Disco Nights

Whew. Today is my third morning in Buenos Aires.

Yesterday was kind of slow although the evening picked up a bit. During the day I went to see the Casa Rosada and the Plaza del Mayo, the central plaza of Buenos Aires. Also checked out that cool bank by Testa. Nobody in the financial district, so that was pretty cool with these huge old buildings and empty streets. Took the Subte (subway) there, voyages are about a quarter. the subway is very basic- wooden trains, and the only way to swich platforms is to go up and cross the street above. Still, I do enjoy subways for some reason.

When I got back, Aldo had shorted out the apartment with one of his adapter plugs. So we had no power until this morning. So we ran to the Disco, which is the local supermarket chain, to pick up some candles. I bought a great Malbec there the first day, just $3 US. The low end wines are in the range of $1 or less.

That evening at 7:30 we meet at a small plaza absolultely crammed with people, with street vendors in the center hawking leather and jewellry, surrounded by all the people and the whole round plaza surrounded by bars and club-bars. As more people arrived from our huge group, we all walked aroudn the plaza picking up more people as we went along. Finally Claudio turned up in typical Porteno fashion, (Portenos means people who live in the city of buenos aires, a port city) i.e. late. But we needed time to get everyone togather anyway.

As an aside, the city here is like a typical big city, but more relaxed. There are much fewer people pushing past you, everyone takes it a little more slowly than NewYork or Paris. It's just a lot more laid back here while still retaining the energy of the other cities. I've been trying to think of city comparisons. Buenos Aires is like Paris, New York, and Budapest. The fashion, attitute, and tree lined streets and tight, tiny streets of Paris; the grit, intensity, density, and feel of New York; and that sense of a grand city which has come through hell and hard times that I got in Budapest, the huge neoclassical, baroque, and art deco buildings fithy and covered with vines, the weak currency, and intensely innovative and trendy eateries and clubs.

Speaking of eating, when we all found each other last night, we went to this restaurant, a modern italian kind of place called Rave. Gracious living all the way, we were there for about three hours. I split a bottle of a Mendoza Malbec with three dinner parters, and I got the trout stuffed Ravioli, not knowing what I was ordering. It was pretty good. My total, including wine and mineral water and tip was $13.

Afterwards, we all walked quickly over to the Tango class- we were an hour late. The class was in a cavernous dance hall mostly consisting of very elderly couples. They separated us guys and girls and taught us the eight basic steps. I hate learning new dance steps because I have no memory or ability to keep numbers with positions of body parts. I can handle counts of three, but not much more. Lucky, as I learned for myself, this was a dance based on three counts, with rests of variable length thrown in. The 8 steps were really one-two-three rest one-two-three rest. I really need to learn music. Anyway, flash back to middle school square dancing- they had us grab one of the girls and start practicing. There's more guys than girls on this trip, but not by too much, so there was plenty of practice to be had. While we danced, the teachers, all of them characters, helped refine our movements and make gross corrections. It was fun though. It's very hard for me since instead of going on that simple one two three in the same time, you streeeeetch out that one to sliiiiide your foot around and then take to normal to fast steps.

This is, like other Latin american dances, all about the theater of the relationship- the guy is very strong, leading the woman, who, if she's very good, will make it seem like the guy is sweeping her all over the place like she's made of air. The closeness of the dancers, the way they face each other square, place thier steps so that it looks like they're just one step behind stepping on each other's feet, its difficult, but I'd love to get better. As usual- its all about practice, so I'll probably not return a major Tango dancer.

After our lesson we went to the poor man's tango class, a downstairs dance floor in the Armenian cultural center, where the huge floor was packed with younger people learning to dance tango. After thier lessons, they opened up the floor and began to play swing and rock by Elvis. Most of us split at that point, and went back to the plaza. We got a few tables outside togather and ordered drinks. We chatted and drank until the temperature began to drop sharply, and then we were too cold to sit anymore. Dusty, Adam, Chris, Jacob, and a few other guys went to another bar-club, while Aldo and I and most of the girls went back to our respective apartments around 4 AM.

This morning, because we still didnt have power, I got a phone call at 8;30 from our landlady who told us the electrician was coming soon. We waited and shortly after the electrician came in and replaced the socket. A spark arced between the copper wire inside and short circuited the thing. So then we had power and we took everything inside that had been cooling on the patio overnight.

I went out and had coffee and did some surfing and then went to this huge outdoor market in San Telmo, another part of town. This is a bit like Hong Chao, tons of antiques and junk and even designer clothes for sale, totally filled with vendors, tourists, portenos, native south americans, and performers. I stopped to listen to a small band play and liked them enough to buy thier CD ($5). It´s a kind of tango, but with some acordian and violins and base, its very moody and atmospheric and tense. Tons of shops all tucked away into the nooks and crannies of the streets. Lots of walking, my feet are sore.

Anyway, school starts tomorrow. We´re meeting for class at 8;30 AM so no more staying out till 4. Time for some pastries I think, and I think this missive has been long enough.