Tango vampiring and other Buenos Aires nostalgia

Right before I left Buenos Aires, I got a little tango-crazed.

I blame it in part on a new friend, Elise, who came to stay in our multinational apartment (housemates from Chile, Bulgaria, Germany, Australia, Peru, England, Australia, Spain, etc etc) and promptly caught me up in her wake, so we roared around from milonga to milonga (milongas are tango dance clubs). By the time she´d left I´d finally gotten around to having a private tango class (in my room!) and was hooked.

I guess it was also that I was about to leave Buenos Aires and was in a rush to cram everything in before I left. I don´t have many images -- hopefully Elise (ahem!) will send a few more -- but here are some photos of the very atmospheric performances of El Afronte, the tango "orquestra tipica" that Marty and I saw early on in our stay.


Whaling on the bandonéons


Pianists are not known for their good posture...


High drama from the cantante

I wasn´t as bad as another friend, the original tango vampire, who regularly got home at 7 a.m. and couldn´t poooossibly meet me before 2 p.m. But I did start staying out very late. This was a little inconvenient as I had Spanish classes from 9 to 1 every day. And also was volunteering in the afternoons (for the lovely Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, whose mission is as good as its critter logo). Oh, and I had more private Spanish classes.

Turns out, at least for short periods, sleep isn´t as necessary as I thought.

The night before I left, I made another friend go to two milongas with me, both after midnight. One place was so plain it was like a school cafeteria, but full of dressed-up older folks who were having a great time. I had a Fernet and cola and we watched. We were lucky enough to see some folclorico, which I thought looked like a mix of flamenco and some sort of heron mating dance. Haughty and flirty and fun all at once.

And as long as I´m wrapping up Buenos Aires -- appropriately looking back through a foggy lens at the city of nostalgia -- here are a few more images:


A blurry moment with Elise at the milonga and generally cool cafe La Catedral, before we were taken on a 3 a.m. city tour by a friendly architect


I didn´t blog about it, but one of the best parts of my time in Buenos Aires was teaching yoga to a mix of travelers, students, and locals at a studio in a beautiful old house in the Recoleta neighborhood. Taking these photos in a San Telmo doorway was pretty fun too. People weren´t sure what to make of it, especially the more inverted (upside-down) poses...


With my Spanish teacher Carolina, who looks very serious here but is actually very funny (and very patient)


Our street amidst the bicentennial celebrations


Don´t cry for me