Silvia and I stood in the lobby of the Casino in Tigre waiting for Moondog, Elizabet, Adriana and Ricardo to join us. We had arrived by cab, and they followed in Adriana's car. A quick look around revealed a brightly lit gambling hall, not unlike similar establishments located on "Indian reservations" in the United States. Tigre was not quite up to the standards of a casino on the Las Vegas strip in either size or ammenities, but it looked like a fun place to spend an evening with lots and lots of slots & video poker machines, craps and card tables, and girls in short skirts walking around with drink trays.

The rest of our party arrived less less than five minutes after Silvia and I had entered the lobby of the Casino. Ricardo and Adriana led the way to the nearly empty restaurant where we were seated around a rectangular table. I sat on one side of the table, with Silvia to my left. Adriana occupied the position at the end of the table to my right. To her right, directly opposite me was Ricardo who was seated beside Elizabet. Moondog sat at the other end of the table.

I was glad to be seated where I could talk with Ricardo. Moondog had passed along several "Ricardoisms" in his emails to me. Ricardoisms are insights into the nature of the acomponates (escorts). I had been looking forward to meeting a man withReych wisdom. "You have much to learn grasshopper," I imagined he might say as he launched into a lecture about do's and don'ts in interactions with las chicas de Buenos Aires.

Ricardo might be called el Rey de Acomponates en Buenos Aires (The king of the escort buisiness in BA). He even looks the part: An oversized fellow ( un gordo was Silvia's unflattering descriptive adjective) who wears lots of jewelry and flashy clothes, and who enjoys a good cigar. He wasn't wearing the long coat and broad brimmed hat that would have completed the ensamble of a well dressed American pimp, but it was summer time in Buenos Aires.

Ricardo is the founder of Platynum and numerous other web sites that Adriana maintains. Over the years he has formed definite opinions about the girls and their relationships with clientes. The first Ricardoism that Moondog forwarded to me concerned the way the girls describe themselves in their online ads.

"When a girl says she speaks 'basic English,' Ricardo explained, "it means she can say 'I come you hotel. $200, please.' I've tried to telephone a few of the girls from Platynum who say they speak basic English, and I can attest to the accuracy of Ricardo's characterization, although sometimes two-hundred dollars is abbreviated as money , pronounced "moe-nee."

Once our orders had been taken and our drinks served I asked Ricardo about his "never date an escort more than three times" rule. "It's easy to fall in love weeth one of theese girls," he explained, "and thees ees a bad idea." He went on to add,"theese girls hav meeny clientes. It hard for theem to leeve the moeknee and the excitement." If only he knew, I thought, reflecting on my own recent misadventure with Lucia. "There lots of girls, better to see many girls and not geet involved with just one."

Hmm, ok, smart guy how do you resist the impulse not to return again and again to a favorita who has provided you with sexual and emotional experiences beyond your wildest imagination? Maybe this content is covered in the advanced course.

Ricardoism number three is "Once an escort always an escort." When I asked him about this rule, Ricardo seemed to back track just a bit. "It ees a general rule. Not true all girls," he said, wagging his finger back and forth in front of his over sized body to emphasize this point.

I hope not. I would hate to see Silvia trapped in the lifestyle of an acomponate from now until eternity. She is only 20 years old, after all. I prefer to think of her saving the money needed to return to Tucaman, buy her house and her car, and settle into small town life. Maybe she will open a panaderilla (bakery) or find some other way to scratch out a living in rural Argentina. Meanwhile, I will continue to help her achieve financial independence one todo de la noche date at a time, at least until the three date limit has been exceeded...smile....

As we left thedining area the six of us broke up into pairs and headed to the slot machines with buckets of 25 centavo coins. After a half hour or so feeding the slots and pulling the handles my machine "tilted, " or so I thought. It started flashing and would not let me continue play and was not dispensing 25 centavo coins in the trough.

With a great deal of ceremony a cadre of Casino employees marched up to my machine. After examining it carefully they declared that I had won $321 pesos. All the while I was looking on in disbelief. My luck had not been good on this trip thus far. The head honcho wrote out a reciept for $321 pesos for me to take to the cashier and handed Silvia and I drink vouchers. Maybe my luck was changing.

Moondog and I had envisioned taking our dates to a disco after our dinner Adriana and Ricardo. But as luck would have it Moondog's date wanted to go back to the hotel rather than dancing, and so our night together ended with Silvia and I grabbing a taxi and the others heading back to Buenos Aires in Adriana's car. On the way to my apartment with Silvia I counted my moe-nee..all $321 pesos of it.

Moondog and I agreed to meet the next day to compare notes over pizza and beer and we bid each other farewell.

Next: Moondog and Ezy do Buenos Aires. Part 4. Wrap up