Tango at Tacuari

What a fabulous, fabulous tango venue!!!

But first, I must mention our adventure getting to this marvelous place. We looked at the map, got on the subte (subway), and we were off. We've been to this barrio, San Telmo, but never this deep into it, and never to this tango venue. Were we in for a surprise!

In summary, we found ourselves among--let's say--equal-opportunity prostitutes. At one point, while I was hurriedly looking at our map, trying to figure out where we actually were, Alan noticed some curious things around us. There was a transsexual prostitute on one corner talking up a man, a female prostitute talking up another man, your everyday working men coming and going, and a few paces later, a lady in a long cashmere coat walking past us. (!?!?!?)

So--how did we wind up there? After leaving the train station, I guessed we should walk in the wrong direction. We usually make out just fine. We walk a block, read the street signs, learn we're walking in the correct/incorrect direction, fix it if necessary, and proceed to our destination. However, after we walked a block I couldn't for the life of me see where we were on the map. (As it turns out, I'm not so gifted with reading maps. It takes me a little while to orient it correctly, judge it, and move on.) Alan is talented with map-reading, though. All that time in the Irish National Guard, he told me. Only problem: Alan couldn't read the tiny writing on the subte map we had. Hmmm.... Anyhow, we managed to walk to well-lit store fronts and get our bearings. We eventually got to our destination:

Tacuari 1557.

It was SOOO WONDERFUL!

After all that craziness, we were 5 minutes early for our tango lesson. It was a fabulous class that was two hours long, followed by a casual practica/milonga. Around midnight--a full, all-female tango band set up and played for about an hour!!! It was marvelous! There were 2 violin players, a bassist, a cellist, pianist, and bandoleon (Argentine accordian) player. Amazing!!

We met very nice people all night long. I got some good advice on how to improve my dancing, and Alan was asked to dance by several women! Mind you, the way you're asked to dance here is with a glance of the eyes. If your eyes meet each other, followed by a slight smile or nod, then you've been asked, received, and given a "yes" to a dance. Apparently, Alan spent a good amount of time averting his eyes!!! :)) Next time, though, I don't think he'll be as shy. Especially if it's with women he danced with during our lesson.

Enough talking for now. Just know that Tacuari 1557 on Saturday nights is a great place to be!!!