46 entirely aggravating yards

Sundays are meant to be relaxing, and Martin Gramatica made mine a total aggravation. Up to that point things had been going well, starting with Fiorentina beating Lazio 1-0, and it's always good to beat the fascists.

Purple jersey tucked back away, we made our way over to Plaza Cortazar where every weekend there is a market featuring all sorts of jewelry, art, crafts, and other assorted nick-nacks. I found a newspaper and settled into a chair at one of the many cafes that surround the plaza, this one happened to be called Madagascar. Sitting out on the plaza, reading a newspaper front to back while drinking a coffee I found myself thinking this is why I came to Buenos Aires.

When Drumm joined me at the Cafe he ordered some kind of smoothie that he said was good and two thin ham and cheese sandwiches called that were the prefect light lunch.

After a quick jaunt around the streets of Palermo, in area called "Palermo Soho" for a reason, since the streets are filled with boutique shop after boutique shop, we set out for Recoleta so I could put myself through the aggravation of watching the Giants throw what was once a promising season down the drain.

When you've been traveling for a long time there is a nostalgic appreciation of a place like El Alamo Bar, where we were greeted by the muscle-bound bartender with, "what can I get you bro?" I haven't been traveling that long. But they are the only bar in town that has the Sunday Ticket, so I threw down a few bottles of Stella Artois and struck up a conversation with the Californian girl watching the Raiders Texans game, while listening to a few scattered Dallas fans gloat their way to victory.

Suitably annoyed we hailed a cab home (my first time hailing a cab and successfully communicating where it was we wanted to go) and rested up for a few minutes before heading out to dinner around 11.15P.

La Cabrera is one of the most perennially popular parilla in all of Buenos Aires. The expertly prepared meats are served with a delicious selection of sides and sauces. Just yesterday it appeared in the Buenos Aires Herald as the best Parilla in the city. I have to say it did not disappoint. Drumm had a caesar salad big enough to easily be a meal unto itself and then the meat arrived. I ordered the Lomo, or beef tenderloin, and drumm ordered Lomito, which we later discovered was pork tenderloin. The food arrived on wooden boards, four small steaks per person surrounded by sauces and sides that included everything from mashed potatoes to cured vegetables and roasted garlic, etc. Everything was cooked perfectly. In the end we agreed that La Cabrera is a must visit, and we shall surely return. (It doesn't hurt that it's about 10-12 blocks from our apartment).

I should note that sometime after the salad I started to feel really not good, so not good in fact, that I was unable to eat my way through a significant portion of my food. A full day walking in the sun, coupled with very little food and a healthy portion of alcohol took its toll. But my stomach did not affect my sense of taste, so in the end I just have one more reason to return.

Today it's off to set up Spanish classes, and then a trip to the mac store to buy a wireless router. I'm eying a mored modern Argentine dinner tonight, but we'll have to see how things play out.