Day 2. While enjoying the free continental breakfast provided by the Holiday Inn Express, I commend myself for having chosen a good place to stay for the next week. The hotel is new, clean, has cable tv with lots of English channels, free local calls, free internet access, and calls to cell phones are just .30 per minute. A true bargain by Buenos Aires standards.

More importantly, the hotel is just around the corner from several of prime mongering sites. After breakfast, my plan is to locate mongering clubs and cafes in downtown BA.

I spend the morning walking the area. I locate Cutty Sark, Cafe Orleans and Cafe Barra. All within a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Hook,Cattos, & Ness are not more than 10 minutes away.

Satisfied with my self guided tour of the area, I take a cab to the office of Adriana, the webmistress mentioned so prominately in Moondog's report. She has promised to help me choose just the right girl from among the hundreds listed on platynum.com.ar.

I have done my homework, having chosen my top 10 chicas. Adriana is very direct and helpful.

"This girl is stupid, believe me," she says about an attractive blonde.

"These photos are not of this girl," she comments about another girl (FYI: girls with an * beside their description do not use real photos of themselves).

"You only see this girl's body for a reason," she tells me, "because she is ugly."

And so it went until 3 girls remained. Allie, Cinthina, & Miriam. Adriana phones Allie for me. Allie wants $250 for a three hour date. Too much.

I tell Adriana I won't pay more than $200. She nods, phones Miriam and tells her she has a client with her who will pay no more than $200 for a three hour date. Miriam agrees. I am set for tomorrow evening.

I thank Adriana and head back to the hotel. I have several hours to kill so I explore the neighborhood again, but this time as a "regular" toursit. Downtown BA is very pedestrian friendly.

Two of the streets have been converted to Pedestrian walkways, lined with shops and kiosks, and jammed full of people. Galleria Pacifica is a magnificant shopping mall in the downtown area. There is an excellent food court in the mall, with fast food versions of many of the better restaurants in Buenos Aires. I grab a snack before heading back to the hotel.

Cafe Orleans is on my way back to the hotel, so I peek in. There are 10-15 girls sitting at tables sipping tea or agua mineral, smoking and staring at their cell phones. Just as Moodog said it would be!

I don't see Grola, an attractive blonde that caught my eye from Moodog's photo section. I am slightly disappointed, but shrug it off and return to the hotel.

I go out to eat about 8:00. Bahia Madera is a restaurant near the hotel that serves Italian and continental food. Reasonably priced, good food. I pay the $11 bill, for pasta, a salad, and a glass of merlot.

At 11 I head out, intent on "researching" the entire downtown area. And then I saw Luz. She was sitting in a chair near the window at Cutty Sark, the first club on my planned itenerary. Young, petite, with long jet-black hair and dark, sultry eyes. She smiles at me through the window, and this entices me to entire the club.

I sit down at the bar and try to collect my wits. While sipping a beer I have a debate with myself about abandoning my plan, grabbing Luz now and heading back to the hote, or resisting the impluse and moving on in search of greener pastures.

I look around. The place is packed with chicas, of varying quality. A blonde interests me, but she is putting on her coat and appears to be on her way out with an elderly gentleman.

While I am still looking around, Luz gets up and wanders off. My mind made up and afraid someone else will grab her, I make my move.

"Quieres tu beber algo?,"I ask. Of course she wants something to drink. She motions to a stairwell, and we go upstairs to a quiet area to talk. "Hablas ingles?" "Very little," she tells me. Hopefully my basic espanol will be enough....

She asks where I am staying. I tell her. "Como es su habitacion?" she asks..."why don'tyou come back to the hotel with me and see for yourself how my room is," I respond.

Luz smiles, takes a napkin, writes $150 on it, and shoves across the table to me. "Por la noche?" She takes back the napkin, marks out the $150 and writes $300. I shake my head no, and offer $200. She smiles and nods. I want this woman!

Luz gets her coat, I pay a $32 bar bill, she takes my hand and leads me out onto the sidewalk. She stops at the corner market. I know it is going to be a great night when she asks for six condoms.