Piazzola Tango

I finally got in some proper Tango on my last night here. They apparently have some huge espectacular espectactular all singing all dancing tourty shows for example 'Senor Tango'! I did some research and found this place, relatively authentic,

Named after the famous tango composer and in a beautiful old theatre, it had a 7 piece band with strings, piano and 3 guys on those squeeze box things, then about 4 sets of dancers and a male and female vocalist. Talk about intimate, there were actually only 15 people in the audience - i counted them, so including the orchestra there were more people on stage - just for us! I felt like a bit of an idiot at first as i was on my own and there was about 45 mins of just sitting there before the show, most of the people were finishing off dinners they had had there. I realised what a great travelling companion a book is when i didnt have one to hide behind and peer over!.

Anyway the show was great, im surprised those guys dont get the occasional stiletto in the nads with all those between the legs kicks though! the girls looked great - the guys could have done with a tad less brill creme and lost the moustaches but perhaps that was part of the period look!

And bonus was a chatty English speaking taxi driver home who ive booked to take me to the airport in...lets see one hour!! yikes....

Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay

Its pretty cool being able to nip to another country in one day. Colonia is just 55mins from Buenos Aires by express catamaran to the other side of Rio De la Plata. While Bs As is hidden from the water for the main part by ugly train tracks and docks, Colonia is surrounded by the water. It has UNESCO heritage status being an early Portuguese settlement dating back to the 17th Century. It was very reminicent of Antigua, Guatemala with low buildings, courtyards, squares and cobbled streets. A nice breath of fresh air from the city, very sleepy and quiet.

LOS PUPPITOS




I got befriended by two cute poochies, I named them 'Los Puppitos'. They clearly have a great time showing people round and getting pats and cuddles. I was astonished when they followed me from where i met them trotting along by me, then sitting down for a sleep when i did, they even waited outside a museum for me for half and hour, snoozing on the front porch, then jumping up to greet me when i came out and trotting on again, I want pets!, unfortunately I always feel uncertain as to when i might pack things up and head off someplace, this trip being a perfect example.

And so here is todays slideshow. If your tired of doors and windows please navigate away from this page!



Oh I almost forgot to mention todays lunchspot - El Drugstore,an eclectic little place, with the owner crooning away on the guitar and Frida Kahlo an Pierre et Giles artwork on the walls. I had Bife Chorizo, tradidional steak dish. Couldnt leave the area without having a steak although was a bit too much of a meat fest for me,

La Boca - Birthplace of Tango

Another masterful use of the bus system, this time pondering on Argentinas dubious post war policy of harbouring ex Nazis, as I sat opposite and distinctly Aryan looking old man and the name Mengele sprang to mind. (sorry old man I'm sure you're actually someones kindly grandpa and had nothing to do with experiments!).

Anywho..So La Boca is pretty much the wrong side of the tracks by night but by day a colourful and vibrant barrio and supposedly where Tango first started - in the slums and bordellos in the ghetto. They have capitolised on the tourist trade a little. Its difficult not to be coerced into an overpriced cafe with a 'free tango show', but at the end of the day it is a great spot and I had been hanging out to see some tango action up close so I didnt mind. I even had the obligatory staged tango shot!

For a photographer with a fetish for windows, doors, bold colours and textures this was my idea of heaven, even if its all been taken a million times before me. And wander a few streets away from the main drag and you get that faded backstreet feel.

Turn on the you tube for background accoustics and check out the slideshow.

The Cathedral

You dont have to be religeous to appreciate the serentity inside a church, the stillness and the history, the collective worship over centuries in one place has an effect on the emotions even if you dont identify with the object of their devotion. There was a stirring choral performance going on when I wandered in here,

Note to self though - must keep camera on horizontal when videoing as you cant view it right way up when uploaded otherwise!

Avenida De Mayo Architecture and the Casa Rosada

Oh What a Circus

Its pretty hard to avoid Evita here, particularly as apparently the anniversary of her death was just a few days ago. This is all fine by me as Ive been quietly singing Evita songs to myself the whole time ive been here in anycase!. My mother took me to see the show, probably in the early 80's with Marti Webb or Elaine Paige in the lead. I loved every minute of it. It was always my favourite of old scrunchy faced Lloyd Webbers shows. Apparently my mum actually looked like a young Eva in the 50's and she remembered her coming to Europe on the rainbow tour. Then theres the whole bizzarre story of how her embalmed body was stolen and hidden in a cemetary in Europe for 17years and how shes worshiped as a saint by some and despised by others.

So heres THAT dress..

and this is THAT balcony (hard not to do the appropriate Evita dont cry for me Argentina hand actions from it!). The Casa Rosada in general was very grand.

Cafe Society

Theres nothing quite like hanging out in a cafe when your traveling, esp when its cold and rainy outside. People watching, having great cofees, catching up on your book, pigging out. Can't be beaten. Ive discovered some nice places here, for example El Ateneo - how can you beat a theatre converted into a bookshop with a cafe on the stage, books AND coffee takes some beating!

The people seem quite stylish here.. (imagine Carrie Bradshaw voice)..what makes a people stylish? why Buenos Aires but not Brisbane or Birmingham? What has to happen for a touch of class to settle in... answers to these and more questions later..

This was an old style 'Salon de The' it was lovely sitting there finishing off my book and soaking up the atmosphere. I had a limon y soda, literally a glass of lemon juice and a soda syphon old style. I rediscovered limonada yesterday after remembering mum and dad introducing me to Citron Prese in Europe - gives you that lemon face but is very refreshing!

Todays lunch spot had fraustrating service - you wait till my blog is famous Cafe Terratoria!, but nonetheless had a lovley sunny sunday neighbourhood afternoon feel to it.

I laugh in the face of ridiculously complex bus networks!

Hurrah for me - just arrived home in no time almost to my door from the San Telmo markets area on the other side of the city. The Buenos Aires bus system seems to consist of about 200 independently run companies all with different routes, I have taken pot luck a couple of times relying on my luckily good sense of direction and getting of somewhere that seems to be in the general vicinity of where i wanted to go. Today i was a little further afield though. So i bowled up to a news stand and asked for a bus guide in Spanish, then managed to decipher the 200p long manual with maps and grids that seem only to tell you that there might be a bus of use to you going through somewhere nearby in this quadrant but we wont tell you exactly what street. Anyway...number 17 you are my lucky bus!

Mi Casa

So heres a couple of Shots of my little pad in Buenos Aires. As you can see its quite chic and stylish. The only problem is I feel a little bit entombed - it, has no windows, and very echoey - I know its raining outside because i can hear it all around me but I can see anything and 2 in the afternoon looks just the same as 2 in the morning!. Still not a bad little place, good location and fun having a home from home with internet too.

Recoleta Cemetary, Buenos Aires

I have a bit of a morbid fascination with tombs and cemetaries, not sure why. I find them very peaceful. This place was chocca with incredibly beautiful statues, sclupture and various forms of architecture. It reeks of old money. I kept thinking of Isabelle Allende and Garcia Marquez novels and the big old wealthy families in them. It also contains Evitas rather unasuming family vault. A couple of the vaults had fallen into a creepy state of disrepair with cobwebs and dust covering big old ornate coffins - all a bit Draculaesque!

Let the festivities commence!

I thought this past week would never end. Packing up and moving all your belongings is truly heinous (good word!). This is move number ..hmm *counts fingers* .. six for me in the last 10years. It doesnt get any better. I know plenty of people whove done it more than that though. Kirsty at works probably done that many in the last 9months!, perhaps not with quite as much stuff.

First theres the packing of boxes, phase one is staring at your place thinking where the hell do i start, phase 2 after you have done that first box and broken the phychological barrier is not too bad, actually it can be fun - getting systematic and having the opportunity to chuck alot of stuff. Feels a bit like spring cleaning. The last phase seems to go on for days though - the one where you thought youd packed almost everything but the place is an absolute tip with bits and pieces everywhere that never seem to end. You end up just chucking things at random into boxes at 3 am on the night before the removalist is due.

Then theres the actual move, - no matter how little stuff you think you have, this always seems to take at least 5 or 6 hours all of which you are paying for, sometimes ive paid people do most of the actual moving stuff. The only thing with that is although you dont do so much of the backbreaking stuff, you end up doing about 10 car loads on your own with smaller stuff thinking you'll save hours, only to find it takes just as long in the long run anyay. This time I was moving into storage and they supply a driver and a van, your supposed to do the moving stuff your self - thank goodness i also booked a labourer to help as well as a friend or we never would have made it. Somehow I always end up living somewhere that is a bugger to get in an out of. This particular place had a nazi body corporate who disctate how you get in and out and when. I think they chose the worst way on purpose, its not fun hauling a wardrobe the entire length of a car park and up a 45degree slope! Luckily the other end of things being purpose built was much quicker, there were a few hairy moments wondering if my Tutankhamuns tomb of stuff was going to squeeze in, all packed up to the ceiling but we made it in the end.

Next comes cleaing your old apartment to withing an inch of its life, so that you can get your bond money back. A particulary soul destroying task as by this stage you are invariably exhausted and scrubbing away at a place making it cleaner than it ever was when you lived there is like the last straw before collapsing in a worrysome heap somewhere. This time i opted to pay some people - possibly straight of a boat with questionable residency status to do the job for me, it still took them 5hours. Meanwhile my jobs were not completely over as i took down remaining bags of rubbish and things i couldnt get away with leaving there.

No wonder they say moving is on that list of most stressful things you can do. I still had to pack for the big trip, luckily not so bad once i'd narrowed it down a bit. I actually found my self culling T shirts in order of how much they weighed, i couldnt decide other wise! I think my scales were faulty though, i thought id got down to 16KG but turns out was 21 K at the airport this morning,

So here i am in my apartment in Buenos aires, and once ive recvered from the flying and settled in a bit I might start to enjoy myself!. The flight was fine, I always enjoy flying, I like being no where, with nothing to worry about and no one to bother you. Movies to watch, cocooned and fed.

Minor panic on arrival here as i had to call the apartment people which was proving problematical, not quite sure what i would have done if it were not for a last minute interational sim card purchase at the lonely planet shop at the airport in Sydney, and also for a nice taxi driver who hung about at the apartment trying to work out which buttons to press.

So here i am though .. the ''Cher'' apartment. (yes thats right folks). Apart from having no source of natural light in that typicaly latin way of building apartments around a dingy shaft with no window to the street, its very swanky and designer. I shall have to post fotos.

Well.. update over for now..

Stand Back Buenos Aires...

And if ever i go to far...its because of the things you are..beautiful town..

So my main international tickets were issued today. All signed off and not required back at work until Jan 2011. Im bound for Buenos Aires on 28 July and Can't wait. Definately a Bucket list destination for me, the plan is to hang out for a week, get an apartment and exprerience it at leisure. Wander round, soak it up


Just a little touch of.. just.a.little touch of, just a little touch of star quality..

Mama Mia that Tango is Hot! - hit me up with some hispanic passion!