Vegetarian paella, wild dogs, and gelato

Last night I slept better than the night before, although it still took me a while to drift off and I woke up a few times. But we’re in no rush to be anywhere today so we slept in, meaning about 9 for me and 10 for him.

Last night we schlepped out to this vegetarian restaurant for dinner. We had to walk through the block of Indian restaurants and aggressive hawkers. I really feel like elbowing the ones who got right in our faces.

A weird thing about this city are the creepy, quiet, what we call “rape-y,” alleyways. I feel nervous walking through them, but then you always end up seeing a woman walking by herself.

The alleyways are pretty clean. No garbage and therefore no rats. The swapee said the garbage gets picked up every day so that explains it.

The restaurant was on the perimeter of what seemed like a church courtyard. There were several restaurants, all with a scattering of outdoor tables and chairs. The set-up was so weird. So random and ramshackle.

We’re finding that design and presentation aren’t big things here. For instance, even some little lights strung up in the trees would have made a huge difference, would have made the space more cohesive. At the mall, I noticed that the clothes just hung off in the mannequins while in America, they would have been pinned back to make them seem more flattering.

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The food wasn’t bad. I was hungry so I dug into my vegetarian paella, as well as the olives, pickled onions, and bread.

While we were eating, this woman walking about five dogs lost control of two or three of them. They were racing around, barking and fighting with each other. Nice.

We took a different route back home and one, didn’t have to pass the pushy Indian hawkers again, and two, stumbled on a whole bunch of restaurants in odd spots. They all seemed tucked against churches and in little alcoves. It was strange and lovely.

Then, by mistake, we ended up at Plaza de Mayor again, which had a completely different feeling at night.

Earlier we were there during the hottest part of the day so it was kind of abandoned and very sweltering. In the evening it was full of people hanging out, kids playing, and vendors selling these glowing whirligigs.

On the way back we stopped for gelato. I had told myself to not splurge anymore but then I was like fuck it. I had the choco-mint, which the girl behind the counter told us was also her favorite (she was so cute), but at least I only ate half.

We got back around midnight and I immediately jumped the shower. I felt so sweaty and gross from the whole day.

My feet are also kind of fucked up from walking barefoot in sandals. I really need a pumice stone and heavy moisturizer, but I made do with a washcloth and the Jergens I have. Too bad I didn’t get foot stuff yesterday. We passed like three Sephoras.

Today the plan is the Prado, the Naval Museum, and boat rides in the park.

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