kellita the señorita the ibby dibby dow: Adventures with Yann

Yann Samuels surprised me with a simple email about a week ago simply saying the following:

Guess What.
I will be in Buenos Aires next week.
Yes!

No explanation, no details, just simply that. As I jumped up and down at work, I promptly replied asking for an explanation, arrival details, etc. Yann was my boss at WK, and was, is, and probably always will be the best boss I ever had. We have kept in touch since I've been gone, but I was looking forward to having a couple days to hang with her on a more friend level outside of the boss world. Luckily for me, it was a holiday weekend, and I had 4 days straight to hang with her.

We did it all. Friday morning I picked her up at the hotel. Our first order of business - coffee. She said she could just get something to go, and I explained that wasn't really a possibility in this city. That just like most things, getting a coffee is much more than getting a to-go cup and running to your next destination, but that the coffee situation is set up so that you sit down and really enjoy that coffee. Yann loved the idea as she told me she never feels like she has time to do that. After an hour of coffee induced catching up, we hit up San Telmo and the older part of town to check out some of the old architecture. After a few hours we stopped into one of the old bars in San Telmo for a glass of wine, which turned into a bottle and a half of wine. Sometimes these things happen when you have nowhere to be and the company of an old friend. As we started the walk back to Retiro, we realized that amid all the beverage sipping of the day we had sort of forgotten to eat. This also happens sometimes.

We decided on...you guessed it...steak and wine for dinner. We hit up a spot called Club Eros, which is a dining room attached to an old soccer cub with mostly local patrons. When you enter the restaurant, it's as if you entered a rec center. We ordered bifes de chorizo, salad and wine. It was delicious. The kind of place where you're not grossed out when your dining partner points out the huge bug crawling up the wall behind you. After that it was rooftop time at Post Bar where we chatted the night away. Yann told me it's rare that someone can keep her out past 2am.

Saturday we hit the museum circuit, starting with the MALBA, followed by the Evita Museum. I felt tempted to rob all her refined hats from the display window. We went to the japanese gardens, then I introduced Yann to BA ice cream before we headed to take photos in front of Borges' old house. We finished the day with some shopping and a great dinner at Sarkis.

Sunday we hit up an old cafe followed by the nature reserve and bondiola sandwiches at one of the sidewalk parillas. Then we wondered through San Telmo and walked a good 100 blocks back to Palermo. After a little shopping and some more afternoon cocktails, we settled on an amazing dinner at Las Cabras.

Monday, I unfortunately had to return to work, and planned to meet Yann for our last supper in Palermo. But I got a text from AHill that we were invited to an asado with the production company. Not your typical backyard BBQ. I arrived late (and sweating on my bike as usual) to a fancier version of your usual asado, where someone else does all the cooking and makes sure your wine glass is never empty. The production company has a huge backyard complete with a pool and a huge parilla. I sat down at the linen-covered white tables and mingled right in to that advertising dinner. The food was amazing, and we drank all the red wine to be drank in Buenos Aires. And it was wonderful. And when I woke up the next morning I thought my head had been run over by an 18-wheeler driving only 5mph so I could feel all 18 wheels.

I love that Yann Samuels and am so thankful we had 5 blissful days of touring BA together.