A True Argentine Child

Last weekend, for Argentina's 9 de Julio Independence Day celebration, our friend Lucho invited us to an asado--a BBQ--down in La Plata, put on by some of his friends from high school and college. To say that the meat was ample would be to insult it with faint praise; to say that the house was an architectural marvel would do the same. Lucho's friend Manuel, a forestry engineer, lives in the house, which was designed by his architect parents. A former stable for the nearby racetrack, the rooms are fashioned from stalls, replete with the old split doors that used to let the horses stick their heads out without escaping. Behind the house, Manuel and his brother, an architect who lives in Barcelona, are building a hyper-conceptual slab-cement house. And, a balcony on the old house is reached through a frightening staircase biult from old wire-frame bottle delivery containers (either seltzer or wine; no one could remember). The food was fabulous and the company great. And, as one woman at the party said, Gustavo's son Juan Cruz (above) proved himself to be (via his love of all things meat) "A true Argentine child." Rather than describe the scene in debilitated words, then, a photo essay.

Lucho climbing the wire-frame stairs to the balcony on the main house (notice the smoke from the BBQ reflecting the flash)

The "Balcony", viewed from the new house in back

The entrance and a roof view of the new house

Your bloggers standing on the roof of the new house, bookending a view down from the roof

Don't your DARE touch the meat: Mariano and Gustavo guard the victuals

The spread...and the carnage