Posadas: seafood, guitars and great company!

Before going to Iguazú, we stopped for two days in my friend, Fernando’s hometown, Posadas.  He was waiting for us at the bus station as we arrived.  We went to our hostel in the middle of town…and we definitely realized that we were in a town.  There was a very nice plaza around which everything was centered – but outside of the plaza, it turned residential.

Fernando and Tyrone in plaza

 

 

We entered our hostel that looked like it was straight out of the Mary Tyler Moore Show: large clunky furniture with stone and chrome accents.  We went to our room and relaxed for a while.  Later in the morning, we went for a little tour around the center, where Fer ran into a few people that he new (just to prove the point of how small it was), including a law professor of his who was a judge until he was recently caught for tapping phone lines.

We wandered down to the costanera (coastline) of the Río Paraná that borders Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.  The part of the river that runs along Posadas only borders Argentina and Paraguay.

view of Paraguay

the city had recently renovated the entire walkway – before, it had been a villa miseria (shantytown)

granted, a large storm came through in the previous year and devastated the “yacht club”

We went for lunch where I had my first fresh seafood in Argentina: surubí (catfish).  It was quite tasty, but it seemed that we were missing out on the typical dish, galeto.  The servers would come out with two-foot long spits with large pieces of stuffed chicken, and everyone around us had the spits on their tables.

Fernando and his brothers were involved in a non-profit organization that builds houses, Un Techo para mi Pais, and one of the volunteers was having a pizzeada (pizza party) at her parents’ house.  Most of the people were volunteers, including a few exchange students from Germany.  Everyone was really buena onda (cool).  After eating the incredible home-made pizzas, the guitar and concertina came out and the singing began.  They played chacarera, zamba, Argentine rock, and even Pearl Jam.  

pizza!!

concertina

guitar

 

a little German pride

the host’s mom showed up a bit later and joined in!

Fernando keeping warm...and looking stylin'

moved inside as it was getting colder

It was a much more enriching experience than going to a loud and crowded boliche (dance club) – they took us in as if we had been part of their circle for years!