(L): So, Buenos Aires, our last stop. It’s quite a city; bigger than London, dirtier than New York, more faded in grandeur than Paris, but filled with a vibe. A forthright, sexually liberal, late-night vibe that differentiates it from any other city I’ve visited.
It isn’t how I expected it to be either. Buenos Aires is not a city with broad, sweeping avenues; although it has one. It is a city of narrow (at least as far as cities go) streets, separating grand aesthetically pleasing buildings that are somewhat fraying at the edges.
It has great coffee, and wonderfully seedy, tatty bars. It was in one such bar that we sat with Paul, drinking beer, watching American football on the telly, and playing dominoes. And we were interrupted by a random couple – two of the few other punters frequenting bar ‘Krakow’ – who burst into tango. It was really something, and for me it summed up this grimy, ill-kept, misbehaving, but beautiful city.
(G): Yep, Buenos Aires does have a kind of once-lovely Miss Havesham grandeur. The pavements are cracked, the buildings are crumbling and the destitute rifle through the street corner rubbish after dark looking for anything remotely valuable. But the people maintain a resolutely high-brow, educated manner even if all the money that once funded their passion for art and culture and politics is gone. And they can dance like nobody’s business!
We met up with Miriam and Paul for a final farewell tango show (my one small victory in the let’s-do-at-least-one-culturally-unique-thing-while-we’re-in-Buenos-Aires war with the pool-lounging Doctor), and it was amazing. It takes you back to a bygone era when Buenos Aires was rich, and sex and glamour were the only things people cared about. Actually, that’s pretty much all they still care about judging by the snogging couples occupying every available bench in the Plaza de San Martín. Even lezzers! (ick). And oldies! (double-ick).
Only kidding, it’s lovely to see that kind of openess in a macho South American country and after a brilliant last few weeks Argentina is going straight to number two on my favourites countries list.
