Night Out

We went out last night to a place called Serrano Plaza, about 6 (long) blocks from the house.  Serrano Plaza is a roundabout chock full of cafe/restaurant/bar hybrids (they all serve a full menu of food and drinks until about 5am).  Many people who were out were having dinner (did I mention it was midnight??).  Argentinians eat dinner quite late and like to sit cafe style and chat for hours, so not your typical bar scene.  While this can be lovely, it can also be hard to make new acquaintances with everyone segregated at their own tables.  Either way, we had a good time.  I took some pictures of the neighborhood while we were walking from our apartment.

So it's mostly graffiti art, of which they've got some pretty interesting stuff.  Most of the shops were closed,  but we passed a sprinkling of bars and cafes still open.  Then we got to Serrano Plaza:

These pictures are terrible, but it's a lively scene with people everywhere.  I've read that Argentinians don't really drink to the point of drunkenness, they always maintain their composure, so you won't usually see people get too out of control, even though they're drinking consistently until 6am.
Our first stop was a place called Cronico:

Outside it looked like a cafe, with people sitting at tables and chairs, but inside it looked more like a dive bar, with random art and American movie posters (of the worst movies ever!  There was one for "Yes, Man" with Jim Carrey, one for some Nicholas Cage movie and so many more I've never even heard of).  There was a TV playing the weirdest music videos (Spanish music videos are one of the stranger things I've seen in life).  So, we decided we liked this place and ordered a pitcher of beer (Quilmes Cristal to be exact) and hung out for an hour or so.  Then we went to another bar in Serrano Plaza, this one was much more refined and had rooftop seating.

In the middle of the plaza, it looked like they were setting up tables and booths for something.  We ordered more beer and I was hungry, so I ordered a salad:

It was an odd salad, but not bad.  In general, it's just odd to order a salad with beer, but when you're trying not to eat french fries and onion rings AND drink beer, what can you do?  Here's what you do: suck it up and eat fries and chicken wings and deep-fried twinkies because you're at a BAR!  Salads are lame bar food!  I'm just mad at this salad now.
We bar-hopped a bit more and around 5am, I was wiped and took a cab home.  Aaron stayed out and made a few friends who were going to an after party down the street.  He said it was a big apartment complex (I guess it had been converted into a club) with 2 levels and people everywhere.  He stayed a few hours and said those people showed no signs of slowing down.  These people are maniacs and they take their weekends seriously!
I have determined I can't party like it's 1999 anymore, I need my beauty sleep!  As it is, I slept til 3pm!  I can't remember the last time I did that, but it felt good.  Now I'm laying on the sofa watching Downton Abbey (yes, it's good and yes, it's on Netflix) and drinking blueberry tea (Aaron picked it out and it's not half bad).  This is way more my speed.