The last stage

I´m finally reaching that last stage of relaxation. Where getting a cup of coffee or having a picnic lunch can be your whole day. It´s less about making plans and more about letting plans be made.

Friday consisted of a picnic lunch in a park with half the families in BA who were all on holiday. Choruses of "Heladoooo!" surrounded me, 2 peso a bonbon. It was hot, 85 or so?, and very sunny. The bugs were loud and I got more than a few new bites. (i´m starting to look like I have chicken pox).

The afternoon and evening turned stormy as I sat with my new friend sara drinking a glass of red wine in the bar around the corner from our hostel. Sara is returning from studying the penguins in antartica and is from Nova Scotia. Her next job is at a national park up near the arctic in Canada. We get along well and so we took a trip into the tigre together yesterday. (you can read about that in the previous post). It was very relaxing, felt like a whole world away from BA.

Then as I walked into my hostel the phone rang and it was for me (?!!). My friend Mercedes was calling, did I want to go for dinner? I was tired but wanted to see her so I said "yes!". She first took me to a place in La Boca, one of the oldest typical Parillas in BA. Still preserved from the era of the 40s when tango first took place. There wasn´t a tourist there but being a saturday night the place was packed. "Do you like sushi?" she asked? I love it I said so she mentioned that she knows a good place at the japanese cultural center in San Telmo. We pull up, its a building with a few japonese characters on the door. We go inside to a seperate set of doors and mechi persuades them to let us in for dinner. It´s fantastic. Amazing Sushi and such a treat after all of the meat and empanadas I´ve had so far. Then to top it all off, mercedes will absolutely not let me pay. Her treat! Hospitality above and beyond. It was so great to see her. We have made tentative plans to see Palermo next thursday night before i leave but I made her promise to let me split the check.

So far my morning has consisted of wandering the market which was still just getting going at noon. I plan to eat my lunch of a tuna empanada, some fruit and an alfajore (hand made from the bakery across the street). And then hit the market again. Perhaps a cafe doble or a vino blanco in the late afternoon will also be in order.

This is the life.