Tuesday February 22, 2005: Buenos Aires

This is the day that the Vavilov people left. They all departed at 3:30 this morning, so it is noticeably less crowded at breakfast this morning. We eat with George, Rudy, John and Bill (the Anchorage / New Orleans contingent), and hear that they went to a Tango show last night and that it was FANTASTIC! George, we find, is a particular Tango enthusiast, from long before this trip, and last night’s performance seems to have been an emotional high point for him – he said it rivaled going to Antarctica! Ok, so let’s go to that one, then! We decide that we will make reservations this morning for that show. The group is going on a Uruguay trip today, the trip to last from 11 am to 6 pm, and we have a quick thought of trying to join them, but good sense prevails, and we let Uruguay go a second time. We will need to be up and ready to go at 3 am in the morning, and if we have a Tango night out tonight, spending all day in Uruguay seems to be a little too aggressive of an agenda.


So, our alternate plan for the day is to take a relaxed trip to the local zoo. We take a cab there, arriving at 9:30 am, shortly after it has opened, and we have the place almost to ourselves. See some great monkeys, and some other nice animals. Get some good pictures, some real closeups. We were there for about 2 hours, and it was a very nice relaxing experience.

Zoo pictures follow. I know, you can visit a zoo anywhere. But these were fun pictures.

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These antelope co-habited this pen with the horse. The horse was standing still, but the antelope were pacing rapidly, back-and-forth, in single-file, along this fence line. It may have been due to the fact that there were female antelopes in the next pen over, we never were sure. But we watched them continuously walk the fence-line for at least 5 minutes before we decided to move on.

Leaving the zoo, we catch another cab and go to “La Flor”….. a large stainless steel or aluminum sculpture in the shape of a flower. We’d had this pointed out to us on the city tour yesterday. The interesting thing about this is that there are electronic light sensors in the stamen of the flower, and according to our guide, the flower petals close when it gets dark, and open back up when it gets light. We’ve only seen it in bright daylight when it is opened wide, so we’ll have to take his word for it. But it is neat looking.

Officially, Floralis Genérica, it is in Plaza Naciones Unidas

Then we take a cab to the Cafe Tortini – a famous café and tango bar that we were planning to go to tonight until we heard the other recommendation this morning. So we go and try this one for lunch. It is obviously old and historic, apparently one of the original tango places when the dance originated. Lots of historic pictures on the walls. Interesting, although the food was only so-so.

After lunch, we take a cab back to the hotel, and get some sleep. With what is coming, we will need it! The show tonight will last until 11 or so, so we won’t get back to the hotel until midnight. And we need to have our bags packed, delivered downstairs, and checked out by 3 am. We sleep just a couple of hours, but feel ok. Check on pickup time for the tango show (El Quintana), and are told it will be between 8 and 8:30. We use the time now to pack our bags so we are as ready to leave as possible. Go to MacDonalds again (can’t believe this!) for a hamburger to tide us over, since dinner will be late. Go to the desk and arrange a pre-checkout. Then we wait in the lobby for the van to come to take us to the show.

We wait. And wait. And wait. It is past 8:30, and no show. It’s a conspiracy! Someone does not want us to go to a Tango show! We talk to the concierge, and he is extremely apologetic (since something has obviously been screwed up between the hotel and the tango house on our reservations). He pays for a cab for us, gives the driver explicit instructions in Spanish that we interpret to mean “take good care of these people and get them there quickly!”, and we are off.

As we arrive, we see vans and tour busses everywhere, crowds lined up to go in. We get in line, go in, and of course they have no record of our reservation. We tell them what has happened, and this maybe jives with a phone call from our hotel, and they find a table for two right up front by the stage…. A little to the side, but still great seats. Soon, we are joined at the next table by a couple from Chihuahua, Mexico, on holiday here in celebration of their 24th wedding anniversary. Nice people, nice conversation, very good dinner! Then the show starts. It is very good. Tango dancing involves speed, athletic ability, and passion in an interesting combination. The show really was a musical play, with various characters dancing, singing, and playing musical selections. Characters all dressed in the 1920’s-1930’s period dress, the period when the dance was invented. Characters all seemed to have a bit of a Humphrey Bogart style, a street-smart swagger to them. Very authentic Argentina, this place. Show lasted an hour and was impressive. Will it rival the marathon for us? No way. Are we glad we went? Definitely!

Get a van ride back to the hotel, and are there right at midnight. In bed by 12:15 am, alarm set for 2:20 am. Our stay in BA has been nice, very enjoyable, but a bit distracting in a way from the real purpose of this trip. But the main part of the adventure is now about to start!