We took advantage of being on holiday and having no plans for the day - we woke up at noon. We had informally planned to go on a day trip to Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay, but hadn't done any real diligence on the subject. After waking up, we realized the ferry was not as frequent as we thought, and it was raining in any event, so we decided to pull the plug on Uruguay.

So instead we walked around Palermo in the rain. There wasn't a ton open, but we did peek our head in a few places before deciding we should eat at some point. We went to Plaza Serrano for lunch, as it was open to the elements on the sides, but covered so we wouldn't get rained on. We shared a meat and cheese plate, plus fries and pancetta. We also got a couple Maracuya caprioskas - very tasty. We weren't in any hurry, and frankly the only reason we didn't stay for longer was the music. When we first got seated, we heard a couple songs and wondered "is that Jamiroqui?" Then one of their hit songs came on and we realized it was. Well, the same 7-8 songs were on infinite repeat, and by the time we heard songs for the third or fourth time, we realized it was time to go.

It was still raining pretty heavily when we left, and on the way back to the hotel we stopped in at Joaquin Alberdi for some wine tasting. They asked if we had a reservation, and we didn't. Baptiste, the person working there, saw the disappointment in our eyes, and offered us a glass of wine and also told us we could come back in an hour or so, giving them time to set up. So we went back to the hotel for an hour and chugged a ton of water, then headed back to Joaquin Alberdi at 17:00. We were in a large room, basically just us and Baptiste. He had moved to Argentina from France, and we talked to him for awhile about the trials and tribulations of moving continents. Most all of the wines were from three main areas - Patagonia, Mendoza, and Salta. We had whites and reds, but mostly reds. We enjoyed the high altitude Salta malbecs the most. We were near a window and could see everyone walking past - nearly every guy had a beard, so Justin hoped he might actually blend in. Crystal, of course, blends in almost everywhere - perhaps if we go to Scandanavia that will change.

About 3/4 of the way through our tasting, other people started to come in for tastings. We met Luka, a Golden Retriever, and his two dads. We also met a bunch of folks from Vancouver, who came to Buenos Aires every holiday season. We asked them for some ideas for dinner and cockstails, and they told us about La Paseda (sp?) and 878 Thames. We tried to eat at La Carneceria, but they were packed and only serving people with reservations. Eventually we setttled on Los Horas. We ordered a Parilla para dos, which was kind of eh. On the bright side, Bottle of Cab that was pretty good. We were one of the last two tables, and they closed as soon as we and the other folks left. We walked about 15 minutes to drinks at 878 Thames. Crystal got an Aviation, and Justin got a Sofia. We got a second round as well, then walked back to the hotel. The rain had finally stopped, the streets were quiet, and it was a very nice walk. We got back to the BoBo just before 2, and crashed in short order.