Saturday, March 24, 2007

Tango Physics

Here is something Michele emailed me recently which I think is very clever indeed. It is by a chap called Mike Barrow and appears on yahoo tango chat room:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tango-uk/message/4543

I think we would all have a better knowledge of tango if we understood the fundamental physics underlying it. I have been researching the academic journals and for your education and enjoyment I have summarised the current state of knowledge. It answers such unresolved questions such as:

Why is tango so difficult?
Why do you never see three people dancing tango together?
Why collisions occur on the dance floor.
Why tango exists.

Some knowledge of quantum physics is desirable but by no means essential. Now read on...

Tango Physics

The laws of physics apply to tango just as they do to other phenomena. Here is a summary of current knowledge, obtained from leading text books and recent research papers. Some of the more advanced theories must remain speculative, pending further research.

Basics

Tango consists of the interaction of electrically charged particles operating within a musical energy field.

There exist just two types of elementary particle: the tanguera particle and the complementary tanguero particle. The tanguera particle (or simply tanguera) is electrically charged by the addition of high heeled shoes and a glamorous dress. The quantity of charge is directly proportional to the height of the heels and inversely to the quantity of material in the dress.

In contrast to the tanguera, the tanguero particle is more easily and economically charged. The very appearance of a suitably charged tanguera isusually sufficient to charge the tanguero. Some tangueros find themselves already charged on waking up in the morning, for no apparent reason. The quantity of charge appears totally unrelated to the tanguero's shoes or apparel. Indeed, it also seems to be based on the tanguera's shoe height and dress material.

Having complementary charges, the tanguera and tanguero are naturally attracted to each other. The force of attraction is proportional to theproduct of their individual charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them (the inverse square law). As this distance approaches zero (the so-called close embrace) the attraction increases without limit, leading to important and potentially unstable quantum effects (see below).

The charges of two such particles in a close embrace cancel each other (being of opposite polarity) and the couple become electrically neutral, thus attracting no further particles. This is why you hardly ever see three particles dancing together. (The Tango Lesson was trick photography. ) It also explains why couples (which are electrically neutral) can collide with each other.

Two tanguera particles have charges of the same polarity and are therefore likely to repel each other, especially if wearing similar shoes or dress.

Two tanguero particles are able to happily co-exist in spite of the similarity of their charges. The exception to this occurs in the presence of a single tanguera particle, when one of the tangueros attaches to the tanguera and the other is ejected.

Interactions of particles

Tango particles interact within a chamber known as a milonga under the influence of musical energy supplied by an orquestra or, more cheaply, a portable CD player.

The particles resonate with the application of the musical energy. Ideally the particles resonate in proportion to the energy supplied (the basic energy of Argentine tango, or 'beat' for short). However, not all particles resonate at the appropriate frequency.
Those which do are said to possess the property of musicality.
Tanguera particles are particularly strongly attracted to tangueros possessing this property.

A tanguero at the extreme of the distribution, usually resonating at an excessively high frequency relative to the beat is known as the null tanguero particle. Continued contact with the null tanguero will usually cause the tanguera particle to become completely
electrically discharged and to leave the dance floor.


Newton's laws of tango

1. A tanguera particle will remain at rest or continue in constant motion unless acted upon by a force, usually applied by the tanguero particle.
2. A tanguera of mass m, acted upon by a force f exerted by the tanguero will move with an acceleration a according to a = f/m. Beyond this, it is generally unwise to refer to the mass of the tanguera particle.
3. For every tango teacher there is an equal and opposite tango teacher. E.g. if a teacher says one should never lead with the left hand, then there exists somewhere a teacher who says this is permitted or even encouraged. If one teacher says the cross should be led, there is another who says it isn't. This is why one should never change teacher, except in extremis.

Tango and chaos theory

The discovery of the mathematical theory of chaos in the 1980s shed new light on some unresolved mysteries in tango. Just as a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can cause a cyclone in Europe, so a misplaced step in one part of the dance floor can cause, through a consequential series of collisions, avoidances and sudden changes of direction, several particles to trip over each other some time later in another part of the milonga.

This is particularly likely if a new (i.e. inexperienced) tanguero particle enters the dance floor, holding an excessive charge due to the close proximity of so many charged tangueras. Attempting to restore its equilibrium and shed excess energy, it moves at high velocity with many sudden and unanticipated changes of direction. This initiates a
series ofcollisions which turns an initially orderly dance floor (low entropy) into one of disorder (high entropy).


Chaos also reveals itself at the level of individual particles, for example when executing a giro. The giro normally progresses according to the well-known Salas-Naveira equations of motion. However, a tiny perturbation to the initial step can become magnified in subsequent steps such that the two particles complete the giro in totally the wrong positions or, in the worst scenario, fly apart completely. This solves the mystery of why the tango is so difficult.

Why tango particles exist

Very occasionally two particles resonate together with perfect symmetry and harmony, in time with the beat. The force of attraction between them increases as the distance between them decreases until they effectively become, for a short time, a single particle (a singularity in mathematical terms). These are the quantum effects referred
to above and they lead to a tear in the very fabric of space-time itself and the particles disappear from view, into a state known as nirvana (in the popular imagination this is often located in the Buenos Aires area of Latin America). No communication with the particles is possible during this time. The particles only reappear when the energy supplied by the musical field is turned off. We can only speculate where the tango particles go. The particles themselves are quite unable to explain since, for them, time has slowed to a standstill (in accordance with Einstein's theory of relativity). Indeed, some of them are incapable of speech for several minutes on their return. However, there is general agreement that this state of nirvana is the very reason for the tango particles' existence.

Tango teachers

Another blatant plug for some friends. Again, a link to their website appears top right on this page. Avid readers will remember Romina and Carlos from my fist visit here 2 years ago, then from my lessons and Susan's with them last year, as well as the various shows of theirs that I have mentioned and their generous loan of a dining table. So far this year, I have been very lazy about starting up again, though there are many things I would really like to work on.


Still, anyone visiting who wants good clear instruction in a nice studio in San Telmo should get in touch. They are increasingly busy, so best book ahead. And tell them I sent you!



Or you can catch them giving group lessons in the glorious setting of Confiteria Ideal, 384 Suipacha on Wednesdays at 4pm or Thursdays at noon.

They do a regular show at another historic venue - 36 Billares on Avenida de Mayo - on Tuesday nights. It used to be Wednesdays, but we discovered that that had changed when I confidently organised dinner there for all the English who were here last October. We sat open-mouthed at the rather touristy show that was on offer instead, so always check ahead for details!

Tango Yoga

This is a blatant plug for my friend Carmen. I am far too lazy to yoga, although there is a studio right across the road from my flat but she gets a lot out of it and from what I have heard she gives a lot too. Any visiting yoga aficionados would do well to look her up.

The four secrets of a good Tango Dancer

Connection -emotional connection and the creativity that comes out of it - that´s what makes Tango Argentino a unique dance. And it is the first secret of a good and dancer.

Be it "salón", "milonguero", "del centro", or "Nuevo" style, if there´s no emotional connection between the one who leads and the one who follows, they may be doing interesting and nice steps, but they are not dancing "tango".

And the emotional connection is a very delicate question -hard to attain and easy to lose.

If suddenly, during a tango class, or in the milonga, we are overwhelmed by our fears (about forgetting the steps, not being attractive, say) and allow these dreadful thoughts to block our heart´s energy, the emotional connection cannot occur. This is more likely to happen to dancers from foreign countries who are not accustomed to being in touch with their emotions.

To attain a good emotional connection with the partner, we need to know and be able to manage our emotions even on those occasions when our self-esteem is seriously threatened. And in this case we cannot use the old trick of hiding our emotions behind a wall of physical/muscular tension, because our body then wouldn´t be able to yield freely to the dance. So, whether one is an amateur in the milonga or a professional facing a performance, in order to manage our emotions, we need to learn how to breathe properly, and how to combine our breathing with our movements, so that our muscles give way to our expression. And perhaps what´s more, we´ll need to know and learn to deal with our daily emotional blocks, so that they do not interfere in our dance as well.

When we start to dance tango, it also starts an emotional healing process. Be it because we receive more embraces than usual; because our social life expands; we are more in touch with members of the other gender; or because our physical limitations and/or our social or partneship troubles show up. Tango moves our emotions deeply and strongly. So, an opportunity to know more about ourselves in relation to other people is offered to us. And this can be a real challenge.

The second secret of a good tango dancer is the disassociation in the movement of the upper and lower body. Our chest must always face the chest of the partner, while the hips some times must turn away to one side or the other. Other times, our hips must keep motionless while the chest leads or follows the partner, all the time doing the foot steps and following the beat of the music. All this requires a very flexible spine, otherwise we cannot move as the dance requests and, sooner or later, the spine might suffer an injury.

Likewise, the disasociation of the upper/lower body must occur not only to the rhythm of the music but also around our own axis (the third secret) to keep our balance and not pull our partner off his or hers.

Most students arrive at their first Tango class without knowing about their physical/emotional axis at all, and some even have posture problems, diminishing the possibility of following directions properly, and making the teacher´s work harder.

Each person´s body is different, so it needs different exercises to attain the tango posture/figures that require a deep rotation of the spine or to correct the posture in order to find out its own physical/emotional axis and do the elegant/cat-like walk of Tango.

During the Workshops and Classses of Dance Yoga, we discover our own axis and explore how to keep the balance during the movement and in relationship with our partner. We elongate our muscles using breathing and "no effort" techniques to attain a good disassociation of upper/lower body in rhythmical time. We play with different exercises to achieve a flowing and sensual dancing/walking. And, most important, we learn to manage our emotions to attain the best Emotional connection with the partner, and thus, do creative dancing.

When we apply what we´ve learned to our tango lesson we are able to follow the directions of the teacher in a much easier way and the teacher is able to give his/her best, both accomplishing a higher level of work.

But also, DanceYoga leads us to the fourth and most important secret of a good dancer, which underlies the other three (connection, axis, disassociation). This well-kept secret is the deep physical and emotional relaxation.

The gifted dancers are those who are able to blend their emotions with the music and express them with their movements/steps. This is only possible with a complete surrendering to the moment and the joy of dancing.
Attaining such a blissful state requires a deep and aware physical, mental and spiritual relaxation -which is an art itself.

During the Workshops and Group Classes of DanceYoga we practice these four secrets in a general way. During private lessons (singles or in couples) we attend to the personal needs, with much deeper, faster and long lasting effects.

See top right bar for link to her website.

Contact me

I have set up a new email address as the old one is getting increasingly dodgy. People keep complaining that they can't leave comments here as the process is just too difficult, so email me and if you say anything interesting, (flattering and positive!) I will censor and post it.

Apparently if I put a proper link to the new address here on the blog, some spam robot will pick it up and immediately start sending me offers on "genuine" viagra, "genuine" Rolexes and "genuine" college degrees etc (who *answers* these emails?!!!! How depressing that there are enough of them to make these scams viable businesses...), so you can work it out for yourself.

It is:

inglesitaportena at yahoo dot com dot ar

OK.

Raquel

Friday, March 23, 2007

Paperwork

I have been looking into the business of getting residency here in Argentina and am back to a state of ambivalence about it. It is apparently perfectly legitimate to come and go on 90 day tourist visas, which can be extended for another 90 days once at the Immigration Department, then replaced by popping over to Uruguay for lunch when that expires. A lot of gringos do that for years.

The main drawback is that I am not allowed to work legally here or set up in business without the proper paperwork. Much as I like lounging about, even I have my limits.

Talking to Michael & Oswaldo though, whose knowledge of the UK system is pretty thorough for one reason and another (congratulations btw on getting that sussed), I did get spooked into deciding that I should get permanent status here. The idea that I could some day be refused entry, and thereby access to the cupola and the milongueros, horrifies me.

The first problem I discovered when I started asking was that I should have brought some key documents back from Blighty and as I do not know exactly where my birth certificate is, it will have to wait until I next visit. So anyone else considering this should find out what documents they are going to need before they travel. I suppose that just the fact of having my birth certificate here would mark me out as permanent - or is it a normal thing to carry about with you? Hey ho!

The next thing is the criteria for getting residency are tricky. My best bet would be if I could show that I have rental income outside of Argentina, which of course I do. I’d have to put my tenants on a two year contract though, which they may not be too keen on. Either that or just find some chap who could marry me, which under Argentine law would not put my assets at risk when we divorce (yes, I have checked!) as they are clearly mine at the outset. Still, there are plenty of possible pitfalls in entering into that sort of contract for that sort of reason. Note, I do not entertain the idea of actually wanting to marry somebody for romantic reasons!

So the next thing was the news that, although I am expecting to pay ownership tax here on the Bs As flat anyway, it transpires that if I take up permanent residency, I also have to pay 1% ownership tax on all my assets - including the property in London. That is a hell of a lot of money to the Argentine Government for something which I do not honestly think is any of their business! I could not really get round it by not declaring the property, especially if I have shown them that I do get rental income from it.

More research required clearly but for the time being I am back to Plan A and expect to acquire over the years some knowledge of restaurants and hotels in Colonia and Montevideo! I shall try not to drink a lot and buy whole cow hides every time I go though…

License to Get Ill

This week, I have been interviewing sales reps for the various private medical plans which have been recommended here. It is a whole new world for me as I have been lucky enough with my health that the rather dishevelled NHS has always been adequate for my needs.

Here in Argentina, there is a public health system, but everyone is very scathing about it and says that only the poorest of the poor use it. A common joke is that as long as you are dead, they will see you straight away. Although I have to say that people here do tend to be very scathing about many things, which have actually turned out to be fine in practice, it is not something I want to take a chance with given the not-so-super prospects if I follow in my mother’s medical footsteps. Who knows, I could be dancing the tango at a sprightly 96. On the other hand, I could be making strange noises and keeling over any time now!

What with owning the flat now and staying in one place for such a long time, it looked on close inspection like travel insurance was not likely to cover much if I got sick here, so I took the radical step of not taking any out this time. Yikes!

So the parade of minor ailments that has passed through my system a lot of the time since I have been back has given me the impetus to do something about it. My friend Gabi started sending me information about medical plans minutes after learning that I had passed out and I have actually followed up on them and had reps in my home this week talking up their plans.

I have rejected at least one simply because I didn’t like the rep. She was not very straightforward and I got the impression she was trying to take advantage of my foreignness. Apart from that, she said she had lived in London 25 years ago and found the fog a real problem. Eh? I pointed out that that problem had been solved in the 1950s and she looked at me blankly. Then she said how awful it was to have temperatures of minus 40 in the winter and I said “In London? In 1981?” and she assured me it had been that cold with snow so deep it was impossible to get out the front door. Eh?

I think I have chosen a company called Medicus. They can cover me for the whole of Argentina and in fact, I can extend to international for an extra four quid a month as and when I go out of the country. It costs a little over five hundred quid a year, which includes everything except glasses and false teeth. Of course, being English, I am just adjusting to the notion that I have to pay at all before I sign the contract, though it has to be said that it is easy to spend just that on routine dental work in London, so I am certainly not going to claim this is a rip-off.

The main reason this plan is better than the others is that total cover starts the day after I sign the contract. So I could sign up now and spend the next week having check-ups, getting vaccinations, being prodded and scanned… or even developing a life-threatening disease if I so choose. I could start a whole new career as a hypochondriac in fact. The other reason is that there is a choice of facilities - some of the plans are linked to one hospital only.

They even offer psychiatry, which might be a laugh. Especially in Spanish. I do need to practise my past tenses and how better that telling a total stranger about my childhood.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Trees

Some photos of trees. Buenos Aires does trees very well indeed. There are seriously huge old ones in the plazas and avenues and the local government is forever planting more. The poor buggers have quite a job to do battling with heavy pollution. Not sure they're winning but we have to thank them nonetheless!

The national tree of Argentina is the palo borracho - or drunken stick - so named after the ability of the trunk to swell up as it stores water. Actually down here in Bs As they don't get all that swollen but apparently in the northern regions of the country they have the sort of bellies you generally only see in late maternity or on lunchtime habitues of the pub. Here are some flowering in shades of pink and white along Avenida 9 Julio. I could have got closer but I wanted to get the weird cupola in the frame:


A jacaranda last week - still putting on a show although it officially finished flowering a couple of months ago:







Lots of Jacarandas before Christmas, with the added bonus of Linda looking pretty cool in the foreground. We were on our way to a big shopping expedition and asked the driver to stop because the trees were so gorgeous. This is when they were in full bloom before coming into leaf:


Rubber tree in Plaza Congresso, the size of a very large house. Somewhere I have a guide book to Bs As from the 1920s, which has a photo of this tree already an impressive size. There a several of them in town and they have to be seen to be believed:






Palm trees in the Plaza de Mayo. If they could only talk.



Plumbing

It is two and a half weeks since that last post - makes it sound like a confession! The plumber is finally here with his lad and they have just removed the wall cabinet after struggling with it for almost an hour. They are currently hacking into the wall behind to locate the source of the leak and with any luck fix it.

Funny thing was, I did call him the day after the last post. It was late morning and at first all seemed fine, we had a nice conversation about our trips back to our respective homelands and he promised to call me and then come over on the Thursday as he would be very busy until then. I asked him about all the music he had been so looking forward to hearing in Bolivia and off he went, regaling me with stories of parties and endless nights of song and spicy food. He sounded stranger and stranger - under the influence at 11 on a Monday morning? Well, people do keep funny hours here, so it was not unreasonable for a chap who often has to work through the night to be unwinding twelve hours later than yer average. But it was bizarre. He is such a sweetie, very clean-cut, always professional and polite - it was an incongruous encounter. The final theme was what a great lady I am and it was hard to get him off the topic and indeed off the phone. In the end, I said, so you’ll call me to confirm when you can come over to look at the leak on Thursday? And with another slurred compliment or two, he agreed.

So, he never called and he never turned up. I guess he had forgotten the conversation. As if by magic, the trickle of water down the kitchen wall dried up and I let the matter drop.

Then last weekend, I noticed the rusty rivulet had reappeared on the tiles. Bugger! I also happened to be going upstairs for something and saw to my horror that that whole wall is soaked; clearly the leak had continued but for some strange reason had been temporarily out of sight. It could probably be explained by geography or physics. Maybe there is now an ox-bow lake in my wall!

So I called the plumber again and said I have this water running down the kitchen wall from behind the cabinet. He said “Oh, how dreadful, I will come and look as soon as I can, which I am afraid will be Thursday.” It was like having the same conversation all over again, only this time he was sober. He seemed completely unaware that we had already spoken so I can only surmise that he was indeed off his face first time round.

Anyway, back to his usual self, he appeared on the dot when he said he would and has knuckled straight down to the job. We have had a little chat about the lack of spicy food in this country and now I have left them to get on with it.

There, he has finished, put in new pipes, cemented the over the hole and put the wall unit back, for almost three hours work which I have payed him eighty pesos - a lot of money here but about £13 back home. I have people coming for lunch on Sunday, so I certainly hope it stays fixed.

I asked him to let me know when he is performing - I would love to go and hear him sing Bolivian folk songs. Must remember to follow that up.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Dancing in the Streets

The last couple of weeks have fallen well short of the super-duper mark. I’ve not been a well girl but am better now, so will spare the tedious details. Anyway, I have been keeping my head down so not a huge amount to report.

I had a dose of retail therapy this week - took myself off to the Easy DIY superstore and spent lots of money on a cartload of bits & pieces from my huge list of jobs to start of finish. Best of all, I got myself a lovely power drill, something every girl should have in her wardrobe. Partly this was prompted by the big mirror smashing to smithereens on the living room floor a couple of weeks ago, having slipped off the loose hooks the painter had hung it on. When I told him about this, he said how sorry he was but that he had thought (he didn’t say this at the time of course!) that it wasn’t secure, because that wall was so difficult…. So I think I will hang the next one myself to avoid a future littered with antique mirrors flying about the place.

I stripped off the yucky floral vinyl from my bedroom walls, which is a great relief. The paper backing remains on the walls and I will decide at some stage whether to paint directly onto that or strip it properly. As I am increasingly leaning towards using gloss paint, it may be prudent to leave the paper on for easier removal when I come to my senses and want to change it again.

The only other things I have got round to are putting up some curtain rails in the spare bedrooms and finishing off painting the inside of the wardrobes in one of them. The curtains I bought are too short so I will have the fun and games of returning them this week. I thought about going today but the only time I have tried exchanging something before I discovered that they don’t do customer service at the weekend. It was a different shop but still, not worth the risk.

Unbelievably, I had found exactly what I was looking for at Easy - a timer plug to put on the electric boiler to stop it actually literally boiling the hot water. Very smug about that - until of course I got it home and found that the plug on the boiler is actually bigger than the standard socket. Well, I say 'standard' - HAH! -in fact, there is no such thing. I already knew about the four different types of socket dotted around the flat and have invested in all sorts of adaptors and extensions (never the one you want where you want it and oh the sparks some of them send off...) so to find there is in fact a FIFTH type of socket probably should not have surprised me but it was quite depressing. I guess I will take the plug off the boiler and go down to the electrical supplier and ask them whether it is anything special or could I please change it for something I can use with the timer.... Then of course, I'll have to change the socket to accomodate it too.

Apart from that, I’ve been staying close to the bathroom, reading a lot and lolling about in front of the TV waiting to get better. It is shocking how many episodes of CSI there are out there and more so the number I can identify within the first five seconds. I watched plenty of Gilmore Girls and ER. Why doesn’t anybody show Gilmore Girls on UK TV? Maybe my standards have just slipped so much in the absence of BBC that I am enjoying some real tat! No, there is some REAL tat on cable here - anyone who argues that US TV is better than British should be made to familiarise themselves with the entirety of its oevre before uttering another word. Whoever buys the stuff for Channel 4 must have to sit through all this drivel before they find a gem like Frasier. What a depressing job!

Daytime TV has been an eye-opener, but then I seem to think it is pretty dire in the UK too - it is something I generally avoid. I have been trying to watch the Argentine channels and work out what the hell they are talking about but it remains something of a mystery. The fact is that some of it is so bizarre, it turns out I have understood the Spanish but the very fact of what is happening is beyond my comprehension. For example:

There is some programme where an old man in a suit has a big table with different kinds of sandwiches displayed on it. He talks to a woman reporter who is out and about in sandwich shops asking people about ingredients, who buys them etc (riveting stuff.) All the while, three girls in bikinis are inexplicably standing about in the studio behind him. Then the old guy talks to a nutritionist about the sandwiches, all very serious and scientific… then eventually, the girls in bikinis get to choose a sandwich each and stand around eating it in the background while the old guy ekes out a repeat of the small amount of sandwich-related information he had gleaned from the nutritionist, who stands there nodding and clutching her clipboard. The girls are asked whether they like the sandwiches they chose, two of them nod, their mouths too full to speak. The third says she wishes she had chosen a different one but this one was OK. The programme ends without any explanation being offered for the girls being there or indeed being in bikinis. It seems to be on every day, though the bikinis and the sandwiches change.

That is a serious informational programme… the entertainment shows have good, old-fashioned comedy Chinamen, half naked ladies, men dressed as half-naked ladies, dwarves, comedy queers… oh, how can I begin to describe what they get up to?

They have Big Brother going on here at the moment too and I was lucky enough to catch a lunchtime talk show that was dissecting all the relationships and illustrating their points with clips. Of particular interest was the time the contestants were *rewarded* for their week’s toil with a muddy pole-dancing party. So all the good-looking young men and women got muddy and did pole-dancing. Hmm, don’t they just get plied with booze until a fight starts in the English version? The funny thing was, they all seemed to be enjoying it. There is so much I don’t understand in the world, come to think about it!

Wheel of Fortune is good though!

Last Friday I went with Belen and some chicas to a show at Dandi in San Telmo. Dandi is a rather chichi tango-themed hotel and the show is something they put on every weeknight in the bar. The reason for going was that our mate Oscar Acebras is one of the acts - he comes on and sings and plays his guitar, sometimes accompanied by the three old geezers on piano, violin & bandoneon at the back of the stage. The idea is that it looks at tango through the decades, with dancers coming on in different clothes and dancing different styles. It is cute, though I have to say I am not sufficiently expert to be able to tell the difference in dancing between some of the segments. Also, I was very confused by the 1940 piece, which had the girl in a short sparkly dress and their dance was nearly over before I remembered that fashions were probably rather different in Europe, what with the War and everything. They were up to 1960 when the power to the building failed completely. It had been flickering off and on earlier and finally plunged us all into darkness, cutting off the amplifier in the middle of a song. It was one of Oscar’s though, so he just kept singing and the musicians soldiered on. It was really exciting and when he finished, everyone whooped and applauded their spirit. Someone came on and announced that they were giving up and we were all welcome to come another day to see the show in full.

In fact, the power came back on but the show didn’t. We went up to the dance salon and sat there waiting for a glass of champagne on the house that we had been promised but which the chap had clearly forgotten and eventually somebody reminded him. Then the milonga started and we ended up staying for that, though it was a bit lame. The DJ was dreadful and the sound system kept jumping around and deafening us and there was not really anyone except Oscar and the waiter to dance with. That is often the case at Dandi - it depends really on who is staying at the hotel upstairs and whether they go down for the milonga. It is not really a popular place with milongueros and the only other local people who go are the students from the studio in Palermo which is run by the grumpy people who put on the milonga.

There had been a plan to go on to Canning but it never happened for some reason. By half past one we were starving, so ordered a big plate of empanadas. A rather late and inadequate supper really. It was hard to chat too because the music was so loud - I am not at all sure why I stayed actually. I had said I’d leave earlier and go on my own to Gricel because I am not a big fan of Canning and it is a long way off but I was talked out of it. Oh well, sad to say, we probably all got hooked in to something we hadn’t planned on doing by the promise of a free glass of champagne!

We saw in the Cuparsita at three, then went our separate ways. I felt increasingly dodgy on the way home and luckily managed to get in the front door and into the lift before passing out. No idea what happened there but I came to some time later in a cold sweat wondering where I was etc etc. Funnily enough, I had just read The Time Traveller’s Wife (highly recommend it!), in which one of the main characters keeps coming to in strange places so that was the first thing I thought of. Anyway, I hadn’t ben time-travelling (!) and clearly I wasn’t as ‘better’ as I had thought. I’ll skip over the details and say I had added a nasty bump on the head to my previous complaints and was a bit wary of going anywhere for days after that.

So, it’s not always fun and steak and tango here!

That said, I did pop out last Sunday evening to hear Orchestra Imperial playing as part of the Buenos Aires Tango Festival which has been on for 10 days and is just coming to an end somewhere across town as I type. It was in the street outside the Gardel museum over at Abasto. It was a lovely balmy evening and the band were fine, though I would not go out of my way to hear them again. There was a nice little crowd and some people were dancing in the street. Not me: apart from feeling a bit feeble, it is always hell on the feet - and the shoes - so it has to be worth it and there wasn’t anyone there I wanted to dance with.

Another festival concert I went to was on Friday outside the ecological reserve. It was los Reyes del Tango, who I have heard a couple of times before and are great. There was something odd going on with their sound system though, it may have been the difficult acoustics - being outside, under trees and next to a lake. Rather beautifully, the moon was very nearly full up above and between songs, the sound of the frogs or insects chirping was amazing. Some people were clearly having memorable romantic evenings there but I sat quietly in a corner.

The big open air milonga was supposed to be last night by the Obelisk, with two different orchestras and somebody said they were laying on a proper dance floor but I doubt that. I had a plan to meet up with some friends and go to Palermo to look at the total eclipse early evening, then come back into town for the dancing in the street. Sadly, it clouded over in the afternoon and started to rain, thus eclipsing the moon, the sun and the tango. Boo!

So I went out later to meet Gaby at El Beso and had a really nice time there instead. Some guys I haven’t seen since last year were there and I danced with them and had nice chats catching up on this and that. It’s funny, they say “Raquel! Where have you been? How are you in all this time?” So I say “I went to England for a holiday, to see my family and deal with some obligations - you know, taxes and the like - but I am happy to be back. How have you been?” and bless them, they say things like “Oh, none of that is important now that you’re here, I forget it all when I see you and everything is alright!” And yes, dear reader, I lap it up.

Actually I had a couple of dreamy dances last night and will definitely go back to El Beso on Saturday nights. I followed my usual policy of not dancing with anyone who actually has to come and ask me, except in the case of a ridiculously young man who ran in as if he had to tell me about some kangaroo trapped in the ol’ mine shaft. He offered his hand and told me he could dance and he’d really appreciate it if I would just indulge him for one song. I was intrigued but knew it could have been dreadful. In fact he could dance but was doing it so frantically and without much idea of what my feet might be doing, so it was quite an effort. After the first one, his keen little face was looking at me and he said “was that alright, can you suffer another?” I told him it was fine but he needed to calm down a bit and we got better and better as the tanda went on. He was insanely grateful for some reason. I asked him where he usually danced and he said Rio Negro - he was just in Buenos Aires from the provinces for a quick holiday and was incredibly excited to be in a real milonga with a real lady (yeah, yeah, that ain’t no lady…) It was very sweet.

I got home about four and slept late this morning. There was half a plan to go with Carmen to the Glorieta for some open air dancing this afternoon but it was another cloudy day and a bit cool, so I have stayed home and been domestic. Pretty sure she will have gone to La Ideal instead. After I have done this, I’ll grill up a nice bit of steak and probably go out to Porteno y Bailarin a bit later for some more catching up with my dancing. Can’t be out too late though as I have just noticed a little stream of water running down the kitchen wall so I will have to be up early to call the plumber. I can’t do much about it myself as it is coming from behind the kitchen cabinet and taking that off is definitely a two-man job.

Oh, one gorgeous Buenos Aires detail is that some of the big jacarandas on the avenues are still valiantly putting out flowers, though they are in full leaf, so the trees have a halo of purple. But also, there are these other amazing trees (which probably have a name that I could find out easily enough) which have been flowering all last month in various shades of white and pink. I have not been out with the camera yet but I will and I hope that all the rain we have had this week will not have done away with the display.

Yes, it has been raining a hell of a lot this week and the TV news is full of stories about areas flooding and how one neighbourhood simply won’t drain even days after a storm. Thursday morning was one of the worst storms I have ever seen here - and this place does do stonking storms. I suppose the Autumn is setting in.

So that is all from a slightly less enthusiastic than usual little me! Fingers crossed I will be properly full of beans (or steak) next time.

R x