11 March, 2012

Travel diary of Buenos Aires

OMG people in BA actually hire a dancer so that they can take them along to dance Tango. These men/women are called "Taxi dancer" and you pay them to dance with you. I shudder to even think of that. I asked someone about that concept? I was told that if a woman is not pretty, is very old then men do not ask her for dance. Similarly, men hire pretty women to dance with them. What would happen if one day when I am very old, I actually have to hire a Taxi dancer? I think I will surely be so depressed about that situation. Right now, the situation is that I choose whom I want to dance with. I call the shots. Yes, even in BA. Women hate me. As they see the best dancers lining up for me. I love it.
Tango is an addictive dance. It is not just the dance. It about the shoes, the clothes, the music, the bliss that you experience. It is all combined together.
I have met people who come from Europe EVERY year to Buenos Aires and stay here for about 6 months. They have been doing it for past 10-12 years. I have met people who are attending CITA festival for the 5-6th time. It is my first time attending the CITA festival. And I hope the journey has just begun.
There are Tango hotels, Tango hostels, Tango tours happening in every nook and corner of the city. You get ample souvenirs and artifacts selling just Tango pieces. There are people dancing tango on roads, playing Tango music, Tango paintings, sculptures and murals. The city seems to breathe Tango. And it is good.
The names of the streets are amusing. They are- Florida street, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, US. Rivadavia is one road which divides the North and the South part of the city. I am told that the total population of BA is about 13 million with only 3 million residing in the main city.
The name of the President House in Argentina is Casa Rosada. Casa means house and Rosada is the pink color. Just as US has White House, here the President has the pink house- Casa Rosada. In India we have a pink city. They just have a pink house for the President. :)).


Oblique is another landmark point in BA


Congreso is the Parliament house located at the Avenida de Mayo, at the other end of Casa Rosada.