The next couple of days after we got into BA were slightly different from the first. Our second official day in town, 6.6.2013, was pleasant enough. We pretty much woke up early with the intention of getting a lot of touristy stuff out of the way. We both wanted to see the water pretty badly so first thing was to hop on the Subte B and ride to the water. We got off at the last stop and pointed our noses to the salt. It was probably half a mile walk through the rest of the downtown and Puerto Madero to actually get to the water, which is pretty impossible because of the massive ecological reserve and the East-most side of town. We managed to get to a board walk along a salt marsh which was actually perfect. We didn’t get to see the actual Rio de la Plata proper, but we were close enough. We will see it eventually when we hop over to Uruguay for a day trip; but until then the marsh was plenty fine. We mozied around for a couple hours and worked our way back into the city, passing by the iconic Puente de la Mujer and taking stupid pictures. We stopped by a food cart and picked up a Choripan which is straight up chorizo and old bread, but it’s good when you add a little mayo, chimichuri, and criolla which I only knew to do because I saw a guy do it to his before I ordered mine. It was delish and cost 9 pesos, or about $0.90. After that, Holly and I walked through the bustling city center and did our best not to get lost or ripped off. Calle Florida and its sister street Lavalle intersect in the middle of the old theatre district downtown and make for some truly terrifying places to walk when you are new to a city and have 2K worth of camera gear in your bag. We then made our way around to a park to wait for SP to meet us at Green Curry. I had the red curry and Holly had the green. The food was pretty good and the portions were swell but I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was crowded and kind of expensive for what it was but I suppose I see the charm. After that, SP took us on a bit of a walking tour around town, by the Obelisco and up through Monserrat and finished at el Congreso de la Nacion Argentina. The Obelisco was cool but honestly the pictures you see on line do it more justice than in actual life. It was just loud and crowded and there. It’s actually a whole lot like Time Square: go once and you get the idea. Congreso, or the palace rather, was actually really cool in the fact that is was well worn and showed its relatively young age of 108 years. After a pretty successful day, we should have just stayed in, but instead we went out and tried to brave the neighborhood in search of El Parillito, the little parilla that probably should have not happened. It really is a small place, and we walked by it a couple of times without noticing it. We finally pull up and its empty. It’s open, but empty. I generally don’t like eating in empty restaurants because its weird and I don’t like having that much attention; and I especially don’t like eating in an empty restaurant when I am still very self-conscious of my spanish, but we some how mustered up the stones and wandered in. It started off well enough and we ordered some chorizo and blood sausage, morcilla, and a big ol’ Penguino full of wine. All was well until somehow the owner and I got into a conversation where I found nothing to grab onto. Usually I pick up strings of words and put them together into what I think would follow in conversation. This time, however, I had nothing. The conversation derailed and I apologized for being an idiot. It wasn’t really a big deal but it really bummed me out. It was then that I realized that my spanish needed real work and that it wasn’t going to happen passively. I now carry a little book that I write words down in and look them up later to help build my vocab and engage me in the language. Anyways, I was bummed and drank a lot more wine to make me feel better. We wound up kind of striking a chord with the owner when we asked for Fernet, which I though would come as a shot, but was served in the oh so traditional style con Coca-cola. It was delish, but I was just trying to booze. Anyways, after that as we were settling up, he poured us some hot pepper infused something or another followed by Cachaça. I think he was surprised that I knew what they were. I’ll be back though soon to work on my spanish and get some chinchulín. The way that conversation derailed should have been a sign to stay in the next day, but we didn’t.