Tango in Montevideo

The city claimed the origin of tango earlier than Buenos Aires. Compared to the prosperous tango scene and several milonga a night, Montevideo lagged behind and milonga were not frequent. Thanks to Mario, he brought us to a small milonga in a wine house. We did not dance much because there were so few people, but we enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and the wine. It was our first time tasting Uruguay wine, typical wine of the new world good for dining but not much on vintage tasting. The second milonga, after we made sweet and sour pork in Mario’s place (he liked Chinese culture and read literature of Lao-tze), was a Sunday milonga by Joven Tango, situated in an old market (Mercado de la Abundacia). Our first impression of the tango there, because of the milonga, was that it was only danced by old people. We were the youngest couple there. Actually we just came at the wrong time, there was another milonga the same night with younger tango population. Back to this one, we were not only the youngest, but also the best dancers there. There was even an old man in suit praising us that he treated us free pizza and beer before we left (as we had to rush for the last bus back to Libertad). The organizer of the milonga, who was a woman, even gave us telephone number and asked if we could perform for them! We were flattered by the invitation but we had other plan on the weekend, so we just took the number for future contact. The floor there was good, but the music there was very bad, the dj had no knowledge about tanda and mixed milonga and neuvo in the same tanda. Even there were only two milonga coming together, the tanda had only these two songs. I had to stand a few second before figuring out what I should dance next. Therefore I did not dance much too.

On Tuesday in the same place there was a free practica by another organizer. It was raining hard on that day and before going we went to another tango place that we searched on internet but it turned out a show-tango dinner placing costing several hundred dollar a person. This time most of the younger dancers come out. I would say the young community here is more welcoming than Buenos Aires. With my observation about good-looking women in Uruguay, on average there were more than Buenos Aires, so were the good looking tanguaras. They even invited men for dance. Although the dj sucked again, at least I enjoyed more dancing on this Tuesday. Maria had more handsome guys dancing with them, but most of them were not good leaders. I hope she enjoyed dancing with handsome guys.

The last milonga we had in Montevideo was one Thursday in a pub on Jose E Rodo street next to the crossing on the main Bvar. Gral. Artigas. Good dj, good floor, beautiful dancers, free wifi, what else can we ask ? We had a good time from 11pm (the BsAs typical start time) to 3am in the morning (still early in BsAs standard but there were not many dancers left at that time). The time schedule of tango of Montevideo matched a 9-5 life better than BsAs. Actually we can go to this Thursday milonga again before we left, but we enjoyed staying in the place of a new host Felipe (also we were short of cash and did not want to change more peso) so much that we did not go.

In all, the tango in Montevideo could still not be compared to Buenos Aires in terms of music and dance level. However, the more friendly community and common higher standard of outlook of the tangueras made her also a good place for me.

中國城一日遊

阿根庭年廿九即香港年初一，我哋去咗中國城跳舞。唔係夜總會，而係唐人街。呢度牌坊都叫中國城。附近公園有露天舞會，唔駛錢，當然要去啦。舞會八點先開始，我哋四點已經迫入中國城逛。因為農曆新年，好多遊客慕名而嚟睇華人過年，周圍迫得水洩不通。點知我哋做埋啲遊客嘢，如果唔係為咗買華貨，去外國入唐人街真係有啲憨居。好多人要試吃各式煎炸嘢，食好嘢嘅我哋緊係敬而遠之。 呢個時候華人超級市場變成大排長龍嘅博物館，遊客同當地無乜入過中國城嘅人對好多嘢好新奇。佢哋拿住奚錢專心硏究、又有個阿婆指住龍眼問我係乜，我用西文話fruto，佢好開心，我都好開心(因為可以講到)。


入超市買中菜食材係為準備香港探弋同學會嘅大食會。嘩！啲嘢好貴，半斤冬菇（不過都大嘅）賣成百港銀。啲蝦乾仲衰，只不過係蝦皮，成五十港銀一小包。為咗之後整蘿蔔糕，買咗幾個唔啱季節嘅白蘿蔔、十幾元一包(x2)粘米粉，用沙樂美乾腸當臘肉。仲貪得意買咗啲貝殼類嘅嘢，成12 peso一公斤，點知喺隔離超市仲大隻啲賣9 peso，唉...


買完嘢六點鐘，仲有時間，喺草地聽現場表演，攤喺度聽。草地雖然有啲濕，但也舒服。有探弋樂隊，當中有華人的手風琴手，亦有唱很好難嘅華人女歌手唱"月亮代表我的心"，唔知唱乜嘅人當然覺得佢好聽，聽鄧麗君大嘅我就覺得剌耳。鄧麗君係全球華人嘅diva一啲都無錯。


仲有非華人組成嘅阿根廷蔡李佛龍虎武師，奇怪嘅係呢度啲人見到舞龍就要走去摸，好似摸狗仔咁，其實個龍頭好似狗頭 (讀狼圖騰就知我講乜)，咁得意啲人想摸下，應該無乜吉祥意思。


等到八點，終於有舞跳，Maria好發市，好多佬請佢跳。我還可以，有一個女嘅同佢跳完兩隻歌就講mucha gracia 咁就走咗，打沈咗...之後都有個跳得好好嘅同我跳Pugliese,佢講咗一大堆西話我都聽唔明, 我估佢話好熱又或者喺附近音樂會好嘈掛。


背囊啲海鮮唔可以放太耐，舞會未完就搭巴士走，好多人走，好似工展會散場咁。

啲貝殼類嘅嘢好難攪，勁浸都好多沙，又沖又洗，煮到Maria死死下。


最後拜個年，祝身心康泰。

Pleasure in fruto dolce

After a breakfast with self-made egg tart and beer, we packed our sandwich as dinner and went to see Mission Impossible 4 in a cinema. There was discount on Wednesday costing only 19 peso each. With CITI bank credit card there was priority ticket line. The movie was exciting Hollywood, that's it. After sandwich on the bus we reached Villa Malcolm (club) for class by Alejandra y Adrian, they are my nuevo favorite. Glad to see Alejandra having a baby and she could still do boleo with a tummy, amazing. She is very friendly and patient in teaching us who are still new on the nuevo. The class was big with 20 pairs. Good to see them again since Barcelona. After the class we still enjoyed the milonga, crowded floor with better music. We are in the inner circle of table (because we reserved, using spanish to write email) and able to see the performance of another couple upfront. We were too tired after the class and milonga and we left at 2am, which was early by local standard.

 

The long-looking-forward class by Julio

With regret we missed his class on the first tuesday we came, we had to go out early to go to his class. Absent in the last two sessions, corina finally showed up with julio. Seven years after their class in hongkong we finally make it his class. He seemed to recognise me as someone taking his class before, but not exactly who from Hk. Anyway, the class was not easy and required good change of wait and solid embrace . The resultant steps were marvelous and I got the passion back indicated by my drawing all the steps taught. Later I can see J y C dancing socially on the floor, in front of my eyes !!! That night there were also performance by two couples. With budget concern and not staying in BsAs for, I didn't think about private class, but will attend the next class on Tuesday Salon Canning. That night the milonga was a bit quiet. It seems that people like the milonga with live band.

有班有樂隊有舞跳好抵

應樂隊宣傳，又近自己住地方，星期日就去咗Milonga Andariega，早啲去有班上，連milonga只係25peso/人。班就係初班，上下basic都係嘅...當晚繼續有喺osvaldo那次表演的樂隊，Natalia Mancini嘅歌聲始終使我們感動，她很享受咁開聲咁唱，真使我們感羨慕她正做着享受其中的事。當晚我都同兩個當地阿根廷女郎跳舞，小milonga氣氛比那些出名的更好，仍是坐舞虛席。我們應該去多些其他的milonga,當然Salon Canning及Fruite Dulce要繼續去，因為有我喜歡的老師嘛。

In Sunderland Club again

Having some much wine made me a poor hang-over, I had a very quiet afternoon and went on studying Spanish home. As we had agreed with the tango friends and Cecilia helped reserve seats, we went there for the second time. Not functioning well, we had a late dinner and went there late, missing the class by Adriana and Lucas. It was still an enjoyable milonga. The shark still appeared but did not approach Maria anymore. For me, I tried the caffeine-rich coca cola, the extremely sweet petite-four and enjoyed the near-view to the dance floor. Happy Birthday to Cecilia Bulotta, you had a great dance with Gonzalo.


We had to wait an hour for the bus back home. The sky was light when we went to bed ...

Tango@Fruto Dulce

Due to Salon Canning the night before, when we went to bed at 4am in the morning, we woke up (unexpectedly) at 1pm in the afternoon. We have planned to wake up early as the nearby museum of contemporary art has free admission on Wednesday (even on other days it is only 1 peso). It has been very hot these days. It was a very good occasion to enjoy cheap air-conditioning and hang out in the whole afternoon. Some collections stimulated good thoughts, for example, the series of photos by Ajeno about street corners, grounds, entrances showing how a city expects boundaries between indoor and outdoor, pavements and roads, vertical and horizontal planes, among different tiles etc.

After a hearty homemake dinner we went to Fruto Dulce@Club Villa Malcom (only 25 peso each), we were tricked by the bus again (the same number could give different routes). We had to walk around 20 blocks to get there and we were late for the class by Adrian. We then waited an hour enjoying the beer and the tango magazine before the milonga began. Without reservation we could still take a corner table overseeing the dance floor. As we had the show by Sebastian Achaval y Roxana Suarez in mind, we were glad that there was only one table in front of us. The dance floor was packed. With luck I could invite a local Argentine tanguera to dance but the dance only ended in one song of the tanda. (I did not bump to anyone, but I felt a bit difficult leader her because my body was not strong on the lead). She expressed thank for my invitation but my heart was broken... Later I invited a mature woman in red dress who had been walking around but had no chance to be invited. In fact she did not dance badly but it was the cruel reality that younger women got higher chance of being invited. The sound that night was not good with several technical errors. On the whole the atmosphere was good, with good show by Sebastian y Roxana.

We were lucky to catch a bus (168) home, it was 5am (again) when we got home. How can we have a healthy schedule with tango like that ?

Tango@Salon Canning

Planned a week before, we still start off late for the pre-milonga class led by Julio in Salon Canning. He is my favorite vals dancer. We were tricked by the bus line (there could be three different lines for the same bus number, without extra mentioning on the bus) and had to walk around ten blocks.  Luckily we can still listen to half the class. Julio looked slimmer than I had seen. He and Corina was my second overseas tango teachers when I started tango in Hong Kong 7 years ago. At that time their teaching was difficult to me, and our standard was a bit low to their eyes that I thought they may have lost patience with us. That's why I was so eager to meet him again for the class. Corina was not there and Julio was teaching around 20 couples on vals steps and musicality. I missed that so much and hoped that I could come earlier next time.


As for the milonga, without reservation we were lucky to be on the third circle table (table set-up in milonga here were in concentric circles surrounding the dance floor). The assumed stars and VIP could have reserved tables even they may not come, tourists with previous bookings sometimes may get to the inner circle, but those not reserving could be assigned to the outermost tables.35 peso each was really in good value because of a live band by Orquestra Unitango and tango show by Andre y Andressa. It is much better value than tourist tour costing a few hundred peso for a tango show in a pub. There were still many tourists around though. Maria was lucky enough to have several dances and I took some good shots with romantic ambiance..


I'll be more punctual next time to take Julio and Corina's pre-milonga class next time. Luckily we could find a bus and no need for a long wait. When we went to bed, it was 4am already.

Maria got shark in Sunderland

I highly looked forward to the milonga in the Sunderland Club, due to my seeing so much youtube of tango being videoed there. After a late lunch (4pm, yeah we danced till 4am the morning before) we packed two sandwishes and took a long bus trip (93) to Villa Urquiza. As Jorge highly introduced his grown-up place and the history of tango there. We were there at around 7pm expecting some class before milonga. The site was still being prepared. We walked around the in the community, found a park to have the sandwiches. Without luck we did not bump into any tango-related relics.


We went back at 9pm and waited till 9:35pm when there was a pre-milonga class. Class and milonga only cost 35 peso@. The menu was also fine with aque con gas costing only 8 peso Maria seeing everyone having big meals, can't help but ordered a meat empanadas costing 5 peso. (thanks to the waiter who was willing to give change of two 1 peso coins so that we could take bus home that night). As for the class, it was a learning of steps that I don't like. It was an hour and a half to our exhaustion. As for the milonga, the atmosphere was good and there were many locals. There were also a table of Korean with Andres (he did not recognize me, maybe because of my changed outlook). Dancing with locals ? No luck for me, but there was a suited chico inviting Maria to dance. He kissed her right after entering the hall. He seems like not being welcomed by the locals here. I heard from Maria afterwards that he kept rubbing her while dancing and she was too shy to reject him right away. I have to rescue her by taking her out to dance when he invited her for the third time. We left early than expected (3am) because we were out for the whole day and felt tired and the shark was still spotting her.


The music was good, the cost was fine, and the atmosphere was good. I shall keep going there every Saturday and hope that one day I look familiar and could invite local one day.

La Marchal@El Beso, where there are only leaders and followers but not male or female

After a hearty dinner with home-made baked orange chicken and sangria, we went to a homosexual-friendly milonga in El Beso. We started off at midnight, although it started at 10:30pm. It was a half an hour wait of the bus, which took around 15 minutes to get to El Beso at Riobamba 416. At first we were surprised by the entrance fee (30 peso each) higher than La Confiteria Ideal. After a long bus wait (29) and finally getting there, we gave it a try. Ordering was also compulsory too, so we paid 22 for a litre bottle of beer. It could have been the price of a large pizza in Ugi's already.


It was a good sight to see man leading man, woman leading woman, woman leading man and of course man leading woman. Here there were only leaders and followers, not gender defined. My cabeceo didn't work to invite local people but only a Swiss and a Swedish to dance with me. The atmosphere was good and I was glad seeing most of the time and not much dancing. We danced till 4am. We were lucky to wait only for a few minutes for the 24 bus to go home. The next day we slept till 1pm and missed the jogging.

Dancing in the afternoon milonga - La Matine de La Ideal

We started the day as usual: bible study, jogging in the nearby park, brunch and self-study, we went to our first milonga in BsAs - La Matine de la Ideal at La Confiteria de Ideal.


May I go back a little on the Spanish learning first. We seemed to improve from knowing nothing to barely some words. It is better having a partner to study together, which I haven't done before (I used to study by myself). Maria has a better grasp of language than me, although we both found learning a new language more difficult at our age.Dissolving in the environment and solving problems at life do push our motivation to learn a language. Thanks to Reina for the two writing board. With lack of writing tools we use them on doing exercise and copying words, like when we had started learning language in childhood. Copying does help.

23 peso each on entry fee was low in HK standard but still a lot for our daily budget. Viewing that it was our first milonga we dared to go for it. Also we did not want to go for overnight milonga and spoiled our healthy daily routine. I like the interior design with pillars and the high ceiling decorated with floral graze. Bringing water ourselves we found a table next to the marble tiled floor and decided to order nothing.  My first tanda with Maria was a salon and I felt the atmosphere given by the design not by the people, most of them in their fifties or above. Only the tourists were younger. We did see a couple of rocket flying around in their sixties. The floor was quite smooth that my giro was so easily done that also gave Maria a good impression to the viewers. Then invitations for Maria were non-stop, not only because she was the youngest and most beautiful lady on the floor but also people found she danced well. With a sprang ankle she could not push too herself too much. My next tanda after Maria was the invitation from a 70s year-old woman named "Otieria (?)". Later I found that she was one of the best tangueras that afternoon. In open embrace her open arm was very strong, to me it was stiff. It was enjoyable dance.


We danced till 8pm, then went to grocery shopping at CarreFour, where we realized that drinking large bottle was quite a nuisance here. We had to pay 2.75 peso more for the bottle; we could take empty ones to waive the bottle charge in the next beer purchase. However, how on early we bring empty bottles around for grocery shopping ?

A more normal day, at least the market is open

On the bed on the second day, we discussed about what we shall be after two years. If we are having a hectic life in BsAs like in Hong Kong, we shall become nothing but tourists with a forgotten trip. We should have a more scheduled life with some objective, or actually are we too used to the HK life emphasizing a life with objectives and outcomes ? Can't we just live and see what God put before us ? To feel more secure we set some schedule, so as to get ourselves prepared for future challenges: bible study after waking up from bed, then jogging in the nearby park, brunch, afternoon activities include going around the city, taking language/tango class, research for Antarctica and South America trip, preparing the gears, or finding living place for February. It is still quite a busy life, however it is different from Hong Kong that we do them with less distractions and these tasks are more directly related to nearer future.


Under where we live there is a grocery store opened by Chinese. There is a young woman called Ms Wong who just came from Mainland China to BsAs for 2 years. She introduced a Spanish language school opened by Chinese. After having brunch (the small eggs made by the pan we took from Hong Kong - our first trial), we decided to give a visit on Av Corrientes, after not calling the school successfully. It was a half hour walk and we missed the junction under strong sun, forgetting to bring a sandwich along, we are on the verge of paying another expensive dine-out. Thanks God we walked into a traditional pizza house called Uza (?) selling only one kind of pizza - mozzarella cheese pizza. A whole one cost 18 peso and 1/4 cost 4.75. It is a very honest pizza house. We bought our 1/4 pizza with speaking only one Spanish word in the whole process : delicioso !!! what came before was only body language.


We have too much to learn in the language, so there should be enough motivation for joining the suggested school. However, we were disappointed by the Chinese lady who claimed profession on language teaching studied in Germany, just because his husband was German in Goethe Institute. When I asked if there is any course schedule and syllabus, she could not give a concrete answer. How come a teacher trained in Germany which emphasizes a lot on planning and system, does not write teaching plan ? Costing 420 peso per person for 24 1.5 hour course was not expensive in Hong Kong level of living, but it was our one-week-expense. Bringing Berlitz "Essential Spanish" and an iphone under wifi, we decided to study by ourselves.


Another objective of our exploration was to find the market in San Telmo. To our disappointment there was not much fresh food sold there. We also found a CarryFour store on Av. Corrientes where we bought ice-cream, beef, beer and cheese for our big home-made steak dinner. We were quite tired after a whole day of walking and then cooking. We both fell asleep and forgot about Salon Canning that we expected to go after dinner. Not getting in touch of tango community in BsAs, we only knew from Hong Kong about the sad news of Andrea Misse's death. To me, she is a beautiful fire on dancefloor that I felt pity of not having a chance of inviting her to dance, but an embrace in the class with her when I was in Taipei was memorable enough. My heart throbbed in the embrace. Miss you, Andrea. Wish you rest in peace.