January 23,

Up and about – we enjoyed our Javas & breakfast of oatmeal with a swirl of raspberry jam out on our balcony. I added peach yogurt, while Jeff added nutella and drank some yogurt. We did a load of laundry- towels. And just enjoyed a laid-back morning inside.

For lunch we made some pesto veggie pasta – using the veggies we didn’t eat from our parrilla meal a couple of days ago. We also had the bread from the same parrilla meal, as the waiter put that in our doggie bag. Then I did a blog, and Jeff read.

Evening came as we watched more Star Wars and had a snack dinner of crackers and humus. It turned into a whole laid back day. We turned in by 2200, but at 2323 I was awakened to some really loud rain, then I realized it could have been hail… So I peaked out a window. Sure enough, it was rubber-bouncy ball size, and ¾ of a lane in the street had flowing water. There were lots of leaves in the street from the poor trees being beaten, and the wind was blowing some. Then I heard thunder, it was a full blown thunderstorm. I watched the evolving storm until it stopped hailing, just rain. Then back to bed. Pretty wild.

      January 24,

After we got up we went out onto our balcony. Some ladies were out already sweeping the sidewalk as they have been every morning, but there was some much more debris! We had our Javas and breakfast of Muesli and peach yogurt. The yogurt we get is in a bag, 900ml or almost a quart and it is drinkable. I use it as milk on my Muesli in place of milk. Jeff drinks it, preferring milk on his Muesli. Anyway, we finished watching the cleanup ladies.

We went out, around 1030, walking to a Jumbo Hypermart that we had not been to. It was just over a 2 mile walk. We passed along streets we had not been on yet. We noticed a few larger branches that were down from last night’s storm – one even blocking a street. The one-way streets all around us continue to be prevalent as we go. This surprised us. Jeff said he could not recall a city that has this many over such a wide area. We continued on. One cool building stood out to us. It was a 3-4 story brick one. The brick defined the facade beautifully (not just flat) and it had a cool, carved picture at the top of the structure. It was of a man sitting on a wine barrel with other barrels around him. Jeff looked it up; it was a bodega- a wine cellar, when built. But now it’s a high-end restaurant, called 1884. This place had been recommended by our wine sommelier.

Anyway, we arrived and liked this grocery store the best so far. It had more of the things we were looking for… way better selection of cheeses, for example. We acquired our goods and paid. We then went out to the bus stop. It was late, so Jeff booked a Cabify. Wouldn’t you know, just as our ride showed up the bus we’d waited for came. The bus was literally in front of our ride. Oh well, the ride was only 50 cents more than both our fares on the bus. Once we reached our place, Jeff went across the street to where we’d done our tasting and bought some of their empanadas. We enjoyed them on the balcony. The day has been mostly cloudy and not as hot. Yay!

Afternoon gave way to evening and we went out. First to a pharmacy to get one of my medicines. Then to Azufre Restaurant for some chicken takeaway. It’s just a couple of blocks away – on the same street as the Thai place was. It cost us 16,000 ARS ($11.28) and once at our place we shared that with some Greek salad we made. The chicken was warm but it was breaded and fried… So another place we don’t need to go to, maybe just not go to that road for food. Anyway, we watched some more Star Wars segments and called it a day.