Buenos Aires, Argentina

I feel like I went to bed as a young Argentinian after a good night out and woke up as a middle aged English woman. I can feel those dancing muscles and it seems a late sleep was needed. I walked out to a lovely sunny afternoon and headed to Puerto Madero which is in the east of the city. My initial plan was to hire a bike to cycle around the ecological reserve behind the new city area. The late start put paid to that plan, so I strolled around the lakes instead looking at strange birds, even spotted a huge otter type animal snaking past the Ibis. The weekends are a big family time for people so it is very relaxing just people watching. There is a cultural centre nearby (CCK) which has a Penas & Milonga late afternoon, so I spent a couple ideas watching professional dancers, regular couples and a orchestra with 4 accordion players. They were all very good, but the Tango does confuse me both from a steps and music perspective. There does not seem to be any logic or patterns to the dances, it seems hard. They also did a couple of dances in lines that reminded me of country dancing at school. These were much more joyous affairs, with people clapping and waving handkerchiefs around. I walked back up av. Corrientes, home of Cadore ice cream – dark chocolate and banana split flavours were divine. I caught the Subte home, there has been a protest so it is sweaty and rammed with singing passionate Argentinians.