La Catedral - New Argentina

Last night Barbara invited me along to La Catedral - the "New Argentina" interpretation of a tango hall. Matías warned me that the place was feo (gross), but I wanted to check it out anyway.  The reviews I read said that it was an abandoned factory that had been turned into a space for tango dancing and "art".

Arriving at the door, the first thought I had was that I was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The place looked like a warehouse from the outside, and the inside was no better.  "Abandoned factory" to me means an old building with a lot of space... but this, well this really was an abandoned factory.  There were still a lot of the installations in place from the factory days, and absolutely nothing had been done to make the place "habitable" other than throwing some tables and REALLY old couches into it.  The walls were half painted, and the light fixtures were either broken or flickering.

Barbara was totally in her element.  She loved the space, and kept talking about how it had such a good vibe for just chilling.  Matías and I, on the other hand, felt like the people in charge were just really lazy, with low standards of living, who didn't bother to clean up the place.  At one point, we had two guitarist/singers come out and do a few numbers, and although Barbara and her friends seemed to enjoy it, all I could do was notice when they were wildly out of tune, or singing with terrible technique.  Matías kept going off on the "New Argentina" and how it has no standards and how they expect so little from their artists, so little in terms of manners and respect from the people around then, and so little from the city they live in.  In a lot of ways he's right - how can a city improve if the people in it don't expect it to?

The real kicker to the whole experience, however, was when a cat crossed the dance floor with a mouse in his mouth, and no one even turned to notice.  Later, while the cat was feeding on it's prey, one of the waiters went over to pet the animal.  Can I say "eew" any louder?

Nonetheless, the experience was worthwhile.  I got to practice tango for a few songs (Matías said I've improved since Mendoza, but I dunno if he's just being polite... he's big on being polite) and see another side of the city.

Gay Men in Bs As

I've been told that BsAs is a great place for the gay community, and that it's basically the San Francisco for Latin America. I don't anything about whether or not that's true, and would have no idea how to measure it anyway, but Wednesday night I got a little taste of the gay community here, and I must say, it was fabulous.

The night started with Barbara (a dutch student from the same home stay I used to live at) and I having plans to grab dinner some where and meet Pablo out dancing at this club called Museum. Now, I'd heard mixed reviews about Museum, and didn't really know if I was gonna like it or not. Obviously, I should know that no matter what, I'm not really a night club person, but every so often I need to remind myself of that fact. Nevertheless, Barbara and I went for dinner on the Navy boat with Matías and one of his friends, Sebastian. We chilled, ate papas fritas and carne milanese, and basically waited for Pablo to contact us.

Apparently I'm not cool, however, because Pablo never called. Obviously Barbara and I were gonna go out anyway, but suddenly we were free to pick whatever location we wanted. Sebastian suggested we check out this club that was in the microcentro of the city, and relatively close to my hotel and Sebastian's place. We figured, why not?

Since Matías had to work, it was just the three of us. We get to the club around 12:30, which is super early by BsAs standards, so when we arrive, there are probably 15 or 20 people in the space, sitting around and pretty much waiting around. Most of the people were guys, but we thought nothing of it since the people that arrive at clubs early usually are men on the prowl. An hour later, however, the place was full... and still there were no women. Sebastian even said to me, "I wonder what happened to all the women!" Of course, at this point Barbara and I had figured out that this was a gay club.  Schweeeeet.  There were videos of Madonna in concert being broadcast on the walls of the club, and music like Michael Jackson to a techno beat blasting in our ears.

And so, for the first time in BsAs, Barbara and I enjoyed the feeling of NOT being an object of voyeurism.  No one whistled words like linda and hermosa in our ears.  No one attempted to kiss us before asking our names.  No one even bothered to look over at us.  And so we danced it up and partied on.  Sebastian was a little out of his element, but I don't blame him.  Suddenly Madonna has a whole new side.

Azúcar

Before leaving my home stay in San Cristóbal, a girl from Holland moved in.  Barbara had been to BsAs in December, left for a few months to travel around, and decided to come back because she loved the city so much.  Luckily we overlapped just enough for me to find out she's a dancer as well.  Schweeeet.  And we're talking SALSA dancer, here.

So, finally, I had a buddy to come with me to Azúcar... the local go-to place for Salseros.  It turned out to be absolutely awesome. The locale was small enough to be intimate, but not populated to the point of it being gross.  Everyone was a spectacular dancer, and people intermingled a LOT more than they do in places like Copacabana in NYC.  It was impossible to walk across the room without being grabbed by someone and pulled onto the dance floor.

Being from the United States, people were all excited to practice their English on me.  I got a few lines that were especially interesting...  "I want to make love with you" and "When I touch you?"  I corrected them on their grammar and then pointed out that sentences like that are not usually muttered to people within the first 5 minutes of meeting them.  But nevertheless... everyone was nice, and in the end, they were all gentlemen.  Most of them didn't care whether I said I had a novio (boyfriend) or not.... oh boy, the latin culture is something else.  But they did understand if I said "no me podes besar... solo bailar"

Living in a Hotel

I never understood people that chose to live in Hotels until I became one of them.  After living on Avenida Independencia for 5 weeks in Bs As, I wanted to try something else.  I spent much of last week looking at random apartments and trying to get a feel for the different neighborhoods - their prices, the kinds of apartments they offer, and whether or not it would be worth it for me to move into an apartment for only 5 weeks.

Well, there were a bunch of options, but they all reminded me of very sad apartments in NYC - too small, with every millimeter of space being used for something - and old as hell.  Creaky to the point that you wonder if the mice have eaten away the support beams.  So I was pretty disheartened when Matías suggested we look into his discount at the local Hotel for people in the Navy (no matter what country they're from).

Suddenly, I have a fancy schmancy room in a hotel for the price of a hostel in the city here.... I have to pay about $350 for 5 weeks.  That ROCKS.  I was paying $100/week in my homestay, so I'm saving money, AND I get this am-MAZ-ing breakfast every day.  My life is awesome.  I'm living like a princess.  whoo hoooo.

Another Lucky Stumble

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.

Tango Lessons

Last week being my first week back in BsAs, I finally got in touch with Ariel, a friend of Danny's from when he was here. Ariel is a Spanish teacher by day and teaches Tango on the side, in his spare time. Since Matías suggested I take lessons (he said I have the "gift"... but what does that really mean, right?) and I was kinda planning on taking them anyway, I met up with Ariel with the plans of setting up private lessons with him.

Monday last week I met up with Ariel just to chat over coffee. Phew, was that intense. Every time I meet someone new, it always takes a few minutes to get used to a new accent and cadence and voice, and figure out a way to converse. 2 hours of talking later - I finally had to beg him to let me go home. I was exhausted, but kinda proud of my accomplishment. We'd talked about philosophy, racism, politics.... ok so maybe I didn't sound like a debate speaker, but I managed....

Anyway, we set up tanding tango classes for Tuesday and Thursday, so at this point I´ve now had three lessons, and I´ve got another one tomorrow. I LOVE them!! Ariel is a very very good dancer, and he has a decent understanding of all the different schools of thought regarding the dance. He likes to teach one, but points out the differences in the others so that if I get a leader that is from a different school, I´ll know how to respond to him. He´s even given me technical exercises to do.... right up my alley of how I learn.

Tango is way different than the dances I know from Ballroom, and yet all the problems I´m having are the same ones I had while I was on the team at school. I guess dancing is dancing... and you can´t really get that far from the basics, no matter what dance you choose. We´ll probably go to a Milonga soon to try out my new steps (although I´d say I haven´t learned a single step really - just techniques for how to follow, and certain flares for my footwork). I´ll let you know how that goes.

Tilke... once again, you and Yann should quit trying to learn tango in the States, and just come here for a month or two, take a zillion classes for 1/10th the price (did I mention I´m paying about $13 for 1.5 hours?) and dance with a zillion incredible dancers.

El Tigre

El Tigre is a part of Buenos Aires that takes about an hour to get to on the train. It's at the edge of the city, and has an entirely different feel from the microcenter. On Saturday we went to walk around there a little, and I felt like I was in Cambridge walking along the river Cam. Instead of little punting boats they have something that's a cross between a skull and a canoe. There are zillions on the river. Every country that ever sent emigrants to BsAs has a boat house club in a giant gorgeous house that's designed in the traditional architecture of that country. These houses have bazillions of these little boats, and they're all ridiculously gorgeous because they're made of old wood and they're all shiny and cool. The seats on them are designed like the seats in a skull boat, where you can row and your chair moves back and forth, but only 3 people fit in a boat - like a canoe.

We walked around looking at the river traffic - there are also bazillions of tour boats packed with North Americans with cameras and ridiculous visors, and coast guard boats running around saving people that have collided - and enjoying the sun. We also had what was probably my best Helado in BsAs to date... Marissa and Dana, when you guys get here, we're totally going back for more.