Buenos Aires
We went to the airport in Bariloche for a 2 hour flight north to the capital, Buenos Aires. We landed at the domestic airport, situated next to the Rio de la Plata, widest river in the world. You can cross this river by ferry to reach Uruguay.
Buenos Aires is known for its European culture, architecture, food and nightlife. And tango.
Recoleta Cemetary
We did a city tour, stopping at Recoleta Cemetary. Here, the deceased elite of the country are stored for eternity in mausoleums designed by famous European sculptors.
Families own the gravesites, and are responsible for their upkeep. Some sites crumble from neglect, likely since the family has died out.
The most famous resident here is Eva Peron. Wife of the president, and famous in her own right for her rise from poverty and her support of the working class, she died of cancer at age 33, in 1952. Due to her iconic status, her body was stolen and re-stolen, transported many places including Spain, finally recovered and now buried in Recoleta. She rests under many feet of concrete to ensure she is never disturbed again.
La Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires near the original port, where Europeans immigrants arrived in huge numbers over the last few centuries. This is the home of the tango, with legends about its origins. Some say the working men created the tango, dancing with each other, as they waited their turn in the brothels.
The built the shacks they lived in with wood and sheet metal, and painted them striking colors with paint left over from the port.
It’s now just a couple of blocks of tourist attraction, with shops and tango dancers. It’s not a safe place at night, or even a block off the area during the day, but it’s a fun place to spend an hour.
Plaza de Mayo
The most important square of Buenos Aires is the Plaza de Mayo. It has hosted the most important events in the last few centuries. At one end is the Casa Rosada, or rose palace. It was once home of the president and now one of the many massive government buildings lining the square. Eva Peron, known as Evita, gave speeches from the balcony here.
As mentioned in my last post, after the 1976 coup by dictator Videla, tens of thousands of people were killed or disappeared. Here in this square, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo group protests every Thursday afternoon. They have done this since 1977.
Questions remain about the fate of the missing. The kerchief symbol imprinted on benches and cobblestones is actually a diaper, to represent children. Hundreds of newborns at that time were taken from their mothers and given to military couples to raise. The mothers were killed. Only in the last few years, dna is being used to find the lost children.
In the square that day we saw an iconic couple, the woman wheelchair bound dancing tango. They are everywhere practicing their craft, in public spaces as well as in the very late night milongas or dances.
Tango show
Then, dinner and a tango show, at El Querandi, an institution for over a hundred years. My kind tour leader Javi, who had taught me a little tango earlier in the tour, got me up on stage with him for a picture with a tango pose.
The meal was memorable, considering it was made for about a hundred people. I chose tenderloin steak with a malbec sauce.
The lights were lowering when I realized I had to get to the washroom. I got back to the table as the dancers where going on stage, and one of the guys put his hand out to my as if to take me up on stage with him to dance haha! An amazing show showing the history of tango, including the seedy side. Not for kids!
Tango lesson
The next day, my travel group disbanded, and I was on my own. I wandered around sightseeing until my late afternoon private tango lesson.
Nearby the dance studio is Teatro Colon, one of the most famous theatres in the world, taking up an entire city block. It is known for having the best acoustics on the planet.
I booked the lesson prior to coming here, with Buenos Aires Tango Experience. Emiliano was my teacher. He told me that after our class, he had a practice class that evening, then was performing at a tango show after that. I just loved my lesson!
On the way out of the studio, I passed a class where a couple of dozen men were carrying around a couple of dozen women in a performance class, I could have watched that all night!
After my lesson, I had pizza at a local institution in the downtown center.
I walked back to the hotel through the theatre district, with impressive views of the iconic obelisk. It was erected in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the city. The obelisk is lit up for tributes, recently for the Pope when he was hospitalized.
It sits at a corner of the widest boulevard in the world.
The following day, I headed to the airport for my flight to my last stop, Rio de Janeiro.