It’s Saturday morning (well, early afternoon) and the start of our second day in B.A. We slept until 10ish (7 am CST) and decided to have a quick workout before we start our day. I have a few minutes while Chris is showering. Time to blog!

The culture here is to start the day late and end it late. With the time difference, it really works in our favor. I did wake up this morning feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the things that I want to do. This is pretty typical for me during a vacation. Poor Chris has to endure this and is still learning (after all these years) how to handle it.

Anyway, back to Day One….

We arrived at the hotel around 9 am after a 45-minute drive in traffic from the airport. Luckily, our room was ready, which typically does not happen since check-in is at 3 pm. The porter showed us our room. Our room is a standard room but it was still very nice. View is meh – basically a view of a bunch of apartments across the street. But, I’m not complaining since it’s free.

After a much needed nap, we woke up mid-day. We called the concierge for a recommendation for a parilla restaurant (serves grilled meats). They recommended El Mirasol that was only three blocks away. Most restaurants close for lunch around 3 pm. It was close to 2 pm so we high-tailed it to the restaurant.

El Mirasol is located under a bridge with a lot of other restaurants. Food was good and plentiful. I ordered a macrobiotic salad to start, grilled chicken breast and steamed vegetables. I also ordered French fries with Provenzal sauce (garlic and parsley) but the waiter told me that I had ordered a lot of food and I shouldn’t get the French fries and the vegetables. Hmph. “Too much food” he says to me. “OK, no fries” I told him even though I was thinking, “I could totally eat all of it. I mean, I am an American.”

Turns out that he was right. It was a lot of food. Apparently, the side dishes are family-sized (or, American-sized). My vegetable plate was the best part of my meal with boiled potatoes, beets, mushrooms, some sort of squash, carrots, and cooked spinach. My chicken was decent. But, the wine was my favorite part of the meal.

We shared a half bottle of Malbec. It was tasty and I left there with a nice buzz. We went for a nice walk around our barrio, Recoleta, to acclimate ourselves and walk off some of our lunch. We found a nice park with people playing futbol, laying out, and kids running around.

During our walk, we also discovered that our barrio is pretty ritzy. I mean, there are Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo stores steps away from our hotel’s front door. Unfortunately, shopping isn’t really in the budget for this trip, especially in the first city (not like I’d be shopping at those stores anyway).

Back at the hotel around 5, it was time to think about dinner. After researching and researching, we found Juana M restaurant. It was close to the hotel and within walking distance. Called concierge and they made our reservations for us. God, I love the concierge.

Reservations were at 9:00 pm. (Mom – I can hear you now – “but, you are eating so late!”) Like many South American and European cultures, people eat very late. The restaurant was practically dead when we arrived. I wondered why we bothered with a reservation. By 10:00 pm, the place was hopping.

This was the best meal by far. It was cheaper than our lunch and food was so much more flavorful. Chris had his second beef entrée of the day. I had the (surprise!) chicken with garlic. This restaurant had a pretty mean salad bar with a variety of veggies and legumes.

Wine, another Malbec, went down way too easily. This time we shared a whole bottle but the funny thing is that I didn’t even get a buzz. Those of you who know me well, know that my limit is two glasses before I get crazy.

One thing to note is that service is slow compared to the States. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Meals are meant to be enjoyed and savored so service isn’t rushed. That’s my theory anyway.

We decided to enjoy dessert and coffee at the hotel. I’m glad that we did because they have an all-you-can-eat dessert bar at one of their restaurants. O.M.G. I tried four desserts (they were small) and had a chocolate & cinnamon cappuccino. It was fantastic to eat and drink outside under the stars. We finally called it a night around 12:30 pm.

See Chris’s previous post for pics from Day One.

– kb