Later, I shower, shave and head down for breakfast...nothing heavy...coffee, orange uice and a croissant with butter. While I'm enoying my coffee, I'm making out my list of things to do today...lots of things. I have a 500+ mile drive tomorrow from Buenos Aires to a town called Villa Mercedes, and I want to get an early start. So...today, I need to pack up, pick up my rental car, and park it near the hotel. I need to “save” the parking location on my Garmin GPS so that I can get back there after I pick up the car.
The packing up goes pretty fast...and I take a few breaks to smoke my cigar and post a few things to Facebook. Two blocks from my hotel there is a large park and, under the park, there is parking. After I'm packed up, I walk over to the park and find the entrance to the underground garage...I save that location to the Garmin. Then I walk down into the garage, through, and out the exit. This is good...the garage exit puts me right on the same street as my hotel.
Around 3:00PM, I hail a cab and head to the rental car office which is located at the same ferry terminal that I visited yesterday. At the rental office, I hand over the copy of my confirmation from Expedia along with my drivers license and passport. While they are getting together all of the paperwork, I get some good news. I rented a sub-compact Ford “KA”, but they are out of those, so I'm getting a free upgrade to A Renault “Elf” (aka “Logan”). It's very nice...plenty of room for my duffels and gear.
I walk over to the lot, find my vehicle and take a couple of minutes to get “familiar”...I work through the shift pattern (it's a “stick”) and figure out how to work the lights, radio , climate control, emergency flashers, etc. Then I attach the windshield mount for the Garmin and plug it in.
I get a satellite “lock” and punch in the location of the parking garage. Now comes the real “test”...can the Garmin get me from the ferry terminal to the parking garage. And, if it can not, can I navigate to the garage with a map. But...no worries...I hear that familiar voice from the Garmin telling me to proceed on this street, turn right here, tern left there...at the roundabout, take the second exit. Ten minutes later, I am parked in the garage.
Feeling fortunate, I spend the next hour or so walking around my neighborhood and beyond...stopping here and there for a glass of wine. Back at the hotel, I lay down for an hour or two, and then I'm up for dinner.
Around 8:00PM, I taxi over to the “Palermo District” for dinner at yet another steakhouse...Don Julio. They are already crowded, and I'm worried that I might not get in...but a few minutes later, I'm sitting at a small table on the second floor. I have an excellent waiter...very helpful, and he speaks great English. I order a Jack Daniels on the rocks (doble) and look over the menu. I order a small salad, grilled sweetbreads, and a rare ribeye with potatoes. My waiter recommends a bottle of Nieto Senetiner Malbe, so I get that too. It is a great meal...huge portions...I barely have room for vanilla ice cream with dulce de leche for dessert.
Despite my plan to make it an “early night”, it's close to midnight by the time that I return to my hotel. I ask for a wake-up call at 5:30AM.
Big day tomorrow.
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