After packing our suitcases so that they can be put out in the corridor before we leave for our cooking lesson, BJ wanted to rest and Alan wanted to explore, so we explored. We got a cab to the Museo de Bellas Artes without problems and spent a couple hours there looking at an excellent collection of 14^th through 19^th century works including Rubens, Rembrandt, Goya, Van Gogh, Tintoretto, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Rodin, Pissarro, and Toulouse Lautrec. Very good collection.

There is a museum of Latin American Art, which of course was closed because today is Tuesday. We caught a cab directly in front of the museum and asked him to take us to the cruise ship terminal. He agreed, but then stopped near the train station and said we could walk from there. Then he refused to take our Argentine pesos and then with fast talking, poor translations and aggressive big city behavior wound up getting about $20 minus a handful of Argentine peso bills in change for a meter charge of about $4. He also kept grabbing for Alan’s wallet and its contents. This was a licensed cab and a licensed driver. It did not give us a good impression of Buenos Aires. And then to make matters worse, I (Alan) got us lost on the way back to the terminal and made us walk in the heat for probably an extra ½ hour or 45 minutes. BJ was not very happy. It only confirmed her anxieties about the big South American cities. I think it was just a crooked cabbie and that it could easily have happened in NYC. This has been our only bad experience of the trip. Everyone else has been great.

The cooking lesson was nothing like our one on one lesson with Monica in Venice. We went by bus to the Palermo district of Buenos Aires. There were two very long tables with travelers from more than one cruise ship. We had aprons and chef’s toque. The young people that ran the school were very entertaining, but there was not a lot of practical cooking information. We were given a chance to make empanadas, starting with the premade and rolled out dough. All we did was fill it with ingredients that were pre-made and then close the empanada and then they baked it for us to eat later. Meanwhile, we started with white wine and some appetizers of baked cheese and some of pork and some morcilla (blood sausage) and chorizo. Then they let us eat the empanadas we had made. Then we had Argentine steak which was very good and potatoes. More wine, a pinot noir and later a Malbec. And finally, we made a dessert which consisted of putting a spoon of dulce de leche between two cookies and then rolling it in coconut and chocolate. We also learned about what the moderators of the cooking lesson called the national drink of Argentina, mate. It’s like as if a Monster drink and green tea had a baby, smells like green tea but hypes you up like the Monster drink. There is a “ritual” to making it in a hollowed-out gourd. Fill the gourd almost completely full of mate, insert the straw-filter and never touch that again. Then add hot water and slurp. A couple of slurps is all you get before passing to the next person who adds more water and slurps. This can go on all day. Alan tasted it, but since I wanted to sleep tonight, I did not. Tasty food, but not a lot of cooking learning involved. Then the bus back to the hotel and bed. The program was called A Taste of Argentina and we would highly suggested if anyone is in Buenos Aires, to try it.