Singing -- well, walking -- in the Rain

Saturday, 12/19/2009

Having slept until 10:45, (Do we know these people? Who are they, and what did they do with Ed and Gloria??), and having had a leisurely breakfast, we packed an umbrella and went exploring. Today we'll go out to Palermo Soho and walk through the weekend feria (market). We were under a threat of about 80% chance of rain.

We weren't disappointed. We got the rain we were promised and then some. Luckily we ducked into a boutique to wait out one of the heaviest and hardest rainstorms of the year: 30 mm in 30 minutes according to the news. Of course, the feria was rained out. It's a real shame for the artisans that have to set up their displays each weekend. They were rained out practically before the customers began to show up.

Between downpours we would proceed from one store to the next. In a couple of bookstores we searched for a Spanish translation of a recent Dan Brown novel. Eventually we found a copy and bought it. We also stopped in several farmacias (drug stores) to search for an over-the-counter item that Gloria's sister wants. Several of the pharmacists concurred that the pills were no longer available; the manufacturer had stopped shipping them.

We called Gabriel and Sylvia to invite them to dinner. They had hosted us at all our subsequent meals together. But we need to go early, we pleaded. They picked us up at about 8:00, and we went back to Palermo, where there are multiple restaurants on every block. Being early, we were one of only two parties in the restaurant, La Parrilla Escondida.

The waitress brought us our menu and I told her that I wanted the check. Gabriel demanded otherwise and the waitress refused to take sides, of course. We ordered three different types of grilled beef, and went to the salad bar while we waited. In addition to what you would expect on a salad bar, this one had arugula, and caramelized onions.

Beef in Argentina – as well as many other countries – is cut differently from the way we are accustomed in the US. In addition, Argentine beef is generally range fed; it never sees a feed lot. As a result, the meat is more muscular and seldom has the fat marbling that we know in the US.

By the time we finished our meal, at about 10:00, the huge restaurant was 100% full. The noise from conversation had reached a level that made it difficult to hear our own conversation. For a hidden (escondida) restaurant, it seems that a lot of people are in on the secret.

When Gabriel left the table to go to the rest room, I signaled the waitress to bring me the check. A few minutes later Gabriel returned, holding the check. The waitress only shrugged her shoulders at me when I shot her an inquiring glance.

As we left the restaurant, we had to push through a throng of at least 75 people waiting to be seated. At 10:30. Passing the parrilla (grill), we stood a few minutes to watch the cooks prepare dozens of cuts of meat on the gratings. The grill, heated by charcoal and wood, is at the entrance, where you can see it from the sidewalk; 20 or 30 bags of charcoal were stashed under the fire box. The cooking surface measures about 1.5 meters (5 ft.) deep by about 5 meters (16 ft 5 in) long. One of the cooks saw us and asked “who finally paid the check?” Our dispute had made it all the way to the cook staff.

We drove around Palermo marveling at the shops and restaurants. Most of the eating establishments had crowds waiting to be seated, while clientele eating their meals packed the tables that spilled out onto the sidewalks. As has become our routine, our hosts pointed out interesting landmarks and businesses as we wound our way through the barrio (neighborhood).

Dropping us off at our apartment, our hosts said, “We'll see you tomorrow.” We responded, “Please don't preoccupy yourselves with us; we can make our own way around the city.” But they would not hear of it. “We'll call you in the afternoon. If you need anything you have our number.”