Tango in Argentina
March 23, 2006
  
Our first night in Buenos Aires had us front row at a fabulous tango show with a group called Tango Express. They were fabulous, traditional style Argentine Tango revved up for the show stage, lots of kicks, flicks and fast footwork, it was fantastic stuff.
Next we headed off to see how the real stuff is done in a local Milonga right in the heart of town on a very pedestrian Wednesday night in Buenos Aires. After winding our way through the rainy backstreets our taxi driver dopped us at the front of this very regal and old building. A moderately sized marble ballroom with marble pilars and gorgeous iron elevator. The ceiling was carved in timber with very ornate floral designs, a really beautiful old place, actually the oldest place in town.
We pulled up a seat to watch the dancefloor that was already alive with tango dances of varying degrees of skill. As I sat and scanned the room I couldnt believe my eyes when I spotted a woman from back home, from our local studio and someone I had many conversations about tango with!!! I went over and she was just as shocked to see me as I was her.
We hung out for a while until a fleeting glance landed in her direction (an invitation to dance) and she was scooped onto the dancefloor for the next bracket (three or four songs). Aparently its rude to abandon your partner after the first song, bad luck if they have halitosis or body odour :-)
We saw a few performances on this night, some of the dancers were even better than the ones in the earlier show, it was absolutely fantastic. Paul and I were in tango heaven. We met another woman from Australia and she explained how the whole Argentine Tango Milonga thing works, the real way, not the tourist way and we just sat, intrigued as we took it all in.
The next day I headed out with a girlfriend to hit the towns two best tango shoe shops. We wound our way through some streets, a back alley, up some stairs and buzzed on a door. The door opened to a single room with a large mirror, zebra skinned rug and lots of women sitting on footstools trying on faaabulous shoes!!! Can you imagine our delight? We were home!!!
There were no shoes on display, no visual images, just argentinian women speaking enough english to understand your footsize and bring you boxes of stunning tango shoes. We were like kids in a candy shop. Several hours later we emerged with a modest two pairs of shoes, my foot size is common in Argentina and the local tango conference meant this little shop was flush out of fabulous dance shoes. So.... we headed off to the store and bought another pair there!!!
But the most exciting part of our day was when we sat down for tea in the foyer of this gorgeous, elegant and sophisticated mall, Collen, Valeria and myself. After being served tea we noticed a little red light intermittently appearing on our faces. At first we thought it was a reflection from our jewellery, but when we traced it, it was coming from a gentleman standing at the escalator downstairs in the entrance of the busy mall.
Collen spotted him at first, an elegant senior Argentinian in a smart business suit with trench coat over his arm. At waist height he was holding a pocket laser light and shining it at our faces. We all looked over the balcony at the same time and it was then he revealed his intentions... to flash his.... you know what at us!!!
The action was so quick, so smooth and well timed, we knew he was an expert and had done this many times before. The funniest thing was each womans individual reaction. Colleen recoiled in fear, "oh, no, not again" was her response as she had recently been flashed in Brazil. Valerea´s reaction was of resigned acceptance.... "oh... the south american men are so forward here" as she sipped her cafe late. As my reaction, well, it was lightening quick and unmistakable as I lept from my red velour seat, lurched over the balconies edge, pointed directly at this man and yelled at the top of my lungs "PERVERT!!!!". At which point, this pathetic excuse for a man repositioned himself and hurried away from his vantage point into the main street, blending in with the local Argentinian traffic.
So after another eventful day in the life and times of two Aussie travellers, I headed back to the safety of our luxurious ship where there are no peverts, no pickpockets, no thieves and certainly no dirty old men... ehh... wait... no forget that last point.
So, today we are the farthest south we have ever been, almost at the tip of South America in a place called Punta Arenus, Chile. Its a cold sunny day and we are just loafing about this little town, getting a feeling for its vibe.
Tonight and tomorrow we make our way around the roughest ocean in the world, Cape Horn. We are hoping for a smooth passage as we have to perform the next day and the rough seas really take it out of you.
So, until we chat again, say a prayer for our little sailing souls and wish us a smooth sail around the horn. Well, this trip just keeps getting better...
We found ourselves in Buenos Aires for two nights and three whole days! What a rare opportunity.
Our first night in Buenos Aires had us front row at a fabulous tango show with a group called Tango Express. They were fabulous, traditional style Argentine Tango revved up for the show stage, lots of kicks, flicks and fast footwork, it was fantastic stuff.
Next we headed off to see how the real stuff is done in a local Milonga right in the heart of town on a very pedestrian Wednesday night in Buenos Aires. After winding our way through the rainy backstreets our taxi driver dopped us at the front of this very regal and old building. A moderately sized marble ballroom with marble pilars and gorgeous iron elevator. The ceiling was carved in timber with very ornate floral designs, a really beautiful old place, actually the oldest place in town.
We pulled up a seat to watch the dancefloor that was already alive with tango dances of varying degrees of skill. As I sat and scanned the room I couldnt believe my eyes when I spotted a woman from back home, from our local studio and someone I had many conversations about tango with!!! I went over and she was just as shocked to see me as I was her.
We hung out for a while until a fleeting glance landed in her direction (an invitation to dance) and she was scooped onto the dancefloor for the next bracket (three or four songs). Aparently its rude to abandon your partner after the first song, bad luck if they have halitosis or body odour :-)
We saw a few performances on this night, some of the dancers were even better than the ones in the earlier show, it was absolutely fantastic. Paul and I were in tango heaven. We met another woman from Australia and she explained how the whole Argentine Tango Milonga thing works, the real way, not the tourist way and we just sat, intrigued as we took it all in.
The next day I headed out with a girlfriend to hit the towns two best tango shoe shops. We wound our way through some streets, a back alley, up some stairs and buzzed on a door. The door opened to a single room with a large mirror, zebra skinned rug and lots of women sitting on footstools trying on faaabulous shoes!!! Can you imagine our delight? We were home!!!
There were no shoes on display, no visual images, just argentinian women speaking enough english to understand your footsize and bring you boxes of stunning tango shoes. We were like kids in a candy shop. Several hours later we emerged with a modest two pairs of shoes, my foot size is common in Argentina and the local tango conference meant this little shop was flush out of fabulous dance shoes. So.... we headed off to the store and bought another pair there!!!
But the most exciting part of our day was when we sat down for tea in the foyer of this gorgeous, elegant and sophisticated mall, Collen, Valeria and myself. After being served tea we noticed a little red light intermittently appearing on our faces. At first we thought it was a reflection from our jewellery, but when we traced it, it was coming from a gentleman standing at the escalator downstairs in the entrance of the busy mall.
Collen spotted him at first, an elegant senior Argentinian in a smart business suit with trench coat over his arm. At waist height he was holding a pocket laser light and shining it at our faces. We all looked over the balcony at the same time and it was then he revealed his intentions... to flash his.... you know what at us!!!
The action was so quick, so smooth and well timed, we knew he was an expert and had done this many times before. The funniest thing was each womans individual reaction. Colleen recoiled in fear, "oh, no, not again" was her response as she had recently been flashed in Brazil. Valerea´s reaction was of resigned acceptance.... "oh... the south american men are so forward here" as she sipped her cafe late. As my reaction, well, it was lightening quick and unmistakable as I lept from my red velour seat, lurched over the balconies edge, pointed directly at this man and yelled at the top of my lungs "PERVERT!!!!". At which point, this pathetic excuse for a man repositioned himself and hurried away from his vantage point into the main street, blending in with the local Argentinian traffic.
So after another eventful day in the life and times of two Aussie travellers, I headed back to the safety of our luxurious ship where there are no peverts, no pickpockets, no thieves and certainly no dirty old men... ehh... wait... no forget that last point.
So, today we are the farthest south we have ever been, almost at the tip of South America in a place called Punta Arenus, Chile. Its a cold sunny day and we are just loafing about this little town, getting a feeling for its vibe.
Tonight and tomorrow we make our way around the roughest ocean in the world, Cape Horn. We are hoping for a smooth passage as we have to perform the next day and the rough seas really take it out of you.
So, until we chat again, say a prayer for our little sailing souls and wish us a smooth sail around the horn.
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