The Pensieve

The mountains are treating us WELL.  For starters, the hotel we are staying in is an old colonial mansion with our own little porch and an inner courtyard where the best restaurant in town sits.  The staff are also incredibly nice and attentive, and we have remembered the mountain hospitality and graciousness which is easy to forget on the coast, where people are too hot to want to chat or help or even look at you.  Did I mention the best restaurant in town is where we have breakfast in the mornings? 

Speaking of restaurants, we have been trying all kinds of wonderful things, and have decided that Santander (the department or state we are in right now) is the culinary capital of Colombian cuisine.  For starters, they’ve got killer tamales, especially the ones for breakfast at our hotel.  Next, mute, which is pretty much the best tripe either of us have ever put in our mouths - it comes super tender, probably stewed for hours with carrots, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garbanzo beans, and perhaps other secret ingredients.  This tasty treat is only made on Sundays and festivals, so we won’t get another chance, but we licked the bowl clean the first time.  Also, Santander has their own twist on the Colombia arepa, a staple in any Colombian meal anywhere.  A typical arepa is a cornmeal cake, usually probably made with lard and then baked, fried, or grilled.  In our experience, these arepas, which come to the table like bread does in the States, are bland affairs.  But here in Girón, they are made from a more yellow corn (as opposed to white) and they are well-seasoned and buttery affairs.  The cats, consequently snuck in to Colette’s purse after she took some home from dinner one night in napkins, and we found the wreckage in our bedsheets and the kittens licking their chops.  A side note on arepas: the kind on the coast are a bit different than elsewhere in the country, they are more fluffy and thick, like the consistency of mashed potatoes and they are always stuffed with lots of butter and cheese… Taryn can attest to their value on late nights of Rum and Maracuya.

Alas, we have also discovered the world of Fritanga… basically killer mixed grill, as it seems the people of the mountains all make their own great sausage and know how to cook their pork, chicken, and goat.  Yes, goat seems to be the regions main specialty and we have sampled it a few times now, as it is the most tender and tasty goat we have tried.  Goats seem to do good things here in general.  This morning, Blair discovered Girón’s hangover cure extraordinaire - warm goat’s milk, as in milked in front of you, mixed with honey and brandy and some vitamin/protein powder.  We’ll probably play some Tejo (see below) and therefore do some drinking tonight and see if it really works tomorrow… but it was tasty either way. 

Now, despite what you may think, we don’t simply wander the streets looking for food… we have actually managed to make it to Piedecuesta this week, another little town in the area that is supposedly known for its cigars.  We made an overwhelmingly talkative and nice lady in the artesan’s alley, an old Catholic church that is now used to house the town’s artesan booths, as a new church was built right next door.  She was one of the owners of a local cigar factory, and she had innumerable suggestions for us as to what to go do and see in Santander.  Unfortunately the cigar factory was closed to visitors that day, but she did have some killer cigars… so any aficionados will get a puro at the wedding. 

We also visited the Jardín Botánico in Floridablanca, another little town in the area.  It was small but lovely, and we saw two turtles meandering about in the jungle.  Pretty great.  We also saw this strange looking red squirrels that were tiny with huge tails and we imagined pitting the kittens against the squirrels. 

Today we are exploring Bucaramanga proper, the main city center in the area, and we are at this insanely modern mall where there are about seven to ten video game rooms with televisions set up specifically for all of the teenage boys in Colombia to sit and play Xbox until their eyes melt out of their heads.  Everything else here is empty, but every single one of these rooms is packed full with kids waiting.   Inspiring.  We hit up some air hockey and were mocked by 12 year old boys because we (meaning Colette) sucked pretty hard.  (Vengeance will be mine…)  A sign outside the mall advertises for Mother’s Month, it’s not just a day here: ‘She gave you her blood… and you are going to give her just whatever little thing?’  Respect, yo.

Monday was some kind of holiday or feriado as they say.  We think this means a day off for everyone but that it is not a religious holiday, which they seem to call a festival.  We cashed in on this fun day by checking out the local tejo courts.  Now, we have been dying to play this game since we first found out about it last fall.  Basically, the game consists of two sqaures of mud in wooden boxes tilted up a bit against a backboard.  In the center of the mud is a metal ring.  In this ring, you place a triangular packet (looks like a paper football) filled with gunpowder.  Then, you order two tejo and two beer, as you can’t play on the courts unless you are drinking (a dangerous rule).  The tejo seem to be these metallic pogs, thick sort of discs of metal.  You toss these at the mud.  If your tejo sticks in the mud, you get one point, if it hits the gunpowder, you get three points, and if you succeed in crushing the gunpowder against the metal hoop, causing it to explode and flame up, you get six points.  We were greeted by a few tejo players as we stood outside peering in like school boys.  They invited us in cordially and bought us a round of beers.  Soon, we were flying metallic discs through the air and realizing just how talented our tejo teachers really were.  We couldn’t even hit the mud at first… but that first explosion caused by one’s own hand is damn exciting.  Tejo is everything we hoped and more.  We have a date with the court later this afternoon. 

On a final note, out hotel seems to be owned by two lovely ladies who make homemade desserts, all custards or casserole type grandma concoctions of goodness.  We have a least one or two of these a day, depending.  Our favorites are the Muss de Limón, and the Muss de Café.  We are, as of yet, still to afraid to try El Borracho, as it contains high amounts of aguardiente, a strong and volatile liquer that is more prevalent than rum in the country.  The only way we have enjoyed this spirit was again, here in Girón at La Casona, the nicest restaurant (but not the best) in town.  They make a cocktail of the house which is kind of like a drinkable vanilla pudding mixed with lots of aguardiente and garnished with cinnamon.  Delicioso!  And that night we ended up on our balcony smoking tabaquitos (mini cigars) until late into the night.  Potent. 

Okay, so maybe we do just wander the streets looking for food…