Tango Time... The Dead.. and more Shopping!!

Given that I'd actually slept at night for once, I was able to get up and enjoy the day... Kate and I had decided to head to Recoleta.. to visit one of Buenos Aires' main tourist attractions... the cemetery.... It was a beautiful day and we'd decided to walk.. inevitably this meant a leisurely stroll to Recoleta.. via, guess what?, a few more shops!!! Oops! Well, it would've been rude not to really!! Once again though I seemed to find all sorts of great things for other people and not buy anything for myself... my family are getting far too lucky on the present front!! The pic above is me by one of the lovely fountains that are dotted up and down Avenida 9 de Julio - the main road through the city, this was just at the beginning of our 'shopping walk' to Recoleta, you can see from the pic what a gorgeous day it was... i can still feel the warmth when i look at it!

By the time we reached Recoleta it was lunchtime so we decided to stop and sit in the sun over lunch before heading into the cemetery. We picked a pub with a nice outside area - the cheapest we could find. Given this area is such a tourist trap, all the businesses outside cash in on it, naturally, by charging ridiculous prices (for Argentina anyway!) As i sat there, soaking up the sun in my skirt and flips, it didn't seem at all possible that in a mere few days I'd be home and wearing such attire as this would be relegated to wishful thinking!! But I'm here still so enough of that... let's enjoy it!

After lunch we headed into La Recoleta Cemetery for a wander... and it's not just your average cemetery either... It's easy to see why so many people visit this place, for startes it's the final resting place for an array of Argentina's most influential and important people including presidents, scientists, writers, politicians and heavyweight boxers not to mention our own Duchess of York's mother and most famously.... Eva Peron; Argentina's First Lady!

Secondly, as you can see from the pic's, it's certainly a little more 'grand' than you're usual CofE graveyard... the cemetery is laid out in sections, just like city blocks with tree-lined avenues branching off into sidewalks filled with opulent marble mausoleums decorated with statues. There are actual names for some of the 'streets' and even little guided buggies roaming round for those tourists that need assistance getting around (we didn't think our shopping bags counted as qualifying us for 'needing assistance' so had to use our little legs instead!) Some of the mausoleums are well kept while others have sadly fallen into disrepair. In some you can see the family coffin's inside and in others they are encased or down stairwells out of view. Each mausoleum bears the family name engraved on the facade with plaques for each family member entombed there added to the front.. the pic below is no doubt the most photographed mausoleum in the place. Interestingly I learnt, thanks to some friendly American lads, one of which has been living in Buenos Aires for a while, that Eva Peron is in fact not buried with her husband. Apparently it is normal practice to be buried with your birth family regardless of whether you are married (with or without children) your husband is then buried with his birth family also! I find this a tad strange and have never heard of it before but fair play, if that's the Argentine way!

We spent a while leisurely wandering around, checking the place out, soaking up the sun - seemed slightly strange to be having a nice afternoon mooching around looking at people's graves but it is a pretty impressive sight and I'm definetly glad I went. Especially with my fascination with Evita - and the realisation that I no longer had time to get to the Evita Museum in Palermo... that's now on the list for my next visit! After whiling away the time at the cemetery we made our way back to the hostel in the same fashion we'd arrived there in.. via the shops!! Well, we're female.. what can I say!!

It had been a lovely day and was to be topped off with something i'd been wanting to do since I arrived in Argentina...... Dance!!!! Yay.. the time had final come to sample a bit of the classic local culture and learn to Tango! The hostel were hosting Tango lessons.. having only just got back in time I headed straight in to the bar to find it had just started; Sarah - a lovely Kiwi girl that we'd met a few times was doing it too and I took the plunge and joined in.

At first I was the odd one out but initially that was ok - we were learning the steps on our own before 'coupling up' - by the time it came to partnering up with someone, some poor guy (who you see in the pic's with me) had been roped in to dance with me! Unfortunately, as sweet as he was.. he wasn't the smoothest of movers shall we say, and didn't really envoke the 'on-screen chemistry' we were told to display when 'freestyling' as the girl traditionally does when tango-ing... it's a very passionate, sexy dance apparently and one is supposed to reflect that in the passion shown between you and your partner!! Not sure I quite managed to act my little heart out on that front (and in fairness, he didn't appear that impassioned by me either) but I think it's safe to say that in my haste to get there on time, not changing my skirt proved enough of a distraction to cover up for me feeling slightly less than natural running my leg seductively up and down his!! You'll notice that everyone else in the picture had been sensible enough to wear trousers or shorts (or at least a long skirt) for the occasion.. not me... no, stupid head here decided she didn't have time to change out of her short denim skirt... D'uh!! ;0) I believe it was quite entertaining for Em, who had the pleasure of being my photographer for the occasion! trust me, there are other pics no-one should ever see!! and btw.. Paul, you realise had you still been there I'd have roped you into partnering me.. lucky escape boy!! haha!

Anyway, after we were all tango-ed out, a few of us decided to head into Palermo for dinner. Kate had decided not to join us which was a shame but there was still a few wanting too so after freshening up and yet again, trying to get in touch with Marco but constantly missing him (I was now becoming quite well known with the hostel staff thanks to the amount of notes left for me on the board and phone calls I kept missing.. despite numerous notes and missed phonecalls since Creamfields we still hadn't quite managed to meet again yet!) we headed to the subway but somehow ended up being 'flashpackers' and hopping in a cab!

The guys that we were out with were meeting some friends in Palermo, hence that being the destination of choice, so we started the night and a 'not-so-classy' pool hall where quite entertainingly Sarah and I played doubles with Craig and Matt (and Alan.. alternating partners obviously!) although Craig and I were a duo throughout and much to my amusement, although i was clearly rubbish, I insisted it was me carrying us through and he was to address me only as 'Chica Bonita' all night - that's Beautiful Girl in English btw - (and for all those laughing right now, it's ok.. i was laughing too!) Marco had taught me the expression that day so it amused me to use my new words (and yes, you would be right in assuming a few alcoholic beverages might have been involved by now!) Craig very good naturedly entered into the spirit of things though, inbetween him repeatedly saying the only other spanish word he knew; Si!!! Anyway, after we'd had our fill of beating the others at pool, we headed out for food... the boys were insistent on the closest place possible but Sarah and I had other ideas, after our evening of Tango we wanted to carry on the theme and decided San Telmo was the place to pursue this.. where Tango shows on the street are a regular occurence. It took us a while but eventually our feminine charms (or annoying whinging, whatever!) took their toll on the boys and we bundled them in another cab and headed over to San Telmo. I did have a slight ulterior motive for wanting to head over there too... i was feeling terrible that I'd not caught up with Marco yet and that's where his hostel was so thought i'd go calling too. It unfortunately didn't quite work out like that - I couldn't rouse anyone at his hostel so had no way of contacting him! boo! - and as we were so late getting there all the tango shows had finished.. oops! The boys weren't massively impressed! But we found somewhere to eat and settled down with pasta and several bottles of wine!!

Unsurprisingly, despite my best intentions of an early night I didn't make it to bed until 4am - which actually, thinking about it, is quite early for Buenos Aires! - it had been a fab day and a fun evening. I still find it mad that you can feel so comfortable being around people you've only just met. Everyone was great fun that evening and I do love the way travelling just opens you up to meeting so many different people and seeing so many different cultures! Unfortunately I never managed to get Sarah's email address before leaving so haven't been able to keep in touch but she was a fab chick and Sarah, should you ever come across this blog, please do drop me a comment! Whatever you got up to after I left, I hope you had fun Chica Bonita! That goes for the lad's too! xx