Dancing the Tango and other adventures

Back in Buenos Aires now.  I can tell I am back by the beautiful sidewalk decorations. 

Went to a tango lesson.  Bellow is a picture of my Jedi master and Sensai Patricio.  He teaches me to dance the tango, I have taken three lessons from him.  I am his star beginner pupil. Usually he is very critical of all of his students but he absolutely loves me and the way I dance the tango.

 

Here I am dancing the tango in the above three pictures with the lovely and beautiful Nez.  This girl is truly badass, a true original gypsy in South America if I have ever met one.  Delicately dancing the tango in the boots she has been travelling the world with, you can tell by her style she is an expert at not just the tango, but the original gypsy traveller tango as well. She is from Australia.

The Tango is an amazing dance.  It is very serious and you have to be very focused and maybe even a little sad while dancing it.   My tango Jedi Master Patricio sometimes gets mad because when I make a mistake I will burst out laughing.  "No", He says angrily in Spanish.  "The tango is a very serious dance and you must respect the art, passion and history of this beautiful dance."  I am lucky to have such a good teacher to immerse myself deep in the true culture of this country.

 

If you are in Buenos Aires and you want to have good Italian food you need to go to Pippo.  Its owners have operated it through three generations in true Italian fashion.  It is located within half a block of Montevideo and Corrientes, On Montevideo. 

 

This was my freshly made spaghettie noodles with Bolognese Sauce plus a chorizo sausage on top, fresh parmesan to boot. 

 

I filled up on bread pretty hard before the meal.  _Unlimited bread and this pesto dip with garlic and butter.  Plus a decent sized double coffee.  All in all this meal came to 130 pesos, approximately 9 US dollars using the black market exchange rate. 

 

Buenos Aires is a city of many leaflets and pamphlets.  So far these are all the leaflets I have collected during my stay here. 

 

Apparently Larry David is the coach of the Boca Soccer Team down here in BsAs. 

First day of Spring (Primavera)

The widest street in the world just steps from my hostel.  Carlos Pelligrini Ave is at least 20 lanes wide with traffic going both ways.  Down the middle is lanes exclusively for busses.

Here a man on a unicycle juggles for traffic stopped at a light.

 Playstation 1 is going to be coming to Argentina this Christmas.

 This is a beautiful palace in Argentina.  It used to be owned by a very rich and powerful person.  It was likely built sometime in the 19th century.  Why can't architecture from the 21st century look this good?

 Bicyclists in a large bicycle brigade ride in the streets of downtown Buenos Aires on this first day of Spring.  Buenos Aires is a very friendly bicycling city.

 Congresso park with beautiful fountains.  In the background an incomplete new building that doesn't look like it will be finished any time soon.  A symbol of the unpredictable economy.

 These are across the city and allow citizens and tourists to rent bicycles for free.  On this Sunday they were closed though.  You only get the bicycle for one hour but it is still a great idea.  For a tourist all you need is a photocopy of your passport with the stamp that shows you entered the country legitimately.

 Kid playing soccer in the Congresso Park.  He wants to be the next Lionel Messi.  Apparently all the parents are naming their newborn babies Lionel right now.

 A shot of the Congress and the park full of people on this beautiful first day of Spring.

 Girls in the park with their thermos drinking mate.  Everyone in Buenos Aires owns a thermos.  Once they run out of hot water for their Mate Cup they just pour more in.  Mate is all about sharing.  It is not just a drink it is a way of life.  If you make jokes about adding alchohol to Mate, or suggesting that its only a drink, Argentinians get very offended.

 Building under construction in Argentina.

An advertisement for my favorite food in Argentina, Alfajores.  In the middle is a thin layer of Dulce de Leche which is a staple to Argentinian culture like Maple Syrup is to French Canadians.

San Telmo Market

 The San Telmo Market in Buenos Aires is a very amazing tourist sight.  There are many vendors that sell trinkets and it is a lot of fun to walk around.  It happens every Sunday so make sure to check it out if you are in Buenos Aires.

 The market is not very busy before noon but it really starts to pickup later in the day.

 Lots of souvenir mate cups for sale.

 One guy was selling some nazi memorabilia.  I took some pictures but he quickly scurried me away.  That is why the angle on this picture is a little off.

 Defensa and Venezuela Ave in Bunos Aires.

 Smoke coming up from the BBQ's.

 This shot really give you an idea of how big this market is.

 People relaxing in the shade on Defensa during the San Telmo Market.

 Chorpan is a sausage on a bud.  It was forty pesos which is a little much but it was worth it and I completely loaded up on chimchurri and vegetables.

 This woman is sprinkling salt onto her mat before she demonstrates how to dance the tango.  Many people have asked me if I plan on learning the tango however I do not think it will happen this trip.

 People relaxing out front of a cafe on Defensa Street.

 Woman blowing bubbles that are for sale at the San Telmo Market.

 Woman playing the drums for tourists at the San Telmo Market.  She yelled something at me when I took her picture but I had no idea what she was saying in Spanish.

 Umbrella decorations hanging from the street skies.

 Just rockin it next to this v-dubs.

I kinda look like Marry Poppins in this shot.

Day 1

Well I finally arrived. Everyone kept asking me before I left, "has it set in?" or "are you excited?". To be honest it never really did. I got here having very little sleep on the eighteen hour flight, and I took some time to walk around the city and check it out on a Sunday. Many of the stores were closed today, and I stuck mainly to my hostel and the area around it, followed by a beautiful window I walk by on the way to my hostel room. All in all my private room for the month, with a good exchange rate cost me less than 500 US in downtown Buenos Äires which is very good I think My hostel is on the fourth floor of a very nice building. When you get to the fourth floor you have to walkup this set of stairs.

The Obelisco is a National monument in Buenos Aires. It is one of the most recognized symbols of the city, similar to the Calgary Tower. This is literally just steps from my hostel. When I walked by it later in the afternoon there was huge congregations of people just sitting by this enormous monument that is situated in a park in the middle of about 8 lanes of traffic.

Went to the grocery store. Took some pictures of the beer prices. It seems in Argentina when people drink beer they have 1 liters, what we in Canada call "forties". Argentinians are not big drinkers but their prices are so cheap. These 1 liter Stella Artois go for about 2 bucks Canadian prices (depending on which exchange rate you use which I will be covering in tomorows post).

This is just a shot of Corrientes Avenue. Walking down it I found most of the street corners to be lively however many of the stores were closed. Walking down the main drags in Buenos Aires is extremely safe. There is so many people everywhere, of all ages, and so many street vendors selling newspapers and magazines (literally sometimes 4 in a block I counted).

Besides the graffiti, which I am sure I will get to in future posts, there is lots of legitimate city installed art installations. These ones are very realistic and depict businessmen. I am not sure if they are being ironic and being anti-capitalistic by portraying corporate fat-cats, or this happens to be a businessy part of town.

Now back to the hostel for some billiards and even the comfort of a bar.

All in all it was a great first day in Buenos Aires. Can not wait for all the adventures to be had while I am down here in America de la Sur.