Isla Macondo

Bed and Breakfast place in the Tigre delta

Susana and her husband are friends of Argentine friends of mine. The last time I visited their house out on the Tigre delta, they were still building it. That was in 1999 or 2000 (Silvana and I can't remember exactly when we went there, and neither of us took pictures). When members of my tour group asked what else there was to do in Argentina besides tango, I thought of Isla Macondo, and wrote to them.

The Caraguata River is not a happening place: this is the place to go in order to do nothing! Think the opposite of the bustle that is Buenos Aires. Think RELAX! This is where people go to just hang out for a few days. You can swim in the river, take a canoe out and paddle around, or use the river taxi to check out the various restaurants and bars that dot these waterways; but that's about it.

We took the local train to Tigre, about an hour away from where we were staying in Palermo. Unlike my last trip, you can now just use your Sube card (subway/bus pass) and get on the train! It think it was 12 pesos for the ride. It was a holiday weekend, and the train was packed to the gills with folks escaping the city for a few days.

In Tigre, we only had time for lunch before boarding a river taxi. We ate at Vivanco Restaurant (General Bartolomé Mitre 74, Tigre). The flan was magnificent, especially as I had not yet had flan during this visit, and it is my favorite dessert! Connie had some sort of prawn dish.

To take the river taxi (lancha colectiva), you have to know the address for your destination. "Caraguata 1098" got us the right tickets and they put us on boats depending on our destination. Then, as we went up the river, the guys on the boat made sure that they had a list of where everyone needed to go, and stopped at each place on the way. They managed to snag each dock, pull the boat close, off- or on-load people, and off we went, with barely a pause.

Susana met us at the dock for Isla Macondo. She was surprised to see us an hour early: apparently, they had added extra launches because of the holiday weekend, and we could have had a bit more time in town. She offered us tea and mate, and homemade fruit bread, fresh from the oven. The group settled into their rooms, and the island had its inevitable effect: people kept dozing off in comfy chairs!

From what I hear, dinner and breakfast the next morning were very yummy. My memories from 1999 are of a scrumptious outdoor barbeque, good wine, and excellent coffee and breakfast the next day. Susana is lovely and eager to please. Her husband is building another house for vacation rentals nearby, to add to their capacity.

My husband and I were going home that evening, to make sure that the other tour participants in Buenos Aires were OK. It was quite a journey for one day: almost 3 hours on the boat total, plus 2 hours back and forth to Buenos Aires on the train. Plus it was so relaxing out on the river! I wish I had stayed overnight, too! They have three bedrooms available, great food, and very good hosts.

To book at Isla Macondo, you can contact them at susana@islamacondo.com.ar and ask for details. They do not speak much English, but I do, so that was not a problem for the group. I appreciate that they were very flexible with the changing travel plans of my group in a way that a larger business would not have been. They are open December to May for the summer season.

 

Lessons learned while running my first tour

Note to self while in Buenos Aires: "I don't know why I thought I would have as much time to blog as I did last year. I don't think I understood how much time it takes to organize a group of people each day, especially when I tried to make this a tour where we didn't just walk around together and do the same things. That may have been a nutty idea..."

Some of the tour participants have been kind enough to be guest writers on the blog so that you can see all of our adventures, not just the ones I have had. Thanks to Connie, Felicita, Larry and Stevyn so far!

I learned a lot running a tour. This was a WAY different experience than I have going to Buenos Aires by myself. That made me try some different things and see the culture in new ways. Here is what I learned about myself and about Buenos Aires, tango, and Argentina.

What to keep in mind running a tour

Lesson 1: Let yourself be a tourist!

I never allow myself to just be a tourist. Since my student days in Europe and my days as a Peace Corps volunteer, I have always tried to fit in as soon as possible; to blend in and not be noticed.

Because of that, I never did most of the touristy things other people apparently do on their first trip to Buenos Aires! I still have tons of things I have not done yet, even after visiting since 1999! This was the first time I really played tourist, and it was fun!

Lesson 2: Take the pulse of the city by talking to taxi drivers

I always talk to taxi drivers when I am in Buenos Aires. They give me diverse reactions to the economic and political climate of the city, and help me catch up since my last visit. I rarely take taxis, but since I was with a group who DID take taxis, I would sit in the front and talk to the driver. I got a lot of Spanish practice as well as information.

I always learn about Buenos Aires when I go there, but going with a group made me ask different questions and learn new aspects of the city than if I had gone alone.

Lesson 3: Take time for yourself!

I have always thought I was mildly extroverted. Despite having anxiety nightmares each night before the start of the teaching quarter at the university (for years!), I never quite put that together with being shy. I love to talk to people one-to-one, but in groups I don't do as well. Because my Myers-Briggs showed me almost right down the middle of the introvert/extrovert divide, but on the "E" side, I somehow decided I was an extrovert! Nope.If I ever run a tour again, I will have to schedule in more down time for myself so that I can be more of a "people person" for the other hours of the day. Do not expect that you are going to get any vacation.

Lesson 4: Expect that people's wishes will change

I tried to prepare my tour participants for how Buenos Aires would be, but I couldn't prepare for their reactions to the place.

  • Some people came wanting to learn Spanish. Some took their lessons and really enjoyed them. One person doubled the Spanish I set up for them. One person quit Spanish because it was too stressful. I am happy that Verbum was able to be so flexible with their needs.
  • One person came hoping to jump from beginner status right into the milongas. I didn't realize how shy he was, and I don't think he realized how intense that would be for him. In the end, going to lessons fit him a lot better and was more relaxing. If I had forced him to go with his original plan, we would have both been very frustrated.
  • One person came with expectations that everyone in Argentina danced tango, and that everyone traveling must be coming to dance; and that he would dance the night away each day. I didn't ever say that, but again, I can't see inside of people's heads, and I didn't know there was such an expectation. After a few brutal visits to the milongas, where a stranger does not always get to dance; younger people focus on younger people; and quality of movement wins over number of steps you know, he was able to go out and dance and enjoy himself, but with a better understanding of the Buenos Aires tango scene.

The takeaway

Next time, spend less time getting everything set up perfectly before leaving, and allow a few days of adjustment for people to figure out what they REALLY want; and expect that your first few days will be spent running madly around, helping people adjust.

Lesson 5: Communication is key

Smartphones are GOOD

Next time, I am going to insist that everyone has a smartphone! We have half smartphones and half "dumb phones" and we spent a lot of time trying to track people down who were AWOL. I think a lot of time would have been saved if I could have texted/called everyone. I found out the day we left that Verizon could have shipped my husband a phone that worked as a loaner while on the trip; next time, we will do that!

Being clear

I learned a lot about how much information can fit in someone's head. Over the course of the tour, when I wanted people to remember the plan, I learned to make instructions shorter. I learned to email each part of the plan separately (i.e., milonga plans and day trip plans were in separate emails) so that people could search on their phones/computers more easily if they had forgotten. I adapted the level of detail to whether I was speaking to the person with ADHD or the person on the spectrum or the detail-oriented person. "Clear" means for THAT person, not what I think is clear.

The takeway

If you know the people you are taking on tour, it will work better. The people I knew better had a smoother ride because I already knew how to talk to them and how they processed stress and information. I don't think I would run a tour for people I don't know at all: that would be WAY harder.

 

 

 

The ups and downs of newbie milongueros

I wrote this two days into our tour, but forgot to publish it!

Journal, December 6, 2016

Walking into a new milonga and getting dances is never easy at first. Even for me, with 20+ years of experience, a new venue means I may have to sit for a while until someone asks me to dance. Luckily, I come to Buenos Aires enough that my face is vaguely familiar, and I get to dance more often than most.

That is not the case for a newbie dancer, whether in Buenos Aires or elsewhere. Watching the folks from my tour get their "sea feet" has been an informative experience. In some cases, we are in the very same rooms I came to in 1999 on my first trip to Buenos Aires. I remember some of those agonizing days when it seemed I would never get to dance, ever.

The three dancers who are solid intermediate/advanced intermediate tango dancers, have done well. My husband settled into his first milonga here, and danced more than I've ever seen him dance. We were seated in a way where I couldn't catch his eye, but I needn't have worried! He has the cabeceo down and enjoys the challenge. My West Coast Swing dancer also has a lot of experience just getting out there and dancing. Now that he has adjusted to the cabeceo, he is doing well. I yelled at him for poking me in the back to get my attention at a milonga, and helped clarify some of the subtle cultural signals that are hard to see when you are new; and he's off and dancing at milongas without my help! My female tour member who leads and follows is having a lot of fun at the queer dances and the role-exchange practicas; but sitting more at traditional milongas where you don't switch roles. She also is being intrepid and going off to dance by herself. Bravo!!!!

My newer dancers are having less success. It is never easy to just get out there, cabeceo, and dance. However, as they are finding out, it's easiest at the traditional milongas where the women and men sit across from each other. When people sit in clusters of men and women, it's much harder to get eye contact if you are someone new.

Having said that, one of my newer dancers managed to get to the milonga on his on, on the subway, despite getting lost. He hasn't danced much, but I admire that fact that he has shown up. Getting on the dance floor takes a while sometimes.

My beginner dancer has largely abandoned dance for the moment, but I am not despairing. After all, he is exploring the city, learning Spanish, going running each day on his own, taking private lessons with a great tango dancer I know, and taking a break from parent care-giving. Adding on putting yourself in extrovert situations in the milonga and being very assertive to cabeceo, is just too much right now; and that is OK. It is way stressful.

A day trip to Colonia

I helped Felicita set up a three-week trip to Buenos Aires in November, as she could not fit her schedule around the tango tour in December. Her main focus was improving her Spanish, in addition to dancing as much as possible. She took a day off to visit Colonia, Uruguay, and agreed to write it up for the blog. Thank you, Felicita!

Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

A day trip to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay is a perfect day trip to get away from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires. Hop on the boat and you are there in about an hour. I was lucky in that the weather was perfect and all the flowers were blooming. 

I arrived about 10 am and left at 7 PM. One day is plenty to visit the historic town with your two feet. However, I wish I had rented a scooter to ride up the coast a bit. I guess I'll have to go back! If you aren't a scooter person there are golf carts and bikes.

I recommend the lighthouse, the oldest church in the country (Iglesia Matriz Church, built in the early 1800s), walking up and down the Calle de los Suspiros window shopping and simply walking around this historic town with a significant Portuguese history. While walking around you will see beautiful architecture and art.

I was really curious about the tile museum. It never became clear to me why none of the museums were open. I hope that I will see it next time!

Logistics

Getting There

You can get from BA to Colonia in about an hour via Boque bus (https://www.buquebus.com/english). Buy the tickets online prior to your departure. My "there and back in a day" ticket was $125 US Dollars. It was the Friday of a holiday weekend, so I'm guessing this is a little more expensive than normal. Get to the terminal at least an hour early, as going through customs takes a long time; plan accordingly. Apparently, there is a cheap boat ride to Colonia but is 3 hours long.

Money

I was told by several people that no one in the city would take Argentina pesos, which isn't entirely true because the lighthouse did. You can exchange your money at the boat stop in Uruguay, but be warned that you need at least 100 to exchange back. 

Tourist Office

Once you step off the boat head outside and veer to your left. There is a tourist office with maps and helpful people.

Connie's non-tango tango tour

Connie was my only non-tango-dancing tour member. She dances, but not tango. Her husband is an enthusiast, so they compromised by doing a lot of tourist things, but scheduled so that he could go out dancing, too. The result: Connie gently prodded me to include a lot more touristy things for the tour, and as a result, it was much more fun. Here are HER tour highlights. Thanks for guest-writing, Connie!

Buenos Aires Adventure

I had many firsts on this vacation. First time traveling: to the southern hemisphere; visiting South America; and exploring Buenos Aires. Argentina in December is warm because it’s the beginning of summer. During our visit, we had temperatures of 85-95 degrees. Luckily, we had low humidity, with only one afternoon of rain. It was pleasant for walking in the morning and evenings. Most of my afternoons were spent in a very relaxing ways, reading, eating ice cream, and drinking my favorite aperitive, the Aperol Spritz.

Of course, there are many more delights I saw in Buenos Aires, but these are my favorites.

Colonia, Uruguay

We took a fast (1 hr.) ferry ride to Colonia del Sacramento, a city in southwestern Uruguay, by the Río de la Plata, facing Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and capital of the Colonia Department. It has a population of around 27,000. We spent a lovely time walking around the old town and eating a unique brunch in an outside café. It is renowned for its historic quarter, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tigre Delta

 

At 5,405 square miles, the vast Tigre Delta is among the world’s largest, and it is one of the only major deltas in the world that does not empty into a sea or ocean. It flows into the Río de la Plata, which separates Argentina and Uruguay, after the Río Paraná splits into several smaller rivers and forms a multitude of sedimentary islands covered in forest and grasslands. With its islands and canals, Tigre is what Venice might have looked like before development.

 

Isla Macondo

We had an excellent time on an overnight trip to a wonderful B ‘n B in the Tigre Delta area. We took a train to the city of Tigre (35 km north of BA). Then, we took a 1 hour water taxi ride into the surrounding delta region to reach our BnB. Floating on the latte-colored waters – rich with iron from the jungle streams flowing from inland South allowed us to view the local stilt houses and colonial mansions. All along the shorelines are signs of water-related activity, from kayaking to wakeboarding, canoeing to sculling.

 

Tours of Estancia El Ombu and San Antonio de Areco

We escaped the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires for a a close-up look at traditional living in the pampas. We were driven through Argentina's sprawling pastoral landscapes, the pampas. We saw never-ending fields of waving grass and scrub-covered hillsides until we reached the quaint streets of San Antonio de Areco. We strolled around the historic town with a knowledgeable guide. He told us stories about the area's history as a meeting place for the local gauchos. Then we headed to a local estancia (ranch) to ride horses and/or take a carriage ride with the rugged gauchos. We wrapped up our adventure with a delicious freshly prepared barbecue and singing and dancing with the gauchos and Elizabeth.

 

My adventures within Buenos Aires

Teatro Colon

 

I toured the beautiful Teatro Colón, the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is ranked the third best opera house in the world by National Geographic, and is acoustically considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world. As of the year 2010, the Teatro Colón boasts a building restored to all its original glory, giving an air of distinction to its productions. I was also lucky enough to spend an evening in one of the opera house’s upper level boxes watching Porgy and Bess.

 

El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore and Music Shop

 

I visited this wonderful bookstore that was built in 1919. It served as a performing arts theater, then as a cinema, and now a bookstore. It retains its original frescoed ceilings, ornate theater boxes, elegant rounded balconies, detailed trimmings, and plush red stage curtains. The interior of the building remains as stunning today as when it was first built. I reveled in this wondrous monument of a bygone era. While the selection of books is a standard chain store fare and mostly in Spanish, bibliophiles will find the staggeringly opulent display of books to be reason enough to visit El Ateneo Grand Splendid.

 

La Recoleta Cemetery

 

This cemetery is in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and a granddaughter of Napoleon. In 2013, CNN listed it among the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world. The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles. The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums.

Of course, there are many more delights I saw in Buenos Aires, but these are my favorites.

Home, home on the estancia...

San Antonio de Areco

Driving to San Antonio de Areco from Buenos Aires made me feel that Kansas is hilly. It is FLAT out there in the plains! At one point, our driver stopped and we could see the flatness fall away on both sides: can you see the curvature of the earth? If yes, then we saw it.

San Antonio de Areco is a sweet little town. It is chock full of BnBs and restaurants, and is often full of people from Buenos Aires, getting away for the weekend. It's only 100 km from the city, and we had a perfect day for a tour: sunny but not too hot.

First, we met Juan Manuel (think Robin Williams in a burly version of Kevin Kline's body) at la Esquina de Merti (corner of Arellano and Bartolome Mitre), and had coffee, juice and a snack. The city was asleep, except for the people attending mass. Juan Manuel said there had been a folkdance event until very late, and so many people were sleeping in that day.

He told us about the city's history. Then we toured the main square, took a look into the beautiful church there. I have already managed to forget most of what we learned. The main takeaway for me as an anthropologist, was that the Spanish considered the indigenous peoples to be sub-human and so there was a crisis of identity when Spanish and indigenous people intermarried. The criollos wanted acceptance and status, but were considered inferior. The gauchos, living in the provinces and working the land, raising horses, etc. created a culture that was more polite, gentlemanly, more elevated than the Spanish manners, in an attempt to put themselves on a more even playing field with the ruling classes.

I learned a new term: la gauchada: a favor. Because the gauchos valued how people treated each other, you can ask a favor. You are basically asking them to follow their gaucho code of keeping your word, being respectful and doing the right thing, it is almost impossible for someone to say no to this. I haven't tried to use it, although I asked some friends about it. Even the ones who are porteno-porteno, felt you should grant favors asked this way.

La Olla de Cobre

Then we visited a chocolate factory, La Olla de Cobre (The Copper Pot). They are apparently famous for their alfajores, YUMMY cookies filled with dulce de leche (or something else) that I can no longer eat because I can't eat gluten. The others had samples and seemed to really enjoy them.

They also make their own chocolate. I bought some dark chocolate and some chocolate-dipped candied lemon slices to bring home. I like a bit more POW in my chocolate. This was a bit smooth and not as dark as I usually eat. However, I barely got any of it because my son liked it so much, so I know it's good!

The Draghi museum and workshop

For me, the high point of the San Antonio de Areco part of the tour was the Draghi workshop and mini-museum. It was very cool to see the amazing silverwork that the Draghi family has created, and even cooler to see partially finished objects that were works-of-art-in-progress. Wow and wow. I also enjoyed looking at the traditional silver pieces for personal adornment, for display of wealth on your horses, and for the home. I would have liked more time to look around, but three different tour groups were trying to not get in each other's way.

 

Estancia El Ombu

 

 

After visiting San Antonio de Areco, we hopped back in the car, and jolted our way to Estancia El Ombu. Apparently, the road to the ranch is SUPPOSEDLY paved: the government has produced funds to pave it twice, but it is a dirt road. That money disappeared into someone's pockets, and the proof was the dusty, bumpy way to the ranch. And we think we have graft here in the USA!

El Ombu was lovely. You can rent rooms there, and there is a swimming pool, horses to ride, and great food if you want to get away from Buenos Aires for longer than a day.

For us, we had time to have a snack, a leisurely amble around part of the ranch on horses, a long lunch with three salads, drinks, and more meat options than any of us could eat; and very good dessert (they made me something special because the regular dessert had wheat: VERY yummy).

After lunch, there was gaucho guitar and song, folk dancing, and a Indian horse whispering show. We ended up as part of the show. I am not adding the video in (although thank you Connie for the footage!), but I may change my mind later on.

 

Tour review

I was skeptical about the price of this tour, but I have to say, I feel they did a great job. As I am less than excited about driving in Argentina, the thought of being picked up and dropped off right from the hotel was very attractive. Luis was early (Argentine and early!), a good driver, and a very nice person on top of it all.

Juan Manuel is one of the chattiest people I have ever met. I have never had Monty Python and Shakespeare quoted to me in almost the same sentence. He lives in San Antonio de Areco, but is from Buenos Aires and has traveled extensively. For the people in my tour who didn't speak Spanish, having a tour guide who is completely fluent in English was helpful. He was almost as excited about participating in the tour as we were, and he does it a few times a week.

Guillermo and the tour office were very fast in replying to inquiries. They sent very specific, clear emails, and are clearly well organized. I still don't quite understand why most of the payment had to be made in U.S. dollars at the tour (it felt like a spy mission), but we were able to pay the reservation fee online.

I picked this tour because everything was included in the price. Other tours had you show up at San Antonio under your own steam; or got you to the estancia, but didn't seem to drive you home. Tips and the drinks we had in San Antonio while Juan Manuel gave us the history of San Antonio de Areco, were our only expenses for the day. The only question that we could not answer: were we supposed to tip the driver and the tour guide? At $200/person, we decided that we had spent enough and left it alone.

Bike tour of Buenos Aires

Biking in Buenos Aires, where the lines on the street (including the double yellow) seem to be more of a suggestion than a traffic regulation, seems insane. However, when I sent out an email to see who would like to bike, I was surprised to see that most of the tour group wanted to do it, so I signed myself up, too! I am SO glad that I did! For me, it was the high point of this trip.

I booked a private tour, as the youngest in our group will not see 40 again, and most of our group was 65-75. That way, we did not have to keep up with a group of younger people. This turned out to be a good idea, as we managed to do about 2/3 of the originally planned tour. It was really hot and sunny, and we chose to go a bit slower and take a bit more time at each stop.

Biking Buenos Aires is a great company to work with: enthusiastic, young bikers who love Buenos Aires and want you to love it, too. Their location in San Telmo is only a few blocks from where I used to stay in the neighborhood. They made sure that we were provisioned with water during the entire trip, had sun screen in case we did not, and included a lunch stop at a great food cart AND a lesson making and drinking mate!

Anna, our local guide, and Megan, our American guide, worked really well together. I was amazed at how much Megan has learned about the history of Buenos Aires and Argentina! We learned about the beginnings of Buenos Aires, colonial history, the background of La Boca, Peronism, the dictatorships, the Desaparecidos, modern economic history, development of the city--even I learned some new things, and I studied Buenos Aires and tango for my M.A. in anthropology!

 

Buenos Aires restaurant reviews 2016

Staying in Palermo Soho allowed me to try a bunch of new restaurants with my tour. Of course, I have a few favorites from other years that I revisited, but I don't usually stay in this area of town, so I have some new favorites!

Lobo Cafe

Honduras 4730, C1414BML CABA (Website: http://lobo.cafe/)

Food was not cheap, but it was plentiful. Here's Al's lunch the first day he got to Buenos Aires. I think he went there every morning for breakfast. The waitresses would tell me if they had seen him when I walked past! The waitress picture is Laura, who was there every day and enjoyed practicing her English when Spanish fell through for folks.

By the way, this is supposed to be a slide show, but I can't get it to work correctly. If you click on the photo, the next one comes up. I'll fix it as soon as I learn how :-)

 

Ninina

Gorriti 4738, Buenos Aires (Website: http://ninina.com/)

Ninina was Jessica's favorite hangout. Again, not cheap, but wow! Here is where I learned that the Argentine word for "kale" was...ready for it? "Kale." They had amazing juices of veggies and fruit that knocked my socks off. Their coffee was great. Their salads were great. As I can't eat wheat, I have no idea how yummy all the beautiful cakes and pastries were, but they were gorgeous. Wifi meant that a lot of Argentine dot-commers were there with their computers, downing coffee and chattering away.

If anyone else took pictures here, I will add them in. I guess I was too busy drinking kale, ginger and whatever else was in it, juice!

 

Almacén Purista

Juan Ramírez de Velazco 701, C1414AQO (website: http://www.almacenpurista.com/

I ate here last year as well, but I don't think I reviewed it. Where in the USA can you eat lunch for three hours without the waitresses trying to get you to pay and leave? I love Buenos Aires.

The waitpeople were very "on" it about whether there was gluten in each item on the menu. I felt very confident that I was not eating wheat, which makes me enjoy eating out a WHOLE lot more than other places.

This place has a focus on natural food. It has a huge menu of all kinds of food, which is a bit unorganized. Yummy, and halfway between our hotel and Silvana's, so it was easy for everyone.

 

Calden del Soho

Honduras 4701, C1414BMK CABA, Argentina (Website: http://www.caldendelsoho.com.ar/)

I only ate here once, but it was a favorite of the more carnivorous of our crowd (being married to a vegetarian has changed my eating habits!). Again, there was more food than should be eaten at once, but that did not seem to stop us.

The waiter can recite an entire table of people's orders and drinks from memory. Impressive! We also got free champagne at the end of the meal because he liked us. This is another slide show where you need to click on the photo until I learn how to do this. Sorry!

El Patio de Montevideo: yummy, yummy, yummy!!

Montevideo 387 (right off of Corrientes)

We went to this place with our friends Sara and Kent. Amazingly huge portions for great prices seems to be the aim of this place. We had sausage appetizers, salad, squash puree, rice, potato tortilla (for the vegetarian) and large steaks for three, for $51. We were too full to have dessert and could barely finish what we ordered. That is for FOUR people! Go there!

Sans Armenia Tapas Bar and Restaurant: gluten free beware!

Costa Rica 4602, C1414BSJ CABA (website: https://www.facebook.com/Sans-Armenia-Deli-Drinks-142825765788273/

This was somewhere that many of the tour members ate. They enjoyed it. I had a hard time here, as I told them I was celiac, and they brought me a meal they said did not have wheat in it. Just before I took a bite, I smelled it, and it smelled like soy sauce: WHEAT! They agreed that it had soy sauce in it and offered to replace the meal. After insisting that I couldn't eat wheat and then avoiding eating it by luck, I decided not to eat. Not a good night for me.

 

La Popular de Soho: 3rd choice for evening, but good

Guatemala 4701 (Website: https://www.facebook.com/lapopularfutbol/)

We got off the train from Tigre very tired and hungry. We tried to eat at Sintaxis, but they were full until closing. We tried to eat at Don Julio's, but they had a waitlist. Very low blood sugar by this point (as in crying), my friends dragged me across the street to La Popular. We had a fabulously large dinner. I had a roasted chicken quarter, "rustic" potatoes and some wine, along with salad that other people couldn't finish. Yum. By the end, I felt very happy and back in one piece. Note to self: eat sooner!!!

 

MezCal

Costa Rica 4502, C1414BSH CABA

On the corner of Costa Rica and Malabia, overlooking the Plaza Armenia, MezCal was a before-dinner drinks favorite with some of the tour members. Great people-watching (and probably great food, but I never ate there) if you sit at the outside tables. When I ordered a Campari, it came in about a 12-ounce glass. Eek.

 

Gluten-free happiness

Sintaxis

Nicaragua 4849, 1414 Palermo (Website: http://www.sintaxispalermo.com/

As I have already waxed poetic about Sintaxis in last year's posts, I won't go on here. I ate here a few times over the two weeks of the tour, and took munchies with me each time to tide me over between trips.

I tried some new meals here. The empanadas were very good. The torta pascualina was excellent. The ravioles were exquisite. I think I tried every limonada they had, with my favorite being the maracuya (passion fruit) one. I discovered that they had savory rolls and little cheese biscuits to go that were super-yummy.

 

Almacen de Pizza

C1414, Malabia 1825, C1414 CABA, Argentina (website: http://www.almacendepizzas.com/2012/index.php)

GLUTEN FREE PIZZA! Ok, most of what they had was not gluten-free, BUT:

This was the only place where they came out with specially wrapped plates and utensils to ensure that they had not been contaminated with wheat!!!!! Those of you who are not celiac or gluten-sensitive have no idea how much this means to me. I accidentally got "glutened" at least twice during the trip, despite taking gluten enzymes at each meal. I didn't eat for about 24 hours because I was afraid to get glutened again. Sitting down to a clean plate and utensils, and a little pizzeta, made my stomach relax enough to feel hungry and enjoy eating.

 

Traspies and crosses: more milonga technique

The second video for milonga technique was supposed to finish things off, but I keep coming up with more exercises that help improve your milonga; so there is a third one. This was supposed to be published over two weeks ago, but my interface software to internet was not behaving, so if you see this "after" the third video, that is why :-)

 

The video

Lateral crosses and pivoting traspies: Round 3 for the milonga drills!

Adobe seems to have finally fixed the glitch for uploading to YouTube, so I can finally publish my newest video!

It's been a rough week here in the USA in many ways. Here's something to work on to take your mind off the rest life for a few minutes! I will post more tips later on, but with the Buenos Aires tour in less than two weeks, I am running full speed ahead planning events for that; so please forgive me for just jumping to the video.

 

Corridas and toquecitos: technique for milonga excellence

Milonga is perhaps my favorite dance in the entire world (tango, cover your ears!). I love the groove of the dance and the simplicity/challenge of playing with syncopation instead of the more varying syncopation, pauses and slo-mo possibilities in tango. Many dancers who come from other rhythmic dances, find milonga easier to approach than tango.

However, because of its speed and the need for smaller steps, milonga can be more challenging than tango to reach a level of excellence. It is SO easy to abandon technique and just clomp through the dance, panicking at the needed speed of each step.

I have just taught six weeks of milonga technique in my beginning, intermediate and advanced classes. The Body Dynamics class has been focused on small steps, elegance and speed for the session as well.

Corridas and toquecitos

Corridas

Corridas, or "runs" are a series of fast, small steps that can be moving forward, backwards, or laterally. Corridas are also done in tango and vals, and have the same considerations there.

For forward or backwards steps, the main issue is making the fast (syncopated) steps feel comfortable. Remember:

  1. Take quick steps that are half as big as the regular steps.
  2. Get your heel down on each step to balance yourself for the next step.
  3. As you shift feet, keep your knee and hip alignment so you have cushioning.
  4. Core, core, core! Engage your deep core to make a dynamic step your partner can feel.

For lateral steps, a lot of people find the errors in their normal side steps are magnified by going quickly! Focus on:

  1. Rolling through your foot on both the step traveling to the side, AND on the step in place!
  2. Letting the natural shift in the hips happen when you change feet. Don't keep your hips flat to the ground!
  3. Keeping the knees soft.

Toquecitos (little touches)

Toquecitos are adornos that work really well in milonga. BE CAREFUL to avoid overdoing them. I distinctly remember one woman who was dancing when I started in 1995: she sounded like she was tap dancing! Don't be that person ;-)

That said, toquecitos that are soft and get your feet under you can be used as what I call a "functional" adorno: something that improves your technique, rather than just an ornament.

Toquecito tips:

  1. As one of my teachers used to say, "Don't kill the cockroach!" Just tap lightly.
  2. Use the ankle muscles so that the movement is the whole foot.
  3. Think of using it just before you move, rather than step and tap. I think of it like a downbeat: "And, go!" instead of "Step, TAP!" which is too loud/harsh.

 

The video

Sumo squats for tango flexibility

For those of you who know that I was injured last March, you know how hard I have worked to rehab my foot and body after a long period where I could not dance correctly. I am still limited in my ability to go out dancing for fun, but I have my foot back--and improved flexibility and strength.

I am periodically making videos to show the exercises that I do. I am pretty sure that I am not the only person who dances tango and can benefit from more strength and flexibility!

Exercises for fabulous boleos: the video

The origins

When Guillermo di Fazio was in Portland for Valentango, I had the chance to study privately with him. I am very interested in the style of the old masters, so when he announced a class on Todaro's style/combos, I was very excited. Unfortunately, I had to work at the time of the class, so I contacted him, requesting private lesson time.

During my lesson, Guillermo taught me:

  1. the material from the Todaro class.
  2. all the material he had hoped to cover but had not.
  3. another Todaro combo that occurred to him while we were working.
  4. drills to prep the leaders for the combinations we had worked on.

I really enjoyed dancing with someone who could lead me in the combo, and then follow well, so that I could try the same thing that I had just followed. I learn best this way, and am happiest with a strong teacher who can do this well.

My brain completely full, I sat with my camera, rewatched the lesson and took notes until all the info was on paper and on film. Although I lose some of the information, that way, the maximum that I CAN retain can be found :-)

Crack balls, KNIFE!

As is my habit, I share all information I learn with my students. I don't see a purpose in withholding information to make people wait, or pay more, or to keep my level higher. That's my main complaint about dance schools with prescribed levels--you know what I mean.

Anyway, by teaching new information, I can see how much of it works for dancers at beginner or intermediate or advanced levels, what other material they need in order to be able to do the movements; and how I can best explain it so that more people get it faster. Body Dynamics (for those of you in Portland, this is my 7 PM Monday class at Om Movement Studio) gets all my new material, as it preps for all levels of my group classes.

The men in the class were taken back by Guillermo's suggested instructions of "Crack balls! Knife!" to explain how to swing the leg across the body, pivot, and stop abruptly, on balance. The women just thought it was funny. I have since changed how I describe the movement.

Adapting drills for other purposes

As the Todaro combos proved too difficult for my students to actually do, I started to look for other applications for these drills. I broke down the exercise into easier parts, and working up to the full effect.

Immediately, I noticed that these drills were really about having good balance while one leg was completely relaxed and moving quickly, followed by pivoting on balance. Hmm...this seems to be the same info needed for doing good follower moves that require loose legs! I made last week's video to show how this can benefit followers.

 

In addition, there are a lot of possiblities for the leader to add into other moves, if s/he is sooo on balance that flicking the free leg around does not inhibit a clear lead. We have recently been playing a new game I call "Crazy legs" that incorporates the leader playing with this while the follower does turns.

Go watch the video, do the exercises, and come to class!

 

 

 

 

Tango reflections from Balkan music and dance camp

I just spent the weekend singing, dancing and listening to music from the Balkans. Last time I went, I learned some great teaching tips for dance teaching from Michael Ginsburg, who I really respect as a dance teacher. This time, my reflections on tango and teaching came from taking Turkish and Greek singing from two fabulous teachers, Bob Beer and Ruth Hunter.

This may seem far from tango, but stick with me!

The song of many variations

Bob's approach to teaching us Turkish songs made me wish I could do this for tango:

  1. Talk about the area the song came from.
  2. Make sure we could pronounce the lyrics.
  3. Play three or four DIFFERENT singers doing the song in different versions, sometimes even different genres (amplified, gussied up for urban audiences, more the folk version, etc.).
  4. Tackle the song ourselves.
  5. Work on typical Turkish ornamentation, and then on adornments that could work in the song.
  6. Practice.

How could we apply this approach to tango classes?

I am dreaming of huge amounts of video footage, nightmares of editing, etc. If only we could have the same thing on YouTube as the songs, where the same words (mostly) are in a song, and you only have to search for the name of the song. Instead of carrying around a phone with crazy amounts of music stored on it, I would need a monitor, computer, speakers, etc. Whew.

If only we could do this in dance class! Imagine having footage of three or four great tango masters, doing the same combination; and showing them back-to-back in class! Then we could talk about what neigborhood they grew up in in Buenos Aires, who taught them, etc. THEN, we could try out the combo and get the main points down. After that, we could look at typical adornos that could be done in the combination and/or variations in speed/flavor of the movement. We could try the different variations from each master, and then decide what to do ourselves.

Great idea, not easily achieved.

Rebetiko and Argentine tango

People have written about tango and rebetiko music already. Both are art forms from the underbelly of society. Both sang about drugs, crime, poverty, loss, love, etc. Both were censored/banned by the authorities who felt that they glorified the seedy side of society that the government wanted to ignore. Both had their lyrics cleaned up, removing slang, drug references, etc., to make it palatable to the upper classes.

Among the songs we learned this weekend, we learned Anikse, Anikse. She told us stories about a famous rebetiko singer, Sotiria Bellou, who sang the song. She told us about the singer's difficult life, and then we tackled the song, and worked on getting the melody (with ornamentation EVERYWHERE) down enough to sing it.

Make it real: more feeling, less perfection

Ruth and Bob both made an effort to get us to sing real songs with feeling in them. Bob said singing it with perfect, urbanized pronunciation was like singing the Rolling Stones song as if it were called "I cannot get any satisfaction" :-)

In the case of the rebetiko song, we needed to make one part sound like we were crying/sobbing. In another part, we needed to slide off-key a bit before taking a breath. On another song, we needed to try to make the harmony NOT match: there were at least three acceptable versions to sing under the melody!! Crazy-making to beginners probably.

These songs are not about perfection: they are about FEELING and life.

Shouldn't tango be about the same things? The lyrics are sometimes cute or sweet, but usually they are intense, full of feeling and life. Why not dance that? Even if you don't understand the lyrics, you can enter into the music. Even better, take a moment and look up the lyrics of your favorite tango, and add more depth to your understanding of that song!

This idea is easier to achieve, and can be done by the dancer: you don't need a teacher to do this! Go DO it!

 

Ankle and foot stretches and strengthening for tango

Just the video, ma'am!

For those of you who don't like to read, here is the video, right at the top where you can find it!

A big thank you!

Thanks for all the nice /website messages about my last video! So nice that all of this work learning to shoot and edit video is helping other people. As a shy person, it is VERY hard to turn that camera on. Don't be fooled by how much I talk: I talk a lot more when I am nervous! For me, this is almost as awful as those dreams where you realize you don't have clothing on in a public place...

It's been fun to (re)connect with dancers from all over the country. I was thinking about working on my ocho video, but a viewer asked me about ankle strengthening exercises (Hi, Lisa!).

For those of you who don't like to read, I will try to talk through most of this on the video; but some of us still like the written word!

My ankle history

As a child, I was always the person twisting/straining/spraining my ankles. I constantly rolled over the sides of my feet and hurt them. For those of you who know me well, you know I have almost zero stereo vision, so part of this was due to not being able to see very well. However, I also inherited my mother's weak ankles. I remember Mom driving to school to tape my ankles so that I could run track (my school required all of us, even us slow folks, to take part in track meets). I always seemed to have ace bandages on.

I didn't get stronger ankles until I took about six years of West African dance in grad school and afterwards. By the time I got serious about tango, I had strong ankles.

Now, after my foot injury, I am just beginning to put my 9 cm. tango stilettos back on, and I notice that my ankles are not as strong as previously. In the video clips that follow, I will show you how to stretch and strengthen your ankles so that YOU can wear tango heels and not get injured.

Foot & ankle: 26 bones, 31 joints, 20 muscles

A complex system of bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles holds us up and moves us around. No wonder we have so many foot and ankle issues!

Warm up first!

Get the blood flowing in your system before doing stretches and strengthening exercises. Even if you just go walk around the block, that will help you protect your body while improving your tango. I usually do arm and legs swings, as well as twisting around my body, before I start stretching. If I don't walk to warm up, I do ankle circles right and left before stretching.

Part 2: Stretch!

The first part of the video shows gastrocnemius and soleus stretches. Those are the two big calf muscles. They share the Achilles tendon across the back of your ankle. If your issue is lack of flexibility, spend MORE time on this, and less on the strengthening exercises. Remember that it takes 1.5-2 minutes for the microfibers in your muscles to allow for a full stretch: they are there to make sure you don't tear and rip muscles.

Part 3: Massage your feet!

Use a massage ball or golf ball to get your plantar fasciae in gear. That's the layer that encases your muscles on the bottom of your foot. You can also massage your feet: we do this in Body Dynamics almost every week. Consider doing this also when you take your heels off after dancing, ladies!

Notes: keep your foot over the massage ball, so that the weight of your leg helps apply pressure to the sole.

Part 4: Stretchy bands are your friends!

The video shows the first of three parts of a leg and ankle stretch that we do in Body Dynamics. The rest of the stretch addresses other leg muscles, so I left it out for brevity. You will see it some other time!

Part 5: Towel exercise for foot strength

I spent a lot of grad school going to PT and getting my feet taped so I could dance as much as I needed to for my M.A. in Dance. I have learned a lot since then: in my 20s, I saw that as a necessary evil, but never really did my strengthening exercises. I just thought I would have weak ankles my entire life! My feet and ankles are much stronger now in my 50s, thanks to hard work!

Part 6: The alphabet, foot style

Fine muscle control in your feet will help you do fabulous adornos and have precision in your tango. Drawing the alphabet with your feet works the muscles you need for that. Have fun: do different alphabets, draw them upside down or backwards, write whole words--whatever works for you. I usually try to remember the Cyrillic and Arabic alphabets from my grad school studies.

Part 7: Lateral ankle strength stretchy band work

You need a friend or a heavy piece of furniture for this one. Loop a stretchy band under a chair, sofa, bed, or have a friend hold the other end. Make sure you get enough tension on the band to have a good workout, but don't overdo it. I almost always end up moving closer to the piece of furniture than I start.

The most important part here is to STABILIZE YOUR KNEE. You don't want to work the whole leg. The better you line up your knee, the more the ankle gets focused work.

Hope this is helpful!

 

 

 

 

Improve your tango: stretch your hips!

As I come back from my foot injury, I am noticing that MANY parts of my body are more out of shape than before. I have made a commitment to stretch more as well as to work out more; at least until I am back in shape!

Hip stretches

Stretching my hips was one place where I was slacking, so now I am back on it. Here are a set of hip stretches that I learned from Rita Honka when we were in grad school. It's an oldie but goodie.

Try this and let me know how it works for you!

Saving time in your workout

This stretch sequence takes about 16 minutes if you do it correctly. Many days, I don't have that much time, so I only do one or two parts of the stretch. I am very stretchy in two of the four stretches, so I only do those when I am leading the stretch for other people.

I have found that most people are stretchy in at least one part of their hip. If you find that the stretches in the video are too easy in places and really hard in others, concentrate on the hard ones, and let the easy ones go for a while. This saves time and also focuses on problem areas.

Rebuilding my feet: foot care & body alignment

I am trying to do a weekly vlog, as sometimes it is MUCH quicker to show something, than to try to explain it in words!

This week, I wanted to show a quick body alignment reminder, followed by some foot stretches and foot care ideas to help you dance longer and more often, without foot pain.

For those of you who are local to the Portland, Oregon area, I teach a class called Body Dynamics, where we do stretches, exercises and games that help build body strength for tango, while practicing tango technique. I teach at the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th Ave. (off Burnside), and class is at 7 PM on Mondays. Both women and men are welcome, and I tailor the class to the people who take it. Please bring socks and your dance shoes, and dress in clothing that allows you to sit/lie on the floor.

 

Rebuilding my feet: I miss my tango heels!!

Update

Six weeks in a boot certainly affected my foot and ankle strength! A month after getting out of the boot, I am still not back in my beloved heels. Luckily, my chiropractor and trainer (same person) understands that heels are in my future, and has given me strict instructions about what I will have to be able to do before he OKs stilettos.

Even if you have not had a foot injury, if you have had trouble wearing heels before, you might try the exercises I have described below, to build your foot and ankle strength. If you tend to roll in or out, or end up on your toes when you turn, these will help build your arch muscles up to help with stability.

Exercises

The easy version: one-minute balance

The first exercise was to balance for a minute on the half roller, on one foot. No problem! I do this all the time...before the injury. It took a week of doing this to be able to get up to a whole minute without pitching off.

The important parts:

  • Make sure to spread your toes
  • Keep both margins of the foot down (you can see here that I am still tipping away from my big toe a bit)
  • Breathe! If you don't breath, you fall off by 30 seconds (ask how I know).
Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, easy side up.

Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, easy side up.

Slightly harder: roll with the punches

Once I could balance on the easy side, I turned over the roller. After two weeks of practicing, I can now stay up for a minute. As you can see, my big toe is still not spreading out the way it should, so those muscles are not completely back to where they were before. I am wearing Correct Toes (toe separators) to help train my toe back to a good position, but not in this picture.

Important points:

  • Same as above, spread toes, keep margins of foot down, and breathe.
  • Make sure that you are stacking your hips above your foot correctly and engaging your core.
  • Keep your hips in balance front-to-back and side-to-side. Movement is OK: don't clench anything!
Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, hard version.

Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, hard version.

Look Ma, no hands!

Now that I can balance with one foot, I have added some kind of surfing thing to the mix. This requires me to get a good lineup for my feet, and then to (eventually) be able to touch my back knee down and stand back up while doing this. THAT is not happening yet, although if I use the flat side of the roller against the floor, and can do about 10 reps of knee half-way to the floor.

BOTH feet on the roller, hard side up.

BOTH feet on the roller, hard side up.

Total alignment

This was fun to try to photograph solo. You can't see the mouse on the table :-) I had to balance, hold the stick, get aligned AND shoot the photo at the same time. This is the same exercise as above but showing the whole picture

Important points:

  • Feet should be a forearm's length apart.
  • Weight should be shared between the feet (I was putting too much weight on my good foot and my quads were sore the first time I tried ten of these).
  • Back of head and back of sacrum should make a perpendicular line to the floor (can check with a mirror/friend and a dowel).
  • Core is working like crazy.
  • From this pose, you gradually bring the back knee to the floor and back up.
VERY important to keep the head and butt on a plumb line, perpendicular to the ground.

VERY important to keep the head and butt on a plumb line, perpendicular to the ground.