Feliz Navidad

For all of you who were worried, Christmas was great!! I enjoyed a grand feast of beef, pork, and chicken from the parilla (the Latin American version of the grill) at the house of Mati's sister. The parilla is no small event. A large fire is stoked on one side of the stationary, built-in grill and as the red-hot coals fall they are pushed to the other side of the grill, under the meat. This makes for very tasty carne asada. Of course we started the evening with appetizers of all sorts. There was chorizo, salivary gland of a pig (very salty), and small cubes of cheese, each melted and flavored on its own depression of a special ceramic dish designed (by a Uruguayan) specifically for this purpose alone. Once it was time for dinner, I was offered pork from a large collection on a platter and I took a fairly generous piece (for my limited meat diet), little did I know that there was also chicken and beef to go around. Needless to say, I ate only the pork. The end of dinner was interrupted by the fireworks at midnight when we all went to the street and participated (with the rest of the city) in lighting fireworks. The street was filled with the smoke and sounds and light of the celebration. After this, we opened gifts and at about 3AM decided it was time for bed but the sounds of the celebration kept on. I enjoyed the Holiday here. The time leading up to Christmas is much more understated than in the U.S. In the U.S., we barely have a chance to be thankful at Thanksgiving before Christmas is being flaunted. Yes, shopping is universal as I experienced on Christmas Eve when I went to the local mall to buy a gift for the gift exchange. The place was crawling with people. It was crazy! But other than this I was not assaulted with Christmas as I feel I am most of the time in the U.S. Here the decorations are small and the Holiday seemed more about getting together and feasting with family than anything else, which I thought was refreshing.