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Published: January 27th 2008
M: We have done so much walking! And seen a lot of Buenos Aires now.... and realised that there is nothing bueno about the air... it is heavily polluted due to traffic. San Telmo district, where we are staying, is lovely though - old cobbled streets; wonderful crumbly old colonial buildings with balconies and shutters in beautiful colours; fantastic vintage cars; and the most amazing antique shops / markets you could ever experience. Today (sunday) is market day here, and one of the main streets is made pedestrian so that it can be lined with stalls. There is also a huge indoor antique market... there are so many fantastic things and is torture for us to restrain. If this were the last stop on our trip we would definitely be filling our cases! We will have to do a trip out here when we buy our first house in order to kit it out. There is everything from costume jewellery and vintage dresses to antique / retro furnishings and crockery... just so much!
On Friday we went to watch a show at the Torquato Tasso cultural centre.. we had hoped to see tango but it was actually a singer and
Concert at Torquato Tasso
We went to a local cultural centre to try to watch a tango show, but we ended up watch this singer instead, who was fantastic. The building is beautiful old theatre hall with a dark sexy atmosphere and huge velvet curtains. Everybody sits at little round tables and gets served by waiters.musicians who were fantistic anyway. Inside it is a moody dark music hall with floor to ceiling velvet curtains and lots of small round tables for the audience. We began chatting to a very elegant (they are very sophisticated dressers here) Argentine lady in the queue. She was waiting for her daughters and when they arrived she insisted that they move tables to be next to us!.. it was a struggle to chat to them in the dark, as they didn't speak English, but we must have made a good impression as at the end they invited us to dinner the following night! We were quite nervous as we haven't quite got in to full Spanish swing... but we had the most fantastic evening.
It was at the flat of one of the daughters (Maria), her sister (Vivi) and mother (Elvira) were there, as well as her neighbours, Juan & Marcella, and Vivi's boyfriend Martin. (and Pollo the gigantic rottweiler!!) It was a true insight into traditional Argentine life. We began with a sip of their Mate - the Argentine version of tea which is served in a special cup (each household has one) with a straw - it is
New friends!
We were invited to dinner and felt very priveliged. We began chatting to Elvira (standing next to Jack) in the queue for Torquato Tasso the previous evening. She was waiting for her two daughters - Vivi (in white) and Maria (in pink). We spent the evening chatting to them and they ended up inviting us for dinner the following evening! like a ritual as the cup is passed around the family, and we were honoured to be offered it. Then, Vivi stoked up a huge asado (bbq) whilst looking incredibely beautiful and elegant in a white dress! and the meat was piled on... we started with the traditional chorizo sausages, followed by beef ribs, pork, chicken... and blood sausage (!!) - I did try a minute piece but this was just too much for me!
Anyway, several hours later (everything happens so much later here - it is completely normal to go out for dinner at 1am apparantly!) we left them about 2am after an ice cream delivery!
We felt very lucky to be part of that .. and although Juan and Martin both spoke a little English, both Jack and I had to struggle by in our basic Spanish for most of the night - I'm sure it did us good though!
Anyway, amigos... we have to go now to the local square were apparantely there should be some tango going on. Adios... x
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