Friends from Oregon share a meal at Calden Soho
Home, Sweet Home
After not sleeping while traveling, I arrived this morning in Buenos Aires for the tenth time. I got to my BnB, unpacked, and tried to sleep. An hour later, I woke up again, so I contacted friends from Oregon who were in town, and we had a marvelous lunch together. Calden de Soho hasn’t changed much: the same waiters, good service and AMAZING flan mixto: I love flan mixto!!!!
I never remember to take pictures BEFORE I eat!
Despite being exhausted, I headed for the milonga at the Abasto Hotel that was recommended to me by two friends. I danced four tandas, and then realized I was too tired to even want to cabeceo! Time to go home. As it was just getting dark, I took the subway one stop, remembered it was faster to walk from there and walked the other 20 minutes, enjoying the city. I can walk while too tired to dance :-)
Review: Abasto Hotel Milonga
It was easy to make a reservation for the milonga via WhatsApp, and they gave me an ok seat. This milonga was not traditional with men on one side, women on the other, and it was just big enough to make it almost impossible to cabeceo the ends of the room from my central position.
The ambience felt relaxed, and I enjoyed chatting with the woman at my table before others started to fill in. I left early because I was too jet lagged to dance, so perhaps the situation improved later in the evening.
The Sunday milonga at the Abasto Hotel, early in the evening had plenty of space to dance, but filled up later
Many faces at the dance were familiar from decades of dancing in Buenos Aires. The woman I sat with said she had taken almost twenty years off tango and came back to the same dancers! I find it sad that the older guys with whom I have danced for decades are making it to the milonga, but not really dancing anymore. I connected with a few, and it took some peering carefully at me, then dancing to say, “Oh! You!” The level of their dancing has deteriorated, but they are still great guys.
My best dances were with someone who is a dance teacher and very politely tried to market classes. The difference from the old days: respectful, non-pushing marketing. What I enjoyed most about his dance was how he used the music. I love it when I encounter someone who knows the music as well/better than myself, as I can see an alternate way to approach that song. We talked about how each song is different, has its own flavor. That was a good tanda for the end of my (short) evening.