The Carlos Gardel Tango Show

One of the largest and most elegant of BA's many tango shows is performed at the luxurious Esquina Carlos Gardel in a part of the city known as Abasto. The theatre is beautiful in its old-style appearance and features high tech acoustics and superb dancers. The performance is one of the biggest in Buenos Aires and apparently one of the most expensive, and it shows.



For the patron, in this instance, the former Berton House resident-writer, the show begins with a glass of Brut and a video show of the history of tango. Dinner is an option but we didn't partake. Wine flows through the night, though not quite in an endless stream as advertised. As the curtain opens the orchestra plays a sad sounding song that haunts the performance throughout; a beautiful refrain leading to the signature Mi Buenos Aires Querido.

Gardel was the preeminent Argentine singer, song writer and movie star, associated with the tango. He, along with lyricist Alfredo Le Pera, wrote many of the world's most popular tango songs. Gardel photos and representations abound in this theatre, and around the city. Born in 1890, Gardel (and Le Pera) died in a plane crash in 1935, sealing his fate as a tragic hero. His death was mourned throughout Argentina and around the world.




The show is quite amazing indeed with colour, sound and highly impressive dancing. I think the audio levels were a bit high, possibly to compensate for the large number of older American tourists in the audience, but that was a minor irritation. The female lead singer was terrific, and her male counterpart was quite good too. The haunting melody remains.

We have a maid? We have a maid.

I've never had a maid before (though I suppose there was a time when I thought my mother was assigned that role) and neither has Sherry. Early in January we were actually surprised to learn that weekly maid service was part of our contract with our rental apartment. (Apparently it pays to read the fine print.) There wasn't any additional charge; it was covered in our rental agreement.

I thought maid service meant general cleaning around our small apartment and was surprised to find that she, or he, had actually washed all the dishes we left out one day. And... had done the laundry of a pile of clothing we left on the floor. And, this person, our maid, was deciding where things should go. In those early days it became a guessing game to discover where the salt shaker, or my tooth paste, or the power adapter for the computer had been placed by our maid. Over time we figured out the logic.



Our maid is a wonderfully nice woman named Vilma (pronounced Beel-mah). We met her, by accident as it turned out, very early in our BA experience. She doesn't speak English, and at the time our Argentine Spanish wasn't quite up to the high level it is today. On that day voice levels increased dramatically, as if talking louder improved understanding.

This morning we met with Vilma again, and this time for the last time. Our Spanish, or perhaps Sherry's, was much better and Vilma was used to the two Canadians at Sinclair 3177. At least I hope she thinks we are Canadian and not the other thing.

There were thank yous, and hugs, and if I'm not mistaken,
an invitation to return to Vilma's nation anytime.
We will miss our apartment in BA. We will miss the maid service.
We will miss Vilma.

Autumn

We have been in Buenos Aires just over two months. We arrived at the height of summer. Temperatures approached forty degrees and we saw the sun for over fourteen hours each day. The nights were hot and humid. It is now cooler, especially  in the evenings. The days are still hot enough; around twenty-five. Daylight hours have shortened; we now get just under thirteen hours of sun, and even though BA days are noticeably shorter, they are much better than the four hours, or less, of indirect sunlight we saw during our last few weeks in the Yukon just a few months ago.

Our street looks much the same as when we arrived, though there is a new crispness in the morning air and a dustiness to the sky. Some trees are shedding leaves, but not significantly, and we don't see much colour in the leaves. Still, it feels and smells like fall.

School started last week. Where once the school playgrounds were empty and the bells silent, they are full again. The distinctive orange school buses, in a variety of sizes and styles and called escolares, run throughout the city. It reminds me of the first few days after Labour Day in Canada.



Autumn: the shadows, the dusty fragrance, the early evenings; that time between summer and winter. When we return to Canada in a few weeks, we will have seen two autumns in six months. And we will enjoy yet another six months later.

California Dreaming

This could be a great candidate for Jeem's Used Car Emporium.

Note the license plate.

Note too how it is parked: not quite on the street, and not completely blocking 

the sidewalk either.

IKEA comes to La Boca

Walking through La Boca, the poorest neighbourhood in BA, one is startled to come upon the familiar colours of  IKEA. But there they are: the unmistakable yellow and blue of the iconic brand, here in Buenos Aires!






Yes, it appears IKEA has come to South America with a gigantic, multi-level operation. All 12,000 products from the company, the third largest consumer of wood on the planet, are showcased at this new facility. Apparently the building can handle over 40,000 customers at any given time.







The building has restaurants on every level serving up that funny tasting coffee and lots of those world famous meatballs. Efforts are now underway to meet minimum standards for the actual meat content in the meatballs, but that's another story mainly of interest in Europe.





On the right, an artist's image of the new IKEA uniforms to be worn by staff around the world. The new attire, again in the recognisable blue and yellow colours, will be rolled out this summer in the northern hemisphere.