PUERTO MADERO AND TANGO IN THE STREET
Our
first gray day is also the official first day of spring, a traditional
holiday for all students. When we reach Puerto Madera, intending a
stroll, lunch somewhere, and a visit to the Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat,
we find we are sharing the area with animated groups of teenagers with
innovative piercings and hair-styles, very different from the tweed and
cashmere or
straightened-blond-hair-black-lycra-jeans-into-heeled-black-boots crowds
of Recoleta. There is a lot of police presence, easy to spot with their
khaki uniforms and fluorescent orange vests, also patrolling the water.
We learn later that there have been armed scuffles in Palermo - 70
wounded in what was reportedly a massive drunken brawl. When we spot the
General Sarmiento, a magnificent schooner
which has been turned into a maritime museum, we do not hesitate, but
jump on board. The ship went several times around the world, the first
trip recorded more than 45,000 miles, and they had a mascot, Lampazo,
a
big hairy Terranova dog, which, when it expired, was brought back from a
trip and lovingly stuffed to be displayed in a glass case. We think of
Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic and how they had to eat the
dogs they loved.
We walk across the interesting Woman’s
bridge and soon find an inviting restaurant (not really a challenge in
Buenos Aires, where, by the way, I have not seen a single obese person
in spite of the obvious eating theme everywhere). We’re mingling with
the office crowd out to catch lunch from the prosperous offices lining
the water and I observe the HUGE heels that the Argentinean women wear
with such natural aplomb. Unthinkable for someone my height! We have a
lovely lunch at a waterside restaurant, Central Market, where we have
dewy beers and salad/sandwiches. Then we saunter off to the museum,
which has an eclectic, but interesting, collection housed in a beautiful
and very opulent structure with a lot of glass and blond wood. On the
top floor we find a couple of very old Egyptian and Greek pieces
displayed in that elegant atmosphere of doused light and the shimmering
water outside, and it is a treat just to look at these few amazing
relics - instead of whole areas, like in the major museums of the world.
We finish off with yet another ‘cortado’ in the café of the museum,
where the surrounding landscape is reflected in its windows.
We walk uphill to the Galerias Pacifico,
where Oswaldo submits to the waiting resignation of many husbands,
while their wives are looking to shop. His agony is cut short when we
stop outside onto the Calle Florida and find that exotic tango dancers
have set up shop. We have avoided the so-called Tango Dinner Shows, put
off by photos of long tables in rows waiting for the tourists, and here
is the real thing: people having fun dancing, mischievously, because
tango is sexy, and with great grace. Maybe the best way to see this. We
see the older man dancing with the curvy sensuous woman, the sexually
undefined man (in the red suit), dancing with the man, and the handsome
young man, bending his head gracefully to dance with vigor with the
woman - fascinating stuff. We rush into the mega cd basement across the
road and stock up on music and movies. Then we find a taxi intending to
try a Volta ice-cream near the hotel. I have a divine combination of
‘(t)cholotate con almendras and maracuya’ and Oswaldo an irresistibly
sticky ‘dulce de leche’ and Belgian chocolate. When we leave we
encounter one of those bands of dogs at the end of their walk. The
walker has stopped at the entrance to an apartment to drop three dogs.
Then he pops in his ear-buds and walks off with his smaller group,
calling out ‘Vamo-nos, Glória!’ to a distracted Labrador and cursing a
driver that almost hits his pack.
We collapse in our room full of impressions.
Later we rouse ourselves to try a
Italian restaurant next to our hotel. San Balbino, complete with an
tenor-voiced hip-wagging accordion player, who turns out to be studying
music/conducting at UCA where Oswaldo gave his talk. Oswaldo gets him to
play Funiculá, and we happily contemplate the mysterious powers of
music over a bottle of Pinot Noir and pasta ‘sin carne,’ accompanied by
the excellent bread that always marks an excellent restaurant.
OUTSIDE THE
GALERIAS PACIFICO
WE FIND A VERY ANIMATED TANGO SHOW
-FABULOUS FRED
AND SENSUAL LOURDES
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