Yesterday, after finishing class and discovering that the apartment I was going to look at was no longer available, I found myself with some extra time and nothing to do. I decided to call up my trusty friend Matías once again... he always knows something that's going on in the city.
Well, it turns out, he had no idea what to do either. We went to a mall simply because there was AC there, and we needed to escape the heat. The food courts at the malls here aren't really food courts, they're more like really posh cafés with table service.... so we chilled there for a while waiting for the sun to stop being so strong. I looked at random leather goods (there are zillions of stores here that sell leather) and walked by a make-up store that was giving away free makeovers (schweeet). Basically we killed time.
When the day was finally cool enough to endure, we set about wandering around again, looking for something to do. When we walked by a little restaurant, suddenly Matías was inspired. Clasica y Moderna is an institution in BsAs. It's been around for a zillion years... originally built underground the building feels like it's a courtyard in Venice. The floor is all cobblestone and the walls that aren't covered in books are exposed brick. The ceiling is quite high, with a mezanine balcony around the perimeter that serves as a library. In the back of the restaurant there's a little bookstore that sells books on philosophy and politics, or those considered "high" literature. There was a lot of Borges and Marquéz and the likes.
Luckily the place still had tables available (it usually functions on a reservation basis) so we sat down to what was an absolutely delectable meal. The best part, however, was the show that went with it... In the middle of the restaurant was an old piano taken from the collection of the Argentine version of Frank Sinatra. We knew there was going to be some kind of music thing, but we had no idea what we were in for. It turned out to be a singer who came out onto the floor. She did a little bit of acting, a lot of talking, and a whole bunch of singing. It was great because she talked about the 1960s and 1970s when Argentina was in it's heyday, and the movements here in BsAs, the student uprisings in France, and the civil rights movement in the United States. She compared the politics of the different countries during that time period. Throughout it all, she would sing songs that were either from the era or particularly fitting to the theme. Since she'd lived in France during the demonstrations there, she did a lot of songs in French - several made famous by Edith Piaf - and talked about her own experiences at the time. She threw in a little snippet of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech (which was interesting to hear in Spanish) and sang "We Shall Overcome" as well (again, the spanish interpretation of this song was to die for). The show was unbelievable. Once again, Matías came through. Mommy and Daddy.... when you guys come here, this is going to be an absolute Must See.
No comments:
Post a Comment