Other than all the learning I’ve been doing, I’ve been able to explore Buenos Aires a bit more.
When I was researching tango shows I had almost given up. The ones that I found all started at 11pm or later and many were in different barrios (neighbourhoods) in the city. If you know me at all, you know that I am not a night owl at the best of times, especially when having to manoeuvre myself in a foreign city (and, disclaimer in case my boss is reading, I wanted a fully rested brain for ideal learning).
On a whim, I searched something like ‘afternoon tango shows’ and came up with Cafe Tortoni. This show starts at 8pm, is in my neighbourhood, is the least expensive of shows I found, and is in a historic cafe with a theatre that seats only 65. Call it kismet.
I’m so glad I went! Check out these artsy photos:
And in case you actually want to see what was going on:
There was a guy who played a big drum with amazing stick work:
And he also spun these long ropes with beads on the end so they sounded like tap dancing when they hit the ground (this was super cool, though, because I was sitting about 5 feet away, my enjoyment was slightly affected my my fear that he was going to accidentally let one go and one would hit me directly in the eye socket):
Today when the course ended I took the bus to a famous neighbourhood called La Boca. Though it’s a bit of a tourist trap it was cool to see the painted buildings, some local artists, and one of the beloved futbol stadiums.
Now I’m sitting in the sunshine waiting to board the ferry to Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay.