Chasing the Tango

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We were only 14h flight away from another and completely new continent. Even though it was the longest flight we have ever taken I thought it was not long enough to be honest. What can I say, I love the journey. Love the long bus rides and the views from the widows, love the flights and I am almost always disappointed when we arrive in a chosen place. Planes are great as you get some meals, drinks and watch fairly new movies which you don’t see much when you travel around. This flight was even more special as it took us back in time. We left at 9pm and arrived at 8pm of the same day. How often do you get a gift of a whole day again ha?

We arranged for a CouchSurfing place to stay in Buenos Aires counting on some fabulous local hospitality and insight into the town. As it was late in the evening we took a radio taxi from the airport to the area of Parque del Centenario where our host Leando lives. How shocking was the price of this ride to us? 200Peso is an equivalent of what we pay to get to Heathrow London from our home which is 30m away!!! Welcome to South America, I guess. We are still on a budget – hope we are not going to starve here. Leandro is a very nice guy, he welcomed us to his home like friends and we had a great stay there. The only thing we did not get out of this experience was some showing around the town thing which was a shame. He was too busy working and literarily we only saw him in the late evenings. He was very kind to give us tips and hints about Buenos so we were happy nevertheless.

As we were new to this continent and obviously you hear and read so many travel stories of horrors we wanted to take it easy and get used to the atmosphere there. It was very different from Asia, you can tell by the first look. People look very much like Europeans in Buenos and the city itself resembles some old European capital. I heard somewhere that it actually resembles Budapest as a lot of fist settlers of Buenos came from the land of current Hungary (before Austrian empire as far as I remember). I am not sure how true the story is as I was not able to find any info about it but nevertheless the centre of Buenos is stunning. We decided to avoid going out at night especially that we would have to go back home by subway or taxi and we did not feel comfortable with that yet. We walked around the centro, seen all the historic monuments and museums and tried some local food. Meat was truly exceptional there that is for sure but even better was Dulce de Leche icecream they have on every corner. Even MacDonald's make them!!! Being able to buy some great wine for a few dollars was an advantage too of course ;-)

We just loved the barrio of San Telmo with its cute little Plaza Dorrego and vintage shops around. Antiques markets were bustling with vendors and potential buyers while cobbled streets and the colonial architecture just added more charm to this place. We could spend hours and hours walking around this place, it was so lovely. What we have not seen the first day was street tango show and we were really disappointed. We walked and walked around looking for some shows and dancers but nothing. We even walked past few Milongas - dance schools but at this time of a day or week they were closed. Leandro told us that the street tango shows happen usually around weekend and it was really unfortunate that it was only mid week. We decided not to give up and swung by San Telmo the next day on the way to another fascinating barrio of artistic La Boca.

We could not believe our own eyes and ears when we walked on the Plaza Dorrego as there were two pairs of dancers performing. We sat in one of the outdoor cafes and admired them. Waiter was laughing at our order of coffee and beer calling it an interesting choice (kind of easy guess who ordered what). We even got interviewed by a local radio as this was apparently a Day of Tourism or something. It was fun even though we were suspicious of those guys at the beginning. After the show we had a chat with the dancer and he happened to be of Polish roots. We have learnt that there was a big group of Poles and their descendants leaving in Buenos and there even was a ‘Polska House’ with a folk group and restaurants etc. Amazing how our nation migrated through centuries.

After chasing the tango and finally seeing it we decided to leave La Boca for the next day. Again, we did not want to come back home at night so we just called it a day. La Boca proved to be a fascinating place although it is worth mentioning that really only the farthest from the centre part of it – the colorful Caminito is worth seeing. We walked pretty much all the way from the Plaza de Mayo (centro) to Caminito and now we are not sure if it was such a wise idea. La Boca itself looked quite poor and there was more police than you normally see anywhere in town. It pretty much says it all for itself I believe and we did not feel very safe when walking there. We made it safely though and took in the atmosphere of the artistic soul of Buenos. We loved the colorful houses and tango shows even though there was more posing for tourists’ photos than dancing. Leandro said that La Boca and San Telmo used to be real cultural centers for locals but now they are pretty much left for tourists and making money only. Locals go elsewhere to enjoy themselves.... we wish he showed us where....

Our visit to Buenos would not have been complete if not a short trip to Recoleta Cemetery to see Eva Peron’s grave. The place is an architecture wonder by itself and it was a pleasure to stroll down the shady alleys, filled with beautiful ‘forever homes’ and statues of greatest (and wealthiest) people of Argentina. It was not easy to find Evita’s grave and to be honest it was not as astonishing as we expected. We thought she would get the best and the biggest but it was also a family tomb so I guess it was not up to the nation to erect it.

We were thinking really hard what to do and where to go next as we really wanted to head in all directions. We wanted to see more of Argentina but also really wanted to see Uruguay (have had my reasons for years) and Paraguay… ah decisions, decisions… If we had landed in Santiago, Chile our choice would have been easy – head north and then east across northern Argentina etc. Finally we decided to head to Uruguay as it was only across the bay and think what to do next later….

Additional note:


• For food lovers we recommend this article: We love dulce de leche
• also Argento is giving some great insight on Argentina and Buenos Aires

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Photos

how funky is that?
in Caminito

La Recoleta Cemetery
like little town

tango dancers
finally;-)

Comments

[denidax]

Dulce de leche is one of the best things in the world!!!!! (a tip for when you're back home, Haagen Dazs makes a very nice dulce de leche ice cream as well) ;o)

[Beata and Tomek]

Hey Guys
Thanks a lot;-) we will be big fans of them I am sure !!! B&T

[anonymous]

I thought the same about Evita's grave, hard to find and not imposing at all. It's almost as if they want to forget her. Love your black and white photography.

[D MJ Binkley]

We're told the dancers will find you
We long to go to Argentina. Hopefully, soon. We will gain some tips from reading your blogs. We love exploring grave sites when we travel.