The Week in Pictures...

Glacier Perito Moreno in Calafate, Province of Santa Cruz in Argentina, has made the head lines today. Every four years or so, a large ice-bridge which forms at the bottom of the glacier, sixty to a hundred meters in height, stages a spectacular collapse. Hard to predict exactly when...but this time around TV cameras and hundreds of tourists were lucky to witness the event.

 

 

Before, During and After...

Going once, going twice.....sold!

A few seconds later - nothing remains of the large icy arch 60 meters in height (equivalent to a 15 story building)

Strolling around El Congreso in El Centro of Buenos Aires, one may see all kinds of 'manifestaciones' - protest marches. This time around, instead of the usual collection of propaganda flags and pot drumming sessions, a rather picturesque collection of protesters: Gauchos of Salta.

I am not quite sure, what they were protesting about, but I think it had something to do with creating a 'Day of the Gaucho'...

 

El Congreso, site of Political turmoil, and back drop to regular protest marches and demonstrations

The only thing missing - Los Caballos

Spurs and all - but no horses!

Sandals instead of spurred boots - one makes concessions in the Big City...

 

On the tango side...the milonga community has lost another long time milonguero Aldo Ferrer, who at about 90 years of age still was a regular attendant at Salon Canning and at Los Consagrados. Elegant, courteous, impeccably dressed at all times, accomplished milonguero...I have danced with him a few times, and saw him a couple of weeks ago at Los Consagrados, still 'cabeceo-ing' successfully to the ladies at the milonga. In his prime years, he was one of the most powerful figures in Argentina, Ministry of Finance, various Ambassador positions etc etc etc...with tango in his blood.

A few days later...he has joined the tangueros in the sky

Aldo Ferrer, here with Julia Doynel, organizadora of Sueno Porteno.

Confiteria Ideal...rumors abound. Some maintain, that the most famous venue of Argentine Tango will be closed at the end of the month for 'renovations' (which are definitely needed), some say, that it will close down permanently, as the group of owners cannot see eye to eye as what to do with the place. If it closes, it will be a huge loss to the City...to milongueros and thousands of tourists, who are drawn to this elegant café (see Last Tango in Paris, see BBC's documentary Confiteria Ideal Tango Salon) to experience 'what Buenos Aires Tango' is all about...

Back to La Boca and Caminito, to have a look what the 126th anniversary of Benito Quinquela Martin's looks like. Well, his statue stand unrecognized by most in front of his museum, which was 'dressed in his colours' to celebrate the day.

 The Museum is 'dressed up' from the ground up...however, for some unfathomable reason - it is closed!

 Behind the colourful curtain , the passage has turned into a pretty tunnel adorned by Quinquela hues

El Caminito at one end of the passage...

...and someone selling what looks like old car seats at the other end...

The City Emblem peeking through the panes of colour....

The only activity connected to Quinquela's anniversary at this time of the day, is a 'paint in' by school children from various La Boca schools

 Some 'works of art' are quite impressive...

Not quite Quinquela, but a beautiful rendition of a sailboat heading into a sea of colour

Lovely Colours in a painting of a Kite...
 

 The Main Attraction....I could not figure out, what drew the attention of all these school children away from their task of painting like a young Quinquela...all of them concentrated on the polluted surface of Riachuelo...opposite direction to the museum...

 Well, floating in the middle of one of the 'camalotes' (floating beds of vegetation) were a few things of beauty, like this water hyacinth...in this photos surrounded by greenery - the oil, the plastic, the garbage, keep a low profile...

 But, the objects of the general admiration were these two 'tortuguitas', pizza sized turtles, who took their ease on one of the many dead logs in this cesspool of Riachuelo. I am not so sure whether the drab grey is their actual colour, or if their shells are covered with an oily coat...but here they were, poking their snouts into the air, which today was rather thick. The odour of Riachuela could make even a turtle faint. How they survive here is a total mystery.

Slick and flat, odorous and ugly, the surface of Riachuelo...separating La Boca from Avellaneda

To return home,  one walks toward the bus stop of Line 152, which goes directly to Plaza Italia in Palermo, my part of town. Waterfrontage here in La Boca is not exactly prime real estate...

 But, even here, without the tourist attractions, the souvenirs, the crowds, there are hidden gems. Just across from the parada (stop) of bus 152, a neglected building in ruins...with this marvellous stone carving on it's façade...hardly anyone notices it, but it tells about the history of La Boca - just as much as Quniquela's paintings do.

 There are many 'raised' entry ways in La Boca...I have not been able to find out the reason but suspect, that Rio Plate may have reached unusual heights at some time, and all usable space is located above the 'high water mark'.

 Seen through a bus window, dozens of architectural marvels in an advanced stage of decay grace La Boca...no one seems to care, that a national heritage is left to die

 Definitely La Boca, note the elevated entry, the depiction of Puente Avellaneda....

 Patriotism is a national past time, and historic hero figures transcend today's division of party politics...wall mural in La Boca

 Bus stop in La Boca.....no signs, no seats, no nothing....you just have to know where it is located..

 Public Works in action.....since years...

 Trucks entering, keep clear....it says. But how any truck could navigate this entry way is beyond my comprehension.

Street Art in La Boca...this one for a Kindergarten...

 We started this post with a protest by Gauchos, we close with another one by different militants. This one takes place at the Facultad de Derecha on Paseo Colon...not sure what for. But, our bus driver takes note, and diverts to the next street (people usually figure out where to catch a diverted bus) and things just roll on...

 Whatever...all these manifestaciones seem to merge together into an incomprehensible whole...

One gets home after a while...at leat these guys were not burning tires top get their point across..

What else to do...but keep on dancing. La Papusas of Sueno Porteno of 9 March 2016

Under the Weather with Sueno Porteno and Tschaikovsky....

There comes a time even during the best 'temporadas' in Buenos Aires, when one falls ill...which puts a temporary stop to dancing tango. And so, it happened to me as well - being out of commission until better.

However one meets one's milonga obligations, especially in this case, when Sueno Porteno, one of the most popular milongas, has inaugurated not only it's first Wednesday milonga at Club Gricel (tango venue de rigueur) but has done so on re-finished floors (it sorely needed some expert care) and surrounded by freshly painted daring red walls. Entonces - I camouflaged my misery enough to attend for a couple of hours and baptize the boards with a few tango tandas, before feeling like that 'animalito' in above picture.

Freshly levelled and polished...we may get a few more years out of these well trodden floors....

The read walls keep the eye from wandering to the ceiling...one would not want to see too clearly up there...Gricel feels welcoming and festive

Julia, with an additional nick name of 'Pugliese' welcomes her faithful milonga followers, who fill the place to overflowing during every one of her milongas, with her signature words:
Gracias, Gracias, Gracias....

Of course, by that time I felt a bit of a wreck and took a taxi home. Taxis have just increased their fares by 20%...and yes, they did - my fare was 20% higher to the click of the meter.

Still under the weather, I managed my tango and milonga private lessons this week, after fortifying myself with sufficient over-the-counter 'poison' to keep from falling off my low-slung 'high heels'.

Having purchased a ticket to one of the Tschaikovsky Concerts at stunning Teatro Colon, I gathered all my energy and attended a rousing performance of Capriccio Italiano and Symphony Nr 4 of the Russian Composer. Every time I have the pleasure of listening to the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, I am immensely impressed by not only the number of players (the various sections are all well staffed) but by their artistic excellence - must be the latin blood.... This time, Enrique Arturo Diemecke conducted...a man with a German name, Mexican citizenship,  conductor of major orchestras in USA and Argentina, international guest conductor,  graduate of Universidad Catolica of Washington DC.

1908 - the birth year of Teatro Colon, represents the sumptuousness of La Belle Epoque, imported directly from Paris. The Golden Era of Buenos Aires... there is still an entire city block in the vicinity of Calle Esmeralda in Recoleta, which is an exact copy of an identical one located in Paris....constructed in the early 20th century by Argentinians who had the power, money and resources to visit and return from Paris and just order their minions to 'construct me one of those' just like they had liked in Paris. Souvenir hunting of the super rich.

No matter how 'acustically perfect' modern venues are being constructed, they can never re-awaking the feeling of grandeur, elegance, and style of the Golden Age of opera, or better, of Opera Houses. Functional design has it's own appeal, and it's own artistic architectural merits, but romantic dreams are created in places like Teatro Colon. South America has a few of these 'relics'. If anyone ever visited the Opera House of Manaus, a city in the centre of the Amazon Jungle, knows what I am talking about....there is another improbable testimony of 'operatic excess' which has become a national icon.

Lalique...I suppose...

Nude Gods and Godesses take their ease near the ceiling of Teatro Colon.

Tragedy and Comedy...two faces of life, two symbols of theatre....La Boca and its conventillos of 1908 were surely tragic (as represented by Quinquelas paintings and much of tango poetry)....life around the Teatro Colon during that era, may have been all but tragic...

Enrique Arturo Diemecke taking a bow with Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires

The main seating is below this photo, as well as the 'loges', the private balconies for patrons who can afford their little private enclave.
Up here, we have balconies, cazuelas, tertulias, and el paraiso. For a patron, things get cheaper, the higher up in the theatre one sits...until you reach the very top of el teatro, where the audience can enjoy the performance - standing up. No seating in paradise.

 

A week of 'repose' in a way, recuperating. Lots of time to follow the various scandals that punish Argentina....

As a final thought, the gentleman who was in charge of refurbishing the wooden boards of Gricel (site of Sueno Porteno milonga) just survived an early morning street attack by four armed thugs, who beat him over the head and robbed him of everything 'valuable' on his person at the collective point of their guns - cell phones are prime booty. Luckily they did not shoot him, apparently he 'calmed them down', whatever that means, and he is alive to tell the tale. Not exactly the best finish to a night out milongeando...
 Unfortunately those incidents are a common occurrence here in Buenos Aires, and they hardly ever even rise eyebrows anymore. The country seems to be almost desensitized - 3800 homicides a year - most of them unsolved. With that statistic as a back drop, a few armed robberies without fatalities don't even make the news.

 

Scenes of La Boca....the tourist part

A last word on the Museo de Benito Quinquela Martin...other works of art found a place in it's spacious rooms: there is a collection of figure heads of sailing ships, a collection of sculptures, an open terrace of more sculptures, a large room filled with landscape paintings and another one with portraits of Argentinians - all beautifully displayed...and a shop of course.

 

 

Figure Head of a sailing ship

 

 Looks like Martin Fierro is educating a youngster about the facts of life, while living in the Pampas...criollo horse looking on...

 Landscape of Pumamarca - up north - as it was a century ago...

The same scene, as I saw it a couple of years ago...nothing has changed....

Just down the street, El Caminito, with its 'café notable' La Perla, one of the many old hang outs of tango greats of long ago, and now popular hang out for tourists from all over the world. It is EXPENSIVE!

It seems that today is not exactly a highlight in La Boca business...the café at around 4 p.m. is empty...

However, street performers of any age and any ilk, WORK, and work hard....singing

playing guitar

selling their wares

Picture postcards of Boca everywhere....try to find them in the non touristy areas, non of the 'Kioskos' carry them.

 Some dancer make an all out effort, to have tourists pose with them in 'typical tango stance'. The male tourists, usually in sneakers and shorts, are decorated with a tango hat, and the female dancer wraps her legs around them in some 'tango' photo finish fashion....a tip a photo...Tourist ladies, as you can see in the back ground, are sometimes dressed in period tango costume, and bingo, another 'typical tango photo' - hard way to make a living for the buskers...

 Folklore is ever present as well, with displays of Chacarera dancing, and artful maneuvres with Las Tres Marias, three leather covered rocks of different sizes which are attached to three braided leather lanyards, which were used - and still are - by gauchos as either lasso or weapon of defence....deadly I may add, if hit by a ball aimed at your head by a precision move of a gaucho. But in this photo, the man who plays La Bomba - the big drum.

Caminito would not be Caminito without the tango performances, many of them put on by youngsters, who want to augment their earnings as teachers or show performers by performing here for tips. Almost all of them I have seen are excellent dancers. When they came over to my table for their tip, the youngster asked if I dance tango. Por supuesto, of course...They were playing Hugo Diaz in the back ground, and I mentioned that his music needs a lot of musicality to dance to. Seemed to have intrigued him, so I agreed to his request to dance with him on stage, flat shoes and all.

Well, instead of doing the usual 10 second tourist thing up there, we danced one dance (of course, Hugo Diaz tango), and then - as we received quite a bit of applause - he surprisingly asked me to do another one. Well, we danced another beautiful Hugo Diaz 'close embrace' romantic number, got sponaneous rounds of applause especially when we did one of those languid 'leaning turns' and after the 'Grand Finale' and that was my 'contribution' to the Boca entertainment for the day. Needless to say, I enjoyed it, and he must have as well - he went all out with different moves - loved it!!

 When the dancing stops....the Bandoneon starts...

 Tarot, fortune telling, palm readings - who knows...

 And if one does not particularly like the 'live' dress up fake tango photos, well, one can do the 'peek-a-boo' thing....

 Competition...tourists taking advantage of the tango music played - and danced - by the performers on their small stages, and almost stealing the show...

 Caused something almost like 'consternation' amongst the locals - even these chefs

 Absolutely stunning red head, she is one of the local performers....

 Scary local....at least to me....there are a lot of 'toughs' just outside the 'tourist limits' of Caminito...

Being the 21 Century, Selfies abound....

 One heads for the railway tracks, which run right through the centre of El Caminito and passes a 'No Littering ' sign, which inspires me to mull over the relationship between garbage and Argentinos (some, not all). Garbage is EVERYWHERE in Buenos Aires, and appears to be accepted as 'the norm'.
Just a couple of examples: recycling dumpster divers (they introduced the recycling idea here last year) empty the large recycling containers to find profitable 'tidbits', bag them, and then take off without putting the rest of the stuff back into the container.
Paper cups, wrappers, cigarette butts, empty fast food containers are dropped whenever the 'owner' is done with them wherever he/she happen to be. If riding in a commuter bus, with its windows open, whatever is 'surplus' flies out of the window - and I mean anything.
My highlight of that practice was, when a mother changed her baby's diapers on one of the seats of the bus, cleaned the tot's bum with wipes, and Dad took the whole mess and tossed it out of the window of the moving bus as if he was throwing a baseball at a pitcher - never mind pedestrians walking along the sidewalks.
I must have looked a little 'stunned' when seeing this, as the mother asked me 'que pasa' (what happened) - and I quickly answered 'nada' (nothing)with a smile....they did not look as if they would take disapproval by a stranger too kindly....well, and let's not even get into the subject of dog poop....
So the city always looks somewhat like he outskirts of a land-fill without the gulls....

Anyway, back to the rail way tracks, which look to me as if they haven't been used in a century...weeds, bumps, kinks...the whole lot. I have walked here many a times without ever seeing a train, or imagining that a train would DARE to pass.

I was wrong, of course! A freight train announced its passing with a blinding headlight and considerable noise, as it moved at snail's pace right through El Caminito. There are no gates, barriers, or anything, the train just screeches and  rumbles through. The engine man waved to me as he was passing by, rather a neighbourly affair.....sort of.

 El Riachuelo, the little river, whose mouth (la boca) into the Rio Plata gave the name to this area of Buenos Aires. It is one of the most polluted waterways in the world, but limpieza (Clean up) is supposed to be in progress.

 Across Riachuelo, and the Puentes Avellaneda....no go land, at least for tourists. Some tourist tours expressly forbid their participants to even approach this area. Assault, robbery, murder....whatever. One of the most marginalized districts of Buenos Aires, it's hell for locals, never mind naïve curious outsiders...

 Anyway, it was a nice day, the guy along the river front with his chorizo stand was doing a good business, so I just wandered towards the Puentes Avellanedas, entertaining the idea of a little row across to the 'other side'.

 Camalotes, the floating vegetation, that still plug up marinas and harbours along Rio Plata, plug up parts of Riachuelo as well. Torrential floods up north brought these 'fields' of green down river.

 I looked for the 'camalote' wild life, birds, frogs, snakes et al....but nothing.

 Picking my way between construction fences and decrepit buildings I reached the 'ferry terminal', where a lone row boat takes passengers from one side of the river (La Boca) to the other (Avellaneda). I watched the business for a while, talking with passengers (who wanted to sell me things from a garbage bag....I had no money luckily) and the oars man....sort of, preparing the scene of my 'crime'...

 After watching a couple of crossings, I asked the oars man how much a return row would cost me...8 pesos (80 cents Canadian). I dug around in my bag and dragged out my last 10 peso note, telling him, that I spent all my money to buy an  expensive beer at El Caminito, to which he remarked ' you have two pesos extra'...ok, that sealed the deal and I was off.

 Arrived at the other side (I did NOT get off to wander around looking like a tourist) and immediately turned around again. Friends, who have taken this trip as well some time ago, mentioned that on their crossing, the oars man refused to let them off for their own safety.

Actually, it was quite a pleasant little jaunt. The oars man helping me on and off the boat, offering his arm to assist me, and being quite the gentleman. He was even going to give me change for the 10 pesos...but...

So, here I am, a survivor of Avellaneda.....at least touching the dock on the other side....