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Published: December 11th 2010
Roland and I
@ the Kilkenny Irish Pub down the block from our school.¡Hola! Hoy cumpleaños de Carlos Gardel y el dia de Tango! He estado en Buenos Aires mas o meno una semana ahora. Es muy muy bueno. Todo los Porteños son muy simpatecos, y todos las Porteñas es muy calientes! Me entrendan la gente, la carne, el subte, y el tiempo! Me molesta el transito, pero no es un problemo. Hoy voy a ir a el Cementerio de Recoleta, MALBA, y el Museo Nacional. Esta noche, voy a tomar mi clase de tango a Diez y media. Dos días pasadas yo comprado los zapatos de bailar tango! Son muy frescos y muy limpios limpios.
[Hello! Today is the birthday of Carlos Gardel and Tango Day! I have been in Buenos Aires more or less a week now. It is very very good. All the locals are very nice/cool and all the women are very hot. I love the people, the meat, the subway, and the weather! I don't like the traffic, but its not a big deal. Today I am going to the Recoleta Cemetary, MALBA, and the National Museum. Tonight I will take my tango class at 10:30. Two days ago I bought new tango shoes! They're so fresh and so
clean clean.]
I have been having such a great time in Buenos Aires! Everyone always looked/looks at me crazy when I tell them I'm travelling solo, but I am so glad I am. I have already met so many awesome people! Everyone helps me with my Spanish and is so interested in my travels! But anyway, I should start at the beginning.
So far I have had 3 tango classes, each with a different teacher (or pair of teachers) and each with a totally different style of teaching. They're a lot of fun, but increadibly difficult. I really need to start dancing more so dance lessons in general come easier to me! There are just way too many things that I have to think about! If my posture is correct I can't dance to the beat, and if I am dancing with the beat I get all the steps wrong! It's totally impossible! Fun fact, tango was started in the slums of Buenos Aires and was originally danced by men only.
All of my teachers as well as the owner of the club, Bien Porteño, have been so kind and helpful. They always give me information and
tell me where to go and what's going on in the city. My spanish teachers (and pretty much everyone) are the same way. And most people love that I am interested in Argentine, Buenos Aires, and South American politics! At first I was hesitant to ask since it's taboo en los Estados Unidos, but after the third or fourth rant I heard about Mauricio Macri, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, or the fact that the US is the only country in the world that considers the dictatorship in the Honduras a legitimate government, I figured it was an acceptable subject. Everybody loves expressing their opinions and I love hearing them, es muy fantastico!
The other night I went down to Palermo Soho, the hoppin spot for students and young people with hundreds of bars, nightclubs, and restaurants open all night. Everywhere was totally packed and there were floods of rapid Spanish coming from everydoorway and patio. I was overwhelmed and headed towards the relative safety and familiarity of a big Jameson Irish Whiskey sign. The bar was relatively empty (and when I say relatively, it was not standing room only like everywhere else) so I had a seat at the
bar, hoping that someone would talk to me because there was no way I had the balls to strike up a conversation in Spanish. Luckily my wish came true when I told the bartender I didn't speak much spanish and had no clue what he had said to me. A couple seats down a beautiful woman had asked me where I was from. Will:1-lack of balls:0. Her name was Ana Queroga a writer y profesora de literatura. We talked all night, she helped me find an ATM that wasn't out of money (we tried 4 before we found one), and I walked her to her bus stop. We exchanged e-mails and she invited me to a show where her 23 year old daughter was singing. (Ana turned out to be 43, she looked about 26.)
The show was last night and absolutely amazing. The opening band was 'Cindy No Es Mi Nombre,' they were alright, sort of indi-pop/rock en español. The best part was when they covered David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' with a Spanish accent, it was pretty awesome. But after 'Cindy No Es Mi Nombre,' Marina Quiroga came on. She opened singing a capella while beating a single
Native American drum. It was haunting. After her first song a guitarist and cellist, the three of them blew 'Cindy' out of the water. Marina sings like she's about 50 and has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. It blew me away. After the show Ana introduced me to Marina and her other daughter Josefina. Josefina is 19, she just finished her year of university prep that students take after high school and wan't to travel. We talked until 2am about travelling, where she wanted to go, where I was going, and South America, and Europe. It was a blast. She invited me to come out to their house in the near future and I definitely intend on doing so. When she invited me she was embarrased and was saying 'if you don't want to you don't have to come or if you don't like it you can just stop by and then leave.' But I'm pretty sure I'll like it. Everyone here is so friendly!
That's all for now, I haven't been taking too many pictures, but here are a few.
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Mom
non-member comment
Awesome
Sounds wonderful, Will. You are taking it all on. Go for it. Funny to think of you in an Irish pub in Argentina. I need to find an Argentina bar in Dublin. xox Mom