Monday, February 20, 2006

Sabado y Domingo

Saturday night, before going to a milonga, a group of folks from the hostel (great hostel, by the way) went to eat dinner at ten pm. This is the standard dinner time. Although, I think many of the tourists eat the same way as they would at home: a smaller lunch and a large dinner, where the Argentines do things the other way around. It turned out to be the slowest. Meals. Ever. Good company, but, good Lord, it was long. We left around half past midnight.

Straight into a parade for Carnival. There are a number of local neighborhood parades going on right. There were a lot of young kids, eight to twelve, as well as adults with these cans of spray foam. Never really crossed our minds what they were doing with these things. So, of course, wandering through as wide eyed tourist, we became targets.

All of us ended up covered in this spray foam.

Wish I had pictures of that...

A little after one, I figure I should really get over to the milonga. It could be winding down, I thought. I pull up in a cab at half past and the dance is going strong. In fact, there's still a performance in the middle of the dance yet to happen. I spend some time watching (I know, I know) before getting out there (that's right). Good God, it was intimidating. There were some fantastic dancers on the floor. Needless to say, I danced one set, and called it good. I need more lessons.

Of course, I'm comparing myself to people who have been doing this for years. It seems to me though, that one doesn't really go to milongas (at least as a lead) until you've been studying it for a while. There weren't a whole lot of inexperienced dancers on the floor. Although, there was a girl, probably seven or eight, out there dancing quite well.

Leaving the milonga a bit after three, I called it a night. An early night for Buenos Aires.

Markets and Music

Sunday was a relaxed walkabout day. I spent the day walking about the markets in San Telmo and Palermo with frequent stops for cold beverages. Up in Palermo, the market was in a park. It was almost like going to a music festival. There was a number of bands, rock and the like, playing out on the grass. Each properly set up to have a hill between them, in order to minimize the crossfired noise. It was a great way to pass the cool evening.

After the relaxing, but long day well all cabbed it down to the best parilla in all of BA. The best steak I've had since being here, really. Ridiculously cheap as well - under five bucks for tenderloin. Brilliant.

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