Videos

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I’ve arrived!

Well, I’m here. I just spent my first day in beautiful Buenos Aires, and it is as magical as ever!

The trip down was pretty good. The Air Canada direct flight was good, but just v-e-e-r-y long! My Canadian friends Joanna and Gary met me at the airport, which was great. I had not one but two long naps yesterday, and then after a casual dinner with other friends, I was in bed by 10.30 am and slept till 9 am this morning! So I should be caught up.

But of course there’s no rest for the wicked, so I was out and about today with my friend Venetia. We had coffee at La Biela, one of my favourite spots, and I was surprised to be warmly welcomed back by one of the waiters!

There was an international festival on today, so we went there for the afternoon. It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day and the jacaranda trees are in full bloom. We ate Syrian street food for lunch and watched some dancing from different countries.

After that we went to the racetrack. Watched the horses walk around the paddock and then saw a couple of races before coming home. I am sunburnt!

Here are some photos and a short video from the day.


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One of the Highlights Every Year!

Every year as my time in Argentina is winding down, Alejandro and I do a video of one of my tango lessons. This time we did two — one standard speed and one more uptempo. And there’s an outtake too — Alejandro had been drinking maté before I got there and he was wired! This bit of silliness was the result! Hope you enjoy all three.


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A Goodbye Party for Me

My friend Cecilia is part of a social group called Ruta 40, because they originally met many years ago around their common passion for traveling Argentina along Ruta 40. They meet once a month at somebody’s home, and over the past couple of years they have welcomed me into their group. They are lovely people and I always enjoy the parties.

This one was at Cecilia’s house, and the main idea was a goodbye party for me, as I am leaving in less than two weeks (sigh!) When I arrived, Cecilia had written a message in soap on a big mirror, and over the course of the night everyone took up the soap and added their names. It was hard to take a photo because of the lighting, but here it is anyway.

The translated message reads, “Helen, bon voyage. We’ll see each other in A6”. As you may know, all my Argentina adventures are labelled with an “A” for Argentina. This one is A5, and in November I will start A6.

 

Instead of the usual asado, this time we had Peruvian food, courtesy of Cecilia and her niece Nicole, from Lima. The main dish was a delicious stew of meat and potatoes called carapulcra, and one of the desserts was a delicia de limón. There was also a tasty non-alcoholic drink called chicha morada, with a base of black corn — although with all the Malbec flowing around the table, it didn’t get much of a chance to shine! It was all yummy.

I made this little video just to give you a flavour for the party spirit. I hope you enjoy it.

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Two Very Different Tango Evenings

There are many people here in Buenos Aires who love tango music, but don’t dance. It’s such a complex and varied form of music that it’s possible to enjoy it on many levels. As you know from my posts here, my preference is to dance, but I also love being exposed to other forms. This past week brought two such opportunities.

La Hora del Tango

On Wednesday night Venetia and I went to the Kirchner Cultural Centre to see something called The Hour of Tango, and neither of us was quite sure what it was all about. It turned out that La Hora del Tango is the name of a television series that is currently being produced, and this was the final episode. So the show was being recorded for television, which of course made it a whole different experience. There were takes and retakes, and a great deal of “hurry up and wait”, which stretched the hour out beyond two hours! The process was a bit tedious, but the tango itself was lovely.

A full tango orchestra performed by itself first, and then provided accompaniment for a troupe of at least a dozen dancers. We saw the first dance number twice, as apparently there was a small technical problem at the end, which was fine for the audience but I’m not sure how the dancers felt about it!

We had a couple of tango songs from Chico Navarro, who is very old now but was apparently a very big deal in his day and the audience loved him.

I have no photos of this, because they wouldn’t let us take any because of the television people.

Lola Mora at Bar Celta

One of the Bares Notables I’ve visited for my research was Bar Celta, and I remember reading that they had live music downstairs. Lola recently discovered a whole series called Music at the Bares Notables, and last night we went to see the show downstairs at Bar Celta.

Lola Mora (no relation to my friend Lola!) is a duo of women, one pianist and one violinist, who play a wide range of music but with a specialty in tango. They were fabulous! What musicians they were!

Here’s a short video clip of just one of their songs. This is a famous song called Adios Nonino, by a famous and controversial Argentine tango musician of the fifties called Astor Piazzola. He wrote it after learning that his father had died while he was off on a tour — the title roughly translates as “Goodbye Daddy”. As you can tell from the comments by my friends, it’s a well loved popular favourite.

And just to round things off, tonight I’m off to the milonga to actually dance tango — still my favourite!

 

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Another ‘Research’ Event — and a Bonus Surprise for Me!

Last night I went with five women friends on another “research” trip for the new book. It was also International Women’s Day, which is very big down here, so a nice way to celebrate. We were Cecilia, Venetia, Joanna, Lola and Gillian.

Bar Sur is a very old establishment in the very old barrio of San Telmo, where many of the Bares Notables are to be found. It’s tiny, dark and very cozy and intimate. I had spoken with Beatriz, the proprietor, last week, so she knew we were coming and welcomed us warmly.

We ordered wine and picada, and sat back to chat and wait for the show.

Bar Sur claims to have the oldest tango show in San Telmo, and I believe it. The signed photos of tango stars of the past around the walls testify to its tight ties with the music and dance of tango.

There’s no stage in Bar Sur, so the performers sing, dance and play right there on the floor beside the tables, which makes you feel almost like part of the show. I particularly liked the bandoneonero and the two dancers, who beautifully evoked the soulful sound of tango, which was emphasized even more because of the very dim lighting. I’ve put some photos of the iside here.

You might be wondering what the surprise bonus was. Well …

While some of us were taking advantage of a photo opp with the dancers (see the end of the first video), I told him I actually wanted to dance. He didn’t say anything at the time, but before the end of the show I looked up to find him in front of me, giving me a cabeceo — invitation to dance!

I separated Joanna’s video of this, as I didn’t want to put it beside the real dancers, but take a look and let me know what you think.

Of course if I had realized I was going to be part of the show, I would have worn my tango shoes!

We still have a lot of bares notables to see, but it will be hard to top that one just for the experience! See the videos below.


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Fileteado Porteño Picture Done!

Finally, I finished my first fileteado painting! It’s an incredibly difficult form and I’m proud I was able to turn out something decent. As you’ll see from the little video I made at Martin’s studio on Sunday night, I am going to go back for another series of classes in April before I go back to Canada, because I want to learn how to do the fileteado lettering, which is an integral part of the images.

If you are ever in Buenos Aires and interested in learning this, you can find the studio of the Asociacion de Fileteadores at Balcarce 1053 in San Telmo. Martin is one of a number of teachers there, and I can wholeheartedly recommend him, not only for his own talent but for his teaching skill, patience and sense of fun. Gracias, Martin!

Here’s the video, which I hope you enjoy.

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Christmas Day — and something new

Having celebrated Nochebuena with my Argentine “family”, I celebrated Christmas Day quite differently.

In the afternoon I went out to sketch. Not a great one I’m afraid, but I enjoyed sitting in Plaza Vicente Lopez making it. People were lying around in bikinis sunbathing, which was surprising enough that I had to record it!

In the evening, a small group of women from one of the expat groups I belong to got together for a potluck dinner at one of their homes. She has a beautiful apartment in Palermo, with a lovely little outdoor area filled with plants. We spent the evening out there chatting, eating and drinking — the perfect girlie night!

Standing waiting for the bus home around midnight, with the temperature still hovering in the high twenties, I actually said out loud, “It’s Christmas!” just to remind myself. We’re now looking forward to New Year’s Eve, and hoping the weather holds up because it will be an outdoor celebration.

Something different

It occurred to me that I could give you a better feel for Buenos Aires if I made some little short videos of some of the places I like to go. I won’t schedule them on any particular day, but just when I’m out and about and think you would enjoy seeing where I am.

In today’s video I’m on Avenida 9 de julio, near the beautiful building that is the French Embassy. I hope you enjoy it.