We were the first ones at the breakfast bar at 8am. There were also tired people in the lounge that had just returned from their night out last night...
A journey to visit the dead, followed by soveniers, and vintage tango action...
11:06am, Recoleta Cemetery
Slept well last night. When I woke up at 6:50am to go to the bathroom, I found Victor just getting back from his evening out. Crazy clubbing here! The bars open at 1am and close at 8am! He said it was a unique experience, highlighted by a room that they filled with soap bubbles to his chest. The crowd didn't peak until 3am, and 2/3rds of the people were still at the club partying when he left at 6am. Turns out Buenos Aires is a popular party destination. People take trips here just to go clubbing. Victor will be sleeping in this morning and meeting up with us at 1pm for lunch.
We eat breakfast at the hostel as soon as the food is ready (8am). There's cereal, bread (with jelly and dulce de leche), and juice. We eat some of our own food from El Calafate too (lots of bread left). Our laundry isn't done cause the machines broke, but they say it will be done later in the morning, so we ask Victor to pick it up before he leaves. I find out that daylight savings in the US is this weekend, which explains why I was confused about the hour change in our flight time.
We were the first ones at the breakfast bar at 8am. There were also tired people in the lounge that had just returned from their night out last night...
We try to take a bus to the cemetery, but they only take tokens, and we're turned back. We take a subway to Recoleta and walk to the cemetery under blue skies. Christine says it's been cloudy the past 3 days. This cemetery is a like a sky-scraper city version. There's narrow alleys and mega pillars. People must have spent a lot to memorialize their loved ones. It's certainly impressive, and unique, but it still can't beat my home town's (Owego, NY) graveyard atmosphere (in my slightly biased opinion).
First a view from near our hostel of the quiet main street early in the morning. Second, a look at a park near the cemetery...
The cemetery was very gothic looking. Like a city of the dead...
The gravestones dated back to the late 1800s, but most were from the 1900s...
I think Micheal Jackson's Thriller music video could have used this location...
The blue sky was a stark contrast to the white/grey cement. I think some gloomy clouds would have been more appropriate...
Or maybe a full moon at night...
Wendy and I sit on a nice cold stone bench in the shade while Christine takes more pics of the cemetery. Buenos Aires does NOT equal "Good Air". There's plenty of noise and exhaust in the streets. I miss the Patagonian air, water, and peace.
Christine is back now, and it's time to shop and make our way towards our lunch destination. I accidently left my passport and money pouch under my pillow this morning. At least we have our own room under lock and key, so hopefully it'll be safe. Nothing I can do about it right now.
We walked around some streets and went to an outside market near the cemetery. Wendy bought a couple of purses (was able to haggle down the price on two). There was some cool wide trees in the park nearby. We were running late for lunch, and took a taxi to the cafe where we met up with Victor. I ordered the lunch special: an eggplant, cheese, tomato, lentil appetizer, with a lamb and fried sweet potatoes main dish. It was excellent! And all for under $10! We tried some black pepper ice cream, with apple crisps, and passion fruit ice cream for dessert. It was a great meal, though took 2 hours, like our dinner last night. They must like long meals here...
The church next to the cemetery was pretty. Wendy poses with her new leather Indiana Jones style purse...
This tree is actually a bush, but check out how wide it is!
My main course of lamb and sweet potato chips was great! Wendy and Christine had excellent salmon dishes...
Victor takes a pic of his steak dinner. He's ordered steak at every eatery this trip, and so far each steak has not been as good as what he makes himself at home. Unfortunately this trend continued. Our dessert of pepper ice cream, sandwiched by apple crisps, with a scoop of passionfruit ice cream on the side...
After lunch Victor went off to check out the cemetery, and will meet up with us for dinner later. He said he'd bring my passport with him if he stops by the hostel. Christine, Wendy, and I walk and shop for a couple hours. There's plenty of street vendors, though nothing unusual. Most of the clothes are all bright colors, which I don't like. I don't need to travel 1/2 way around the world to shop, but shopping 1/2 way around the world is still more interesting than shopping at home.
Wendy takes some pics of pressed wine bottles for sale, hanging on a store front. She also captures some of the neighborhood...
I see a grocery store, and am excited to go shopping! I pace down the aisles searching for some dulce de leche, and find it's $1.33 for a pound. I buy 4 containers, along with some toffee cakes that Wendy and I liked from the plane meals. Across the street from the store, I see an ice cream shop, and we're all ready for a snack. Wendy and I split a .25kg container of ice cream mostly banana split, with some fresh berry. Christine gets a fresh berry cone. The Simpsons is on the TV in the corner, which is amusing in Spanish. After finishing the ice cream, I decide to buy another cone, this time of dulce de leche ice cream with chocolate chips. Super good!
Ice cream time! And look what's on TV in the background...
The sky has been cloudy since lunch, and now it starts raining lightly. We take the subway and start walking towards dinner. We run into a political demonstation, and circumvent it. We stop at a bathroom at an Argentinian McDonald's, and continue on until we reach a cool looking building which happens to be the capitol building. Christine then realizes we've walked the last 30 minutes in the wrong direction. Doh! We stop for a rest here at 6pm. There's still plenty of time til we need to meet up for dinner...
We view these "bonus" sites of the capitol building, after taking a wrong turn from the subway...
As we walk back 12 blocks to our restaurant, Cumana, the rain picks up, and we get our rain coats out. They don't serve food til 7:30pm, so we sit down at a table and order mate and bread. Victor isn't here yet. We'll sip the tea until it's time for food. We order a plate of dulce de leche for the bread too.
I spot an appropriately named store for Wendy to pose in front of, on our way to the cafe. We also stopped in this really cool spice store...
Since the dinner menu didn't start until 7:30, we had a great excuse to sip some mate, and eat some bread with dulce de leche...
Victor shows up shortly after 7pm (bringing my passport/money pouch), and we grab some dinner menus at 7:15. We order lots of empenadas. I try a sweet potato one, and a pumpkin & corn one. They are just 70 cents each. For dinner I order a Grande Pizza that has eggplant, tomato, and cheese. It comes out looking excellent, but could use garlic, hot pepper flakes, or parmesian cheese. I try chopping up olives and sprinkling on some salt to help. My dinner is pretty good, but everyone else is let down by there's.
My eggplant pizza sure looks great, but was lacking in taste a bit...
We finish dinner at 8:30, and take a cab ($3) back to the hostel to get ready for the tango show. We take a cab at 9:30pm to Bar Sur in San Telmo, a place Christine found in her guide book. We were told reservations weren't required, but the place is super small and the guy at the door asks if we have one. We find out that this is one of the oldest tango bars in the city, and unlike other big theaters with splashy performances, this place is small and intimate, with a mix of song and dance. They perform from 8pm-2am. It's a $50 cover charge to get in. They do have room for us inside, but the price is too steep for Victor, who has to leave in an hour to go watch the Duke-UNC game at a sports bar. The rest of us debate whether or not to go in, or try a more touristy option (we peak inside and see an older female lounge singer performing). I'm hesitant myself, but figure we may as well go in, since it's too late to be trying to find something else.
Victor departs, and we get a table in the corner. There's just ~30 people inside and the dance floor is an incredibly tiny area between tables. It looks like this could be a dud. The first act we see at 10pm is an accordian player and a classical guitar player, both in their 60s at least. It's certainly not glamorous, but the quality is good. Then an old bald guy that resembles Patrick Stewart comes out and sings. He's good. It's enjoyable and relaxing, but I sense Wendy and Christine are anxious for tango. Next some dancers come out, and we get some slow passionate tango. Much different than the show Wendy and I saw at the estancia. Next a great singer/piano guy performs, and he is top quality. Certainly the highlight of the show. There's more dancing, and eventually the performers rotate in and out, with few breaks.
Our view from the elevated corner of the small bar. The "Picard" singer was a class act. Obvious decades of experience...
The old guys on guitar and accordian must be long on experience too. Finally some dancing began...
Around 11pm, everyone is handed a glass of champagne, and the bar owner says we're having a toast for their 41 year anniversary as the oldest tango bar in town. Cool! I'm wondering if this is an everyday occurance, or we really lucked out to get free champagne... In between performances, the dancers grab audiance members and bring them to the dance floor. A woman approaches a guy next to me, who declines, and asks me. I decide, sure, why not? It's vacation, and I don't mind looking like a fool here. :-) I'm led down to the floor, where I try not to be too awkward slow dancing. I only step on her toes a couple of times, and don't do anything fancy, but I look pretty cool and relaxed (according to a video Wendy made). This dance, and the free champagne put me in a good mood, and I enjoyed the show.
A dancer invited me down to the floor during one of the breaks in the action. She seemed impressed when I told her we had just backpacked 10 days in Patagonia. I forget that most Argentinians in the city probably have never visited there...
Christine's SLR took the best pictures this evening, and I include a bunch here. I love the pic out the window at night.
They guy playing piano and singing was the star of the show. He was top quality goods...
In our 3rd hour at the bar, the performances started getting a bit weaker, and there was too much singing. Some late arriving people next to us were getting restless with the lack of dancing. The drinks here are expensive. Wendy and Christine order orange juices that cost $6.50 (very expensive for Argentina). Amazingly, a dining table was only kicked once during a tango in the 3 hours we watched. Not bad for such a small dance area...
We leave at 12:50am, take a taxi back to the hostel, and prep for our day tomorrow. My day pack is ready. The alarm is set for 7:45am tomorrow, which is our last day in Argentina! We have a 10:15pm flight out.