CHRISTMAS IN ARGENTINA

Festivities here are a little different from our customs in the States.  It is typical on Christmas Eve (Buena Noche) to have a big asado (BBQ) and roast and entire goat or lamb.  Our hosts cooked a delicious goat served with several cold salads and cakes for dessert all eaten outside. 

Dinner begins at 10:00 PM and at midnight champagne is opened to toast Navidad with hugs and kisses around the table.  Also, at midnight fireworks go off all over town even though they are against the law.  

Our hosts' son is a volunteer fireman, so he stays tuned to his radio.  Around 10 minutes after midnight he gets a call to help put out grass fires, dashing away to the nearby fire station on his bicycle. When he returns, about half an hour later, we go inside for a present exchange.

Christmas Day is spent with friends and family enjoying the leftovers from the the night before. We were invited for 1:30 PM where we enjoyed cold lamb and a large array of cold salads. Another present exchange and then a relaxing time spent in the garden under the trees.  We were home by 6:00 PM and did not need to eat anything else that day.

FISHING WITH BODHI

This morning we went fishing, and I forgot to take the camera.  I could have done a whole study on fishing with Bodhi.  He stands in the water and watches the end of the fishing line waiting for a fish to strike.  If you don't catch something within a few minutes he starts whining with impatience.  If you don't catch anything for a long time he almost howls!  This is our dog who hardly ever barks.  When at last he loses interest, he goes to the bank to pull out roots and sticks.  Of course, he must swim out occasionally to check on things, and that's usually when he swims downstream into the backs of my legs and nearly throws me off balance.  At one point he was watching my line carefully and there was a dragonfly perched on his head.  I would have won a photo contest for that one.  It's tough having your dog criticize your fishing.

WE ARE BACK IN PATAGONIA

We arrived back in San Martin just 2 weeks before Christmas after spending a few nights in Santiago catching up with friends and then a few nights in Villarrica, 400 miles to the south, with more friends.  It was a relief to arrive at our house to find everything in order  This was a big change from last year when construction was still underway.  The landscaping is still a work in progress and if we can beat the rabbits at their game we might get 

the plants to grow.  The introduced European rabbits have now become a plague here so everyone has resorted to rabbit fencing.  The weather has been unseasonably warm with only two rainy days since we arrived.  We still haven't fished as much as we would lik

e to, but now that we are settled there will be more time to do so.  

These house photos should look a little different from the ones we posted last February.