I just got back from a weekend trip from Buenos Aires and I think I'm finally getting caught up on my sleep. We got in on Friday morning and within the first 5 minutes of our conversation with the taxi driver, he identified Jonthan's Spanish as being from Mexico and that I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. We stayed in a neighborhood called Palermo, which is a great area full of bars, restaurants and shops. We got to our hotel, the Malabia House, and I don't think I've had such a great hotel experience as I did there. The service was great and the grounds were very well kept along with the fact that they upgraded our room for free simply because they had it available. I'll definitely stay they again if I go back.

Randomly, we knew of a friend of a friend that was also in BA from the states, Laura was staying with her friend Gabby who lives down there while going to school. Laura met up with us and we spent the whole day sightseeing, we visited the Plaza de Mayo, Casa Rosada, 9 de Julio, Cafe Tortoni and a couple of churches. We capped the afternoon by getting some drinks at Kilkenny's - yes, an Irish bar while in Buenos Aires, but we were told it's a good time and it didn't disappoint. In fact, we might have had too much fun, we needed to come back and take an hour nap before heading to dinner which was okay since we didn't get there until 11pm, average for Argentines. We were sat around midnight and left around 2pm, but not before getting some free champagne and a complimentary bottle of Malbec. Afterward we went to get some drinks at Cronico, at 24-hour bar, yikes.

Saturday started a little slow, but after some breakfast we were feeling better. We met back up with Laura in Recoleta and went to the cemetery to visit Evita's tomb and to see the impressive cemetery and it's maze of famous and beautiful mausoleums. We then visited the Recoleta church next door and made our way through a street fair to find the Museo Nacional de Bella Artes (National Art Museum). There was FREE admission and some great works of art including pieces from Degas, Picasso and Rembrandt, not to mention an artist new to me named Marcel Dzarma. He is apparently a Canadian artist known for his work with watercolors, however his pieces are more like scenes from a bizarre and demented children's book, but it made me laugh, I still smile thinking about the fish pictures. After the museum, we got a cup of tea at La Biela, a coffeeshop famous for being a meeting place for early racecar drivers. The black and white pictures of the famous racers adorn the inside restaurant, however we sat outside so we watch some tango dancers do their thing on the sidewalk. We then walked back to Laura's place where we finally met Gabby and she invited us to an "asado" that evening at her place, which is basically a bbq with a bunch of friends.

We headed back to get ready and couldn't resist stopping somewhere to get an appetizer at a parillo...the food is so good. Ended up getting back to the asado around 10pm, we were still early even though we were a half-hour late. Not surprisingly, we ended up eating around midnight, followed by many hours of dancing to Reggeton. If you don't know Reggeton, you only need to hear one song, then put it on repeat for hours and you'll pretty much experience it. Everyone was awesome though and we were able to see what true locals do on the weekends. The quote of the trip came at 5:10am..yes AM. We were standing there and this guy comes up and looks at us and says "uh, so are you guys ready to go out?". Unflinchingly, we said yes. So, we get to this bar at 5:30am and find out it's open until 9am...awesome. We went in and it was definitely night and we came out and the day had already started...not starting...started.

We got back to the hotel around 8:30am, wisely asked for a late checkout and went back to sleep for four hours. Got up, ate breakfast, and before leaving explained out plan to our concierge. After agreeing to the plan, she paused and looked at us with concerned eyes before saying "Are...you two...alright?". We smiled and confirmed our positive condition, but she wasn't fully convinced because as she explained, she was there 4 hours earlier when it didn't look like we were fine. Well, we still made it to the antique show in San Telmo, came back to Palermo for a final stroll around the area, then came back, got our cab to the airport and passed out on the plane, until we got back to Chicago and immediately went to work.

A bit of a whirlwind, but a great trip overall. I hope to go back, but this time in the summer!

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