Thursday, April 10, 2008

We tried to sleep in again, but got our usual 8am wakeup call from the construction going on next door. We checked out the travel book to decide what to do, and decided on Puerto Madero, the only area of real interest we had not walked around yet. We decided to walk to Puerto Madero from Palermo - quite a long walk - but not an issue since the weather was gorgeous again. We took the same basic route the cab driver had taken driving us home the night before, without the cutting off of the ambulance. We walked on Soler to Cordoba, and then took Cordoba all the way into downtown. Crystal had wanted to check out a couple of stores in Palermo, but they didn't open until 11am, and it was just past 10 when we got there, so we decided just to come back before 8pm. We had to be back before 10pm anyway, because that was when we were going to be picked up for the Tango show.

On the walk downtown we talked about food. Crystal had recently read several books on food, including health issues, the food chemistry of using ingredients together, societal issues in the US with food and politics, and so on. We were trying to figure out how everyone in Buenos Aires was so thin when they ate steaks and French fries and drank wine all day. We did see a fresh fruit market, perhaps that had something to do with it. We never came to a conclusion, but the talk was entertaining. Just before reaching Retiro, we decided to walk around Florida street a little bit more.

We got to Puerto Madero a little after noon, about two hours after we left Palermo. The restaurants were just opening, and we walked up and down the port checking out all of the menus. In the end, we actually decided on Cabana Las Lilas, figuring at this point we had greatly lowered our expectations and thus could not be disappointed - plus it was lunch and nothing really jumped out at us. The food was actually very good, albeit expensive. We were right along the water, on a covered patio. The appetizers (bread, salad, and salchicha) were all very good, especially the salchicha. We had now0here to go, so we took a very leisurely long lunch, taking in the weather, the food and the drinks. We both had large steaks, both of which were very good. They were marked "estoy a punto," which we figured out well after the fact meant that they had been marked "medium."

After lunch we sauntered back to Florida street for some more shopping, then caught a cab back to Palermo. Back in Palermo, we just hung out in the hotel bar for a bit before getting ready for dinner and the tango show. Just before dinner, we remembered to go back to the stores Crystal wanted to check out, which was both a blessing and a curse. Crystal found a nice new purse, made of Argentine leather, but with a price to match. For dinner we went back to Don Julio, because 1) it was very good the day before, 2) it was cheap, and 3) it was very close to the hotel, ensuring that we would be done by 10pm. After lunch, we really weren't hungry, but we knew we wouldn't be back until after midnight from the show. We both got steaks again (with very good chimichuri sauce...mmm), plus papas fritas and drinks - total cost was just over $30.

The tango show itself had dinner, but we had read everywhere that the dinner at these shows was not very good, and was very crowded. We were thus very happy with our decision to skip dinner and show up just for the show. When we showed up, everyone else was there, and apparently had enjoyed drinks with dinner, because it was very loud. We expected them to quiet down when the show started, especially since the person on the PA told everyone to quiet down and not to use flash photography. Then, for the next 90 minutes, there was nothing but loud talking and flashes going off literally every 5 seconds. It was absolutely appalling and completely unacceptable.

The show itself was very good, better than we expected in fact, but the audience frankly ruined the experience. We got some photos - sans flash - that give an idea of what it looked like.

Some of the dance moves were unbelievable, including this lady with pink/red hair that did things we did not know was possible on a dance floor. After the show, we got a ride back to the hotel (although the driver got lost a couple of times), then we went to sleep.