High noon (12:00pm) - I am ashamed to admit it, but this is the average time I've been waking up. The nightlife goes so late here that this might even be on the early side. One of the cool gadgets that Dom has in the bedroom portion of his studio, is motorized blinds which are remote controlled by a small box with an alarm on it. I've only set the alarm once, but waking up to sunlight vs a loud nagging alarm is a no brainer. This is the way homo sapiens were meant to awaken.
1pm - After a glass of OJ, head out to play tennis/run errands/sightsee. While there has been some rain and a few fierce storms here, the weather has been remarkably consistent with summer temps in the 80s, high humidity and lots of sun.
Well manicured Park with overground subway in the back.
3pm - After an active morning...errr afternoon, it's time to eat. If a restaurant is open in the afternoon it will have outdoor seating. My favorite dish here is an appetizer called an empanada. It's a pastry filled with everything from meat/chicken to ham/cheese/onions. They are rolled in dough and baked in an oven. I'm averaging around 2 a day here + their quality varies from restaurant to restaurant with pizza places having surprisingly good ones. They are not helping my goal of losing weight here but I am powerless to stop them.
6pm - Head home to grab a swim/shower and take a siesta. The siesta has not caught on over here quite like it has in Spain, but that doesn't keep me from trying to install it in my culture.
7pm - Move out to take a tango or yoga lesson depending on the day of the week. Yoga was something I stumbled upon by accident as I was finishing a tango lesson one day. Actually, more they stumbled on me as one of my tango lessons was running late and a group pleasant, yet intensely focused women toting mats and good karma busted down the door to let us know our time was up. I took their card, and decided to sign up for an 8 pack in an effort to improve my terrible flexibility and try to work something new in my life. My first class felt like boot camp as my arms and legs vibrated in some of the poses. While most of the women next to me were focused on their breathing, I was just trying not to fall over or onto one of them. I haven't sweated that much in a while and the next day everything was sore. I think that means it's working.
10pm - This is when the majority of people head out for dinner. At 10:30pm it is impossible to get a table at my favorite CampoBravo so they serve you free champagne while you wait.
The view from one of the tables around 1030pm. The people briefly look up from their meal to note that I am the gringo taking a picture of nothing in particular.
One thing I can't recommend here is sushi. They put cream cheese in almost every roll and it's a lot more expensive than other cuisines. It's a shame because having red meat with every meal as well as a few cervezas at night is a sure recipe for getting gout. I need to find other alternatives.
12am (midnight) - Meet friends out for a few Quilmes which is the Budweiser of Argentina. Midnight is early even for some as many dinners can run past 1am. As stated in an early blog, the Milongas (ballroom style tango events) really pick up around 1am. From my observations, most Argentinians go out in pairs or groups and generally don't mix with other groups. Not surprisingly the drunker a group, the more likely they are to mingle, but it is not the same as clubs in the US where it's common to make new friends in a night.
3am - 5am - Stumble home + heat up a empanada in the microwave. Que rico!
Disclaimer: Although it is not explicitly mentioned, there is some work being done in the above hours. Given that the mere mention of work is lame and not fun I have omitted it. I'm not a complete waste of space.
I love the yoga part....it looks pretty easy, but it's really not! I remember my first time - the lady leading the class kept telling us to pay attention to our breathing. Like you, all I paid attention to was not falling!
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