Victor Asteinza » argentine-tango

Last Days of Buenos Aires

victor — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:37:07 +0000

We headed down to the micro centre on Thursday after breakfast and walked down Florida which is a big shopping area. We walked around for a couple hours. Marilee bought a pair of boots, which were hard to find due to the fact that it was late Spring there. I picked up a couple of DVDs in Spanish for the class my mom is teaching, and a really cool print of Spinetta, an Argentinian musician, from an artist that felt very passionately about him. We then headed back to the casseron for our private lessons.

That night we headed to a Basque restaurant, Laurak Bat for Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently it was close to not a very good neighborhood, at least for a couple of Americans all dressed up, because that was the first night that we were warned about not walking around at night. When the taxi driver dropped us off, he pointed down the street and then to his watch shook his head and said “don’t walk”. We took that as a sign that it was too late to walk around. We had a great dinner and then headed out to my first milonga in Buenos Aires, Tango Soho. It is run by the teacher that we were taking classes from, so we knew some people there. It wasn’t too crowded. After watching for a little bit and having a drink we felt comfortable to dance. It was really fun.

The following day, Friday, we decided to head out to La Boca, one of the neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. It was mostly a tourist spot, but it was pretty nice. Picked up a couple of gifts there and a really nice painting from a sweet old man that was very excited to tell us about the different galleries in the states that his paintings are sold at

After that we headed back for our daily nap before heading out for the night. Our last dinner was at the place we called “The Garage” down the street from the caseron. We had a very nice dinner and then headed out to Salon Canning, a famous Friday night milonga.

It was a spectacle to behold. All the tables were reserved and we had to speak to the host in order to get a table. We were expecting to get a table in the back since we were nobodies, but we seated two tables from the dance floor. Where you sit at a milonga is very important. It sort of shows your status, and helps to get dances. In a milonga you don’t ask someone to dance by walking up to them and asking “do you want to dance?” There is a whole ritual involved. You scan the room for potential partners. When you find one you hope that they look in your direction so that you catch their eye. Once you catch their eye, you make a gesture towards the dance floor and wait for a response, which can be anything from a nod, a smile, or if you are unlucky a look away. Songs are played in groups called tandas. In between the tandas, a non-tango song is partially played to signify the end of the tanda. At this point the dance floor usually clears until the next tanda begins. Another interesting thing about tango is that you only say “thank you”, when you no longer want to dance with the current partner. You don’t say “thank you” if you want to continue dancing with them. In between songs you stand there and have a little conversation until after a few bars of the current song has played and then you start dancing again. It is very interesting to watch, especially how every stops dancing at the same exact moment when the song ends.

The place was very crowded and a little intimidating for us. So we just sat at our table, drank beer, watched people dance, and talked to some of the people that we knew there. At around quarter to three teachers from DNI, a tango school, put on an amazing performance. After the show we caught a taxi with Annette, a fellow traveler from Germany, back the caseron

The next morning was a little sad. It was our last day in Buenos Aires. We got up at 8:30, the earliest that week. Showered, packed, checked out and then went down for breakfast. Our plane was not taking off until 8:40 that night. So we headed out to get Marilee some new tango shoes at Come Il Faut. Which was the best way to shop. If shopping was like that I would go shopping all the time. When you get there, you ring the door bell. Someone opens the little window in the door and decides if they want to let you in or not. Once inside you sit down on a very comfortable couch and they just bring out shoes for you to try on until you find something you like. It was kind of fun.

We then walked around for a little while, and then headed back to the caseron to hang out and wait for the taxi to show up to take us to the airport.

I’ll write another entry with some random details and observations of the trip. So check back soon.

Buenos Aires, First Couple of Days

victor — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 22:03:46 +0000

I went to sleep around 1am Wednesday night. Woke up around eight thirty, quarter to nine on Thursday morning. Spent the day at work. Left early around 3:30 and went home to finish packing and clean up the apartment. I decided not to go to sleep Thursday night, because I was flying out at 6am Friday morning, and the cab was picking me up at 4am, to take me to the airport. So I hungout at my local pub for a few hours, walked around for a little bit, and then just vegged on my couch for a couple of hours watching MASH. I have this strange ability to be able to wake up at the end of any episode just as the credits roll, so I wasn’t too concerned about falling asleep. I stayed up most of the night, but fell asleep around 3 and woke up at 3:30 just as the episode was ending. Got up, changed into the clothes that I was going to travel in and waited for the cab to arrive.

There really wasn’t any adventures along the way, just the normal uncomfortable airline seats and trying to fall asleep. When I got to LA, I had to walk a little bit to find the international building, checked in, and found something to eat. Every place that I found was serving breakfast. “What the fuck?”, I though to my self. I want something else besides breakfast, thats when I realized that it was only 9:30am. I found a Mexican place that was serving lunch and had some lunch. I then went to find my gate. I was a little confused at first because the gate was not your typical airplane gate, it was a bus terminal. “Interesting, I guess I will be taking a bus to Lima, weird.” Turns out the gate was actually out in the middle of the runway. They took us out on buses, to where we boarded the plane.

I flew LAN from LAX, to Lima, to Buenos Aires. This airline rocks. They are what I imagine the American airlines of yesteryear to have been like. Once we were all seated, one of the attendants walked around giving out the daily paper from Lima. Then they walked around giving free headphones, and then with sleeping masks. About an hour later, lunch/dinner was served, with free alcohol and free re-fills. I was served a very nice red wine in a glass glass. Dinner was pretty good, and served with metal silverware. If we all wanted to, we could have bum rushed the cabin and take over the plane, but that didn’t happen. Imagine that. Anyways, after four glasses of wine, I plugged in my ipod and took a nap. The trip was pretty long and I was exhausted when I landed in Buenos Aires.

Marilee surprised me by showing up at the airport to pick me up. It was great to ride with her out to the guest house that we are staying at. It is a great place. It caters to tango and has its own dance studio, where they have nightly class, and you can sign up for private classes. But you don’t have to dance if you don’t want to. There are a couple of people here that don’t dance and don’t have any intention of dancing. I recommend this place to any one that is visiting Buenos Aires.

When we got the guest house we had breakfast, which is included with the price and is very good. We then walked around the neighborhood until I got tired and needed to crash. Took a four hour nap, and then got lost somewhere in the Palermo neighborhood. Came back to the guest house and went out to dinner around 9 to this little place around the corner. The food was excellent and it was really cheap. Everything around here is really cheap. We had two appetizers, two entrees, two deserts and a bottle of wine for about 40 dollars American. A meal like that back home would easily cost at least twice that.

Yesterday we wondering around one of the big markets and had a blast walking around and checking out the vendors and street performers. We then had lunch on this narrow balcony on the third floor of an old building, overlooking the market. It was great. Got back to the guest house, took a nice long nap, and when out to dinner with Karoll, our neighbor from Australia. Of course we didn’t head out to dinner until around 8:30 and didn’t get back until 1am. Eating is such a nice slow paced enjoyable event here. One is never felt rushed. In fact when you first sit down, you have to catch the waiters eye before they even come over with the menu. It was a little weird at first, but I am getting used to it now, and I think its great.

Today we went out the cemetery in Ricoletta where Evita is buried. The cemetery itself is a little enclosed city with little “houses” every where. The houses serve as family crypts. A lot of them have glass doors so that you can see inside. They vary in age and levels of disarray. From pretty modern, clean looking, to really old (early 1800′s), and falling apart. To the point where some of the walls have caved in unto the caskets inside, and if you are brave enough you could touch them. I had a great time taking pictures there, I can’t wait to see how they turn out. I’ll post some pictures later in the week.

We had to be back to the guest house for a tango lesson at four. I was so nervous to take a lesson here in Buenos Aires, the birthplace of tango. I was really expecting them to laugh at me. They take there tango very serious here. But the class went very well, and I am now excited to check out milongas. Before the lesson and I didn’t think I wanted to go, but now I do. I am pretty excited to see and hopefully dance some tango at a milonga in Buenos Aires.

Well I have almost an hour before the group lesson starts, so I am going to join Marilee and take a little nap.

Off to Buenos Aires

victor — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 06:25:00 +0000

In less than six hours a cab is coming to pick me up to take me to the airport where I will begin my journey to Buenos Aires to meet Marilee. I am flying to LA, then to Lima, then to BA, where I will arrive 20 hours later. What a trip! I am going to try to stay up tonight. Its only six more hours.

I am really excited. We have been taking tango lessons. Okay, three months ago we were taking tango lessons, and have kind of slacked on them. But we are staying at a tango guest house, Caserón Porteño, which should inspire us. Marilee as been there two days and has already taken 3 lessons and gone to a practica. Of course we wont only be tangoing, but enjoying the city and seeing what it has to offer.

Stay tuned for updates of my trip. Also check out Marilee’s blog where she has chronicled her trip for the past three weeks.