Hot; spontaneous concert of Carlinhos Brown

Today was a hot day, too hot! It started yesterday when I went out for dinner at half past midnight and we still had 22°C. When I left the restaurant (I had my pizza with glaced ham, pineapple and honey again ) it felt even warmer. You just did two steps and you already swet like a pig. But today was even worse. The day started with 22°C and until the evening the temperatures climbed up to 30°C. You didn’t know how to move (or even to breathe) without getting bathed in sweat! It was an oppressive air… or still is.

Tonight I surfed the internet and by pure chance I saw that the Carlinhos Brown band is playing at the Gran Rex theater tonight. I decided to watch them. I went to the theater to see if they still have some of the cheaper tickets. I had luck and got the last ticket of the cheaper  category. It was a great concert and an awesome atmosphere. There were quite many Brazilian fans, of course. Everybody was standing; almost the whole time and almost everybody was dancing. The sound was just great. The whole theater was shaking (I couldn’t even hold still my camera!), all your cloths were moving and your body was vibrating. Awesome feeling! One of their songs was Magalenha. At the end there was a huge porteño group presenting with Carlinhos some great percussion act. Finally the audience was so loud, persistent and had so much stamina forcing Carlinhos to give so many encores that, in the end, we could enjoy their music 30 minutes more. He did a really good job in entertaining the audience! When I left the theater it was almost midnight and we still had 30°C. On the way home it began to thunder lasting only about half an hour. Yet the temperature didn’t fall. Therefore, at home I enjoyed a bottle (1L) of cool beer.

Long Hike through the north-eastern part of Bs.As.

Last Saturday I decided to explore the ‘La Boca‘ district and, if there was some time left, as well the little harbor Puerto Madero with its shopping area and its cafés. So I took the subte C to Constitución, terminus of that line at around 11am. I hoped to enjoy the Plaza Constitución but that was not the case. It was more likely a battlefield ‘cos they were rebuilding it. Therefore there were no trees, no paths, no green, but a lot of holes and hills.

 I looked around to see what’s close to visit. But there wasn’t very much - just a church. I went to the southwest heading for the Parque Lezama at the end of the district San Telmo. But to get there I had to undercross a freeway. This area was not one of the best! Grey, lonely and forlorn. After a while I got to a shop that sells fresh self-made noodles.

Arriving at the Parque Lezama I saw the first loros. I decided to head for the only building in this park to see what it is. It was the Museo Histórico Nacional. The entrance is free so I went in. At every corner there was security. I came to the first room. I asked the security guard if it was possible to take pictures and he answered it in the affirmative, but only without flash. I wanted to take a picture of a reconstruction of the bedroom of San Martín. He turned up the light that I could take a better picture. He looked over my shoulder and pointed out the sign of the exhibit to me. I told him that I got it in the picture I showed it to him. He was surprised about the quality of my digicam. When I went on he followed me and asked me for the camera model. We talked quite a lot about the camera, what I’m doing in Buenos Aires and about the exhibits. It didn’t take me much time to see everything ‘cos it was a small museum.

After that I enjoyed the awesome weather in the park watching the loros how they were stealing the bred crumbs out of the pigeon’s beaks. There were also some little poor girls roaming around.

After getting some sun and taking some nice pics headed for the stadium bowl of La Boca entering this district for the first time. I could see the soccer stadium only from outside. It is the home of one of the world’s most famous soccer teams: Club Atlético Boca Juniors (CABJ) with its traditional colors blue and yellow. Right at the stadium there were the Museo de Quique and some fan stores, as well in the Boca colors. From now on the traditional La Boca district started with its colorful houses.

And then, finally, I got to the famous Caminito Street and the place where all the fancy souvenir shops and restaurants with their Tango shows are. Now it’s all about Tango and a competition of the most colorful house. I had some beef with some Tango music and show at the La Barrica.

After this bite I wanted to sniff some harbor air. The water was more than dirty. There was some tar or oil swimming in it. No wonder that the turtle I spotted was saving itself on some floating garbage. I wanted to follow the harbor to get to Puerto Madero but a police officer told me not to due to the bad milieu following. Therefore I had to make my way through the whole district.

Half through San Telmo there were some places that were beyond good and evil. Car wrecks at the roadside, holes that almost cave in, and there were two buses passing me: one with some guys hanging out the windows and shouting loudly, and another that looked like coming just out of a Brazilian slum or Bagdad. It was completely empty except for the weird looking bus driver. The bus had some holes in the windows and the bodywork (like from flying stones or bullets) and inside everything was dirty and ragged. Some windows and seats were missing. At one crossroad there were two guys cleaning the windows of the cars waiting at red light to earn some money. I didn’t see, what they did (wrong) but suddenly they ran towards me and passing me followed by two other guys (one with a wooden cudgel) leaving their car. When those two wanted to return to their car the other two guys came back with big stones throwing them at the other two. They were chasing each other for a few minutes while the traffic at this lane had to wait. It was some nice action… and me almost in the focus of it . At the end the bad guys went off. Nobody was hurt. 

Fortunately I made it to Puerto Madero. There you could find a lot of people with red T-shirts and yellow writing on it. There were just coming from the 10K (10km-run). All the cafés were full of guests enjoying some snack and refreshment at sundown. I went all through Puerto Madero and then back to home. At the end I walked more than ten kilometers in about seven hours. It was a nice and adventurous day! But my feet needed some big vacations now!

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On Monday, I went for the first time to the free Salsa class in Belgrano. The teacher is a small and funny guy from Central America, I guess. There were a lot of old ladies (around 60/70 years) but it was a very amusing group. I was introduced to everybody and they all learned my name really fast. I become integrated into this group immediately. There were only Argentinians. We learned all the different basic steps and a little choreo before he taught us two nice and complex figures. I had the chance to talk a lot of Spanish. The course was a lot of fun!

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btw: when people want to use the ATM and they have to wait until it’s their turn, they do so outside by lining up in front of the bank.

Loros & new concert tickets

Yesterday I came back from university when I saw a hustle and bustle of green-yellow loros in front of my apartments building at Plaza Lavalle. There were about ten of them flying around - from one palm tree to another. I hope next time I’ll have my good camera with me to take a good shot of them. These loros are called cotorras argentinas [lat: Myiopsitta Monachus]. They are making quite a noise.

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Today, at the Ticketek at Centro Cultural Recoleta, Tina and I bought tickets for the ‘Pepsi Music 09‘ concert, one of the most important concerts in the year. We got tickets for one of the two national concert days. There are 15 national bands playing that day: Calle 13, Catupecu Machu, Vincentico, Misterio, Los Autenticos Decadentes, Los Tipitos, Gogol Bordello, Cultura Profética, The Ting Tings, Maximo Park, Karamelo Santo, Dante, Dr. Krápula, Zoe, Mamá Pulpa. At one of the international concert days ‘Die Toten Hosen’ are playing. They are quite famous here. The concerts will be in the Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires. It holds 30,000 spectators.

We enjoyed a bit the very nice weather in front of the Hard Rock Café with a nice view overlooking the Plaza Francia and the Plaza Intendente Torcuato de Alvear. There we saw a couple of cotorras argentinas flying over our heads.  

I wanted to buy a ticket for Jason Mraz concert as well but all the cheap tickets are already sold out. There are only the most expensive tickets left which cost three times more. Therefore just one concert. It is better for the wallet anyway.

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Next weekend I need to go to Colonia (Uruguay) to extend my tourist visa for another 90 days. There are two different boats. The faster boat needs 75 minutes to cross the Rio de la Plata. I hope there will be good weather to enjoy the day trip! I’ll finally have the chance to eat some good fish. In Bs.As. they only have filete de merluza (hake fillet) in supermarkets and restaurants. My professor recommended chivito uruguayo, a special Uruguayan meat dish, to me. We’ll see!

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btw: paper napkins in restaurants and bars are usually hard like baking parchment; therefore absolutely useless

Tanghetto concert

Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the ‘XV Guitar Festival’ this week

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On Thursday, October 15, I prepared my first own mate in Buenos Aires with the mate (cup) from San Telmo. I bought quite strong mate leaves. I used the without sugar of course. There was just a problem with the bombilla. I knew that it’s a crap when I bought the mate but the bombilla came with the mate. It has a spring at the end instead of a filter. It was blocked up very easily. I have to get a better bombilla as soon as possible!

At night, Tina and I watched a movie at her flat and drank a bottle of red wine. On the way back home I saw that they repaired the sidewalk at Córdoba Avenue corner Talcahuano Street. The concret was still fresh. Therefore I thought I could leave my mark for posterity on it and did so. I wrote my name on it that the city of Buenos Aires will always remember me.

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The next day I had Tango class in Belgrano, as every Friday. We learned a new step.

At night I went with my flatmate to the Congo bar to meet other student from the Netherlands, Germany, one from the USA, one from Finland and one from Cyprus. We had a drink or two and then headed for the ‘Asia de Cuba‘ Club at Puerto Madero. We got free entrance and therefore saved $50. It is a exquisite boliche. We ordere two bottles of Wodka with fresh pressed orange juice. It was the first time for me being at Puerto Madero. Next time I have to go there during the day. I stayed there till 5.30am. It was a really great night. We had a lot of fun.

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Yesterday, Tina and I went to the Teatro ND Ateneo at Paraguay Street to see the concert of Tanghetto. It was a great concert. I like the way they mix the Tango Nuevo (created first by Astor Piazzolla) and the ‘electro’ elements. Using in some songs a singer and narrator of some tango stories as well as a tango couple lent variety to the concert and let it seem more authentic. We got free entrance.

The most famous electrotango in Europe and the USA might be ‘Santa María (del Buen Ayre)‘ by Gotan Project which is used in the movie ‘Shall we dance‘.

Gotan Project - Santa María (del Buen Ayres)
(OST: Shall we Dance)

Tanghetto - Inmigrante
(live at Obelisco, Av. 9 de Julio)

After the concert Pedro, Tina and I went to El Palacio de la Pizza around the corner (Corrientes 751). It was a little bit more expensive but it was the second best pizza I have eaten in Bs.As. yet. Later Tina and I went to have some more beers in a café, till 2am.

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Today Tina and I had some breakfast at noon at Plaza Vincente López at Paraná Street in Recoleta. It was a more expensive but very good and substantial breakfast with a very good coffee and selfmade marmalade and jam. The orange juice was fresh pressed and the toasted sandwich had a lot of ham and cheese. It was just perfectly toasted. It was a good way to start the day!, before we headed for some homework…

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Tomorrow I will start with Salsa class in Belgrano. I am already looking forward to it.

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btw: in restaurants they have a table service you usually have to pay.  You get served all the time and you get some snacks (most common are bread with butter or at cafés peanuts, potato chips or olives) while waiting for the dishes.

The Literary Translators Club

Yesterday Tina and I went to CCEBA (Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires) in Paraná Street. There they have a Literary Translators Club. Yesterday’s guest was Patricia Willson. She is a translator and has the Doctor of Humanities. Amoung other authors than Borges she has translated some work of Roland Barthes, Paul Ricoeur, Richard Rorty, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Shelley, Jack London and H.P. Lovecraft. This night’s Topic was “Come en Casa de Borges”: Uso de la traducción en ‘El Borges’ de Adolfo Bioy Casares (”Eat at Borges’ house”: Use of the translation in Adolfo Bioy Casares’ ‘El Borges’). It was sometimes difficult for me to understand everything still it was interesting. The lecturer of our translation course was there too. She is a friend of Patricia. After her presentation we she went with us and six others of the audience to a café to enjoy the warm night (22pm: 22°C) having a drink and a snack and talking and discussing about translations and other topics.

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btw: at construction sides they even work all night through