Meeting Denise and eating out
This was our last day in Buenos Aires until our return. I had gotten in touch with a friend of Alesha’s who lived in Buenos Aries. We planned to meet for lunch at a seafood restaurant across the city in an upscale area called Recolete. It was nice to sleep in and not having to get up early. Both Barbara and I are night owls so we were able to get a bit more sleep. We enjoyed getting up late. We took our time getting ready and by the time we went down to breakfast, it was over. We did get some coffee and tea to tide us over until lunch. We took a taxi and got out by the restaurant – it was called Fervor. We were about an hour early so decided to do some shopping. It was a high class area with lots of expensive shops. Barbara wanted some new make-up. We found a store on the corner and she had a lot of fun trying on make-up samples etc. I didn’t buy anything but just looked around and helped translate Barb’s English to Spanish.
She was very happy as she bought quite a few items. We walked on and went into a lot of shops. Barb was looking for a good pair of boots. We shopped around and finally it was about 12:45 and we needed to get back to the restaurant as I didn’t want Denise (Alesha’s friend) to wait for us. I left Barb at the store trying on boots and hurried to the restaurant.
I got back to the place and saw a sign that said parking for Fervor so I went into the restaurant. It was pretty full. I looked around but didn’t see anyone looking for someone. There weren’t any seats upstairs so I asked if there was seating downstairs. There was, so I went down and found a booth. The stairs getting down were very steep which made me worried about Barbara. I asked if I could wait for her upstairs. Then they were nice and changed our seats to the upstairs area. It was by the door. It was about 1:15 and no one had come. I started looking through the menu and it was a very old menu. I noticed that there were no seafood dishes on the menu. I turned around and asked the gentleman sitting behind me if this was the Fervor Restaurant and he said no, it was next door. I rushed next door but again no one was there. So I said I would wait.
It was 1:30 and I thought for sure I had missed Denise. Finally, a young, attractive lady arrived and introduced herself as Denise. She apologized for being late and so we sat down and I told her about my mistake. This restaurant was very classy and definitely a seafood restaurant. They brought the menu and Denise ordered a variety of seafood plus a salad. By that time, Barb showed up. We actually had a very nice lunch and conversation. The lunch was delicious and on the expensive side. Barb and I split the bill and treated Denise.
Barb had mentioned that she was looking for boots so Denise decided to hang out with us and help with the boot shopping. Barb never did find any boots – every pair had something wrong. We even went to another area of town to look. By that time, I was done with the boot shopping. We found a tea shop but it was so full – we had to wait a half an hour to get a seat. The weather had turned very cold so people were hanging out in the tea shop. It was a great tea place and I had a scone which was very tasty. We stayed there quite a long time. It was getting to be around 6:30 pm. Barb wanted to see local tango dancing. Not a show but just the local people taking lessons or dancing. Denice knew this place. We hopped in a taxi and went to a seedier part of town. Denise said this was kind of an underground place. It looked a bit sketchy but we went up some rickety stairs and down a few passage ways and came out in this huge room with a stage and funny hanging lights and the smell of food. Denise asked when the dancing began and it wasn’t until about 8:30 pm. I did not want to wait that long. It was a huge, dark, empty room with a bar at the back. Not a bit inviting. The weather had turned very cold so that added to the over-all atmosphere. Barb said she was starving and wanted to see what they were cooking. I said I wasn’t going to eat there. She and Denise went to see what the food was and it was actually vegetarian food. That did not entice me so we decided to leave. Denise suggested a Thai restaurant in Palermo Hollywood. We also asked her about changing money as Argentinians want dollars. She called her dad and he offered the best rate of 8.50 to the dollar. The actual exchange rate on the market was $5.4 to the dollar. We were getting a great deal! She said he would meet us after his work. Denise would meet him at the subway and exchange the money for us.
We arrived at the restaurant and since it was early by Argentinean standards, there were plenty of seats. We ordered a variety of dishes. Everything was so tasty and we really enjoyed it!!! As it was getting late, we took a taxi to the subway. Denise got out and ran down to meet her dad. We waited in the taxi for her. She came right back and with the money, gave it to us. We said good by and went back to the hotel.
By the time we got to bed, it was already about 2am and we had to get up very early for our flight to the Falls. So I will continue our adventures in the next post.
diannestraveladventures.me 