Wednesday, 18 February 2009

A quiet day in BA



15th Jan: This was planned to be another busy day, doing some sightseeing in the local nature reserve and going to the area known as La Boca. In reality we don't surface till after 12pm. Both Mandy and I are feeling a little the worse for wear, which is not a surprise.

Head out to a little French restaurant near the hotel and enjoy the plat du jour, with a glass of nice rose, which is surprisingly refreshing. We walk around the area a bit. Buy a copy of a local paper, for Mandy's uncle, who was here a good few years ago as a sailor. We are still feeling a bit wiped out so back to the hotel for some more R&R.

We have arranged to meet Tim & Colin in Palermo, the trendy area in which they have rented a flat for 5 days. Jump in a cab, for what turns out to be a good 45 min ride in the rush hour. Not quite as bad as London, but not much better. Taxi driver evidently not that familiar with the area as he drops us off a couple of blocks from where we asked. Not an issue as this is very much a lively happening area with loads of cool, hip people out and about. This is clearly an affluent area, with trendy boutiques, eateries etc. We slowly walk up to the agreed meeting point popping into a number of shops, the highlight of which is a paper shop. This isn't a newspaper shop, but one of those rare places that sells a variety of writing papers. Suffice to say Mandy is on a bit of a high in here, she being a writer.

Meet the guys and find ourselves a table overlooking the main square. In reality the plaza is a roundabout in the centre of which many people are meeting and greeting. Also a little play area for kids. We get a couple of large bottles of beer and order up a platter to share. It is a combination of lots of meat slices and more processed cheeses. We are entertained by some drummers, who are trying to get the crowds going, but without any real success. This area is evidently a key travellers meeting place, from the large groups of tourists frequenting the bars around the plaza. As the sun sets we agree we need to go and try some of the famed ice-cream so head off to a little place down the road. The place looks like part of a chain, but the ice-cream is indeed very tasty. The double scoop of almond and toffee flavours goes down well. By the time we have finished, the sun has well set, but there are still a lot of people around. Mandy and I grab a cab back to our hotel.

On our return, we are not ready for bed so I check out the details of a tango club from a card given to us by the taxi driver last night. It is not too far away from the hotel. As we head down we realise that there is a whole street area, within 15 mins walk of our hotel, that we were unaware of. Lots of bars/restaurants down the road called Chile. We find the tango bar that we are after, which is a small intimate looking place, with a small dance floor in front of a number of dining tables. It is close to 11pm and the waiter outside is trying to get us to take a table, but there is no one else in the place and no musicians setting up so we politely decline. Agree that it would have been a great location, but we don't really have the time to hang around too long as we have a relatively early start in the morning. So we slowly walk back to the hotel, soaking up the ambience.

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