Argentina: Day 3

Singing in the Rain!!!

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

It’s late on New Year’s Eve.

5:00 a.m. to be exact.

I hit publish on a blog post.

I copy and paste into a Facebook post.

I shower and climb into bed.

It’s 5:30.

The sun is still not up. We love that Argentina stays on Daylight Saving Time all yea. It was still light here at 8:30 tonigh.

I plug in my phone. I turn off the light.

I prop my knee on my pillow…

…and the next thing I know it’s 2:00 p.m.

I am groggy. My boyfriend is still next to me. This is strange, because he never sleeps that late. I can hear him breathing.

I can also hear the rain on the window next to us. It sounds like it’s pouring, but the blackout shades are pulled and I’m not getting up to check.

I roll over, get comfortable…

…the next thing I know it’s 4:00 p.m.

Adam is still next to me. It is still raining. Hard.

He is awake, looking at his phone. I grunt good morning and start to wake up.

Around 4:30 we move downstairs. It is pouring. Weather.com says it will stop around 6:30.

We decide to wait it out.

We watch as the rain lands on the deck, while we look at our phones.

I spend much of that time, trying to find a place for dinner. It’s New Year’s Day and everything appears closed. I start at the first entry on Trip Advisor in the Palermo area of BA and look for anything open.

Not open today. On a 3-week vacation, which sounds familiar. Closed. Has no website, just a link to Facebook, and that has no information. The same, only Instagram. Broken link. Website has expired. Ugh.

Adam has better luck. He’s looking for reservations for tomorrow night. He finds a place for a Marienda. (Tune in tomorrow). We book it, although he has to sign up for What’s App to do so.

6:30 comes and goes and it is still raining. Weather.com says it will stop at 8:30 now.

Fuck.

We remind ourselves that we were once New Yorkers.

Ain’t no rain gonna stop us.

We shower and head out. It’s about 7:00 now.

We wander down the street, walking under the canopy of trees that line a lot of the streets here. What would you know, the coffee shop on the corner is open. And a little busy.

We find a table inside, one of the few open and get settled. It feels nice to be up and about.

The server comes by, he looks 15. He is clearly overwhelmed. We order waters and coffees.

He comes back with those things, and we try to order a croissant. It was much harder than it should have been. We end up getting avocado toast.

This exchange prompted us to finally download Google Translate. Finally.

The food arrives and we sit there, and chat, and trade stories, and discuss the trip, and just relax. It was nice and relaxing.

Adam orders another coffee. Me another water.

20 minutes passes, it has stopped raining, but Adam orders yet another coffee and I get yet another water.

Around 9:00 we pay the check and head out.

We are in search of food.

We know there is an Irish pub about 10 blocks away, but fish and chips is not our first choice.

We walk 3 blocks and find a pizza place open. It looks okay, but we hold out hope.

3 more blocks, and another pizza place is open. I can’t explain why, but this one looks more promising.

They don’t have a website but here is their Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/picsa_ba/?hl=en

We go in. There are no open tables inside. We are given a choice between seats at the counter or a seat on the sidewalk, as it has stopped raining. We take the counter.

We are offered menus. Spanish or English. We choose English.

We look over the menu. It all looks delicious. We are also sitting at the counter, facing the open kitchen and we can see the pizzas being prepared. They look amazing.

We decide on our order.

Two cocktails to start. Followed by a bottle of wine. Then empanadas, a salad and followed by a large pizza.

The cocktails were great. Light and refreshing.

The empanadas were fried, and delicious. Chicken. And Cheese and Onion.

The pizza was perfect. It was covered in a huge amount of cheese, red onions, olives and other things I don’t remember.

(I ate my olives).

We eat a little more than half the pizza. And get the rest wrapped up.

We order dessert. Another version of an ice cream cake.

And you can’t end a meal here without a coffee.

Café con leche. I had two.

We finish up and pay.

We head home.

It’s humid out now. Warm. The air is thick.

There are not a lot of people on the street.

It is also dark. Adam and I take the chance and hold hands. We’ve been nervous here about holding hands in public. In the states, even in Texas, we hold hands everywhere we go. On the street. At dinner. In the mall. We find ourselves reaching for each other, then thinking twice about it.

Not to get too sappy next…

I realize a little too late that I should have pee’d before I left the restaurant. Thank god for dark tree lined streets.

Whew.

That was close.

We walk home.

It is nice in the apartment when we get there. The a/c has been running all day.

It was truly a wonderful day.

Even if it didn’t start until 4:00.

Avo Toast. It was much harder to order than it should have been.