Arrived safely at 6:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. Pittsburgh time). Good flight, decent food and fairly comfortable seats. We were glancing around the plane and picking out the folks that we thought would be on our trip, figuring the Americans would be with the OAT group. Two people on our flight had luggage issues (one damaged suitcase and one lost). Some of the group went out to walk and get their bearings here, but Jim and I opted for a nap. Since we have seen what they are walking to, we decided to rest and save our strength for our tango lesson tonight.
And, tango, we did. We both had a good time learning the basics of tango. Went to an old dance hall, called a milonga (The Ideal) which dates to 1915. Zoraida and Deigo were our instructors. They made it fun and unstressful. They had refreshments for us, gave us the history of the dance hall and of tango and then walked us through basic tango. We each got to dance with the instructor, which was surprisingly fun. We went upstairs to the real dance hall and watched the locals dancing.
Got a real downpour of rain here and it flooded the first floor where we had just been dancing -- about two to three inches of water. The streets were also quite high with water. Santiago asked if we would mind giving one of the patrons of The Ideal a ride home. His name is Charlie and he is blind. He is a regular tango dancer at The Ideal. Charlie would have had to have taken two buses to get home and with the rain, it would not have been pleasant. So, Charlie (a native of New Zealand), rode with us.
Then on to our first steak dinner in San Telmo, the oldest section of Buenos Aires. It used to be the "high rent district" until the yellow fever went through and the district fell into disrepair. It is now the antique area and is coming back with many fine restaurants. We had dinner at Restaurante Parrilla. It dates to the early 1700's and was formerly a brick-making oven. Maria and Miguel hosted us for a wonderful dinner and told (through our guide as interpreter) the story of poor Margarita. She was the daughter of the brick maker, who had been promised in marriage to the much older policeman. Margarita was in love with the guitar player and you can probably figure out how the story ended. Yes, Margarita escaped with the guitar player through the underground tunnel in the ladies bathroom, which we all visited. As our van was pulling away, Maria and Miguel were standing together in their doorway, waving goodbye.
Very tired and full. On to a good night's sleep.
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