Buenos Aires

I arrived in Buenos Aires not quite sure what to expect.  It has only been a few days now; I don’t think I have the answer to that yet.

I’ve had a bit of an issue with taxi drivers overcharging me, so I have been taking the subway instead.  There are beautiful murals at most of the stops.  The cars are sometimes very packed, I end up standing up against several people in a train with no air conditioning.  We are underground, though, so it isn’t as hot as up above.

It has been very hot here for the last few days, but is supposed to start to cool off soon.  The heat doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it might.  It’s uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as it was in Louisiana.

I have had a few tango classes already with Anabella Cruz-Heck, and am enjoying them a lot.  Annabella is a very good teacher, she is able to see where my problem areas are, and help me to work on them.  My connection in salon style is still not very good, but it has improved quite a bit.  She starts out each class with just walking.  I am a bit unstable in my new shoes, so this practice is very helpful.  Some days are better than others, but there are moments when I feel like I might be getting this down.

I went to my first milonga in Buenos Aires last night (Thursday) at Ideal.  One man was asking me to dance by pointing rudely at me and waving his arms.  I ignored him, so did not dance that night.  I am fine with that, I enjoyed watching the other dancers.

This milonga was different than the ones I have seen in the states.  The lights were all on, so it is easy to see what is going on.  Most of the people there appeared to be couples, they only danced with one partner.  I understand that at most milongas in this city, the men and women sit in different parts of the room – this was not true here, many couples sat together at tables.  There were men clearly teaching on the floor, which is bad ettiquette.  They would stop and adjust their partners, point to where their feet should go.  There is a time and place for this, and that is a practica, not a milonga.  The people I was sitting with shrugged this off because a lot of tourists who do not dance go to Ideal, it is in the travel brochures.

All in all so far, I am having a nice time.  It has been snowing in Seattle since I left, but I have a light sunburn from these bright, long summer days.  The food here is wonderful, thought I have yet to have any traditional Argentine food.  There are shops where you can buy fresh pasta for very cheap, I had a lasagnae the other day that was really good for 18 pesos, about $6 for two big servings.  There are quite a few French bakeries around.  A traditional breakfast here is a cafe con leche and media luna.  I am not a coffee drinker, but tried this anyway, for the experience.  I did not like the coffee, obviously, but I love the media lunas, mini-croissants.  They are rich and buttery like I remember from Paris.  It is late December, and I had some wonderful fresh cherries from a market down the street yesterday.  They had clearly been picked that day, and made me very happy 🙂

~ by Liz on December 19, 2008.