"Mi Buenos Aires Querido"

In March of 2012 I went to BA for the first time. When I came back I was asked to write an article about it for a blog called "The delicate strength". I don't know if that blog is still around and how long it might exist, that's why I decided to publish the article on my blog too.

Buenos Aires Trip 2012, Part 3

After seeing a little of it I have to say: Buenos Aires is beautiful! It reminds me of Sofia (Bulgaria) in the late 1990s: the houses are a little run down but not too much; the majority of the cars on the streets are from the mid-nineties and some even from the eighties; there must be rich people in BA because they have some quite expensive stores but I didn't see any ostentatious locals; people know how to enjoy life, take the time to do so and take pride in doing it; most people seem to be still equally poor and mostly the young people spend a lot of time socializing on the streets. In BA young people sit in the middle of the sidewalk, sometimes even on a cushion, especially brought for that purpose, and drink mate or alcohol. Once I saw two guys spread on the sidewalk, having a drink and listening to the music, which played from the open window of the car next to them… So romantic, relaxed and charming. That's BA! To me it felt like a journey back in time to the years before I left Bulgaria.

As you can imagine, a lot of the social life in BA happens on the streets. In Palermo for example there are ALWAYS people out. In 3 weeks not even once was I alone on the street at night and that regardless if I was going to the first milonga, moving to the second around 3am or leaving it between 4 and 6am. It's a southern culture, which means that they start gathering in the cafés and bars around 7pm and the later it gets, the fuller those get. I think that the peak "social time" is between 11pm and 12am. Some of the local bars were open as late as 3am and always full of people, sitting at the outside tables. I am sure that part of it was due to the fabulous weather we had. In March - the end of their summer - both the temperature and the humidity are lower than in the peek of the summer, although we still appreciated having an air conditioner in the apartment (and that even though I don't like ACs and hardly ever use one).

When you start packing for BA keep in mind that the milongas often don't have an AC and usually only an insufficient number of fans. At 70-75F outside temperature this meant that even somebody like me who hardly sweats is well moist after a single tanda. After 2-3 tandas one is drenched in sweat, sticky and with little chance of drying out. No wonder the porteñas dance in shorts or mini skirts! Seldom in my life have I been so grateful for a shower as I was after a class followed by a night in the milongas. Probably at really traditional milongas one would need to dress up properly but at the younger milongas everyone wears whatever they want. At the same milonga you can see people in evening dresses or suits, in cargo pants, in shorts, or even in tiny, short dresses which show most of the bra. I guess anything goes as long as it helps you combat the heat and humidity in the milonga. Already the first couple of nights helped me understand why Argentine tango dancers put so much product in their hair to sleek it back. Well, without clips or gel in my hair after an hour of dancing I looked like a dandelion, and I don't mean the cute yellow ones but the big, puffy, white ones from the end of the summer!