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Published: June 11th 2006
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Candilejas Tango
Tango performers during Candilejas Show After some great fun over the weekend, Sergio, Joaquin, and I needed to take care of some vacation “business”. We had decided prior to leaving Atlanta that we were going to have enough time during our vacation to visit at least two major sites in Argentina; one of them Buenos Aires, and we were leaning for Iguazú Falls as the second site. Since we did not have any reservations for air travel to get to Iguazú or for lodging once there, finding a travel agency and making reservations was high priority in the agenda for Monday. Joaquin had made up his mind about the leather jacket he wanted to buy at Dalla Fontana and Sergio had as well, so after breakfast we headed for the shop on Reconquista St. to have their measurements taken and to provide a down payment.
The jackets would be ready on Wednesday afternoon so we made appropriate plans. In mentioning to our Dalla Fontana friends about our plans for Iguazú Falls, they volunteered valuable information to make our trip there even more interesting. Our new friend Susana was very familiar with the place and told us that we needed to make sure to go in
Los Tres Amigos
Estrada Boys enjoying the show! a “gomones” tour of the falls. Gomones are semi-rigid boats with outboard engines that allow you to approach the falls from the river for some very unique views and they actually take you so close to the falling water that you get a true “shower on steroids” experience. According to Susana, it is “like being thrown a bucket-load of water but the bucket never empties”. She also recommended that we visit “Ruinas de San Ignacio” or San Ignacio Ruins, the remains of the work that Jesuit priests conducted in this area of the World almost 400 years ago, to christianize the Guaraní natives. Another point of interest according to Susana was the Wanda Mines where some of Argentina’s production of semi-precious gems takes place.
After leaving Dalla Fontana, we concentrated on finding the Asatej travel agency, recommended by our Lonely Planet guide. We were surprised to find it very close to our hotel, on Florida Street. After a short wait in line, we spoke with Natalia Fabbri who was able to arrange for us a four-day, three-night trip to Iguazú that included many of the items recommended by Susana. The only caveat was that our trip included a day
Candilejas Performer
Right before the action! visiting the Brazilian Iguaçu National Park and we, as U.S. citizens, needed visas to enter Brazil. Since the Brazilian consulate in Buenos Aires closes by 1:00 PM and it was already past that time, we needed to get that done early the following day.
After finishing the vacation “business” for the day, we headed back out looking to accomplish another of the top ten items to see and do in Buenos Aires: go to the movies. For that, a friend of Sergio’s had told him that we needed to explore Avenida Corrientes where most of the movie theaters were supposed to be located. So we walked south on Florida until this street crosses Corrientes Avenue and then turned right (west) on Corrientes going towards 9 de Julio. To our surprise, we went all the way to 9 de Julio without finding a single movie theatre. We even crossed 9 de Julio and continued exploring Corrientes on the other side but to no avail… Our information was obviously wrong. A police officer corroborated our suspicion. He said that Avenida Corrientes is where many theaters are located. For movie theaters he sent us to La Valle, an avenue parallel to Corrientes
to the north.
As we walked towards La Valle, we decided to stop at Café Perisien, (an establishment in the corner of La Valle and 9 de Julio) and have coffee and some of the local deserts, including “dulce de leche”, a very popular staple in Buenos Aires.
As we started our walk over La Valle, we found several movie theaters showing Argentinean films. Unfortunately, our timing to get to the area was by now totally off, since we were there right in the middle of show times. We pre-selected the film “Cronica de una Fuga” (or “Chronicle of an Escape”) as the most promising movie for Sergio and Joaquín to understand, but we needed to return at a more appropriate time (perhaps tomorrow).
We completed our tour of the area by walking on La Valle until it intersects Florida and from there we just followed Florida to our hotel.
For that night, we had something special planned. Earlier, we had made reservations at a Tango Show in San Telmo. So, we took some time to recharge batteries, changed to more formal clothes and then headed back out for the evening.
Because of the convenience
of the “Subte” (subway) system to our hotel and to Estados Unidos Street, we decided to walk the one block or so to the San Martín Station from our hotel, and from there we took a single segment on Line C to Independencia Station. My initial thought was that the Tango show that we had selected (On Estados Unidos Street) was somewere between the Subte station and the area of San Telmo where Dorrego Plaza is. We walked east on Estados Unidos, crossing “9 de Julio” from the Subte station but we soon discovered that the address numbers were moving in the wrong direction, so we had to turn back, cross 9 de Julio again and continue walking west on Estados Unidos until we reached our destination a while later.
“Candilejas”, as the establishment was named, had a very nice stage. The dining tables were arranged in what seemed like an outdoor scene in an old-fashion barrio. The main show stage had as background a mural-sized picture of downtown Buenos Aires (the Obelisque) with a grand piano and seats for other musicians. Professional theatrical lightning was disguised among the props of the scene.
Our friendly server soon came with our menus and warm welcome. The idea is that you have time to enjoy your multi-course dinner in peace and then close to the end of the meal, you can then enjoy the show without interruptions. The dinner and wine were great but the memorable part of the evening was the show itself.
The show included three great tango musicians (piano, accordion, and bass), dancing by three couples of professional tango dancers, a “maestro” harpist who played great South American folk music, a male soloist singer, a female soloist singer, and a couple of folk dancers that also performed a gaucho “boleras” dance.
Sergio, Joaquín, and I distributed the responsibility for capturing images of the evening and show. Sergio concentrated on capturing stills and Joaquin and I captured video… In spite of this “work”, we all definitely enjoyed this great evening in Buenos Aires.
Being a Monday, “Candilejas” was almost empty, only three more tables (in addition to ours) were eventually occupied (two Chilean groups and one from Yugoslavia), but all the artists performed as professionally as if they have had a full house.
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