Five days and counting…Packing and cooking…Fun chat with friends…Awful offal…

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At first, when this huge platter arrived, we anticipated it would be divine. I tasted almost everything, but I didn’t care for it.

Note: Today’s photos are from the post on January 14, 2018, while we were in Palermo, Buenos Aires. See the story below for details.

Before I meandered downstairs to start my day this morning, I packed all my clothes. I left out a few items for the next few days and a little pile of clothes and compression socks I’ll wear when we travel to the US. I didn’t pack as neatly as usual, but I will put everything away in neat piles once we arrive and settle in the condo.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll start packing the miscellaneous items upstairs, toiletries, etc.. Then, by Tuesday or Wednesday, I will finish everything upstairs and begin to work on the items on the lower level. There’s not a lot on the main floor, just odds and ends we use each day.

These stuffed pig intestines, “Chinchulin,” were the least desirable items on the platter.

Tom takes care of all the adapters and cords for the digital equipment, packing some in his suitcase and others in the leather computer backpack in case our luggage gets lost again. We don’t want to go through that again after those two incidents we had a few years ago.

When I came downstairs, I made my decaf coffee, adding thick unsweetened coconut cream, and took a moment to sit down to load my failing laptop to savor my coffee before I got to work in the kitchen.

Tonight, we’re having beef tenderloin stir fry with large chunks of green peppers (so Tom can pick them out), celery, onions, mushrooms, fresh ginger, and garlic, seasoned as well as I can with my limited supply of seasonings. I’m making a huge batch, which should last for three dinners, taking us to Tuesday when I will eat my remaining frozen fish, and Tom will have steak for the last two nights.

The few pieces of beef ribs were fatty and chewy.

On Thursday, we depart. It’s great we’ve been able to use most of our food on hand, but we will leave a few items for Maria, the house cleaner when she does the final cleaning after we’re gone. As always, we’ll leave the house in good order.

Yesterday, we chatted on WhatsApp with our dear friends Rita and Gerhard. They are in Buenos Aires right now, staying in the same wonderful area where we stayed for a month in December 2017 and January 2018. We loved hearing they were staying there after our fantastic time in the Palermo district. As we did, they can walk to any of the countless restaurants and pubs and savor the delicacies of Argentina.

We told them not to go to any restaurant that advertises “Authentic Argentinian food” since they usually offer the most unappetizing dishes, mainly consisting of offal. When we tried such a restaurant in Palermo, every item on the menu was offal, with almost every body part of a cow or pig stuffed with something fatty and greasy. We left without eating our meat, besides the few tastes I tried and didn’t like.

I cut the blood sausage in half for this photo. I could tell it contained some grain, but I wouldn’t have cared for it anyway if it hadn’t. You should have seen Tom’s face when he took a tiny taste!

I am much more adventurous with unusual dishes but couldn’t stomach (yes, that too) the feel and look of the dishes in my mouth, as shown in today’s main photo. I took a few bites of everything, but Tom gagged when he took a few tiny tastes of the offal. He did eat the bread, but they served margarine instead of butter. After staring at his plate, he lost his appetite and didn’t bother to eat the fries.

We paid the bill and left, our plates still full of the gross-looking meat. The total bill was $45.72. That was one expensive loaf of bread. Rita and Gerhard got the drift, and they won’t be trying a restaurant offering such foods. They were glad we had an opportunity to warn them!

The bread was dry without butter, and this little pat was definitely margarine, which we don’t eat.

The delightful phone call continued for over an hour. We were thrilled to hear they are taking a 22-night cruise to circumnavigate the partially South American continent in the opposite direction of a cruise we took in 2017, ending in Buenos Aires, where we waited for our next cruise, the Antarctica cruise on Ponant Cruise Line. What an adventure that was! Please see our photos of this stunning expedition cruise if you’d like to see our archives on the ride side of our home page for January 2018.

We are so happy for Rita and Gerhard. As mentioned in the past, we met since they’d been reading our blog and ended up in Marloth Park while we were there. Instantaneously, we became fast friends. After our time in Nevada, we hope to meet up sometime in 2024.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic weekend, and be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 9, 2013:

As we entered the bush braai site, Danie was on the left with a raised arm, and Louise was on the right. They worked hard to host this event, cooking, setting up, and cleaning. Everything was to perfection. To top it off, they appeared in our driveway this morning to inquire about anything we may need. Their hard work and dedication are evidenced in every activity they host and property they manage. This photo and the next were taken before I realized I needed to clean the camera lens. For more photos, please click here.