a good weekend

I love Sunday nights. After a long weekend of (insert vice here), they are a time to just relax, catch up on some reading, do a little writing maybe, have a nice light dinner and a glass of wine, and go to bed early. Well, as early as a sleep schedule in which you repeatedly hit the sack at 5 am will allow, so around 1 am. I had a great weekend, I must say. Friday night I went out with Benjamin and Anna to a new bar/resto called Sabbia, and I highly recommend it. It’s on Ayacucho in Barrio Norte, between Juncal and Arenales I think, and it’s a lot of fun! We arrived at about 1:30 after drinking several Fernet y colas in the apartment, accompanied as usual by some good loud music (los piojos) and indoor tennis—clearly the neighbors love us. The downstairs at Sabbia is a restaurant I think, with plenty of tables and two bars, and a good number of people already there. The vibe was classier than some places—think white furniture and blue lighting, lots of mirrors and a wall of Heineken bottles artfully arranged behind the bar. Upstairs there is another bar and some more tables, but if you head to the back, there’s a little area for dancing. The music was really good, a nice mix of reggaeton, pop rock latino, with some salsa and cumbia thrown in, so it was easy to dance to. Anna and I met some nice men to dance with, and I ended up serving as translator for Anna and this guy who spoke no English but clearly wanted to pursue her despite the language barrier. I don’t think I’ve ever told a woman she was beautiful as many times as I did that night! But así es. Arrived home at about 5:30, and woke up reeking of smoke, as usual. That is one thing I cannot stand about those clubs; my hair absorbs the smell of smoke like a freaking sponge, and it takes about three days before it’s normal again. Anyone else have that problem? Any solutions? It’s just nasty.


Saturday I went walking with Anna because it was a gorgeous day and we felt like crap from the night before and wanted to do some kind of physical activity beyond lifting a glass of Fernet. We went to the Parques in Palermo and wandered through the Rose Gardens, sitting on benches every so often and just enjoying the sunshine and green space. The gardens are really beautiful, you can almost forget you’re in the middle of the city. We almost saw a fight; one (cute) guy on a bike accidentally hit another guy because he didn’t see him and they were both wearing headphones, and the guy who fell off his bike got reallllllly pissed because his white pants were scuffed. This dude was a big sleazeball, smoking a cigarette and wearing this leather vest and a backwards hat, the closest thing to a guido I’ve seen here. Anyway he got in the other guys face and demanded money for his pants, and the other guy was like “What? No, they’re just pants, boludo, get a life,” and then the sleazy guy pulled the cute guy’s headphones off and snapped them. There was a lot of gesturing and some shoulder pushing, and then the cute guy got back on his bike and pedaled away, pretty quickly. And then this older lady behind me said “Ay, qué pelotudos,” and that was that. Anyway, we walked back to Anna’s place, got a not-so-quick Panini at a place called Panini (good grilled chicken though), and then I came home and just collapsed. Didn’t go out Saturday night, but instead stayed in and made some delicious guac(amole). Sometimes you just have to decide: party til the break of dawn, or homemade guac?

Sunday I had plans to go running in the Reserva Ecológica with some people from a yoga studio, so I went and picked up Anna after waiting 30 minutes for the 61 bus that never showed up, pinche colectivos. You’d think they would run more on the weekends since more people are out and would like to be able to go places, but NO, that would make too much sense. Anyway, we met up with the group in a park near the Reserva, across the diques in Puerto Madero, and it was absolutely packed! I had no idea this place was even there. There was music and dancing and stalls selling all kinds of stuff and tons of people everywhere, kind of like the feria at Recoleta but for Argentines instead of tourists and therefore much better. It looked like a fun place to spend a day, so I’m definitely going back soon. We ran for about an hour in the Reserva, which is an awesome place. The paths all lead to this playita, a little beach area where you can go and hang out and drink mate. Afterwards, Anna and I walked along the costanera just looking at all the things people were selling, and I got a choripan (sausage split in half on a bun, ‘chori’ from chorizo = sausage, and ‘pan’ = bread). DELICIOUS. Especially with some barbecue sauce and chimichurri, drool. Anyway, after my portable dinner we got portable dessert: helado! Chocolate with dulce de leche con brownie, 2 massive cones for the price of one, 11 pesos all this week from this place called Froillan in Puerto Madero. Go there ASAP, it’s good stuff! But seriously, how porteña am I, choripan with helado? Practically a native. And now, to bed.

Tomorrow I’ll post the next installment of Riding the Colectivo: Don't be a Bus Stop Boludo! Also stay tuned for WUCAT. It's new, it's exciting, it's coming soon to my blog!