Dia Cuatro 

We spent the afternoon in the Palmero Viejo barrio. Lunch was at La Dorita, another recommendation from our Lonely Planet guide. I had the chicken with garlic with homemade potato chips; Chris had another steak sandwich. Oh! And, I finally tried the fried provolone. It was like a grilled cheese sans bread. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten here. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Chicken with garlic and homemade potato chips

Steak sandwich

Grilled provoleta (grilled provolone) - my favorite!!

After lunch, we walked around the barrio and did a little shopping. The barrio is very fashion-forward with tons of clothing boutiques. A little too fashion-forward for me but I enjoyed looking around the shops anyway.

The graffiti art was beautiful and bountiful around Palmero Viejo. It really set the vibe for the  neighborhood. The vibrant colors brightened up the entire barrio.

The highlight of our trip so far (for me) was our tango lesson at Tango & Tango. I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! Our tango teachers were Sophia and Sergio. Sophia was one of the professional performers at the tango show at the hotel. We recognized her right away. Chris had dubbed her the best dancer of the group and I have to agree.

Tango time!!

Don't let the smile fool you. He's terrified.

Our wonderful teachers - Sophia and Sergio (I only thought that I had good posture but, next to Sophia, it looks like I've never taken a Pilates class)

Learning the tango was frustrating.  It looks a lot easier on Dancing with the Stars. I love to dance but I’m not used to dancing with someone. I’m used to shaking my moneymaker all by myself. Having someone lead me was not easy. Sergio spent a good 15-20 minutes just teaching me how to follow. At one point, he told me to lead him around just so I could get the feel of leading someone who won’t follow you. He laughed and said that I’m a pretty good dance lead. Go figure. It’s just my nature to be in control.

I was struggling with one particular step but Chris really got the steps down quickly. Of course, now he thinks that he’s a better dancer than me. My response is that I would have gotten the steps down easier if he led me better. Ha!

I have to give mad props to Chris for even going to the lesson with me. He doesn’t dance, doesn’t like to dance, and was dreading the lesson. He loves me! He really loves me!  And, I think that he actually enjoyed himself a bit. Despite our height difference, we are a good dancing pair and I can’t wait to try our steps in the privacy of our home.

Dia Cinco

Last full day in Buenos Aires. We needed to do laundry so we didn’t take a bunch of dirty clothes to Madrid. So, we took it to the lavato and it was only $16 USD for 5 days worth of laundry (the Hyatt was going to charge us over $300!). Luckily, we just dropped it off at 9 am and picked it up at 7 pm.

For lunch, we went to La Tortino in Microcentre. It was meh. Full of tourists but Lonely Planet warned us of that. The décor was nice though. Waiter was an a-hole. Chris had a hamburger and I had a Roquefort and walnut sandwich.

I guess the jet lag is finally catching up because I was tired all day. It was the earliest that we woke up since we arrived in B.A. – 8:30 am. And, I was dragging all day. I was so tempted to just sleep all day but I knew that it is only going to get worse as we move east so I made myself stay up all day.

We went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. It was a small museum so it didn’t take us long to go through all of it. It was such as hot, humid day and we were glad to escape the heat, however, the museum didn’t have their AC cranked like we are used to (spoiled Americans). Good side is that I probably lost about 5 pounds of water weight.

We needed a break from all the meat and potatoes so we opted for Italian for dinner at the El Gatto restaurant down the street from our hotel. It was probably the worst meal that we’ve had in B.A. (I know, I know – Italian in South America. What did we expect?) Do not recommend.  But, they gave us free glasses of champagne.  The calamari was thick and lightly breaded and was the best part of the meal.

It was pack night so, after we got our laundry, we started the packing process. Chris never really unpacked so it didn’t take him long. We shipped the small amount of items that we purchased and the shipping actually cost more than the total cost of all the purchases (mostly due to the $45 service fee by the hotel).  But, I really did not want to tote around any more stuff than we have to.

Early night. The taxi was coming at 5 am to pick us up for a 7:55 am flight. Loooooong day of travel.

-kb