What better to do when you're sick but to write about how you became so. I have no one to blame except myself, and of course BA (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
Friday night I was supposed to meet up with a friend and check out an art gallery opening, however I received a phone call at 7pm that changed my evening plans. I did go to the art opening, but instead of bar hoping around the city, I went to BA for work instead (a much better deal I believe). At Gallery 47 (47 Milky Way Ave.), Jaclyn Quaresma's Of Many show was having its debut. Quaresma laid over the floor her own man-made white tiles with the intention of the audience to break the tiles as they trod over them during the length of the exhibit (one month). It was an odd mixture of emotion; at once you feel like a child, been given free reign to play, dance and step anywhere to make something happen, however once you do in fact break one of the tiles, you almost feel ashamed, like yikes, i just cracked your floor dude, sorry. It reminded me at once of Nijo castle in Kyoto and its nightingale floors, with just the lightest step one could hear an enemy approaching. The same technique seemed to work on these tiles, the lighter you tread, the easier to break, and once they did start moving away from one another, it started to take on a landscape of passing icebergs.
Ok, so I left my friend at a bar , and off to BA for me! We arrived in the afternoon and what better way to wind down from a full nights' work = malbec at an outdoor cafe of course! My friend Paulette took us for dinner to a carne restaurant named El Establo ( Paraguay 489), which served a delicious assortment of CARNE, CARNE, CARNE, and of course more malbec (there's nothing wrong with that). Afterwards I took everyone to Club Bahrein (Lavalle 345) which I had frequented in the past and enjoyed. It hadn't changed much! Three levels, top being a low key lounge, main floor a 80s-90s throwback and the basement is where it's at with house and electronica. There was a little something for all the different age groups in the crew. However, Argentinians don't typically eat dinner until well after 9pm and start going to the clubs 'round 1am. We were there at midnight (2 for 1 drinks end at 24:00 in the upstairs Yellow Bar). The music started to get really good a little after 3am, and my friend Elmo and I stayed until 4:30 (reason #2 of why i became sick this week = out too late...oh reason #1: worked an all night flight, did not rest upon landing).
Got to sleep 'round 5am and woke up at 10am to get ready for work (a Santiago, Chile turn; where we had some time on the ground to play around some).
We got in fairly late but were still hungry, unfortunately most kitchens were closing 'round 1am. We found one open until 2am, but i will refrain from mentioning it, it was not very good. I had promised Elmo to go to a mix club (gay/straight) so off to Amerika (Gascon 1040) we went! Cover was $40 pesos, with one free drink from a set menu (which mostly consisted of either vodka or gin with banana - it was awful!) The club itself was pretty cool, 3 different levels open to one another-in order to check out everyone. A drink that is pretty popular in BA is Champagne + Speed (which turns out to be their version of Red Bull) and it's delicious!
Again I made it home for 5am and woke up at 10am (reason #3 = no sleep) to make the most of my last day. A few haunts on my own that i wanted to check out. Tealosophy (Av. Alvear 1883, Galleria Promenade) which is a little shop i discovered on my previous trip, and 2 years later it's just as good! Unfortunately they only had 2 of the 4 teas I desired, but beggars can't be choosers. Ines Breton, the women who makes the teas has served the King and Queen of Spain along with the Dalai Lama. I recommend Green Geisha, Green Berries and Calm. From here I walkeded on the outskirts of Recoleta cemetery to Tea Connection (Uriburu 1597) for a great salad and of course some tea! Walked along the footpath shopping street Florida to check out the home goods at Falabella.
I enjoy working overseas, however it usually involves pulling a few all nighters in a row and when you get home you're on a wacky sleep schedule, and that can lead to a head cold, which is where i'm at. Boo.
Listening: Smoke Without Fire - Duffy
Drinking: Tea a l'opera (Green Tea, Mariage Freres)
Reading: L'elegance du herisson - Muriel Barbery
