Two Dates Down, One To Go

But I don’t know if I’ll be going on the other one. I only have Jamaica’s email, and if Annemarie’s not coming, I don’t want to go. I love Taco Tuesday, but three weeks in a row is a lot. And I ate Mexican food yesterday at El Salto de las Ranas. (When we found out they delivered, my life was complete. I have yet to have a delivery day here in Buenos Aires. You can get everything delivered. Even ice cream. They pack it in dry ice.) Anyway, tonight is Rumi Gay Night and the return of DJ Balca. Leandro is supposed to get us in for free, but I haven’t spoken to him today. I should get on it. But I have felt so overwhelmed today. Not quite caught up from the weekend. Or the super-long date with Ezequiel. Andres texted me at 12:45 pm saying he just woke up and can we do lunch later. Sure. When is later? After a while I assume later is another day. Nope, it is today. It means as soon as the waiter brings me my coffee. I can’t do it. Give me thirty minutes. I need my alone time. So he takes a cab from wherever he is to my neighborhood. I assume he will call when he’s there, so I head upstairs and email and take care of a few things. Eventually I text him, “You lost?” Nope, he has been waiting for me at the Pizza Donna corner. But he never called. How was I supposed to know? So we get on the D Line and miss our stop, cross over and go back only one stop, only to realize we should’ve taken Palermo instead. We end up walking quite a bit. “Oh, this is my neighborhood,” he tells me. He lives on Juan B. Justo and Santa Fe, right by the Palermo stop. He doesn’t know his neighborhood vegetarian restaurants very well… When we get there, I watch him read the menu with a look that reflects both intrigue and disgust. We split the couscous to start, he orders some sort of Indian rice, and I get the quinoa risotto con verduras del estación y lamidas de queso de cabra. Fabulous. I should’ve ordered that the last time. I had been debating. It was superb. I do think he enjoyed his food though. So we talk cinema (he’s an animator and screenplay writer) and Paris (he studied film there) and swap bar stories. He fills me in on Matt and Con, since he lives with them. They’re a total mess. But fun. They opened Sugar Barcelona and a hostel in Guatemala before opening Sugar Buenos Aires. I am still rattled a bit. Perhaps still tired from my dinner date with Ezequiel but more likely just not caught up from the weekend. But Andres had a late night too so we are both in a slightly confused state. The vegetarian food did make me feel whole again, but now I am just tired. And tonight is Jenny’s and my big night out: drinks at Sugar and then dancing at Rumi. I’m skipping tacos in favor of 2 for 1 ice cream at Il Diverso with Jenny. Then maybe a sandwich at 10 pm.

But anyway, on my way home from Palermo I run into Kristin, the Austinite bartender and her study abroad friend Jenn. “Oh, a blonde I know!” She says to me as she passes me on the street. We chat for a bit and they invited me for some licuados, which are like fruit smoothies but juicier. I figure I just had a free lunch so I can spring for some juice. So we step into Avila, this tennis-themed kiosko/empanada café I always mean to try but never do. And we chat. About the bar about college about a lot. I tell her I had just gotten back from lunch with Andres and I let him pay, and I have no qualms about it. “Oh, if they invite you, they pay.” “Good because Ezequiel paid last night too.” “Oh the Mexican?” All three of us agree that he is nice but very boring. I like Kristin a lot. And her friend Jenn, who comments on how Christian my name sounds. She’s Jewish. Jews can’t name a child after a living relative. Well, my family would be screwed.

So now I am resting up and just hope my next day won’t be quite so frazzled. I was barely able to do simple math when figuring the tip. Kristin was practically laughing at me. So tomorrow I plan on sleeping in, grabbing desayuno completo at Café B&B, buying a few groceries. (I really need vegetables, but they all look so sad in the store.) Might make a San Telmo day with Annemarie, window shop Calle Defensa (then shoe shop and purse shop,) grab some coffee at a bar notable… Could be nice.