Tuesday Night, Tango Night

For all the tango enthusiasts out there, obviously there is no better place to be than its birthplace, Buenos Aires.  I never realized just how strong the tango force is here until now.  Any night of the week you want tango, you got tango.  Its Tuesday night.  I was a little bored and have already watched all the movies out in theaters, so decided to head to La Confiteria Ideal, a tango place mentioned in a lot of guide books.  Its on the beaten path and just around the corner from the place I'm staying, so I thought it would be a good place to start for a milonga, or tango dance night.  There was some live music and about 40 people, 10 couples seriously working their tango moves on the floor.  From the schedule, I saw there were tango classes all day and then the milonga didn't even get started until around midnight.  I am super impressed by the work-night stamina here.  Also, I was super impressed by one couple in particular - the woman had really cute tango shoes, which for me are the #1 best thing about tango - the couple was just so graceful and had really creative moves.  Even if you don't dance, its pretty fun just admiring the footwork.

Dieting Troubles in Argentina

A recent article in La Nacion ranks Argentines as the #1 consumers of diet pills and a Reuters Article puts them just behind Brazilians as diet pill abusers.  Some Brazilian brand diet pills even include the active ingredient of Prozac.  Sounds like strong stuff.  I'm starting to think maybe women here are so thin not because of the carbs & beef, but in spite of them (and with a little help from the pharmacy).

10 Best & Worst of Buenos Aires

I'm sure this will be updated later on, but so far here's the quicklist of best / worst

Best of Buenos Aires so far...

1. Nightlife

2. Hostels - meeting people from other cities in Argentina & all over the world

3.  People - watching

4. The Argentine diet - as mentioned in post #2

5. Soccer

6. Antibiotics over-the-counter

7. Coffee anywhere, anytime

8. Tango culture

9. Revival of the mullet

10. Winter in July 

Worst of Buenos Aires so far...

1. Revival of the mullet

2. People - crowds 

3. Hostels - no TP, broken lights, 10-bed-rooms...

4. Smokers everywhere

5.  Winter in July

Coup d'Hostel

hen is the last time you complained to management?  Sent back your food at a restaurant?  Protested anything at all?  I am learning very quickly that people in Argentina do not take any shit.  They will much more likely protest than look the other way.  I mean, look at the people banging pots out in the streets on Sunday and Monday night over a grain export tax increase.  When would that make anyone (not directly involved in the sale of grain) in the States bat an eyelash? And so, I read in La Nacion this evening that guests at a local hostel took it over because they were not happy with the service. According to La Nacion, the guests have reported numerous thefts to the management and it does not respond.  Also, the guests complain of bad treatment in general.  And so they have made a sort of Coup d'Etat... err... Coup d'Hostel???

La Continental Restaurant Review #1

"La Continental" Location: Defensa & Chile in San Telmo  

I don't care what other people may say, I LOVE La Continental's pizza!

This place is a chain with several locations throughout BA.  I just had the best slice of pizza (price 3.25 pesos = $1.05)  It was simply cheese with fresh tomato, but everything was perfect.  The crust was light, with the perfect balance of aerated doughy center and crust, sans pizza sauce (the toppings always slide off of pizza sauce, so I'm a no-sauce convert), the mozzarella cheese was absolutely delicious as it melted right into the crust, the tomato slices were fresh with basil sprinkled on them and to top it all off, a green olive on top.  YUM!  I also ordered 2 empanadas - ham & cheese and onion & cheese (price 2.20 pesos each, about $0.75).  I was less impressed with the empanadas. The cheese in them was too gooey and creamy and there were too many onions for my liking, but you live and learn.  I will definitely return for the pizza!  Next I want to try the slice I saw with anchovies...!  The place had about 50 seats and they were packed @ 10pm.

You Can't Beat the Street

I searched for a plug to be able to plug in my computer and other stuff for what seemed like forever today (granted it probably felt like a long time because I would rather stay in - I am sick).  The first store I went to was a really old school hardware store - they didn't have it.  Then I went to an internet place - just an internet cafe.  Then I went to an electric store - they had a gigantic 10 plug adapter for 80 pesos (30 bucks).  Thank goodness I asked if he had smaller ones, because he didn't but he told me they can be bought in the street.  How nice!  Who would have known?!  In the States we really suffer for lack of illegal street vendors.  Of course this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it has its advantages for the consumer, albeit caveat emptor.  I found a perfect 3-plug adaptor (computer, camera & cell phone, woo hoo!) for 14 pesos.  As you can tell, since I am back writing, it works!  

Cacerolazo!!!

"People Beating Pans All Over the Country!"  If an Argentine wants to REALLY pull out the big protest guns, s/he will find the big ol' nastiest pan and spoon and beat them together till the whole nation picks up and joins them in resounding, clanging disapproval of the government.  There are no words, no shouted slogans, just TA, TA, TA-TA-TA!!!  Tonight I can hear the "ta ta ta-ta-ta" of people beating pots and pans from their windows and in the streets. People are protesting the new export tax the government has put on grain products. Car horns are beeping everywhere, a woman shouted on the news "que se vaya la presidenta!" (the president should go) and the sound of beating pots is like an aggressive, unhappy modern jazz band with hundreds of members playing outside our window. The Argentinos know how to protest!

First Day in BA

My first day I walked around the city for no less than six hours. We wandered through the city to the Plaza de Mayo and saw the Casa Rosada, where "Evita" gave her famous speach. Some people think that people elected her because they wanted her husband, and on the same line of reasoning elected Kirschner because they wanted her husband. Similarly, people may feel kindly toward Hillary Clinton because they want her husband in office again. It makes sense, that is, if you think women follow after their husbands. Evita was from a poor family. She married Juan Peron who became President two years later. In 1951, Evita became Vice President. However, she died just a short time later in 1952, but not before being named "Spiritual Leader of the Nation." She died at 33 and held office for a very short time, yet is probably one of the most remembered political figures ever, especially since Madonna's portrayal of her in the movie Evita.
We wandered from funky San Telmo and the Sunday street fair to Palermo to Puerto Madero and upscale Recoleta and its design mall and its famous cemetery (I saw Eva Peron's grave there), to the Microcentro where most business is conducted, to Congreso where the congress building is, not necessarily in that order. The San Telmo street fair was really fun, full of antique goods sold at many stalls, trios playing tango music and partners performing tango in the streets, carmelized peanut and almond stands (delicious sweet nutty crunchy protein!!!) and street artists posing as statues. The Recoleta cemetery is the most unique, impressive cemetery I've ever seen. New Orleans was impressive with its above-ground graves, but Buenos Aires' Recoleta graves go above and below ground! All of the Recoleta graves are outfitted with ornate decorations and larger than life statues of the deceased. The memorials obviously cost a lot of money to erect, but now that the country has gone through some financial ups and downs (more downs), many of the memorials are looking uncared for. There is broken glass, broken locks, even entirely exposed caskets. If you look through the doors of most tombs, you can see a staircase that leads down underground and sometimes see several caskets. Since it was Sunday and Father's Day, we did see a few people visit to unlock the gates to their family's tomb to say "hi" and leave flowers, but it looked like the majority of tombs hadn't been visited in a while - except for Eva Peron's which had several fresh flowers in it. As if the aging, decrepit, cracked open tombs couldn't get any creepier, gangs of stray cats prowl around the narrow walkways between graves.

Mataderos - La Vida Gaucha

The Mataderos Fair is a display of all things gaucho on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It is a country fair, filled with all things gaucho. A band played traditional gaucho music. Men dressed up in boots and spurs, red scarves and gaucho cowboy hats. Women wore poofy floor grazing dresses and boots. The dressed up participants and random members of the crowd performed a traditonal partner dance where the men and women gave passionate looks to each other but never touch. There were stalls of food items like dulce de leche, alfajores (dulce de leche between two white cookies), choripan (chorizo sausage in a white bread bun) and vino patero (cheap sweet wine from the pitcher), empanadas (big chunks of beef and leeks in fried white shells), and yerba mate tea items. Walking through the stalls, the air was thick, sweet and smoky from the stalls grilling beef and sausage and the freshly fried empanadas, the fresh dulce de leche being made into treats, and the several stalls selling sweet, heavy incense sticks. Where the rows of stalls converged, miniature shetland ponies and tiny llamas no more than 4 feet tall were saddled up with ornate gaucho saddles for kids to saddle up and take pictures with.
To the side of the stalls, an area was set up for horsebackriding competitions. Each rider galloped at highest speed down the street. Half way down the street a small metal ring hung from a post and the riders would try to catch it on a small stick that looked a lot like a fat chopstick. Surprisingly, most of the riders could do it. They ranged in age from around 6 to 70 years old.
I was lucky enough to know Tom (husband of Maya, who I know through writing my unique educational history for part of her upcoming book The World is Your Campus), who brought me to the Mataderos Fair today with his friend Emily.  Emily was on a mission today to buy a cowhide rug for her apartment here in BA. We found several stalls and stores around the fair to check out many different varieties of cowhides.  If you ever wanted a cowhide floor covering, I assure you that Mataderos Fair is the place to get it.

Argentinean Diet

  Breakfast is small and consists of a shot of espresso or cortado (espresso with a tiny bit of steamed milk) and two small croissants called medialunas. Lunch is a choripan (chorrizo sausage inside a bun of white bread) and red wine. Dinner is the biggest meal and consists of grilled beef and red wine. Maybe fried cheese and empanadas too.

Count-down to Argentina: 24 days!

I'm almost done teaching Spanish for the year.  On June 14th I move to Buenos Aires for 75 days.  I've been in touch with and wrote something for an American author working on a book about alternative & global education, Maya Frost, who lives there.  I'll stay at her place for 2 days while I look for a room for rent.  After trying to get a place to stay over the internet, I've decided its best to go there first then find a room.  I'm hoping to experience a lot in 75 days: tango, beef, wine, spanish language study at the University, Plaza de Mayo, Borges, Evita, Che, Patagonia, Iguazu Falls, gauchos, and Argentinian ego, the Jewish community, Boca Juniors soccer game, and all those other unexpected things that travel brings.