Vacation continues to go well. I’m in Mendoza, Argentina, now and loving it. Wine, good food, and a really neat city. Unfortunately, I left my camera cable at home, so pictures will have to wait. But I should be here for another two days or so, before I cross the Andes.
Ciao
On vacation for the next two weeks or so. First stop: Cordoba, Argentina.
My landlady’s pig recently had a litter. This is her first - only two piglets, which is a little bit of a let down for the family. Pigs are expensive to raise, and for a sow to justify her boundless appetite, she needs to keep the family ankle deep in pint-sized porkers. But these two (a big male and a slightly runty female) are growing fast and should be ready for sale in a few weeks and the barbeque pit in a few months.
Although pigs will continue to put on weight until they get too massive to stand, the Paraguayan tradition is to roast them luau-style just as soon as they get big enough to feed everyone at your next party. Traditionally, there was never any good reason to grow them up to the bacon-producing boulder size that US butchers prefer. The power lines to Tacuatí are younger than I am by several years and the lights sometimes go out for freezer-liquifying days a time. So frozen meat hasn’t quite caught on out here. And this hot, swampy climate doesn’t lend itself well to curing and smoking processes. So for all that Paraguayans do love pork, you won’t meet very many connoisseurs of chops, ham, and bacon.
The Guaraní word of the day is kamby, meaning milk. These kure’i sure know their business, and that business is kamby.