Domingo in San Telmo

Day 5:

While planning this trip, Palermo was the destination of choice for C, but I've been more looking forward to San Telmo. Everything I've read about it made me think we'd feel at home there, and not just because it is known as the heart of Tango in Buenos Aires. It's also known as an artist district. San Telmo was once the richest neighborhood in town, until the wealthy fled during a yellow fever outbreak. It is now more of a working class neighborhood with a bohemian, artsy vibe, and fabulous old architecture hinting at the former wealth. In a way, it reminds me of parts of Capitol Hill in Seattle. Not in terms of architecture, but in terms of the vibe.

We had decided to check out San Telmo on the day when everyone else would be doing the same - namely the San Telmo market or street fair that happens each Sunday. I've never seen such a big fair. In truth, it could have been a few blocks shorter, because I started to see duplicates in the trinkets and bags on offer, but we enjoyed strolling the miles of vendor stalls. Correction: mile. I mapped it and it comes out to about a mile-long stretch of closed-off cobblestone street lined with vendors and completely packed with tourists and Portenos alike.

Very close to the beginning of our journey through this tchotchke bazaar, we stopped to watch an old tanguero who offered to dance with women in the crowd. We watched a few touristas stumble through some dance moves. Then C pulled out the camera and pushed me forward (like I needed any encouragement) so I could give it a whirl. The tanguero took my hand and held me in a very light, open embrace. We took a few steps, and he said a few incomprehensible words of encouragement. He the led a half ocho (is that called a cortado?) and smiled a big smile at me. He asked if I was Spanish, I think, but maybe he was asking if I speak Spanish? I said no, and he just smiled and said something like "ah well" as he led me in a few more figures. After a few bars, my turn was over and he sent me off with applause. Thus ended my first dance with a local. C got some great photos, but they're on the camera, and therefore not accessible right now. I'll post those when we return home.

The rest of the San Telmo day went well. We saw a lot of cool things, and purchased a few. After walking all the way up to Centro and back, we were tired, but not ready to head home. On the way, we stopped for coffee/tea at the first place that actually offered me an array of tea choices. It was a sweet little place that reminded me of my mother-in-law. It had cute little bistro tables, and it doubled as cafe and housewares shop, with nice vases and things along one wall. This was the first tea in Buenos Aires I've been able to enjoy without adding milk. After our drinks, we wandered further in the direction of a large park near the border of San Telmo and La Boca. I had read about a resto I wanted to check out in that hood. However, it was still late afternoon, and we needed to kill some time. We found a cool looking bar/cafe next to a large park, and had more drinks. This place was named after a hipopotamus, and had a big iron hippo up on one of the cabinets. C ordered a cervesa (beer) this time but I went for tea again, since it's the only thing without sugar, aside from water, that I can enjoy. I'm hoping to get some weight-loss benefit from all this walking, and loading up on sugar doesn't seem like the best strategy.

After drinks, we strolled around the park, in awe of the vitality of this city park. Unlike other city parks we've frequented, this place was full of people: kids running around playing games, families with small children, a large group of old men huddled around three chess games, and a smattering of smooching couples. I read somewhere that young people typically live with their parents until they get married, so they never have a place to go for marathon make-out sessions. This is where the parks come in handy. Sure enough, I don't think we've been to a park yet that didn't have at least one couple in a lip-lock.

By this time (around 7pm) the wind had kicked up, so we wanted to get into a warm place. We walked down to the street with the little restaurant I was looking for. I didn't remember the name, but I figured I'd find it based on knowing roughly where on the street it was. We did end up finding a place, but it wasn't the one I was looking for. We tried to order food, but for the first time since we arrived in BA, we were on "American" time instead of Argentine time. Restaurants do not open for dinner until at least 8/8:30, and we were trying to order dinner at roughly 7:30. Sorry, la cocina esta cerrada. So we decided to order mate service instead, while we waited for dinner time.

Mate is a strange drink. Interesting, but not particularly enjoyable to me. In fact, it tasted to me like a liquid cigarette. I am not the first person to make this comparison to tobacco. We munched on toast, drank a fews sips of this really bitter liquid (even after adding sugar) and looked at our photos to while away the hour before dinner service started. After drinking a fair bit of mate and the previous few cups of tea, I felt wired. I was glad when we could finally get to eating, and surprised to find that this all-vegetarian restaurant we stumbled into served the best bread we've had in BA. And the dishes we ordered were fantastic, and came as a welcome respite from the meat-centric diet found elsewhere in town. I would certainly go back - at the approved lunch or dinner hours.