Palaces and Clubbing and Tango, oh my!

Tuesday was a GREAT day. I woke up at a reasonable hour for once in my Argentine life. I went to check out the Eco Pampas Hostel to see if I wanted to stay there for this weekend since I am saying goodbye to my simplistically beautiful abode :(

It is way nicer than the hostel I last stayed at and it looks like I'll be sharing a room with 5 other girls, so hopefully I'll make more new friends fast. Then I started off towards Alto Palermo (the nice shopping mall in my neighborhood). Notice I say nice in my neighborhood because this city is COVERED in high end shopping malls. Well, I needed a hoodie. It is damn cold here. But I decided to rough it one more day because I didn't want to take time away from touring.

Surfacing from the subte I immediately came face to face with one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. It's like a bigger and more elaborate Low Library - same intricate detail, but just more of it. The building is the Palacio del Congreso where the government gathers to vote and do, you know, government things. I had to wait until 4 to take a tour so I wandered down Avendia de Mayo. Directly across from the Palacio is the Plaza del Congreso with the Monumental del Congreso.

Wandering around this city as much as I have, there are monuments everywhere. A pillar here with a man on a horse, a pillar there with a man in his military garb. But this monument embodied extravagance. It's more like a playground for statues than a monument. Four massive staircases, numerous fountains spitting water around the entire perimeter, statues of men and women and horses. Now that is what I call a monument.

Spattered with hotels and cafes, on my stroll down Avenida de Mayo is where I found the beautiful mural graffiti all of the guide books say is everywhere. Maybe graffiti is everywhere, but full murals of art are much more common in this neighborhood. I arrived at the Museo del Tango, scheduled to be Stop #3, but who's counting.

I glanced over some tango history, read about important dancers, poets, choreographers, cantantes (singers) and composers. But I also got to eavesdrop on the rehearsal of a tango orchestra. I think the accordianist amazed me the most. Watching the rehearsal made the long walk completely worth while. Especially when they played that really typical tango song (da-duh-da da-da, da-duh-da da-da, da-duh-da da-da da da-da da da-da-da). It's on that commerical for...I don't know.

Anywho, then I walked all the way back to the Palacio (after grabbing two empanadas) for my tour. So worth the walk and the wait. Our first stop was the Assembly Room where the voting and everything actually takes place. After taking Art Hum, all of my architecture knowledge kicked in and I was in awe. By order of the president, you are not allowed to take pictures in there. But the red marble and white marble and the cedar hand-carved doors and cherry banquettes, (sigh) classically beautiful.

After our history lesson from Tour Guide Daniela we wandered into the main Salon. It was lovely, but not quite as impressive as the Assembly Room. So naturally you can take pictures in here. The best part was the stained glass ceiling made of 5 panels each representing a different field that the Argentine governemtn felt were important. I can only remember art and science. Law must have been there, too.

Then we went to the library. Oh my Lord. I felt like Belle in Beauty in the Beast. I mean, it was not quite as expansive, but it was lavish. I just love hand-carved everything and this room was practically completely widdled by hand. There was a gorgeous clock that was a gift from France. It was a small tour of three rooms, but stunning.

When I steped outside the Palacio I was bombarded by a protest. I guess it wouldn't be Argentina if I didn't witness a protest. I wandered past the marchers and headed back towards where I had been to the Manzana de las Luces. It was the original block where the Jesuits lived and built their church. It wasn't overhwelming. The best part was after I had looked around. I stopped in the gift shop where there was an artist painting. I stopped to watch.

Alejandro Levy, Jewish Argentinian artist. We had a nice little conversation for 20 minutes. It's funny. Sometimes my Spanish just spills out of me and sometimes I just struggle so hard. That was a case of the former. Which is why I lost track of time and missed 7pm yoga and had to go back at 9. Amazing. The studio here is just awesome. I can't wait to go back - mas atras! mas atras!

At around 2am I headed out to meet my friends so we could go to a club. You know. Normal Tuesday night style. We had free passes before 3am. Naturally we showed up at approximately 2:58. We danced a bit, but the DJ wasn't great. That's what we get for free on a Tuesday. While I was dancing I ended up next to this kid who looked SO familiar. I never forget a face although I don't think I ever knew his name.

Turns out, Alex Lichen graduated a year below me from Hall. Small world. Way to go Buenos Aires. After passing out at 7am, my plans for yesterday were a little off.

But I guess that's ok since a lot of things are closed on Wednesday. It wasn't my luckiest day. Turns out the not-to-be-missed tours of the Teatro Colon will not resume until September. Teatro Cervantes was closed because of a performance. El Museo Judio was closed because they are not open on Wednesdays. That had pretty much been my itinerary. So I wandered and ended up at El Museo de La Ciudad. Intended to be a glimpse of life and cultue in Buenos Aires, it was more of a shrine to matte (the tea they drink here). But it was cool to see all the different types of matte and matte glasses and some toys that children used to play with back in the day.

The big even of the day was my first tango lesson. SO GREAT. I learned a lot in only an hour and a half. It's very different from other dance. 1) You lead with your heel on every step - I'm so glad I've practiced leading with my toe for 19 years. 2) You lean slightly forward, putting your weight towards your partner so that he can push against you and guide you. 3) You are supposed to drop and loosen your arms at the elbow. The dance is entirely in the hands of the man, which made my job simpler. I really enjoyed it and I am for sure going to go back. It's just so sexy. Our teachers performed for us after class and I swear when the dance ended and they let go of each other, they were flustered.

My skills are not quite at that point, but we'll see. After tango I went to a KOSHER RESTAURANT! The food was amazing. I had some lahamagin...a little different here. Then I had the most amazing roast beef. This food is why the word divine was invented.

Anywho, I'm about to move to my new digs at the Eco Pampas Hostel. Wish me luck in making new friends!

BESOS!