OUR NIGHT BEFORE XMAS!!!!! In ARGENTINA!

Day 297

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Temp 30 C and lovely :-)
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Last night Greg and i were at the shopping centre writing ¨The Night Before Xmas¨..which is was for you guys...but for us...TONIGHT is the night before xmas...It´s 2.30 in the afternoon here..and yet, for you, it´s 2.30 xmas morning!

So....happy Chrismtas!!! (Again!!)

I guess all the kids will be waking up soon...to see what Santa has brought..gee, i remember the days..and the 4am mornings...when Andy and I would get woken by Annie...then we would scamper out to our lounge to see what was there..exciting days!

And Christmas time is still exciting!

This morning Greg and i bought our wine glasses...so we have two wine glasses to toast to each other, and to you, tonight! Our wine is in Nanna´s fridge, who looks after our ´matrimonial´rooms!

We also bought each other a pressie at the tango last night...argentinian branded mate (pronounced mah-tay)straws! See pic. The pots are lined with pumpkin skin and we´re not sure if we can get that through Au quarantine or not..but that´s part of the mate experience apparently...to get the infusion through the pumpkin skin.

We´ll test it all out tomorrow morning as the breakfast room in the main building (there are 3 buildings..the main admin one, the matrimonial building and the apartments) have a bag of mate tea for the use of people staying in the hostel.


















We will be thinking of all the people who can´t be with their families...especially David who is working up on the Chaser boats..i know it will be a lonely time for him. Also we´ll be thinking of Angie and David and their kids in cold Edinburgh!

And of all those who are struggling with sickness....our arms go out to you. You are in our thoughts..and we sincerely pray 2008 will be a better year for you.

I guess Christmas is what we make of it..and it´s up to us to make it as wonderful as we can. Greg and I feel sort of excited by having Christmas in Argentina. We have each other and although we´d love to be with our family and friends, this is our choice. And we feel privileged to be living the dream we have for the past year. It´s such a different experience..

So..we´re looking forward to Christmas here!

We´ve stocked up with fruit and a panetone in case all the restaurants are closed! Our breakfast will be in the main building and if it´s like it has been the last two mornings, it will consist of wholemeal rolls in a large basket to be shared, jam in a big shared pot, and cornflakes in a large basket, also to be shared. The people we´ve met there are mainly British and Brazilian. I wonder if they´ll have anything special for breakfast tomorrow????

We´re hoping to find a church that has the Christmas hymns....

And we´ll go downtown Palermo to see what´s happening there...

HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS!!!

We´re thinking of you all....(and yes, we´re homesick! And miss you all SO MUCH!!!!)

SABOR a TANGO Buenos Aires

Day 297 Saturday Night!
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Last night we went to the TANGO!

And what a wonderful experience....

The taxi picked us up at the main building at about 9.15pm, an hour before the show started and dropped us off in Palermo, outside the Sabor a Tango show house.

When we entered there was a bit of confusion as to whether we were eating dinner or just watching the show (we wished we knew more spanish!) but eventually we got seated at our two seater table...next to a group of Japanese looking businessmen. They were already eating dinner....and it looked like they had steak, chips and coleslaw that were practically untouched. I´m sure they would not be used to the great slabs of steak that the Argentinians are famous for!

We were thinking..thank goodness we didn´t pay a further 260 pesos for dinner!!! (we´d already eaten!)

The colonial theatre was so beautiful. And it was all decked out with little tables...with about a hundred people in the theatre. There seems to be a lot of old colonial buildings with antique furniture in Buenos Aires, including the main building of our hostel which is beautiful furnished.

Then the tango dancers made their dramatic entrance. To the music of Carlos Cardel. So dramatic and intense.



This is the stage!









We´ve learned a bit about Carlos Cardel as he was so famous and his music is played in the main building of our hostel constantly. He was apparently raised in poverty in Buenos Aires and eventually became the king of the tango!

He was a genius..into music and film...and his musical ability and baritone voice...as well as the charm and passion he had for the tango combined with his colourful life...made him a HUGE hit in Argentina!

He is now considered Argentina´s biggest icon! He ended up dying in an plane crash in 1935...and the whole of Buenos Aires shut completely down to mourn him. But he still ´lives´ today and his music and films are played everywhere!

Anyway..his music for the tango was resonating in the air.. while the dancers were doing the erotic and quickstepped energetic tango!

The show went for about 2 hours...and in between the dance couples dancing the tango in the most vigorous, dramatic and passionate way..which was just incredible to watch..(we wanted to learn tango..but now, i think it´s too energetic!!!!) there were female and male singers and different acts.

One guy came out and played the pan flutes which was beautiful...

I think the most poignant song of the night was Don´t Cry For Me Argentina....i had tears..it´s such an emotional song. The girl who sang it came out in the white wedding like dress, just as we all know it and sung it in Spanish...sining ¨No llores por mi Argentina´....

So, so beautiful!

Of course the tango was the highlight!! And so riveting to watch! Their feet flipped and jerked and acrobatic´d (if that´s a word!) all over the place....such a powerful dance. And all told a story...

After the show we went to the little shop and bought our argentinian mate metal straws!!!

Was a great night!

TANGO really is Argentine´s dance! (Was founded here in Bueonos Aires in the 1880´s!)