Opera and tango

Day 4. Sunday 24 November

There were no tours organised for us today but we had already planned to visit the opera house and to check out a milonga (tango club) for the afternoon.

The weather is gorgeous, sunny and warm but with a pleasant light breeze so we walked through the avenues to the opera house.  It being Sunday, most of the shops were closed so it was quiet even in the city centre.  One thing struck me, I have not heard a single horn beeping and no one pushes past you, it's always con permiso and gracias.  

People are very polite and I like that.  I also liked the dog park we saw, what a good idea, but we weren't sure why someone had hung their knickers, bra and wellies on the railings.

We found the Av de 9 Julio with its 16 lanes and crossed the Plaza de la Republica and a short way down the street was the milonga that Sue Byles's Argentine friend recommended. Outside on the pavement were the basic 8 tango steps you could practise while you waited for it to open, so we did.

Back to the opera house for our tour in English. It was started in 1803 but had a troubled history.  The first architect died after he had built the first set of arches, the second one worked long hours but went home early one night to surprise his wife.  She was very surprised as she was in bed with the butler, who promptly shot the architect.  So people started to say the job was cursed and no Argentine would touch it.  Fortunately a Belgian architect took over the job and completed it.  It's the second biggest opera house in the world with 3100 places of which 600 are standing places.  These spaces were made deliberately for the many immigrants, mainly Italians who outnumbered the native citizens of Buenos Aires by two to one.  There are seven levels of boxes and the higher ones are women only, men only and the top one where apparently the acoustics are the best, is mixed and called el Paradiso because it's so high.  Right down at the side if the stalls there are several seating areas behind ornate wooden grills, these were for widows so that they would not be seen enjoying themselves!  

On the ceiling is a magnificent chandelier from which singers or groups of musicians play on occasions.  Apparently modern surround sound is nothing in comparison to this experience.

We viewed the auditorium from two different boxes and it was splendiferous though the photos don't do it justice.

 

 We also saw the Golden Hall which used to be a meeting area for the well to do patrons but is now used for small recitals and rehearsals.

We hailed a taxi back to the hotel and I have got to say that none of the taxi drivers we have met know where the hotels are unless you can give them the street number but at least they are cheap.

We got tarted up a second time to go tangoing and went back to La Ideal milonga.  It's on the first floor over an old and authentic patisserie, lots of dark carved wood and mirrors. The milonga was buzzing.  We paid our 35 reals and a man asked if we wanted to dance or just watch, before taking us to a table at the side of the large dance floor.  I think we were probably the only foreigners there but what was surprising was that most of the dancers were also on their own and yet the floor was full.  Men do not ask ladies to dance so there is no embarrassment if they are turned down.  The protocol is that if you want to dance you stand up and walk towards the floor catching someone's eye.  When you connect, you nod towards the dance floor or raise your eyebrows and they respond and you go on to the dance floor and start dancing.  So we did. 

You dance four tangos in a row with a chat between each dance and then the music changes to let you know that you should return to your seats.  I danced with Pedro who said he had been a tango teacher in the past.  He was not impressed with my tango knowledge and said, "Let's just move round the floor". But my next partner, Diego, helped me by counting out the steps for me, holding me very close to his sweaty cheek and told me I was very beautiful.  I think he should have gone to Specsavers.  

Two particular dancers caught our eye.  One looked like Rod Stewart's dad in a natty outfit and the lady looked about twenty from across  the floor with her very mini skirt and visible black lace g string but close up was definitely my age but they sure could tango.  My phone was dead so I couldn't take photos.  However I will post some of Lynn's including a video later. It was a great experience to see ordinary people enjoying themselves dancing with lots of partners instead of watching a show put on for the tourists.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at the Hyett Hotel which had fabulous gardens and we sat on the terrace and enjoyed a cocktail.  

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of Will Smith as others in our party had the previous day, but no luck.  However we did get a macaroon each in a little drawstring bag to take home, qué rico.  Walking back from the Hyett we passed a great little restaurant serving the usual huge portions but very cheap so we popped in to enjoy.

We had an early start next morning so thought a cup of tea in bed before an early night would be a good way to end the day.  I tried ringing room service but there was no reply, so Lynn went down to reception to order it and I got undressed. A few minutes later she rang up to the room to say we had to have our tea in the bar.  I was fuming as I had to get dressed all over again.  I managed to have a row in Spanish with the restaurant manager over the lack of room service even though It was offered in the info book in our room.  I do like a good rant in a foreign language.

Sightseeing and souvenirs

 Day 3.Sunday 23 November
Marathon sightseeing today.  Our guide. Gloria, turned out to be very informative and as we were only in a party of four, there was plenty off opportunity to ask questions.  We started with a minibus tour of the major sights, stopping for a closer look at the Cathedral, 

where the Pope was archbishop, the Pink Palace 

where Eva Peron gave the Don't cry for me Argentina speech from the balcony, various museums, art galleries, squares and historic districts.  The main thing about Buenos Aires is that nothing is more than 200 years old, they demolished the old buildings and rebuilt with strong European influence.  In particular, they wanted to emulate Paris and walking round the avenues and boulevards, it does feel like being in Paris or Madrid.  There are jacaranda trees lining every street and they are full of perfumed lilac flowers. The buildings are very grand with wrought iron balconies at every window.  The city is very flat as much of the land was reclaimed from the River Plate.  The Plate, plata, and Argentina both mean silver because the conquistadors heard the natives speaking about the silver they would find there.  In the cathedral, the altar is covered on all sides with decorated silver (see above). The main square is La Plaza de Mayo, May being the month of the Argentine independence.  The Pink Palace is that colour to represent the old buildings which were covered in mud mixed with animal blood. The share is full of trees bearing the national flower, the cebo, which is blood red but only has one petal. 
The interesting districts are La Palermo, where the houses are large and colonial and where football players and film stars live.  San Telmo is famous for artisans markets, La Boca has the stadia for the two main football teams, La Boca and La Plata and Porto Madero is like Docklands, trendy ex warehouses remodelled into apartments and restaurants.  The main street in the central area is 16 lanes of traffic wide and they had to demolish whole blocks of buildings to lay it out.  It has an obelisk at one end and a government building with a huge picture of Eva Peron at the other.

But what I liked best was the Caminito,  a small area of cobbled streets, largely for tourists now of course, where the shops, bars, market stalls were all brightly coloured and full of street life. 

Young men and women were dressed in tango outfits and available to be photographed with you in a tango pose.

  Gaucho boys with baggy pants, there's a story about the pants, were dancing to drum beats and everyone was smiling and so friendly.

Lastly we walked round the Recoleta cemetery where all the famous Argentine presidents, soldiers, writers etc are buried in ornate mausoleums.  And of course Eva Peron's family grave.

I tried not to cry for her as requested but did have a sniffle which our fellow tourist took a photo of.

With aching feet we returned to the hotel for a rest and then went out in the afternoon to the fine arts gallery which was a bit disappointing as all the exhibits were copies.  

On the way back we wandered through the artisans market 

which was lovely as all the goods were made by the stall holders and not tacky touristy souvenirs.  The local semi precious stone is the Inca rose which is a kind of soft pink and beige striped stone set in silver.  Earrings and pendants were bought by Lynn and myself as well as a handbag, ashtray, Nativity figures etc etc.
Another great steak, this time a shared whole fillet and another huge measure of Amaretto 

rounded off the day.  Really exhausting.

Steak and gin

Day 2. Friday 22 November
Long flight to São Paula where we had to transfer to the onward flight to Buenos Aires.  It was a smallish airport but there was no one around to tell us where to go.  I had to keep nipping into the VIP lounges to get directions and it was a very long walk.  Nothing much to do at 5.30 am so we had a coffee.  I ordered a white coffee and Lynn ordered a latte.  This is what arrived.  We didn't know which was which.  Coffee, coffee, milk?

We flew on to Buenos Aires and were met by our guide Gloria who took us to the very nice 4 star hotel where we have a sitting room as well as a bedroom with two TV sets so we can each watch a separate programme which neither of us will understand.  After a 19 hour journey and only a couple of catnaps, we felt like resting so we found the hotel sun deck, no pool but there was a jacuzzi which is just what you need in temperatures in the high 20s.  By late afternoon we had tarted ourselves up for an evening of tango which sadly did not materialise.  We had booked a recommended, typical Argentine restaurant for 8 pm so we found a great old fashioned bar for a preprandial drink.  Two half tumblers of gin later ( very large measures) and we could barely walk let alone tango, so we waddled off to the restaurant where we selected a ribeye steak from the extensive steak menu, so many cuts and ways of cooking them. The locals often buy one steak and share it. As I said large portions of everything but we were pretty hungry so ordered one each.  Very much a case of eyes bigger than bellies as we neither of us could finish it.  So being full of gin and steak, we decided to stagger back to the hotel where we collapsed in bed.  The highlight of my evening though, was meeting a lady walking her pug and having a lovely puggy conversation about curly tails and how naughty pugs are.  Her pug was called Guapo which means handsome boy, and he was. 

I am managing to brush up my Spanish but was thrown  a bit at first by the different pronunciation of certain letters and the word for "you" and corresponding verb form which does not exist in Castillian Spanish.  I must learn the Argentine words for "That's ridiculously extortionate!"  as a small bottle of water costs the equivalent of £3 to £4.

Here is the polo boutique but Ralph was nowhere to be seen.  

Photo of big gin measure specially for Sandra. This is the gin before I put the tonic in!  Also Lynn's amaretto.

PS in view of the outrageous betrayal of me by Lynn on her blog, " My Sagarian year". I feel I should point out that owing to tropical moments, Lynn stripped off her camisole, no bra on! in plain view of several gentlemen at the airport and worse still, took her trousers off in the airplane while she applied her surgical stockings.  I am wondering if she has a thing about taking off her clothes in public.

Sightseeing tomorrow!

South America here we come.

Argentina here we come

Day 1. Thursday 21 November.

Not a propitious start as I got a phone call at 8.15am to say that my hairdresser was sick and couldn't do my hair.  As I was looking a bit like Worzel Gummage, this was a real blow.  However we negotiated a later time with a different stylist.  The trouble was that I then had less time before the taxi came to do all my last minute jobs, walk Frank, empty the fridge, bring my frost bitten begonias in etc.  as it turned out all went well until I spoke to Lynn about the suitcase situation and I realised that my big case was nowhere near full.  Right then, I'll transfer it all to a smaller case, it will be easier to manage.  So I did that and felt pleased with the decision although it meant that all my carefully ironed clothes now had a new set of creases in them. Now I thought, I'll take the case down.  So I zipped it up and put the lock on and the obligatory ribbon on the handle so you can distinguish your own black case from everyone else's black case.  But when I was half way down the stairs, the case suddenly seemed lighter than before and when I Iooked down, I saw that the case had parted company with the handle and was bumping down to the bottom of they stairs.  Oh no, only fifteen minutes before Lynn and the taxi arrive.  I dashed back upstairs with the handleless case and replacked everything in the original case.  Now all the clothes have three sets of creases in them.  I will look like a tramp in Buenos Aires.

Got to the airport without any hitches only to find that my tee shirt, travel socks, spare knickers and various other items were wet through as my bottle of water had leaked.  On top of that I had to explain to the taxi driver, that my water had wet the seat and hadn't lost control of my bladder.  So that's three things, surely nothing else could go wrong.

We sailed through security check and headed for the shops, followed by a quick meal and onto the plane.  I have just watched The Great Gatsby and am settling down for some sleep as it is now 12.30 am.