Milion

I’m moving through these plates of my B&B desayuno completo pretty quickly. I thought I’d be more hungover from the absinthe, but I don’t feel bad at all. In retrospect, I’ve definitely been drunker in the past, just not off of such a little amount. It just hit me so fast. And hard when I was on the bus home. Green I want you green, underneath the gypsy moon. But it sounds better it Garcia Lorca’s native Spanish: “verde te quiero verde, debajo de la luna gitana…” And Annemarie was taking pictures of the black cat on the bar, snuggled under a cloth white napkin between bottles of wine.
He’s sweet I guess. I just don’t like cats. Or animals where my food/drink is being prepared. Isn’t that illegal? But then again, so is absinthe. Even in Argentina. And yet it is on the menu. Absenta - $41. Damian asked the waiter about it. He told us the proof (close to 80%, anise-derived no sugar added,) let us smell the bottle. It smelled like a minty Jagermeister. And tasted about like that too. But it burned all the way down.
Perhaps I was supposed to shot it all at once, but that would’ve been disastrous. (The waiter did warn me, “Buena suerte,” as he handed me the tiny glass.) Who knew something so small would be so powerful? Dynamite in a glass. Halfway through it became a battle: I’d take a tiny sip and hold it under my tongue to keep from feeling the burning sensation drip down my throat. Annemarie and Damian each took a sip; they didn’t ask for seconds. I don’t know how the Parisian writers did it. Suck it up and drink it down I guess. Whatever gets the creative juices flowing. And for many I imagine it was The Green Fairy.

Moulin Rouge leaves me with so many false expectations.

I never saw her. But then again I only took one. Over the course of two hours’ time. And I kind of think these days it’s a bit more purified than in 1890s bohemian France. (Although absinthe was vilified, no evidence has shown it to be any more dangerous than ordinary liquor. Its psychoactive properties, apart from those of ethanol, have been much exaggerated.) But now I can say I’ve tried it – and isn’t that a major part of travel? Trying new things? I don’t know how much I’d like to try it again… Annemarie’s drinks (a Hope Sour and a Frozen Mojito) tasted a whole lot better, so did Jenny’s Pisco Sour. And they were a whole lot less vicious. But I suppose I drank fewer calories. More bang for your buck.

The group: Ben, Jenny, Damian, Annemarie & me.

And speaking of bucks, Silvana has a new job: dying poodles. After one of Juan Jo’s friends’ girlfriends saw Camila with the pink fur, she offered Sil $100 pesos to dye her dog pink! And along that vein, the Sex and the City movie doesn’t come out here until 12 June, so please don’t spoil it for me! I might have to wait in line with my Starbuck's in hand, it opened this morning and the lines were insane.