Argentina: Day 5

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun!!! 4 to be exact.

I’d like to speak to the Manager!!!

I was up late last night. Between the throbbing of the knee and the writing, the formatting photos and being tired, it took a while to get to bed.

When I woke up, Adam wanted to know why I didn’t post before I came to bed.

Funny story.

Facebook doesn’t like it when I upload 50 photos. So it sits there, churning.

What I have discovered is the photos are there, but I can’t see them, unless I publish the post that isn’t quite ready to be published. So I hit publish, change the audience to just me and finish editing.

Last night, I never changed the audience back to public.

Whoops.

So that my friends is why you didn’t see a post this morning.

Now on to yesterday.

I have been up late almost every night since we got here. As a result, I’ve been sleeping very late.

As Adam pointed out there will be no jet lag as our schedules haven’t changed.

What’s interesting, is that Adam has been sleeping very late as well. At home he is usually up by 10:00 no matter how late we go to bed. Yesterday it was 12:30 and he was still beside me.

Around 1:00 he told me he was going to the pool.

I said great, turned over and went back to sleep.

At 2:00, I got up, got dressed and joined him at the pool.

I was there for about 60 minutes. It was warm, but the wind was blowing fierce, so it wasn’t super comfortable.

Around 3:30 we went back upstairs.

Adam went to get lunch.

I’ve been forbidden to tell you where he went, but it starts with a B and ends with a G.

It was delicious and perfectly hit the spot.

We’d just finished eating, when Chef texted that he’d be there to pick us up around 5:00.

We showered, got dressed and were downstairs promptly at 5:00.

Chef picked us up and we decided to try and go to Evita’s grave in the center of town.

Every time, I think about it, I hear the end of the play, about the body disappearing and the pedestal being started but never finished.

We get to the cemetery, park and walk to the entrance to discover that it closes at 5:30. It’s 5:32.

Damn it.

Chef checks in to find out the hours etc. and then we decide to walk a bit.

At the time my knee is okay. Not great, but okay.

We end up stopping for a rest at a hotel who’s name I don’t remember. The lobby is old school. Luxury. Masculine. We get seated and order grown up drinks. A Manhattan for me, which made me very happy. It was also very cold and VERY good.

We stay for about an hour then get moving again.

I’m not sure of the name of the area of town we are in, but it is very wealthy. The stores are Hermes and Rolex. The houses are mansions, and we pass several consulates. including that of the Pope and the Vatican.

We walk buy the French Embassy, which is stunning. The US embassy is some barricade, brown concrete monstrosity that looks like it was from the Cold War.

At the French Embasssy, we turn right and head down the hill.

We arrive at the Four Seasons.

They have a restaurant, that is called Nuestro Secreto, Our Secret.

It’s not really a secret, but it is on the patio on the 2nd floor, by the pool.

It is also gorgeous. It’s the most formal place we’ve eaten yet, and the food was perfection.

We are greeted by the most amazing androgynous person, in a green suit who is wonderful. They are nice, and we are pretty sure was the manager on duty. We all wanted to be their friend.

One thing we noticed, when we sat down, was that we were not presented with menus. We were given a QR code to scan. It might be because I am old, but I don’t like it. Not at all.

I want to hold the menu. Study it. Take a photo of it. Plus, what if I forget my phone, or don’t have a phone, or didn’t pay for the service in a foreign country. Hmmm.

The meal starts as they all do. Sparkling or Flat.

Chef and Adam always get Flat.

I always get sparkling, or as they say, aqua con gas.

We order apps. They tend to be the same every time as Chef is getting a feel for how others prepare the food we do. Blood sausage, sweet breads, empanadas.

We order entrees. Chef gets a ribeye. Adam and I are going to share the skirt steak.

30 seconds after the server leaves, Chef sees a long bone short ribs being put on the grill. He calls the server over and asks if they were a special. She says not, they are on the menu.

He goes on the realize that on the menu, they were referred to as braised short ribs. And these are clearly not braised. They are slow cooked over an open grill, but not braised. He immediately changes his order to the short ribs.

The server also offeres to show us where they are cooked. She leads us to the patio and there is an ASADOR, off to the side, but still near everything, where whole racks of beef ribs are being smoked. It’s a beautiful sight.

We get back to the table as the apps are being served.

Everything is delicious.

By now the restaurant is filling up and getting busier. There are also seats on the patio served from this kitchen. We are all admiring how efficient the two men in the kitchen are at executing service for the restaurant.

Apps are cleared. Entrees are served.

The long bone short rib is divine. Smoky. Tender. Falling off the bone, melt in your mouth goodness. The skirt steak is tender enough to cut it with a fork. Everything is excellent.

We literally eat everything in sight, and our plates are cleared.

Chef gets up to go to the restroom we think, and we contemplate dessert.

Chef comes back, dessert and coffee is ordered and Chef tells us that he had spoken to the chef and asked him to come by the table when he was not busy.

We are eating dessert when the other Chef arrives. He introduces himself and my Chef begins to speak with him in Spanish.

I now knownwhat was being said.

Chef was asking him if he’d be interested in coming to America to work at our restaurant. Seriously, the chef from this restaurant was excellent. Chef eventually gave him his card, told him he’d be in town until Sunday and that if he was interested would like to speak with him and his co-worker about working in the states.

Hands were shaken and off he went.

Who knows if anything will come of it, but the offer was made.

We finish up. We pay.

And then I need to stop at the restroom.

When I come out, I can’t find my boyfriend and that’s because he and Chef and have wondered into Le Mansion, that is part of the Four Seasons. I join them and the home is stunning. Large, ornate and beautiful. We stay just long enough to not get in trouble then make our way to the street.

Then Chef does the kindest thing ever, he tells me I can wait and he’ll walk back and get the car.

Seriously, I could have fallen over. By this time, my knee is on fire again.

Adam and I sit in the lobby and admire how awful the lighting is, and how the Xmas tree looks like it was decorated by the maintenance team.

Then we move outside and in about 5 minutes are picked up.

And 15 minutes later we are home.

Me trying to break into a cemetery.

Chef trying to break out of the cemetery.

The lobby bar of a hotel, where we stopped for drinks. I can’t remember the name of it. Adam loved the red jackets, I expected Dolly Levi to appear at the top of a flight of stairs at any moment.