Buenos Aires Day One-Arrival

My legs are cramping... What a day and it is just the beginning of the night.

I arrived on time. Got to the apartment around 10:40am, plenty of time left after the paper work and inventory checks. Took a shower and headed out to do some shoe shopping. ( I only wear my sneak to BA.)

First stop to Fattomano, at Guatamala 4464, couldn't find the place. Then took a taxi to Suipacha. Went into Suipacha 256 first, wasn't very impressed by the stock. And went to the Darcos next door. They were busy. A few women were there picking up a couple of pairs. And being the only man in the store I felt that I was ignored.

Didn't find anything that I like, the went over to Flabella, which was closed for lunch. And the stock in the showcase were a bit plain. So I wandered back to Suipacha 256 again. The sales helped me to find a very comfy pair and it costed 220 peso. They didn't want to accept credit card so I had to pay with cash.

Ok, job was done. I felt a bit hungary, and it was around 1:30pm. Took the subway back to my apartment and got some fruit, water and had a media luna con Jamon with a coke light at a pizzeria on Santa Fe, cost 13 peson.

Picked up some fruits at the local store. I didn't understand what the guy said (i have difficulty with numbers in Spanish.) and gave him 12 pesos for a pear, two apples, two oranges and some bananas and left. The guy ran after me and gave me back 5 pesos for change. Nice people!

Came back to the apartment and did some ironing. All of sudden the electricity went out. And the phone was not working. I forgot to unlock my cell phone and couldn't use a sim card. So I had to run out of the aparment and called the owner from a pay phone for help.

I didn't wait long, because Samantha y Andre was teaching arond 5:30pm at salon canning.Caught a cab and told the drive "salon canning". He looked at me bewilder. " Tango, salon canning. Salabrini Ortiz" I repeated, Who doesn't know Salon Canning, right?

No, not this old man. Even the radio he was listening had kept mentioning the word:"Tango", he had absolutely no idea of where Salon Canning is. I used my broken Spanish and explained once again the address: " Salabrini Ortiz uno, tres, tres, uno." Finally he understood, smiled and corrected me: " Ortiz mil. tres, tres, uno." OK, senor! Thank you for the Spanish crash course.

The door to Salon Canning was so unnoticeable. Tiny little door that could be mis recognized as door to an apartment. Got there around 5:40 and it was quite. Only a little chica and another guy was there. What happened?

With my un poco Spanish, I asked the guy:" clases". " Si, Si" the guy nodded. I sat down and looked around and finally recognized that little petite chica is Samantha Dispari. Half an hour later, Andres arrived with two chicas and one chico followed. They seemed to know each other, besos to each other.

I stand there, didn't know what to do. They all got partners. Andres encouraged me to join in. From my very limite Spanish I understood that we would rotate. They showed a step which was something I had seen on Youtube and wanted to learn.

I was little more comfortable after saw the men danced with the women. Then I finally had the chance to dance with an Argentine woman in BsAs. I was nervous, and kept telling myself:" you can do it, relax."

The first sequence was easy, I got it. And Andres corrected me once and I did it right. He was approved, so was the girl that I danced with. Their embrace was different, very much like I saw on youtube. Then he added it with the pivot, I got it first. But with the second chica, I messed up really bad. One of the reason was her breathing sort of interfering my mind. She kept telling me:" Tranquillo, tranquillo." I kept apologizing and stopped when I made a mistake. She was patient. Finally I got into the music and led her for a few songs.




I was soaked wet after the class, partly because of the temperature in the room, but mainly becuase I was nervous dancing with that chica. It was a very good class, I learnt what I wanted to learn and it costed only 10 pesos.

I felt pain in my left leg, so I took the cab back to Santa Fe. Walked around a bit and couldn't find any place for parilla on Santa fe. Disappointed and tired, I picked up a 16 peso Malbec and headed back to the apartment by subway. By this time, I was comfortable with the subway system in BA already. And it is so inexpensive. .75 per ride, about a quarter. Can't beat that.

Got off at Palermo on D (green)line, walked around and found only pizzerias. Wanted to have some beef, I finally went to a McDonald for a big Mac. Yes, a big Mac on thanksgiving day in BA. How pathetic! I was going to have a big Mac with my Malbec.

Then I passed this restaurant and saw the beef, chicken and sausage on a grill. Wow, finally, some meat, order two slice of beef and two sausage to go. cost: 20 peso.

Came back to the apartment. Electricity was back on. The lovely and beautiful young owner of the apartment left me a note. She fixed it.

Enjoyed two very nice glass of red wine, nice Parillo, now I am ready for the big night at Nino Bien.

Happy Thanksgiving.