After our relaxing week in Uruguay, BA seemed even more hectic and crowded, but energizing as well. Surviving the u-turn our taxi made cutting across 3 lanes of stopped truck traffic, we went to our hotel in Palermo Viejo, the Mirabaires. The hotel is staffed by college age students who are all very friendly if somewhat inexperienced in hotel service. Our first room was right above the lobby and although a nice size room, all the noises from the lobby could be heard clearly including the door buzzer which everyone has to ring to be let in to the hotel. So day 2 we moved up a floor to a slightly smaller but quieter room. Weekend nights in Palermo Soho as our neighborhood is called, are alive. The sidewalk cafes were full, the shops stay open until 9 pm or later, and the craft market stalls in the plaza are crowded with shoppers and pulse to the beat of a reggae band. Palermo Soho is known for its hip young designers and many display their clothes and accessories in store bazaars with multiple designers. I looked at a lot of clothes, but would need fashion assistance to pick out an outfit among the chaos!
Saturday we went down to Boca, the working class neighborhood famed for being a birthplace of tango and for being the home to the Boca Juniors soccer team. On weekends a few blocks sprout arts and crafts booths and tango dancers and the streets fill with tourists. We had a cup of coffee and a couple empanadas at La Estufa to get us going, then wandered around the colorful streets. The houses in the neighborhood are faced with corrugated metal salvaged from shipping containers. The metal is painted bright colors. Tourists are strictly warned to stick to the touristy area of Boca so we didn’t stray much. We had lunch at La Estufa too, some very rich gnocchis with pot roast and good raviolis with both pesto and tomato sauce.
Saturday night we went to La Viruta, a dance place in the basement of the Armenian Cultural Center in Palermo Viejo for a night of swing and tango. The evening started with a swing lesson at 9:30 pm. The crowd is divided into 3 levels and we went for the highest level. The teachers basically teach a couple moves that students learn for the evening. At that level the lesson was lindy style swing moves. We mastered one out of 2 patterns taught. Around 11 pm the tango lessons started. We opted for level 2 of the 6 possible tango levels. (For Arboretum friends – yes, I did wear my tango earrings!) At midnight the general dancing started. There was about an hour of tango (nearly everyone on the dance floor at this point was at an intermediate to advanced level), followed by a half hour of rock (swing). During the tango we ordered a pizza and chatted a little with the women at the table next to us. This was followed by more tango, but since it was about 1:30 am at this point, we headed home!
Needless to say, we got a slow start on Sunday. We went to Starbucks since Jake was craving a muffin and sat and read the Sunday paper for a little while. Around noon we headed over to Plaza de Mayo and walked down Ave. Defensa so I could look for a purse maker we had come across the week before. I found him again! He and his dad make the most beautiful leather purses. They aren’t lined though and don’t have pockets, so are of somewhat limited practical use. We had lunch in San Telmo near the antiques market at Don Ernesto’s. It was a restaurant with a nice atmosphere, but extremely busy and not especially good food. Our food had cooled off by the time it was brought to the table. The desserts looked really good, but we decided to go back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta instead. We had a very nice dinner at Lele just down the street from us. We ordered a “picada”, an assortment of things to snack on. The one we chose came with a light salmon mousse, a zucchini soufflé, a small dish of lamb ragout, and arugula wrapped in prosciutto among other things. As an accompaniment I had a very nice glass of Luna Merlot. It was one of the more flavorful and complex merlots either Jake or I had ever had.
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