ARGENTINA Queueing,Steak,Tango.
Yes, you have guessed, I am in Buenos Aires!
When you fly in, you realise what a huge city this is! I thought I would have a lot of time to kill before getting to the apartment, but the plane was nearly an hour late and then I had to brave the American Express bank to cash my traveller cheques. I had read about queueing for more than an hour as standard in BA's banks but did not really believe it. Well, an hour was an understatement! At least 5 A4 pages and a long till roll printed out to give me my money - in pesos not the US dollars I wanted! Bit of a financial crisis here and dollars not being handed out causing lots of arguments in Spanish but I could tell that pleasantries were not being exchanged.
So only half hour to spare in making the appointment time for getting into the apartment. Unpacked, I wandered out and by going in the opposite direction to the one I thought I was going in, came across Don Julio, not the man but the Parrilla, a steak house. You can watch them cooking these enormous steaks on the grill, then shovelling in coal to keep it nice and hot. Not to be daunted, and in true Brit style, I had a half portion. It was still a piece of tenderloin as big as my hand. The best steak I have ever tasted!
Then picked up my dance shoes and spurred on by steak and malbec I set out for Salon Canning, a famous tango venue with many tango souvenires available. I arrived rediculously early at 10.15 and watched the end of an advanced lesson - it did look advanced!
At 11pm the milonga began and I got chatting to a Californian who had lived here for years. That was relaxing and when he danced I made sure I danced the next tanda. Invitations were not that difficult, a matter of standing in front of the woman and looking eager (well, I look eager all the time!) and she stands up. A lot of time spent talking in between tracks. Two of the women I danced with were German and spoke English and one was Argentinian and spoke English and 2 others, I have no idea, as we just smiled and waited to dance when the crowd started to move. I think one girl (tart!) averted her eyes when I pointedly looked! I did see other refusals because men do prowl around and make a choice like choosing your steak on the grill! By the time I left at 1am-ish it was getting crowded. Although there were excellent dancers and probably better ones to come later (5am finishing) WE BRITS HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR! At least not at this milonga.
4 pounds to get in, 1.50 pounds for 10min taxi ride back.
So far so good.
posted by Bob's Blog @ 3:47 AM
2 Comments:
Seems you are gradually integrating into the pace of life with all of it's wonderful pleasantries!
It is interesting to hear about your adventures at this milonga in Bs As and more so to hear that the we Nottingham tangueros have nothing to fear, other than the bank queues and over indulging in the fruits of the pampas!
Last night (Monday) we had an excellent, if not technical, lesson with Adam about a type of colgada, proceeded by many exercises with partners, trying to get the feel of the movements. And all in the name of playing with your partners axis! More to come, we are promised, with many variations.
I don’t know if you have already discovered this site already, but if you have not, you may find some interesting material, not that you might have much spare time! www.verytango.com/index.html Phil Adams.
You are so luck you are in BA. Noticed how much foreigners live there? Plus the tourists, you have half of the people speaking English and that makes everything easier. In my Buenos Aires travel I also went to dance Milonga. It is nicer than Tango for me, because it is joyful while tango has sad lyrics... Anyways, music is all around in Argentina, you have to take advantage of it!
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