Long After Midnight at the Nino Bien

Tony joined us 3 dancers and we met up with Mike, a Californian who is resident in BA, and who had booked a table. We were there just before 11 and there were not many on the floor. It is quite a grand place but not the magnificence of La Ideal. Two rows of tables around the floor, waitress service for drinks and snacks, classic tango tracks.
I had good dances with R and L and managed to invite one other woman to dance, only to find she was Italian. Mike seemed to have absorbed the Argentine philosophy in that he did not dance with R or L despite sitting at the same table and chatting with them.
I think the Argentine man does not want to dance with foreigners in case he looks bad. The Argentine woman would rather sit the night out than be seen to be so desperate that she will dance with a tourist. Perhaps if she did she would not be asked by an Argentine man.
The tango that is danced is a bit different, usually because it is very crowded. It has to be close embrace and lots of turns. This can be coped with and I feel confident to dance amongst them - I am average and that is OK.
The social differences are huge and cannot be surmounted except by living here. We are instantly recognisable as English. It does not matter how well you dance, how well you dress, you cannot change your age or nationality and they are paramount.
However despite that, it is wonderful to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the venues and be delighted that there is at least 10, usually 20, milongas to choose from every day!
Tony appreciated the problems of getting dances here and that it is a different world to the casual approach we take in the UK.
As at all the milongas we have attended so far, the dress by the men has been very casual (even jeans and T shirt!). The women here were well dressed and seemed to be significantly younger than the men. This was not so obvious at other venues.
We will certainly go to Nino Bien again.