A Tale of Two Parties

Last night, Denise was invited to a bachelorette party. While the women were thus occupied, it was decided that the "menfolk" would get together at another house some distance away to do whatever it is that "menfolk" do (apparently watching futbal, talking and eating asado).

Denise's night was quite interesting. They were outside, in the beginning. After a couple of hours it started raining and they moved the party inside. They played party games. One of them started off as you entered the party. You were given a name tag. But the tag indicated an action that you couldn't perform (i.e. couldn't touch your hair, couldn't raise your arm above your head, couldn't cross your legs, etc.). Then, during the evening, if you caught someone doing the "forbidden" action, you took their tag and put it on yourself. However, once you got a tag, you could no longer perform that action. So if you were successful, you might have to end up in one immobile position the rest of the night.

Denise was instructed to bring a roll of toilet paper. Later in the evening, the purpose was revealed. The group was broken up into teams and each team was to make a "wedding dress" from the toilet paper. Three single girls were selected as models. They actually looked quite nice, as you can see. Denise's crew went with an "off-the-shoulder" style. The bride-to-be, also, was one of the models, and quite coincidentally (?) the dress that she modeled won the contest.

The guys enjoyed a more predictable and traditional evening. I think one thing that should be mentioned (though it has been touched on before) is that even men, who are close friends, greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. Now, that having been said- I think it should be a rule that men shave before coming to any large gathering. Kissing men on the cheek who have not shaved is disgusting- I don't see how women do it! Anyway- moving on.....

We watched futbal (not to be confused with football- this is the real deal-soccer!). Some were fans of River Plate and some of the Nacional team. I was for Nacional, until the fans from River Plate showed up and River started to score goal after goal. Then I switched (hey I want to be on the winning side). Now the Nacionals will head to Mexico, where they will play the "Monarcas" in Morelos Stadium, but unfortunately with a redounding defeat at the hands of the River team (futbal is fun!).

Meanwhile the host was out at the parrilla starting his fire. Like many Norte Americanos, he uses charcoal briquettes. This is not the traditional parrilla, but, as he said, it is faster and the coals last longer. The game was winding down (the Nacionals weren't going to come back from a 4-1 deficit with only minutes left to play) and so we adjourned to the covered barbacoa area. We had massive amounts of hamburgers and chorizo on buns. Then, when I thought we were done, he lifted off a hefty slab of meat from the end of the parrilla (which I hadn't seen before). My neighbor started cutting it in strips and we all started taking pieces. It was great tasting. I asked what cut of beef it was. "Carpincho" was the answer. So, I thought, "bifé carpincho" was what I would ask for at the butcher. Well, no, I was informed. You couldn't buy this meat at a carniceria, because "carpincho" wasn't beef. It was a large (very large) rodent. At first, I thought they were pulling a joke on me. But they insisted. These rodents can be from 10-20 kilos (easily) and they are hunted for food.

Anyway, I did some research after coming home and they weren't kidding. The carpincho (see wikipedia) is common in South America. In fact, the largest rodent ever discovered (actually a rat fossil) would have been over 2,200 lbs. And you think you have rat problems!!!!

The meat tasted delicious, however, the smell of the meat was a little "gamey". So I would recommend cutting the meat in the kitchen area and serving up away from guests- that is, if you serve rodent.

By the end of our nights, the rain was coming down and lightning and thunder were crazy- so I went back, picked up Denise and we came home to unplug our electrical items and were pleased to see that there was no flooding. It was a very fun and instructive evening.