Full stomachs lead to the loss of heat

After playing a fantastic tour guide on Friday, Fernando had a meeting with the volunteers on Saturday, so Tyrone and I were on our own.  We had been salivating over the idea of the galetos since seeing them, so we went for lunch at a local spot on the plaza that Fer had recommended.  We walked in and were greeted by an elderly gentleman who gave both of us kisses on the cheek.  At first, I thought, “Wow!  Posadas really is a warm and friendly town; the restaurant host greets even its tourist guests as if they were regulars!”…until I realized that we brought the age of the diners down about 50 years.  I let the host know that we were there just to eat and that we weren’t part of the “private” party (that took up about 80% of the restaurant).  He quickly apologized and directed us to the main host.  The food was delectable!!  The galeto is chicken stuffed with tomatoes, peppers and pancetta and roasted on the spit then sprinkled with freshly grated cheese.

galeto

Tyrone

 

local musician

sunny plaza

sunny coastline

After taking advantage of a sunny afternoon and re-tracing our steps from the cloudy day before, we hopped on a local bus to the main bus station.  Tyrone made “friends” with a crazy man on the way.  He started to rub Tyrone’s hair and removed his sunglasses, asking him “Why are you covering such beautiful eyes?” in Spanish.  It was definitely an uncomfortable situation.  Later, a man boarded the bus with freshly baked bread in a large woven basket.  The crazy man asked him if he could buy a roll and the breadmaker set up shop right there on the bus – he opened his tray, placed the basket on it and fetched a piece of bread out of the large cloth that was covering it.  Definitely not something we see frequently on the crowded colectivos (buses) of Buenos Aires.

At the bus station, we bought tickets to go to San Ignacio, a small town outside of Posadas with some of the best preserved Jesuit missions in Argentina.  Posadas and Iguazú are in the province of Misiones – a large area where Jesuit missions were carried out to “educate” the local Guaraní indigenous population.  The mission in San Ignacio was founded in 1610.

church of San Ignacio

visitor center of the Mission

 

the Missions

 

 

The bus ride back to Posadas was a cultural experience, as we took a smaller local bus and got to watch Latino music videos the whole way!

Fernando and his family cooked up a feast for us – it was like Thanksgiving dinner!!  Not only for the quantity of food, but the family and friends that came to eat with us – Fernando and his two brothers live at home, and his brothers were both joined by their girlfriends and his older brother’s son, plus two family friends.

I absolutely loved the fact that this was a normal Saturday night dinner!  After fully stuffing ourselves, Tyrone and I went back to the bus station at 12:30 am to wait for our bus to Iguazú…and we waited…and waited…and it finally came at 2:00 am, half an hour late.  The evenings had definitely started to get chilly, and neither of us was completely prepared to stand outside in it for an hour and a half.  But at least the bus would be warm…or so we thought.  Here’s my one negative publicity: if you can help it, do not take the bus company, Río Uruguay!  The semi-cama seats that were supposed to be 140 degree recline were about 80 degrees and the temperature inside the bus was about 10 degrees warmer than outside and worse when the door would be left open for 10 minutes at every stop that we made.