sort of non-stop parrilla. This weighs in at P 80 per head, including wine/beer/soft drinks. The house wine was a bit rough so we chipped in an extra P 10 each for a more decent brew.
First out was the filambres which is a cold cuts and cheese plate, then a selection of sweetbreads - namely some liver, some tripe, as well as the ever-present chorizo and morcilla. [Interesting note here, in Argentine Spanish the 'll' is pronounced 'sh' ... so it is 'morcissha' or 'parrisha']. Next up was a plate of fries and a mixed salad - a 'mixto' - that is a very typical salad of lettuce, tomato and raw onions, followed by the next item on the parrillada: the vacio - two big chunks. After that, we were pretty full, so we grabbed a couple of coffees, finished our wines and wandered out.
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Rather full, we walked up into town to one of the two bars. One is a very clean, almost upmarket bar. The other is a typical spit-and-sawdust bar. Naturally, that was the one we went in to.
They were just in the middle of setting up for the band, whose name I didn't get but turned out to be a heavy metal band. The band were just a three piece: drums, bass and guitar, with a vocalist. No one really made any effort to dress up, so they just looked like guys from the bar. Their set was supposed to start at 1 am, so we hung around through their soundcheck when they ran a couple of numbers.
Satisfied that we didn't really want to sit around for the actual gig, we chatted with our table of guys, one of whom turned out to be the mayor and told us how, because the election was tied, they tossed a coin and he won. How many times do you sit in a seedy bar at 1 am drinking with the mayor? Not often I bet.
We decided to head back to the hotel, but instead dropped into the other bar for a nightcap, after which we really definitely positively decided to go back to the hotel. However, I remembered we had still to visit the casino, and it being only ten minutes' walk, it seeemed a good idea.
The casino was just absolutley packed. I have no idea where they all came from, though I assume they are the kind of people who used to come for the hotel and lagoon fun. we stayed long enough to find one slot machine free, so I played P 50 and won $ 0.30. We wanderered back to the hotel - finally - where I slept till 8:30 so I could get up in time to follow the football on the bbc site in my phone. Just text updates, but well worth it!
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Note: Sorry for any typos but blogging on the ipad is just horrible. This site, hosted by blogger.com is a nightmare to use. I can no longer upload photos direct, but I have to go through the stupid Google+ or use their "Instant Upload" feature. What if I don't want everything uploaded instantly? Ever thought about that?
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