1519 (local time from now on) Just finished three plates at all you can eat buffet. With a litre of Quilmes. ARS67, 80 with possibly OTT tip. Place is on Avenida de Mayo and is oddly familiar, I may have been there in 2010 though far from confident.
Hot as hell outside and aircon poor inside buffet. Shoved stuff in trouser pkts instead of carrying fleece and I regret it. Feeling 'sticky' post dining. Shall walk back to hotel, if there is a bar enroute maybe one more but when I came out most places were distressingly closed. Shall also pick up a bottle of diet coke or similar to shove in fridge. Shouldn't be stood on street corner writing this anyway, tho am so bloated don't feel able to move too fast.
1527 OK, still feeling hot and sticky. Spotted open bar with tables outside, Cafe-Bar Iberia also on Av de Mayo or whatever it was, so getting chopp (Quilmes again) and then will wend my way home via diet coke shop. Bloated but in a good way. Think I was losing it a little pre-eating.
Water not super hot at hotel but bath was still welcome. I do remember when I came in 2010 my Argentinian spanish teacher advised me not to come too early in the year as it would be too hot. As it was, when I was here (April? Can't remember for sure) it was a touch chilly. London in Autumn style. This is clearly what he warned me about. But it's fine, it's a change from London and maybe one of the places I visit will be in the mountains and cooler.
Vague plan for tonight is to go out, tho ideally near hotel, but not stay out late unless I'm having a blinding time. We shall see. Just may have two here but that will be it for lunch/afternoon.
1555 Bloated as hell. It's sort of good but sort of not. Beer nearly gone - was only small. Will have another but won't rush to order it. Definitely buying some diet coke or what have you (a grapefruit juice would just hit the spot, but I probably can't get any) afterwards. May have a cold bath too. Am sure I will get used to it.
Just saw a young lady cycle past on a Brompton wearing a tiny pair of shorts.
They gave me snacks with the beer but not touching them. A single rather ratty looking pigeon has joined me at the table and is digging in. I have weakly shoed it away but don't have the heart to really try to get rid of it. It's not like they would have recycled this food anyway and it's really quite polite and unobtrusive.
Even this small beer is warm by the end. A good reason for serving small ones I guess. Tho I think it's ARS20 a beer, which ain't cheap, and there will be a tip on top. Still, I quite like the contradiction in going super cheap (free, actually, of course) on the bus from the airport and now this. Plus it's a case of any port in a storm and any oasis in a desert.
I hope it will be a bit cooler at night. There is a slight breeze but not much.
Sign in window suggests they take USD and another currency I don't recognise by the note or the rate. Probably Uruguayan pesos though.
The couple sharing the right emergency exit seats with me were flying from Tel Aviv to Montevideo via London and BA to visit relatives. I didn't speak to them, they were talking to the chatty English steward during takeoff/landing. The bloke had a tendency to sing brief snatches of song he was listening to on his headset.
That bloke with his son I met waiting for the bus said BA was very cosmopolitan. In fact he said the country was. I have no real reason to doubt him and it was nice to say I was English and not have it be a problem.
Oh, this bar is festooned with Quilmes branded chairs and umbrellas. I think there's a reason I asked for Quilmes with the buffet, it's clearly well advertised. Though I do seem to think the name flitted through my mind Friday morning too.
Oh, it occurred to me 15 mins into the bus ride from the airport I wasn't wearing a seatbelt because there weren't any. I guess actually it's the same in London, but it still gave me that bizarrely exotic sense of liberty which I find so appealing about Latin America.
1614 No sign of waiter yet. I am really in no rush but I am wondering if I should try to make some sort of gesture. Fairly happy to sit here sweating while my digestive apparatus kicks in.
OK, gonna go in to use bog (mainly to wash hands) and will also see if that triggers action from waiter.
1625 Went in to bog, came out. Word had got round among the pigeons who after a slightly endearing two at a time scavenge came up en masse while I tried to attract the waiter's attention, scattering salty snacks everywhere in a low budget The Birds recreation. I took the remains in and just ordered another chopp and the bill. Waiter obviously speaks some English. Got second beer and bill. ARS36 but made it 45 with tip. I think this is my typical early phase where I overdo the tips but better safe than sorry I guess.
1630 Some smallish and rather sluggish black beetle just dropped on my leg out of nowhere. Inoffensive enough after the shock value, but it's not like I'm sitting under a tree.
1955 OK, I bought some soft drinks - including, yay, some 'pomelo' stuff, which is apparently a citrus fruit related to the grapefruit if not actually a grapefruit by another name, and which tastes like slightly un-bitter grapefruit juice - came home and lay down on the bed to de-bloat. I semi-inevitably fell asleep and on waking up maybe an hour ago (despite having set an alarm for 8 just in case, I didn't need it) semi-inevitably felt shit.
So while it may technically be a wasted opportunity, my inclination is to give tonight a miss. I don't know why I feel a bit crap and a bit knackered but it's not too hard to come up with plausible guesses. I really don't see any point in forcing myself to go out when I'm not in the mood and maybe a quiet night in will leave me ready for excitement and adventure over the days and weeks to follow. In a way it's a shame because IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT but fuck it. I am probably going to go to bed and read in the next half hour or so and fall asleep as and when and get up as and when tomorrow. I might set an alarm for 11am or so.
I guess I was short on sleep all week for whatever reason due to my sleep cycle having slipped round and last night as more of the same for different reasons. Still, sod making excuses, I don't feel like doing anything and unless this becomes a general trend, which I will have to fight against, I'm on holiday so I don't see why I should do anything I don't feel in the mood for. Will probably beat myself up for the wasted opportunity tomorrow but if I have the strength to do so it will probably only be because I had this quiet night, so I can go fuck myself if I want to cut up contradictory about it. ;-)
2105 In bed.
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