Paddle and Milanesa

Lenay woke me up today at noon. How wasteful of me to spend my time in Buenos Aires, yes I know. But you go out in this city on a friday night. I mean, people aren't even having dinner untill eleven at night! It's an early night if you go home anytime before four in the morning without your fernet.

She dragged me out of bed this morning because Manu was on his way over to the hostal with Pauli. They were bringing us to their athletic club in Tigre. Situated on the outskirts of Greater buenos Aires, Tigre is a a weekend getaway for many Argentinians. It hugs the Paraná delta, and canoes, rowing shells, and motorboats can be see plying the Río Lujan even this late into autumn.

Uriel and Alex (friends) were already in the car as Pauli's Peugot pulled up to the hostel. With the six of us crammed in the car, Pauli pulled onto the highway. For the last few days wildfires have been chokling Buenos Aires with smoke. It's been all over the news, Manu even tells me this has never happened before. It's like a polluted haze, and visibility is limited, though we're safe.

Twenty minutes later we drive into a hazy Tigre and find some lunch. The guys wanted to give us the typical experience, so while Lenay was munching on gnochhi, I tried my first true milanesa. It's more or less a breaded and fried beef stack, that they add to ham and provologne cheese. being one of Argentina's most well known dishes, I had some idea of what to expect. I dug in, but fifteen minutes later I was out, full. If you like fried food, and steak, you still may be in for a surprise.

After lunch we went to the athletic club. Closing early because of Passover, we were one of few groups at the club today. I saw tennis courts, softball fields, basket ball, ping pong, and even a weird bunch of pole baskets spread out over a hard court. The pool and waterslide were already closed for the season, but a few people were out on the river, rowing. I was thrilled to see rowing shells in the boat house, though we'd be playing something else today. I can tell that Manu was ithcing to get out on a kayak, being a former youth national kayaking champion.

I followed the group to the paddle courts. With the mechanics of tennis and the speed of raquetball, paddle is played on a short, walled hard court in teams of two. Instead of the webbed tennis raquet, a raquet sized wooden paddle is used. They look kind of like ping pong paddles, on growth hormones. I hadn't played before, but the guys were happy to include me in the game. It's easier to pick up than tennis (sorry Rach haha) and I had a great time playing it too.