Reunited

Good news: my second and third tango lessons were much more successful than the first. I´m almost ready to start dancing in the street for donations in a hat.

Yesterday morning, Maribeth arrived for a reunion of girls who prefer i´s to y´s. Quite nice to have a friend again, although without Ashley we´re not quite complete. We went into the city center yesterday to look into tickets at the Teatro Colón, a very famous theater here in BA. When we got there, however, we found out that the theater is closed for renovations for the next two years. This has been a disturbing trend in my travels. I was also unable to tour the Casa Rosada- presidential residence- due to renovations as well. I guess I´ll just have to come back in a few years. We stopped at another theater to look at what was happening there. There appeared to be an opera performance tonight, so we bought tickets in the nose bleed section. When we got back to the hostel, we googled it, and found out that it is indeed an opera. Iphigénie en Tauride, a french opera based on a Greek tragedy. I´m predicting everyone will end up dead in the end. I´m hoping we´re not expected to wear anything fancy. I had an image of arriving in my only skirt and hiking boots. Jeans will have to do.

This morning we wandered around San Telmo, the neighborhood I´m calling home during my stay. There is a huge antiques market on Sundays, so we walked around, admiring all the old telephones, cameras, gramophones, etc. and watching street tango performances. Then we hoofed it down to the La Boca neighborhood, a very colorful- literally- barrio south of San Telmo. All the buildings are brightly painted, and artists sell their creations on the street. It´s a very fun and cheerful neighborhood. Unfortunately, the areas beyond the beaten path are very dangerous.

And now, it´s off to the opera...