LEAVING
BUENOS AIRES
(Aventuras
Argentinas
Travel Tales Index - Aventuras
Argentinas Index - Argentina Pix
We
finally left Buenos Aires about two weeks ago, but we thought some people might
be interested in hearing about the places we went to dance tango in the evening
(milongas). We've been to three places; Confiteria Ideal, Dandi and Salon
Canning. The setup was similar in all of them.
Salon
Canning was a 60' x 60' square room with a 30' x 30' square dance floor in the
center. The dance floor was surrounded, on all sides, by small tables with 2
chairs per table, both facing the floor. At around 2:00 am, when the crowd seemed to reach its height, there
were about 200 people there. We would guess the majority were in their 50's
with some younger and older mixed in. This was only one of about thirty venues
with Tango that Saturday night. There are at least fifteen different places to
dance on any given night of the week. This gives you an idea of the number of
people that dance Tango in Buenos Aires.
The
music was recorded and they would play three Tangos in a row, called a tanda.
People wouldn't start dancing until thirty seconds or so into the music. They would
chit-chat a little, dance the first Tango, chit-chat a little, dance the second
Tango, etc. At the end of the third, they played a fast piece that was clearly
not a Tango and everyone would clear the dance floor. Every time they played
the exact same piece to break up the tandas. As soon as the floor was fully
cleared, they would interrupt the non-Tango music and start another tanda.
Here's
the dance etiquette as described to us and as we observed. If you want to dance
with someone, you stare at them until they see you looking and either look away
(No) or smile/nod your head (yes). If it's a yes, the man goes to the woman's
table, leads her to the dance floor, dances the entire tanda with her and then
takes her back to her table. You should never, ever just walk up to someone and
ask them to dance without first getting the "yes" nod.
After
a farewell dinner with our former apartment-mate, Vera we left Buenos Aires heading to Rosario. The Buenos Aires bus terminal was quite an experience having over 70 departure gates, three levels and bustling with people. Of course, just to make the experience a little more nerve wracking, our bus was late and we kept
worrying we had missed it or that we had the wrong gate. We found a couple
other Porteños (Buenos Aires residents) who were in the same situation so we realized the bus was just late.
On
arrival in Rosario, we got settled in a hotel and walked around town.
We decided to try a restaurant that both our guidebooks said was the best in
town. Well, we can't say if it was the best, but we both had great meals. Lois
had fish with a heavy measure of garlic and potatoes and Paul had pork
tenderloin in a wine sauce with apples, onions and potatoes. All totaled, with
salads, a dessert and drinks, the bill was $20. We have to mention that we have
not been keeping to our budget of $40/day. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Maybe as we get older, we're less willing to scrimp, since we have been eating
really well and not really worrying about costs. Hotel are in the $15-$20
range, a little higher than expected and $40/day was probably unreasonably low.
In Buenos Aires, including Tango lesson, we were probably closer
to $75 per day, but we (especially our palates) are not regretting it. Once we
left Buenos Aires, our costs went down to about $50 day.
One
thing we saw in a number of towns was protests about Bush being in Argentina for the Summit of The Americas. These are typical of what we saw,
however, no one has responded negatively to the fact that we are Americans.
Rosario is right on the Rio Parana and the riverbank is
developed just like the seashore. The river is about a half mile wide and has a
sandy beach all along it with food stands, drink stands and typical beach
concessions. We took a boat to one of the islands in the river and found a very
nice spot to relax and avoid the scorching heat - about 100 degrees. The island
had lots of trees and shade, swimming, kayak and canoe rentals and places to
eat. We couldn't think of a better way to spend a 100 degree day...
Our
second day in Rosario was a Sunday and it seemed like a neutron bomb
must have gone off. The town was EMPTY. No people on the streets, no cars and
almost all the stores were closed. Years ago, Paul went to Asuncion, Paraguay with his good friend Steve and they encountered
the same phenomenon. In Paraguay, they found the park was packed with families. So,
we went to the park to see if anything was up.
On
the way, we saw that Rosario was a very pleasant town (1.2 million inhabitants)
with quiet, cobblestone, tree lined, relatively clean streets. However, there
were definite signs of the economic crash. We came across a number of high rise
buildings in various states of completion that clearly had been abandoned for
years. There were a number of late 19th and early 20th century buildings
scattered throughout town, some adjacent to brand new high rises that created
quite a contrast.
When
we got to the park, we found part of the town there (the rest was probably
along the riverfront). Even though everyone was trying to escape the heat, they
were still sitting in the park, drinking their hot mate! Many vendors
throughout town had signs saying agua caliente (hot water), so that mate
sippers could refill their thermos of hot water if they had run out. The park
covered about 70 square blocks and had ball fields, a pond with paddle boats
and lots of grassy, shaded areas. We walked around a bit and checked out the
park before heading back to our room for a siesta.
All
in all, Rosario was a very pleasant town, but without a lot to
offer, so we moved on to Santa Fe.
The bus ride to Santa Fe was only
two hours, but we had a movie (Tim Burton's Willy Wonka and The Chocolate
Factory) and were served coffee, soda and coffee cake. One nice feature of Santa Fe was that the bus station was right by downtown and
within a few blocks walk of a number of hotels. Within 20 minutes, we found a
clean, pleasant place for about $16.
It
took only a few hours and we saw all there was to see in Santa Fe! Part of this was due to the fact that it is
summer in Argentina and many museums and government run tourist attractions are
closed for the entire month of January :>( The other part was due to the
fact that Santa Fe was pretty small and everything was within walking distance.
The major attraction was The Convent and Church of San Francisco, built around 1680 with a cedar and hardwood beam
roof. It was a very pretty church and it smelled of cedar throughout! It
reminded Paul of his mom's cedar closet he used to hide in as a kid (don't tell
her, she never figured out why her dresses were so wrinkled!!).
Our
next stop was Cordoba, the second biggest city in Argentina with a population of about 1.5 million (not that
big really). It's a major tourist destination for Porteños. So, how do we
decide where to stay? First, we look in our guidebooks and pick a number of
places that sound good and are reasonably priced. When we get to town, we call
them and ask if rooms are available and what the rates are. If we strike out,
we go to the tourist information desk which is in every bus terminal in Argentina. They have REAL tourist information, a pet peeve
of Paul's about tourist information in the USA, where all they have is slick brochures from
various hotels, but no INFORMATION! In Argentina, they have a loose-leaf binder
with a list of just about every hotel in town, grouped by number of stars, then
in alphabetical order, listing name, address, phone number and current prices
for a single, double and triple. Now, that's INFORMATION! In some places, the
staff will even call for you to see if rooms are available. We like to have two
or three hotels in mind that are within a few blocks of each other. We take a
local bus or walk and check out the places, decide which is best and settle in.
This is what we did in Cordoba
and we ended up with a clean, airy, well lit room for $13 with breakfast
(coffee and croissant) included.
The
first thing we did in Cordoba
was take a walk around to get a feel for the city. As opposed to BA, Rosario or Santa Fe, the pedestrian streets consisted of a full grid, rather than just one long street. They formed a true outdoor mall which was a
great spot for walking, hanging out, people watching and eating ice cream. We
saw about ten ice cream shops within about three blocks. Paul's kind of town!
While
walking the outskirts of the center of Cordoba, we can across many small, green squares and a
stream running through the city. It was all cement, like the Los Angeles River, but unlike in LA, it actually had water in it and was lined on both sides by large trees. Along the way, we passed the beautiful Gothic Church of Parroquia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus de Los Capuchinos.
Cordoba is a college town and the University of Cordoba is the oldest University in Argentina and the forth oldest in the Americas, founded by the Jesuits in 1622. It currently has 125,000 students enrolled,
about 9% of the town’s population. This was evident in the number of internet
cafes, pizza joints and bars. In the
center of town, we toured the Jesuit complex and the University and underground
crypts that were discovered in the early twentieth century – but no on knows
their original purpose.
Thanks,
Cordoba we had a good time, but we gotta move on...
Paul & Lois
Cordoba,