Thursday, November 24, 2011

Scarlett O'Hara in Argentina

And so she said, "tomorrow is another day". Well and so it was. The day started off great with plans galore but you know what they say,"when we make plans, God laughs".
Being the optimist I usually am, I was anxiously awaiting my luggage while Chris and I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the outdoor garden, the weather is magnificent.

At noon, my friend, Alejo Canton who owns Vistage Argentina came to pick me up for lunch as I am training all the Argentinian Chairs tomorrow. I was told the number 1 restaurant we had to go to was La Cabrera, so I made reservations for it tomorrow night as soon as I got here. Much to my surprise, Alejo takes me there for lunch as it is owned by a Vistage member. I told Alejo to order for me as I wanted to taste what is most indicative of the area. We start with empanadas and three sauces which I cannot begin to describe. Then the grilled provolone cheese covered with a sun dried tomato sauce...amazing. We are then treated to a Kobe steak, a rib eye steak and a sirloin steak (if you haven't figured it out yet, the Argentinians are famous for meat), hence all the Argentinean steak houses now proliferating the US. With that comes a myriad of sauces, bowls full of pumpkin, applesauce, potatoes and more than I have room to write about. We sample everything.

The owner, Gaston Riveira come over to welcome Alejo and proudly shows me an article that appeared in the NY Times about his restaurant. We take a photo which I'd love to show you along with all the others, but more about that later. He tells us he wants to open an ice cream store (the second thing they are famous for) and brings out a platter of eight different scoops of ice cream with waffle cone cookies all around it. Of course we must sample all to give our opinion. Yes, I am known to love superlatives but this was by far the best ice cream I have EVER tasted and trust me, I've tasted many:-)

The flavors...dulce de leche, of course and THE best, sabayon, almond brickle, strawberry, vanilla, American cream, lemon, chocolate, oh yes, chocolate. Then Gaston comes over and gives me an authentic native steak knife in a leather pouch and they bring out a lollipop tree to end the meal. Specatcular!

I come back to the hotel to meet Chris who opted for a pedicure and was quite upset to hear what she missed. The hotel told me my luggage arrived and I was ecstatic only to find out they delivered my small bag of toiletries and soneone else's suitcase of clothes. They were told it was a set so hard to believe what they brought.

At this point, I lost it, I'll let you figure out how. I spent the next hour or so on the phone with LAN and American Air to no avail. I am now five days with nothing to wear and they simply don't care, couldn't resist the rhyme. So instead of tango'ing, I had to go shopping. Now I know you're all thinking what a joy that is for me and normally so but not this type. I simply had to find a mall where I could get basics from a hair dryer to a nightgown, shoes, shirts, etc... at the very least something to wear to my speech tomorrow.

We just got back at 11PM, my leg has ice on it as my ankle is aching for walking miles in improper shoes while I try to prepare for tomorrow. I wish I was reporting how exciting my trip to Argentina is going and how I am loving all the tango classes and milongas and things we had planned but so far, alas, alack I cannot. So as Scarlett said, "tomorrow is another day". Pray for me, Argentina!

Oh yes, Happy Thanksgiving all!

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