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Day 34: Buenos Aires
For the fourth time on this trip, I woke up on a bus. Approaching Santiago now the landscape out the window had transformed from dry, sandy desert to lush, green hillsides. For the craic, one hour from our destination, our bus broke down. So, after a relatively short wait(what's 40 mins between friends) on the motorway, with our quirky bus attendant kindly offering us extra cookies and juice, we boarded another bus for the short hour drive into Santiago.
At the bus station we wasted no time getting into a taxi and headed through the vast metropolis of Santiago to the hotel where we'd have time for a quick shower before meeting the others. The taxi driver took a shine to Julien, and even though neither spoke the same language, a bromance blossomed in the short journey time: the taxi doing his best to set him up with a "hey pretty lady" from Chile, even using his loud hailer to advertise the tall, handsome german!
With only 40 minutes to freshen up in the hotel, we were back in another taxi and headed straight for the airport.
A nice, proper meal in the airport was appreciated after a day of snacking on the bus, before a very fancy, very comfortable and very quick 2 hour flight to Buenos Aires.
Already dark by the time we landed in Buenos Aires, we would be cutting it fine for our tango lesson that we'd pre-booked. As was the theme of the day, we arrived at our hotel, by far the swankiest place we'd stayed in so far, had 15 mins to get ready, before running straight out the door.
Our bus took us to a restaurant/tango show house called La Querandi: a rich decor of black and white with high ceilings and mirrored walls. In a partitioned section of the restaurant were a couple, Christian and (because I can't remember her name) Sonja (some American with red curly hair anyway), were waiting for us, to teach us how to tango. Because we were late arriving in, the lesson was short, but gave us a brief introduction to tango. There wasn't really enough space (or coordination skill), so we all bumped into each other a lot. But still! It was nice! All the time reminding me how much I love to dance and how I miss ballet...
After the class, we were seated at a long table and had a gorgeous steak dinner which as much wine as we could drink. I have to say, it was a memorably good steak... Argentina has lived up to its rep on this one!
Then the show started.. the lights were dimmed and screens were lowered and through music, song and dance they took us through the development of tango. The dancers were UNBELIEVABLE! Their legs! Give Michael Flattley a run for his money with the speed they could move their legs! I can't describe what I saw but it was sensational and exciting and I loved every second of it! It was incredible how in sync they were, dancing so close and so intimately, kicking their legs between each other's and dipping each other so low. And the kicks! Wow. The dancers were all so flexible and so skilled. And that's not saying anything about the passion and energy with which they performed. An absolute must for anyone visiting Buenos Aires.
After the show was over, the lights were abruptly put back up and we were hooshed out of the place with barely time to finish our drinks and pay! The night still young, we invited the gang back to our room for another drink while making a plan for the night.
Vale took a few of us in a taxi over to Palermo, a hip part of time, were we hopped from bar to bar in search of somewhere to dance before ending up in some smokey, dark nightclub full of reggaeton. I could only take so much of it, so at 5:00 I made my exit strategy. Reluctantly, Vale, Julien and Nivek, and decided to join me. They got some tasty schwarmas (I got popcorn) and we headed home.
Accommodation: Hotel Carsson
Weather: As virtually the entire day was spent in an air conditioned environment, all I can say is there were blue skies. The evening in BA was warm though - back down at sea level again, there was an immediate, noticeable difference in the air temperature!
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