Behaving Like Gringos (Thurs 3/18)

Stats:
- 65+ kitties
- 1 movie in English
- lunch in the food court
- dinner around the corner 
- 1 sick person 

I am sure there are those of you that will find our judgment today to be lacking. What, with all the musuems, galleries, yadah yadah yadah, in Buenes Aires, we chose to do what we have done. Well, in our defense I have two things to offer. First, there are a few key things that Arn and I share in common: we both hate horseback riding, we both love cemetary crawls, we both love factory tours (seeing how stuff is made), and we both have a sub-12 minute attention span for musuems. Second, you can take the American outside of the U.S., but you can't take the American out of me.  Today, we decided to just enjoy a few favorite things. 

We returned to the Kitty Park. Okay, it is the Botanical Garden, but we will forever call it Kitty Park. We were interested in checking out the conditions of the kitties after the massive rain storm. Unlike yesterday, the cats were gathered in huge prides like something off of Animal Planet. The first "pride" included 17 cats stretched out on the lawn next to a sign that read, "Please Stay Off The Grass". The next pride, about 10 cats, claimed a statue and the surrounding stone work. Tails and paws hung leisurely off the edges as they enjoyed sleeping in the emerging sun. The final pride, perhaps 21 members, took over a patio area that had become storage for supplies and building materials. Cats were tucked into corners, between stacks of lumber, stretched out on tables and sitting in the sun.

After a visit with the felines, we went to see the movie, "The Hurt Locker".  It was nice to just do something we enjoy doing at home. Afterward, we checked out the nearby shopping mall. It was new, huge and filled with all kinds of high-end retail. We surveyed the food court and had choripan (sausage on bread) for lunch. It was good, but I should have gone with my original idea --- ordering dessert instead of lunch.

We returned to the hotel. I was pretty wiped out with a cold. I sound exactly like the chica on the plane from a couple of days ago.  So, for dinner we decided to check out the Japanese/Peruvian restaurant around the corner from our hotel. Now, you might wonder --- how do they put Japanese and Peruvian food together. It is pretty easy as both cultures like raw fish. One is sushi or sashimi and the other is ceviche.  So, we ate some of it all. Our conclusion was 1) it was good, but not as good as at home (the place we tried was highly rated and reviewed), and 2) the people in BA are obsessed with Japanese food. It seems to be the new "new thing".  

A note about restaurant reservations --- we have made a few interesting discoveries. Some places only take reservations for the eariliest seating which is 8:30pm. So, if you are willing to eat "early", you are guaranteed your table. After that, all bets are off. The place we tried today for dinner had a different policy. They took reservations. If you arrived without one (like we did), they will tell you if they hav a table and if they do, they will tell you how long you can have it. For example, we arrived a few minutes after 8pm and we could have the table until 9:30pm. It worked perfect for us and the people who had the table reserved for 9:30pm. I like this policy.