Asado is another word for "delicious."

Thanks to a friend, we were invited to a traditional Argentine cook out yesterday afternoon and it did not disappoint.

We had to hire a driver to take us the almost two hour trip into the country. Danny was funny and friendly, filling us in on all the Argentine news as we zoomed down near empty streets. (Not only was it the Census but also the President's husband, himself a former president, had died suddenly.) We stopped at a small, family-owned winery on the way out, one of the only things that was open. We got a personal tour of the vineyards and the wine making operation and then a tasting. Surprise, surprise, we ended up buying a few bottles of wine.

Then on the asado, hosted by the folks at the Vines of Mendoza, an operation that sells vineyards to people. They were entertaining one of their owner couples and a potential owner couple. What did these people do to be able to afford vineyards? Oh, this and that, "I invest in new technology companies," you know how it goes. I asked one of the women at the lunch if she'd fulfilled my dream: Seeing all seven continents. Many times over, she said. I guess I should have figured that since she's been to Antarctica three times alone.

So at the asado, you sit around a big family style table and as things come off the grill, they're brought around to you and you can either take some or not. And the food just kept coming: Steaks and chicken and sausages and on the table there were grilled vegetables and salads. And, because this is a wine making organization, there was wine galore. We ate, had interesting conversations with our hosts, and just spent a wonderful afternoon of slow eating and drinking. It ranks as one of my favorite days here.

(In a twist of odd, one of the guys there knew a friend of ours. It was a day of weird coincidences, as you'll see later.)

On the way back to the city, we took another route so we could go through the Andes. The skies had cleared and we could actually see the peaks, even the snow on some of them.

In short, it was just an amazing ride and an amazing day.

In the evening, we had a strange encounter with a couple who back in Philadelphia live about six blocks from us. (We didn't know them until we sat next to them at a restaurant.) More on that later as I must prepare for dinner in a cave.