Tango Shoes

I can think of no better way to remember our stay in Argentina than buying tango shoes. Every time we go to a milonga and dance the tango we will have a remembrance. We stuck to our budget this year pretty well. I got 3 pair and Doris got 3 pair. We went to a shop that takes your measurements and custom makes the shoes. It's a lot of fun looking through the pictures of shoe styles and samples of leather. I like being able to get a pair of shoes unlike anything we can get back home.

Buenos Aires Street Art

We did a lot of walking around Buenos Aires during our stay. Along with the wonderful architecture there is a lot of street art. I'm not sure if it is sanctioned graffiti or shop keepers going in for some wild decorations. Here are samples taken during some of our walks.

Lina's Tango Guesthouse

This is the second time we have traveled to Argentina and also the second time that we have stayed in Lina's Tango Guesthouse. Lina's is a small establishment with seven rooms available. It is located on a cobble stone street in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires. San Telmo is famous for being the tango district of Bueno Aires, which is what first attracted us. Staying with Lina is like staying with family. Lina is a gracious hostess who provides amenities not found in a hotel chain. You can get tango lessons, a massage, Tai Chi, Belly Dance lessons to name a few. We've found on this trip in particular that Lina's makes a great base from which to visit other parts of Argentina. We spent a few days here, then took a luxury bus to Puerto Iquazu to see the falls. Next time we come we may go to Mendoza to sample the wines.

Colonia Del Sacramento

We returned from Iguazu Falls on Sunday, November 11th. It was another overnight bus ride. The buses are very nice with seats that recline all the way which makes it more comfortable to sleep. We rested from the trip for the most part on Sunday. But, we did walk back down to the Antiques Market at Plaza Dorrego to pick up some souvenirs of our stay.

On Monday, November 12th we took a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay. We took a taxi to Puerto Madero where we got on a high speed ferry across the Rio De La Plata to Colonia. The ride only takes about an hour. There is another ferry available but it takes about 3 hours to cross the river. The weather was perfect for strolling around.

The history of Colonia Del Sacramento is interesting in that originally settled in 1680 by the Portuguese, it changed governments between Spain and Portugal 11 times until 1828 when Uruguay was formed as an independent country.

Colonia has spread out from the original town site and now has a population of over 26,000. The historic quarter (Barrio Histórico) has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is within walking distance of the port and very picturesque. They have done an excellent job in keeping the old time flavor of the town. Many of the streets have the original cobblestones laid down by the Portuguese in the 17th century. It is a popular tourist site but doesn't have a single fast food joint or college student dressed up as a cartoon character.

Train to the Throat of the Devil

We took the small excursion train (Tren de las Cataratas) from the Cataratas Station to the Garganta Station. There we took the half mile elevated trail across the river to the “Throat of the Devil” (Garganta de Diablo). We could hear the falls as we got closer. The catwalk takes you right to the edge of the Falls and lets you look right down the mouth of the falls. Awesome. The sheer beauty and power of these falls is spectacular.

Trail to San Martin Island

We got moving early on Friday morning trying to beat some of the tour groups that throng the park. A great benefit of staying at the Sheraton is you don’t have to take the 20 minute ride in from Puerto Iguazu every morning. We went to the Paseo Inferior (lower trail) and to San Martin island in the morning. The lower trail goes down to the river level to see the same portion of the Falls we saw the afternoon before, just with a different perspective. Much of the trail is the same metal catwalk, but getting down to the river involved a lot of stairs. You need a good pair of walking shoes for this part of the trip. We took the trail down to the river then crossed by a water taxi to San Martin Island. We decided they should change the name to the Island of Stairs. It was a steep ascent up through the jungle to the top plateau of the island. It was well worth it because of the spectacular view of the Falls from this side.

We went back the way we came (more stairs), down to the river to catch the taxi then up (even more stairs) the lower trail. We stopped at a small cafe for a sandwich and some air conditioning. There were tables outside the cafe  However, it looked like the people trying to eat out there had a lot of competition with the coatis trying to get their food.

Bus Ride to Puerto Iquazu

We did manage to get to the bus on time and departed Buenos Aires at 7:40 PM. The bus was a very nice double-decker with seats that fully reclined and a steward. They fed us both dinner and breakfast on the trip. Each seat had it’s own audio-visual and we could have our pick of several movies. It didn't do us much good because we don’t speak  Spanish very well. It was a long ride as we arrived in Puerto Iguazu shortly after noon on Thursday the 8th. We ate some lunch and took a taxi to the hotel.

We are staying at the Sheraton which is located in the Iguazu National Park . This is an excellent hotel with all the amenities and within walking distance of the different trails to the Falls. You can see a portion of the Falls from our balcony.

We got cleaned up and headed out to the upper trail to take our first real look at the Falls. The Paseo Superior (upper trail) is about 650 meters of metal catwalk along the upper edge of part of the Falls. The catwalk is elevated a couple of feet above the ground which keeps the trail nice and level and your shoes out of the mud. It was good to start with this trail. The part of the Falls that can be seen on the upper trail is impressive, but was only an introduction on what was to come.

Thursday evening we had dinner in the restaurant at the Sheraton. Argentine beef has a well deserved reputation and we were not disappointed. We went to bed early as we knew there was going to be a lot of walking the next day.

Bigger than Niagara

We've been big fans of Niagara Falls ever since we first saw them. Growing up out West whenever you’d see a waterfall there would be a comparison to Niagara, e.g. “taller than Niagara”. Then you would see a trickle of water coming down the rocks. Naturally, growing up I always thought that Niagara couldn't be very impressive. Then on a trip along the Great Lakes we actually experienced Niagara Falls. The best word I can think of to describe Niagara Falls is “awesome”. You stand next to the falls and just feel the awe inspiring power of Mother Nature. I never thought to see any falls that measure up to the standard of Niagara. Well, that was before we visited Iguazu Falls in Argentina. The Falls are over a mile long and it takes more than one day to get it all in. We were glad we were staying 2 nights at the park.

We began our trip to Iguazu Falls on the evening of Wednesday the 7th of November. We said good-bye to Susan and Reg from Vancouver. They were leaving over the weekend before we would return. It’s always nice to meet new friends on a trip like this.

We took a taxi to the bus terminal. We decided not to take the subway. Rush hour is pretty packed and we had suitcases. It turned out to be a real good idea because the power went out in parts of Buenos Aires, shutting down the subway. We were in line for the bus, speaking with a young lady from Holland who had to get off the subway when the power went out. She and her partner then tried to take a city bus but got caught in the rush hour grid lock and ended up walking the rest of the way to Retiro where the bus terminal is located. We got off comparatively easy. We only had to wait around the bus terminal hoping the power would come back on so the bus company could print our tickets.

Duo Maza

Last night we went with Susan and Reg and their friend Kathleen from Vancouver to see a performance by Duo Maza featuring Maria Volonte and Daniel Maza. It was held at a small club called Clasica y Moderna. The setting was very intimate and our table was located right next to the stage. We felt like we participating in a really great jam session. The music was wonderful. Maria has a cool, smokey voice and Daniel Maza can really play the bass.

Nueva Salon La Argentina

We went this evening to a milonga at the Nueva Salon La Argentina. If you're not familiar with a milonga, I'll try to explain. Milonga can have three meanings depending on the context. In this instance it means a dance where Argentine Tango is danced. It can also mean a type of music and it can mean a particular type of tango. So you could dance a milonga, to a milonga, at a milonga.

 I took a video of one of the tangos.

Starting Our Vacation

We did get some sleep last night. We crashed about 9:30 PM and got up about 8:30 AM. We had breakfast on the patio with some of the other guests. There are a mixed lot of guests with a couple from Vancouver, Canada, another couple from Belgium, a lady from Sydney, Australia who is finishing a year of travel around the world. There is also a Finnish gentleman who was competing in the 2012 World Field Archery Championship that was held last week here in Argentina. He did very well coming in first in the Adult Male Longbow division.

We spent the afternoon at the San Telmo Antiques Market. This is a weekly event every Sunday where they have several streets where vendors set up their stalls. There was quite a selection of things to buy. It drew a pretty good crowd, too.

In the evening we went to our first Tango dance, or Milonga. It was held in a wonderful old building called the Confitia Ideal. The bottom floor has a restaurant and the top floor has a bar with a dance floor. We got to try out our tango in a real Milonga, in front of real Argentinian dancers.

Made it to Argentina

We made it to Buenos Aires this morning. It was a very long flight from Newark, 10 hours and 45 minutes. We left at 9:50 PM so spent the night on the plane. I don't really sleep on a plane so I got to see several movies.

We took a nap immediately upon getting in and will probably turn in early tonight. We walked around San Telmo a bit this afternoon. We are sitting on the patio visiting with some the other guests right now.

Adios Argentina

We are home safe and sound. It kind of feels like the day after Christmas when you wake up to an empty tree. All the anticipation is over. We got on the plane about 9:00 yesterday evening and got into Dulles about 7:00 this morning. A very long flight.

We spent the morning of our last day packing. We went out to lunch and decided to go back for one more pair of shoes. They already have our measurements so we only had to pick out the type of leather and color. They will be ready on the 10th of July and will be shipped to us. We met a nice couple from Boston who were in Buenos Aires on a 3 week shoe shopping holiday. They gave me a lead on another cobbler who made custom shoes.

I'm really glad that I kept up this blog as a remembrance of our first trip to Argentina. It only covers a portion of the things we did. We kept so busy that there wasn't time to cover more than the highlights. We really enjoyed staying at Lina's Tango Guesthouse. Lina made us feel at home. We've already decided that we'll be going back. We are looking forward to staying with Lina again.

New Shoes

We picked up our tango shoes yesterday. Doris had 4 pair made and I only had 2 pair. We tried them on and they fit well and looked great. After getting our shoes we got some lunch and went back downtown on the subway. There were some sites where we wanted to get more pictures. We came back to the hotel to say goodbye to Magda. She went back to Montreal yesterday.

We took the subway downtown to go to a tango practica or practice session later in the afternoon. This was our first experience with the subway during rush hour. Lots and lots of people use the subway here and they sure can pack them into the car. The real bad part was that we never did find the right address for the practica. When we got back Lina told us of another restaurant to try. We went to the Cafe San Juan and had the best meal of our stay. They do cook some good steaks here.

Another Tango Show

We had another Tai Chi lesson yesterday followed by tour last Tango lesson with Pablo. We really got a lot out of our lessons with Pablo working on the milonga style of Argentine Tango.

In the afternoon, we took the subway up to the Plaza San Martin and took a stroll along the Calle de Florida. We are happy to report that capitalism is alive and well in Argentina. There are many high end stores and, of course, 3 or 4 McDonalds.

Later in the evening we enjoyed another Tango show. This was the El Querandi restaurant that featured a tango show that goes through the development of tango from its beginnings in the brothels of La Boca to its modern form.

City Tour

We took a tour of the city Monday. Our guide was Regula the wife of Pablo, our tango instructor. It was great to take a tour with someone who was very knowledgeable of prominent sites and their history.

We began the tour by taking a city bus to Plaza de Mayo. The plaza is the historic core of the city and is the political heart of Argentina. It is bordered by government and public buildings including the Casa Rosada, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Cabildo, which was the original seat of the city government. The Plaza de Mayo serves as a forum for demonstrations and protests. We saw parts of a demonstration last Wednesday. We were eating lunch in a local restaurant and saw crowds of people waving Argentinian flags and banging on drums as they marched toward Plaza de Mayo.

Following the Plaza de Mayo we went by taxi to the Cementario de la Recoleta. This is a unique cemetery that is like a city with small ornate houses and very quiet neighbors. There are about 4,800 vaults including those of many prominent figures of Argentine history such as Evita Peron.

After wandering Recoleta, we took another taxi around an area of the city known as Palermo Chico. There are many large mansions here that date from the end of the 19th century. Several of these are now foreign embassies.

We continued in the taxi to the Retiro Train Station. This station was built by British engineers at the end of the 19th century. It is quite impressive and still servers as a major commuter terminal coming into the city center.

We then went to Puerto Medero which is being developed into a commercial center. This was the major port for Buenos Aires until it proved too small to handle the large modern container ships. It was abandoned for several decades and is now enjoying a revival with many shops, hotels and office buildings being built.

We ended our tour at the La Boca district. La Boca was the main point of entry for immigrants at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Since there are no stones native to Buenos Aires immigrant houses were generally built of corrugated metal. Some of the original houses remain. Part of La Boca, El Caminito, has been developed into a tourist center with brightly colored shops along a pedestrian walkway.

Go To Market

It was “go to market“ day yesterday. We went back to the San Telmo Market first. We thought we had covered it pretty well last weekend. But, we discovered that we had missed a lot of it. We´d seen the covered part which is open every day of the week. It is like a flea market complete with butcher shop and fruit stands. Last Sunday we had also gone to Plaza Dorrega and surrounding streets. There were a lot of handcrafted items and antiques.

Yesterday we found that the Plaza Dorrega is only one end of the market. There is a street called Defensa that borders Plaza Dorrega. We followed Defensa for block after block of handcrafted items, antiques and specialty stores.

Lina had told us of another street fair to go to in the Plaza Lisandro de la Torre. This one is across town in the Matederos district and took us 20 minutes by taxi to get there. This area seemed to be less frequented by tourists and catered more to the local population. There were a lot of handcrafted items related to the Pampas and gauchos. There was also live music with traditional dancing. We spent quite a while there watching the dancing and wandering the market.