Hi Everyone,
Had a few technical hitches this end like no Internet Access for 2 days and also unable to recall my password correctly so that took a bit of sorting out in Spanish! I seem to have a mental block about such things so have written it large where I can't fail to find it. My Spanish feels like it has slipped as now I am living with Elsa and we talk English all the time which in some respects is lovely and in other ways is sad. Palermo, where the little apartment is, has a whole different feel to it than Solis where I was living before. Solis was very near the centre, close to Plaza de Congresso, and I felt like I was involved in life in the city. Up here is is full of leafy avenues, still bad pavements, very little rubbish and hardly any poor sleeping rough. The apartment is perfect.
Elsa is on a tango mission, which interestingly I am not so much. Or maybe it is just the hours that she keeps that I can't cope with. She will always be returning from the early morning milonga at about 7 a.m. where I have maybe not gone to the second one or dipped out by 3.00. She knows a few people here which is great for both of us but I do feel a bit like the shaggy shetland pony tagging along with the thoroughbred. She is very dark and could easily be mistaken for an Argentinian tanguera, dances beautifully and is at least 15 years younger than me. She is never off the dance floor whereas there can be some milongas where I am rarely on it! The places where the milongas are held can be stunningly beautiful, extraordinary, like film sets in wharehouses, scruffy rooms with awful floors, very formal with a organizers in charge who show you to your table and that is where you sit - no changing or swapping even if in a bad position. The standard of dancing at most of them is fantastically high and I have never seen so many great leaders. It is an absolute joy to watch them, although I would rather be dancing with them, but that is rarely an option - fabulous musicality and poise. The Milongas so far we have been to for those who would like to know are: Chachirulo, several times, El Beson, several times, La Glorietta which is outside under a huge bandstand, Canning which is big with a wonderful photo on the wall from one side to the other with a milonga in session, Konex which is an art centre in what appeared to me to be an enormous old bus station/film set, half outside and half inside. I am going to a T dance this afternoon to try another option to very late night dancing at somewhere called Conf.La Ideal which is an old old building with marble dance floors and chandeliers and was at its height in the Golden Age of Tango so that will be fascinating. It is all fascinating and have only had one evening where I just went home early because I couldn't take the wallflower element - in tears!
I am having lessons now with Hector who has been very good for me. The sad thing is that I don't get to practice as I am not on the dance floor enough. I suspect that those who went to the Mango have probably danced more than me, in your one week, than I have in the 10 days I have been in Palermo. My lessons are in a huge old Buenos Aires house with one of those wonderful old lifts that creak up and down the building with metal concertina doors that you have to slam shut to make the contact. Hector and Silvina are off on tour to Europe soon. If anyone wants to google them their address is www.HectorSilvina.com.ar. I am also joining some classes at DNI which is a well known dance school round the corner. Classes are big but from my point of view it is a way of meeting people. Hey, ho it is all a BIG learning curve.
Still visiting the art galleries and exploring more when I am awake. It feel like I have gone underground and lead more of a nocturnal existence than my first few weeks.
My score on dog walkers is 10 plus the other week-end. Why are the dogs so well behaved in such packs of assorted beasts but they certainly seem to be.
Thanks Tim and Cliff for your comments on my blog - it is really nice to have a response! And thank you too to all those who are emailing me. I am sorry if I haven't replied but I seem to have got a bit snowed under recently.
By the way just for an extraordinary piece of fate I was on television the day that Nestor, the ex President died. I went to the Plaza de Mayo and unbeknown to me the news film camerars were rolling just taking pot shots of the public milling around. Because I have a very colourful jacket I was easily spotted on the news channell by various people at the Spanish School the next day. Famous in Argentina!!!
Yesterday was so hot and today we are in a deluge of rain so you never know what the weather is going to throw at you.
Much love to all of you
Sal x
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