Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Merry Omicron Christmas From Abroad

I still don't know how we managed to pull it off, but we had a decent Christmas celebration this year. It wasn't easy, though. The number of Covid cases, primarily as a result of Omicron, spiked tremendously in December.

The numbers did go down a bit during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because there were fewer people getting tested on those days. But the numbers soared afterwards.
Of course, as expected, the increase rate of infections did not scare the general population into doing any of the things that would help keep everyone safe like:
  • Wearing masks
  • Covering their mouths when they cough
  • Respecting social distancing rules. 

Regardless, our Christmas was awesome for a number of reasons. For starters, we had our first guest over since the pandemic. And I don't think the hubs and I realized just how much we missed having people over.
Our friend, the hubs, and I playing games on our phones
The only thing better than the company, was the food. We had originally planned on making a baked ham like we had in previous holidays, but the Argentine summer (which is in December) was too intense. So turning the oven on was not a viable option. So instead, we ordered food from some of our favorite places like Xiongmao, which offers some of the best Chinese food in Cordoba City (in our opinion). We also ordered 8 slices of pepperoni and 8 slices of cheese pizza from Pibi Guemes. But this almost didn't happen.

You see, we reached out to all the places we wanted to order food from a few days earlier to see if they would be open on the 24th or even the 23rd. But Pibi Guemes was the only restaurant that hadn't gotten back to us. 

So, after bugging them over and over again on Instagram and WhatsApp, they finally told me that they were closed due to a possible Covid outbreak among their ranks. Luckily, they informed us the next day that they had tested negative, and we were able to order the pizza in time for Christmas Eve.
Chicken and steak fried rice from Xiongmao
Chicken and steak fried rice from Xiongmao

Pizza slices from Pibi Guemes
Pepperoni and cheese pizza from Pibi Guemes

Arabian Empanadas

Most of you may not know this, but I have an Armenian heritage from my mother's side, and she was kind enough to make the dish below and some Arabian empanadas. The first dish was made with pureed peas, chives, black olives and red peppers. But don't ask me to spell out or even pronounce the name of the dish because even I have a hard time with it. All I can say is that it was cool, refreshing and went great with the Arabian empanadas.
For dessert, we went the lazy route once again and ordered ourselves a couple of Gingerbread men from Backerhaus, as well as a Lemon cake. As far as the taste was concerned, neither of these items were as sweet as we expected them to be. But I guess they were aesthetically pleasing.
We also ordered 12 mini-cinnamon rolls from Canerolls, which the hubs and I arranged in the form of a tree, and they were delicious. Not that I'm surprised because Canerolls has always managed to pull through for us and we love them for that.  
But with so much sugar, I was so glad that our friend brought over a bunch of salty snacks for us to munch on while we played games and talked the night away.

Then around midnight, we officially welcomed Christmas with a couple of alcoholic strawberry smoothies.
Eventually, the night came to an end and we had to say goodbye to our friend. But we got to enjoy a couple of Canepops on Christmas morning, courtesy of Canerolls. I know what you're thinking. What the **** are Canepops? They are for all intents and purposes, Pop Tarts. 
We were so happy when Canerolls added these to their menu because you won't find Pop Tarts anywhere in Argentina. This means that the hubs and I haven't eaten one in almost ten years. So as you can imagine, our eyes were flooded with tears when we bit into our Canepops. 

All in all, our Omicron Christmas wasn't too bad. In fact, we had been getting into the spirit of things early on in the month by decorating our tree and by playing Frosty on the Shelfy. Think of it as Elf on the Shelf. Since we didn't have an elf, we compromised with Frosty. 
We also watched a holiday themed movie every day. Some of the films were holiday favorites from the past like "Home Alone." But there were some surprising new favorites too like:
 Also, there was the 5-episode holiday series "With Love," which we highly recommend. 

Now that Christmas 2021 is in the rear view mirror, it's time for us to start figuring out the menu for New Year's Eve. Spoiler alert! We won't be cooking on this final holiday of 2021 either.
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Friday, December 10, 2021

So Here's How Argentina is Doing During the Pandemic As 2021 Nears Its End

With Omicron slowly making its way around the world, I've had a few people ask me on Instagram how Argentina's dealing with the pandemic so far.


As far as I can tell, it's business as usual. Most people are opting not to wear their masks because it is no longer a requirement to wear them outdoors or indoors in most Argentine provinces unless you're in an enclosed space like a movie theater, a pharmacy or a supermarket. But from what I've observed, a lot of Argentines haven't followed protocols since early 2021. The reason for this is that they're under the erroneous impression that:

  1. The pandemic is over
  2. The virus, the quarantine, and restrictions are a government plot to subjugate its citizens
They're tired of wearing masks and applying alcohol on their hands after they've touched a doorknob or shaken someone's hand. To be blunt, they have no regards for their own lives or the lives of others.


Luckily, there has only been one reported case of Omicron in Argentina as of December 9, 2021, but the reported number of infections from regular Covid has started rising again.


On December 10, 2021, La Voz Del Interior, which is an online Argentine news site, reported that the number of Covid cases had risen by 188 percent. This isn't really surprising given how much people are congregating in the same areas instead of maintaining a respectable distance. Don't believe me? Check out some of the photos the hubs took below while he was in downtown Cordoba City.


Fortunately, the death rate has been low and the number of daily infections have fluctuated, but they're a lot higher than they were back in September of 2021.
For instance:
  • On September 18, 2021, there were 1,451 cases reported nationwide, 136 of which were in Cordoba province.
  • On September 19, 2021, there were 622 cases reported nationwide, 76 of which were in Cordoba province.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the numbers will drop, but with the holidays only two weeks away, I fear the rate of infection will grow. But there's nothing the hubs or I can do about it except to protect ourselves and hope the country doesn't end up in a phase 1 quarantine in 2022.
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