Buenos Aires

Any suspicions we had about wanting to spend an extended amount of time in Buenos Aires were confirmed upon our arrival. We immediately felt at home in this charming city with it´s colonial architecture, cafe culture, wide streets, and cosmoplitan feel. We spent several days wandering the city streets sitting in plazas and passing time in cafes while watching the world outside go by. We timed our trip to concide with the weekend so that we could ge a taste of the Portenian nightlife.

On Saturday night, we were wandering near one of the main plazas searching for a cafe to chill out in after being out kinda late on Friday night. We decided to peak into an interesting restaurant and stumbled upon a marble, pillared ballroom that immediately transported us to 1950´s Buenos Aires. We arrived just in time to join the beginner´s Tango class. A short, tight jean-wearing Frenchy took teaching us the 4 step slide VERY seriously. We may not have gotten all the steps right, but we thoroughly enjoyed holding each other tight, looking into each other´s eyes and slamming into the other couples. Following the lesson, which ended at 11pm, was an open dance where Argentinians of all ages showed off their short skirts, Tango scarves and sensual moves to the live accordian music that filled the hall. It was nice to witness people taking the time to dress up, close their eyes, lose themselves in music, and relish in the romance of a time long forgotten. By 2 am, the party was in full swing and Argentinains twice our age were still arriving when we decided to call it a night.

We spent Sunday afternoon wandering around the quaint neighborhood of San Telma which transforms itself into a market featuring antique vendors, street performers and pastry dealing spinsters. It was here that Jenny fell in love with the most gorgeous vintage crystal bead necklace on display at a booth run by two fur-coat clad older women (pictured below). For some reason they took a liking to the cute American couple and abandoned the typical sales pitch. Because the necklace was so beautiful and the ladies were so endearing, we bought the necklace for Jenny to wear at a special occasion. Trust us, Tom, it´s worth the blog entry.

- JRo and JBird