Tango

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Afternoon Milonga

I’ve never done this before, but today I went to an afternoon milonga — and I really enjoyed it. The place is called El Beso, and it had been recommended to me by a couple of people, so today I decided to give it a try. It started at 1.30 pm and went on until 8 pm, although I actually left around 5 pm.

The first man I danced with was French Canadian, and the second was Scottish! But both danced tango well, so that was OK. Actually, the Scottish man was on vacation here with his wife, and I spent a nice time with them explaining some things about the Buenos Aires milonga scene they didn’t know. It was fun.

I have to say that coming out of the milonga into the light of day was a bit strange — kind of like going to a matinee at the movies, I guess. But most of the people there were of my vintage, and I rather enjoyed that. I’m going to go back next Saturday and hopefully my friend Lola will come too.

Tango on!

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A Full-on Argentine Evening — and a Surprise

Yesterday I went for my second Fileteado Porteño class at 6 pm. As I said last time, Martin plays tango in the background as we work, which already adds to the Argentine feel of it all.

Just around the corner from his studio is a lovely old square called Plaza Dorrego, and every Sunday night when the weather is fine they hold an open air milonga. I’d never been, and I decided to give it a try. (Mind you, I don’t think I’ll do it again until my course is finished, because I had to go there dressed for tango and I kept worrying about dropping orange paint on my black skirt!)

Anyway, the milonga was lovely. This barrio, San Telmo, is very old and steeped in tango history, and yet it had quite a contemporary feel to it. Instead of older people dressed in more traditional tango gear, there were lots of young people in shorts and shirts — although I honestly don’t know how you can dance tango in flipflops or Birkenstocks!

The best thing I saw there, and in fact the best thing I’ve seen in a long time anywhere, was this young woman in a wheelchair “dancing” tango! This picture shows just one of her partners, as she was whirling around the dance floor for every dance. Isn’t that fabulous?

But I have to tell you about my surprise. When I arrived, lots of people were watching, but it was actually a tad early to dance, so I decided to walk back to the main part of the plaza where there are tables and have a glass of wine. As I approached the area, I saw a woman waving frantically at me and calling my name.

It turned out to be Lena and Bulent, the couple who run the tango school I went to in Toronto in the summer of 2016! Can you imagine? I had no idea there were there and they didn’t know I was here, and what were the chances of us choosing the same milonga on the same night? Actually, they were just having drinks and were going to a different place, but it was so nice to find familiar faces like that. Small world, eh?

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Tango!

I haven’t written anything here for quite a while — I have a theory about why that is, and I’ll share it in my final post before I leave for Toronto at the end of April.

But in the meantime, I had to share this video. It’s my last tango lesson for this stay in Buenos Aires, because Alejandro is leaving for Europe next week and won’t be back till I’ve gone. So we shot this little video, which I hope will show that I’ve improved since last year’s effort.

Alejandro chose a slow, sensuous tune time time, and although I actually prefer dancing a slightly faster tango, I have to admit this does show off the “flirtatious” nature of some of the footwork! I hope you enjoy it — I certainly did!

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Tango Street Party!

Last Saturday night I went with three women friends to a lovely event in downtown Buenos Aires.

It was called La Gran Milonga. The word milonga means both a particular style of tango and the place where people go to dance tango. This event is held every year at this time and I was happy my friend Venetia let me know about it.

To add to the enjoyment of the evening, I met Linda Clair Puig, a woman I met online a year or so ago as I am on her list and had bought her course on how to travel with your business (great course by the way.) She is in Buenos Aires for six weeks or so, and she had her friend Kim visiting from New York. Venetia invited us for snacks and wine, and then we all walked together down to the venue.

It was all along a very well known street called Avenida de Mayo, where they had set up stages at either end and in the middle (it’s not a long street). Each stage was doing a separate show, with music and professional dancers. They were all lovely, but the best bit of all was watching ordinary people dancing tango in the street! I’ve posted a video on YouTube and I’ll give you the link, but I just realized I missed the best clips of people dancing, so I’m going to upload that one as well so you can see what I mean.

The last clip on this video is of a young couple who were among the first to start dancing, and I thought they were lovely. Tell me what you think.

Here’s the second one, which really shows the vibe of the event.

Anyway, it was a great event, and has given me more of a taste for tango than ever!

 

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Last Post — for Now

Well, the great 2016 Argentina adventure is over. I came home last weekend, and I’m not happy! Actually, I probably feel even worse than I would have done, because I’m sick. Seems to be a recurring pattern for me in recent years, but I’ve come home with a nasty case of bronchitis and I’ve given myself the task this week of getting well. So I’ve done no work, and I’m only doing this because I want to round everything up for those who have been following me through the blog.

I finally stitched the videos together, and here they are.

Christmas in Cuenca.

This is how the good people of Cuenca celebrate Christmas as a community. Lots of fun.

Futbol!

Great souvenir of a night I’ll never forget.

Tango

My tango lessons with Alejandro were a highlight of my whole adventure. This little video was shot after I had my last lesson, and I must say I’ve watched it many times already because it instantly transports me back to this place I love so much.

Thank you again for following me through this blog. I hope I managed to convey just a fraction of how much I enjoyed my time in Argentina, and maybe even inspired some of you to put it on your travel list.

I miss you, my beautiful Buenos Aires. I’ll be back just as soon as I can.

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Submarines, International Women’s Day and Tango

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This week I went again to Cafe Tortoni. I know it’s a tourist trap, but it’s really so beautiful I can’t resist it. I love the old pictures on the walls, the art deco ceiling—and the ghosts of artists and writers of the past that seem to hover over everything.

But on this particular afternoon I had been walking around downtown and it was time for some afternoon coffee. I was near Tortoni, so I decided to try a specialty they have made famous. It’s called a submarino.

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They bring you a cup of hot milk, accompanied by a small submarine-shaped chocolate bar. You drop it into the cup and submerge it in the milk, and then you stir it till it melts. Now that’s how to make hot chocolate!

International Women’s Day

When I left the cafe after my usual breakfast, after saying goodbye as usual, the waiter said to me Feliz Dia, or Happy Day. I thought this must be some variation on Have a Nice Day. But no, it turned out it was International Women’s Day, and I found out they take it quite seriously here.

IMG_3210Screen Shot 2016-03-13 at 9.58.40 AMCecilia called me later in the morning and said she was going out to lunch with Macarena and Daniela to celebrate El Dia de la Mujer, and invited me to join them. We went to a place called Victoria, about half an hour away from Cecilia’s home, and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking a lovely little marina full of boats.

I went for my Spanish lesson that night, and the place is downtown. At one point we could hardly hear ourselves talk, and the teacher explained that this was the main street leading to Plaza de Mayo, and these were people parading up there to celebrate the day, and also to protest injustices against women worldwide.

Tango!

Last night (Saturday) Cecilia and I went to a tango show at the same place we always go, Taconeando. It’s a small place with an intimate show and atmosphere, which I prefer to the big spectacles, and the music and dancing were lovely as always.

In this particular place, at the end of the show the dancers come out into the audience and invite people to dance. I didn’t think we’d be asked, as we were quite far back and not next to the stage as before, but I think Cecilia engineered it! Anyway, one of the dancers invited me up onto the cabaret floor to dance. There were only two couples in the show, so that meant only four couples now — including this handsome man and me — actually on stage, under the lights, with an audience!

And I thoroughly enjoyed it! Cecilia took pictures, but we were so far back you couldn’t really see it was me. But that doesn’t matter, because I don’t need a photo to remind me of such a lovely experience.

And now I’m getting ready to go to San Telmo for the Sunday artisan market, and maybe some sketching.

 

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A Few Updates

TreeThis amazing tree is a five-minute walk from me. I don’t know if I can convey its immense size in these photos but I thought I’d try. It is a gomero, or rubber tree, and it is 200 years old — I think the oldest tree in Buenos Aires. When I took the photos they were trimming some of the branches, so the ladder up against the trunk might give you some sense of proportion. I’ve seen photographers trying to photograph just the trunk, but it’s difficult because the branches put it into such heavy shade. Fantastic.

 

 

 

Yesterday, Donna and I went on a mission to buy tango shoes. We were in a very old section of the city that is full of tango history. There is a museum dedicated to Carlos Gardel, the acknowledged father of tango in Argentina.

tango girlWe found the shop, but both of us wanted shoes with a slightly lower heel. They had some, but those were boring compared to the brightly coloured, sexy ones with the four inch heels. I would last maybe five minutes in those, so I don’t think tango shoes are in my future.

Instead, I had my picture taken with this famous tango singer —  unfortunately I’ve forgotten her name. But note the interesting  grafitti in the background — that’s not something you see every day!

 

SketchFinally, just to let you know I’m still sketching, here’s another example of me pushing my limited perspective abilities!

 

 

 

 

No more posts for a few days, as we’re off to the carnival tomorrow! It’s in a place called Gualeguaychu, and although I had never heard of it, this is apparently the second biggest carnival in South America — after Rio of course. We get back next Tuesday, so I’ll report in again then. Ciao for now!

 

 

 

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Busy busy busy!

Although I haven’t strayed very far from Buenos Aires over the past several days, it has been all go. Let me see if I can remember some of it, not necessarily in order.

On Saturday afternoon I went for a tango lesson with a small group from InterNations. It was in a wonderful little place called Apassionata Tango Hotel — and yes, it really is a hotel built around a tango theme. There were ten of us, miraculously five men and five women. Here’s a photo of us having a break, and a shot of the hotel interior.

tango grouptango hotelOur teacher was Fabian, I believe one of the owners of the hotel, and he was marvelous. Of course, anyone can dance with the teacher because he knows how to lead, but dancing with others who are just learning is more difficult, especially when you are just learning yourself. There was a Swiss woman called Claudia who immediately changed into proper tango shoes, and I thought to myself that she’d better know how to dance wearing those shoes. Well, she did. She had danced a lot in Switzerland and here as well, and it was a pleasure to watch her dance with the fellow who organized the event (also a lovely dancer). And she was also nice enough to help me get on the right bus after the lesson, which I very much appreciated.

This afternoon I go for my next private tango lesson, so let’s see if I’ve improved!

Yesterday I had breakfast with a lovely lady I met through InterNations. She is about my age and we share quite a few interests. She is from Albany, NY. She came to Buenos Aires first for a couple of holidays. Then she came for a couple of months and took a furnished apartment (sound familiar?). Then she took an unfurnished apartment and furnished it herself. Then, ten years ago, she bought an apartment and moved here permanently. I seem to have met quite a few people who came here for a visit and loved it so much they stayed on. Just saying…

Last night we went to a Chinese New Year celebration with a huge fireworks display in a park near Chinatown. Funny — watching a South American show in Buenos Aires, drinking caipirinha (Brazilian yummy cocktail) and wishing people Kung Hei Fatt Choy!

La BielaThe place where I have breakfast every morning is called La Biela, which means monkey wrench, or spanner for the Brits. Why? Because in the forties, this place was a well known hangout for famous racing drivers! There is a life size statue of one of them outside the door, and people get their photos taken with him all day long. Donna and I thought we might as well do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

Donna also took these photos inside my apartment and I thought you might like to see them.

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I don’t think I’ve posted any pictures of Cecilia, so here she is with Donna outside our cabana at Los Esteros.

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OK, that’s it for now. I’m off to dance with Alejandro!

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Started Working — Started Dancing!

Yesterday was a big day for me on both work and relaxation fronts.

First, my vacation is officially over and I am now back at work. I have found it quite natural to get back to doing the work I love in this place I love. I did work on the manuscript of one of my clients, and then I did some work on my own stories. It’s so long since I did anything about Merry that I had to do some digging around to see exactly where I am. I have several stories ready to publish, so I will get the first of those up on Amazon and the other platforms this week. If you are part of “Merry’s Merry Band of Readers” you will receive the usual notification when that is done. (If you are not, but you would like to be, you can join here.)

The other exciting thing is that I had my first tango lesson! It was a bit of an adventure, because I was determined to get there on the bus and it isn’t just around the corner. I went online and found a bus stop fairly close to me, with complete directions to Alejandro’s studio. Problem was, I couldn’t find the bus stop! Seriously, I must have walked around the same block four times before I finally found it — and only because I got on the wrong bus and the driver pointed out where to get the right one!

One of the difficulties is that bus stops are not necessarily obvious here. Some have shelters, but lots are just a pole in the sidewalk with no obvious sign that says Bus Stop. They tell you the number of the line and the buses that stop there, but that doesn’t necessarily make it easy. I was glad I had left in lots of time, and at least I will know for next time.

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 10.21.47 AMThe tango lesson was great. Alejandro obviously has a deep knowledge of, and love for, tango, and he spent quite a bit of time telling me its history and why that is important if you want to dance. I learned about the tango posture, the tango walk(s), and the tango embrace (!).

Then we did some simple dancing to the music and even though it was nothing fancy, I did actually feel I was dancing tango. I’m going for a second lesson on Thursday, and then I’ll probably just go once a week.

Alejandro is an excellent, empathetic teacher — and as you can see from the picture, he’s cute too!