Parcela

For the weekend we made the three hour trip south to visit the Parcela, which is the family´s second house. Parcelas are very common for the middle class. It´s generally a weekend or summer home in the country that people use to escape. The house didn´t have a TV. It was all about family time and relaxing. Everywhere you looked there were huge green mountains.

Our Parcela was in a gated community with a bunch of other Parcelas. It had a pool and a big garden full of all different kinds of fruits and nuts that we picked to bring back home. It´s two minutes away from a lake and my family had a waver rider and a kayak that we could use there. Two minutes away in the other direction was a country club with wi-fi and all types of playing fields and a really big pool.

The town that the Parcela was in was run down, but in an enjoyable way, and when I say enjoyable I mean for visiting not living. For instance, the grocery store was very small with the metal shelves you can buy at Home Depot holding the food. The entrance had swinging doors like you see in saloons in the movies. In one corner there was a bunch of kitchen wares and other random stuff that you wouldn´t expect to find in a grocery store. It felt more like a garage sale. When we drove around we passed a soccer field. The goals were minitaure with no nets. On the road, tons of people were also riding around on horses. It was different in a way that was cute and made you smile.

My favorite part of the weekend was when we went to go pick up lunch at a ¨restaurant.¨ My Mama called ahead so that the food would be hot and ready for us when we arrived. But it was not your typical restaurant. The kitchen and tables were both outside and nothing matched, but it had the most delicious food. There was an outdoor oven, like the ones they use to make pizza, I forget what it´s called and they specialized in making homemade bread. We bought empanadas with homemade bread, tortillas that were homemade, everything homemade and everything was delicious. The lady saw how elated I was about the bread, since it is one my favorite foods, and gave me an extra warm slice right on the spot for free. I was in heaven.