OH...to be 21 Again

Remember when you could work all day, go out all night and not get home until the sun was coming up....yup, it’s common here.

Woke up at 7am for work at the winery and had a great day....especially since it included an asado (BBQ) for some clients/prospects for lunch.  Sparkling wine, grilled pork, Torrontes wine, steak, Malbec wine, chicken, veggies, guacamole, wine, dessert, more wine and more wine.  Then a short horseback ride among the vineyards.  Yes, I was ready for a nap.

A little bit more work, then back to the Posada del Jamon for a quick rest before going to an asado fiesta for 2 guys from Louisiana.  They picked me and one other gal up around 9pm, then we went into the little town of Vista Flores to buy massive amounts of meat and other stuff for the asado...then we drove about 15-20 minutes to La Consulta, a slightly larger town.  There we pick up another person (5 of us in a compact car) and drive to the asado, where there will be about 15 of us. 

We’re in a park-ish setting and we gather in an area that has a cement floor with a thached bamboo roof and some picnic tables, and a place for a BBQ nearby.  No gas BBQs here - wood or charcoal.  Did anybody bring paper to help start the fire - NO.  We ask a group of guys nearby for paper (YES, they have extra), but they see us struggling, so they bring hot coals over for us (YAY - that saved us about an hour).  Finally, our fire gets roaring, it turns into embers, and we put the meat on the BBQ.  It’s about 11pm.

What about cups - OOPS, nobody thought about that.  What size are the beer bottles here - one litre.  Yes, we “pass the bottle” of 1 litre beer or 1 gallon jugs of wine around and each take turns with a sip or two, while we watch the meat cook.   

Plates...oops, only brought a half dozen of those, along with forks & knives.  Doesn’t matter - they slice the meat as it comes off the BBQ and you eat it as it’s sliced.  If you have a fork, great...if not, use your fingers to get a piece.  Salad is tossed in a huge Rubbermaid bin - I’ve yet to see dressing in the store - only oil & vinegar.  Bread is on the table....more meat comes off the BBQ...eventually a whole grilled chicken, and of course more beer & wine are passed.  Did I mention that we started eating just after midnight???

I think we finally finished eating around 1:30 or 2am...then the impromptu dancing starts and it’s a blast.  I don’t know what style they’re dancing, but they’re good...not salsa, not tango, but something that looks way better than what I can do.  No matter the style, we all have fun.

But wait, the dancing isn’t over....it’s about 3am, if not later and some of us head to the local nightclub.  Yes, the beers here are also 1 litre, so we continue to pass a large bottle around to each other.  Dancing, more beers, dancing, more beers.  The crowd slowly thins and we leave some time after 6am....get home just as the sun is coming up, and crawl into bed. 

I definitely remember the days in college where staying up this late was a common activity during the week and on the weekend....it’s so much tougher on the body now....Oh to be 21 again.