Prepare for landing...... (Buenos Aires)

We are "preparing for landing" in Buenos Aires at the Aeroparque International Jorge Newbery. Coming from the east and over the River Plate (not silver at all, more brown and muddy) we head straight for La Boca. You can recognise La Boca from the air by the iron bridges near the harbour.  To the right of the bridges is the Stadium "La Bomboneira" of the "Boca Juniors". La Boca is known for the bright colored houses where you can spend the day sitting on a terrace while watching tango. 

As we proceed we pass Puerto Madero, the converted old docks. Now it is a very "upmarket" place. Extremely modern sky scrapers posh restaurants and shops, beautiful opportunities to make pictures..... a yuppie paradise.

We even see the Puente de la  Mujer in full glory.

Here the Puerto in full length.

 Next there is this large park. Buenos Aires looks so nice and green from this angle. The main railway station, the Estacion Retiro, is in the middle of the picture. In the middle (left) is theTorre Monumental (the former Torre de los Ingleses). More in the front is the main busstation.

On the upper left side of the park is the last part of the Av. Florida, a famous long shopping street, taht begins on the Av. de Mayo.

We are almost at the airport....  The railway tracks form the boundary between the favella (the slums) and the rest of the city. The highway cuts right through everything.

A last look at the town....

And we are happy to be on the ground again. We flew with this beautifully colored airplane of GOL. Don't forget to take some paper napkins or such to clean the windows before take off.... your pictures will be a lot better.

More about Retiro

More about Torre Monumental

Tango in La Boca

I don’t pretend to have any knowledge of music. So don’t think you will be reading anything that adds up to yours. Music should put me in a good mood, just as a nice red wine.

Well, being in Buenos Aires you hear and see tango everywhere. For a tourist (like me) there are certain places where the tango enjoyment is concentrated. Yes sure, we went to La Boca.

 

La Boca used to be a poor fishing village. Out of pieces of old boats the people constructed a kind of patchwork houses. Now these colorful houses are transformed into shops and restaurants or places for another kind of touristic activities. You cannot stop progress. 

Just go there to enjoy what is there: Music, dance, food and wine. It is nice to look around in the shops for presents to take home. It even looked more prosperous than 5 years ago. After visiting some shops and taking pictures of the houses (yes everybody takes the same pictures… and you can also just buy them on the street), we settled down at a restaurant called “Yunta”. Enjoying life at a place like this is great. 

There was the classic tango couple. The man, a dark looking person with an Inca face, was a fantastic performer. He couldn’t have been better casted for this show. Expressing this touch of machismo, that is so essential for the tango. There was also folklore dancing by a gaucho and his partner.

Most of all I enjoyed the singing of Julio. Julio already 80 and still going strong! Old tango songs from long ago, when La Boca was a wild place and Julio was young. “Por un cabesa”…. melancholic and beautiful. I took another sip of my wine …….