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How inflation effects daily life in Buenos Aires.

A beautiful intersection

Wow. In the past when traveling, you always carried a lot of cash, especially when visiting Argentina. I disliked this as it could be risky. Now sending myself money via Western Union is so simple and easy. Their storefronts are located all over the city. The exchange rate is usually the best. I just received 365 pesos for the each dollar.

Imagine being an Argentino and being employed locally. You are paid in pesos…that would be very difficult scenario.

As inflation is now about 100%. Things still cost the same amount of money when you convert but now you must carry more bills. And the biggest denomination is 1000 pesos. In July, the government will print a new 2000 peso bill.

Going out for a coffee is now 500 to 750 pesos, depending on where you go. But you can sit as long as you want before getting your bill.

The cafe around the corner

A good steak dinner for two at the local parilla with a decent Malbec is about 9000 pesos.


My groceries have gone up 100% . My favorite wine that was bought in the past for 1200 is now about 2800.

Wine, wine, wine


Buying cheese and meats is the same situation. Recently changed stores, as the new place has better prices than the old fiambrera.

Local vegetables seller

The price for salad, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and carrot has doubled also. About 1500 pesos.

Blueberries are 800 pesos and a half a Melon is 1300.

A semi monthly pedicure is necessary when you dance tango. It is a must, and you might as well have a manicure…total $ 5500 plus a $500 propina.(tip)


Have been going to the same hair salon for almost three years to get my hair washed and blown out weekly.

This was a habit I learned while traveling. It feels so good to have someone else wash my hair. Looks great for a few days until the humidity takes over. The price three years ago was 750 pesos, today it is 2000 pesos

My wonderful hairdresser Walter, pandemic foto

Have gotten to know a few vendors and we exchange greetings in two languages. Spanish and English.

It’s pretty amazing, many people are bilingual here. The typical Argentina child studies another language when they are young …the skills are there but not many people speak English except the visitors.

Limonada with mint and ginger

AND I ĺove the enthusiasm that most Argentino display about chatting in English. Usually the first thing they say, is “My English is horrible.” I respond with no, you just need to practice more.

Around the corner is my meat market. There is a young man named Carlos, who likes to take my order. We converse in 2 languages. Me practicing my Spanish and him his English. He is studying English in school.

When people are curious about language and customs, I learn so much.

I still find people who offer to translate for me. My response to their kindness is, “No thanks.”

Yet, I prefer to struggle, as it’s the way I can learn the language .

Am trying to add more words to my vocabulary daily. Sometimes, my brain feels like it will explode.

Finding I chat all the time , trying to improve my accent…yet there are so many peeps here who speak so rapidly, it impossible to understand them.

All these different facets in the city contribute to my enjoyment of the city.

It’s so beautiful here. Even when the temperatures are in the mid 90s with 75% humidity.

But luckily for me am living here on dollars and not pesos. I so appreciate my lifestyle here is affordable, as I find the USA is very expensive now.

Abrazo y besitos

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Baby, it’s hot

Malbec with ice cubes

It’s such a silly refrain, but right now in Buenos Aires… it is 93 degrees with 46% humidity

It’s not too bad.

Everyone reacts differently to the heat…me I can take 90 if I have shade and a breeze.

Today, we have neither, no breeze, and it is noon, so no shade. Walking if you must is only in the shade, where it feels 20 degrees cooler.

And I do live in an air- conditioned apartment.

And no, I’m not complaining.

But it made me think of my life here with such gratitude after seeing the destruction and devastating in Eastern Türkiye.

Photo courtesy of New York Times and photographer

These fotos show the destruction of homes and businesses, hospitals and school and government buildings. Bridges, highways, and local avenues are all buckled and not usable.

Temporary housing
Photo courtesy of New York Times and photographer

What a project to try and rescue folks that still might be alive in the debris, try to provide food, shelter, and warmth to this area…the job is colossal.

Continual digging and searching for buried folks. Photo courtesy of New York Times and photographer

Through my dear friend who lives in Istanbul, I and a few friends were able to get a cash donation to her. She, in turn, gave the money to a man, another friend who was able to buy food and blankets and then drive to an area of the devastation.

I know we made a difference in a few people’s lives. She thanked us for our quick response.

These donations will be needed again in Eastern Turkey and Syria for quite some time, as I think it will take years to rebuild the devastated areas, and peoples lives might never recover from their losses.

On Saturday, a man walking through the rubble of a minaret that had fallen into his yard in Kayabasi, Turkey.Credit…Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

I will take this time to suggest a donation of money or if you are able to provide services to any of the following organizations.

Doctors without borders

Https://doctorswithoutborders.org

World Central Kitchen
Feeding people fresh food in disasters all over the world.

https://wck.org/donate


Red Cross or Red Crescent
Https://redcross.org

White helmets Volunteer organization in Syria that have been evacuating people in the rubble.
Https://whitehelmets.org

Dalal Masri, 55, from Aleppo, Syria, sat with her family inside their temporary new home, a former car wash, in Antakya, Turkey, on Friday.Credit…Emily Garthwaite for The New York Times
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Friends Visiting BsAs

After the rainstorm on Avenida Callao

It’s been so great to have friends visiting…BsAs is such a lovely city to share.

Not as old as Istanbul or car centric as Miami or Seattle, BsAs manages to be an easy and small city to navigate in, whether walking or taking a bus or taxi.

BsAs has 48 different barrios, [neighborhoods].
Some that have gotten to know as Palermo, Boeda Recoleta, Puerto Madero, Belgrano, Flores, San Telmo, La Boca, Caballito Monserrat, Vella Crespo, Almargo and Balvanera. But a lot are unknown to me. All barrios are connected with the transportation system called the Sube. There are trains, buses and a subway.

I live in Recoleta and love it. This barrio is centrally located with wide boulevards, lots of trees and beautiful old buildings and very safe to walk around at night. As we usually get home from a Milonga at 2AM.

Buses on Avenida Purreydon

I take either the 102 or 17 colectivo (bus) anywhere I need to go in the city.

Yes, it took time to figure out where to get a card (any Şube train station)
how to reload (any store with a Şube sign in window, providing the system or machine is working)
and then figuring out how to use Google maps transit to identify your route as where you board the bus, and you must tell driver your exit stop.
Then he figures out the fare, you place your card on the little blue machine located either by the side of driver or behind the driver. The machine creaks out a beep as an acknowledgement that you have paid the fare.

Whew!!! The process is exhausting to learn and then understand and use.

Bus interior, notice the red cloths with stars coverings !

Once you do the work and understand the system you can ride anywhere in the city for 38 pesos (approximately .11 cents US). It’s a marvelous working system.

We went on a train trip to Tigre, another city about an hour north of BsAs. The cost of the roundtrip was 76 pesos (. 24 cents US).

Sube train interior

It’s very safe and usually pretty clean. Some lines have different vendors selling food, drink or wearables. These vendors have voices that are unique and harmonious or loud and bellicose adding another layer of sound to the train. But no vendors are on the bus! Usually.

Bus interior

So imagine my surprise, when my visiting Kiwi friends mentioned casually they used taxis to get around everywhere in the city.

I thought hmmm. Why?

One of the important things about living in a city is to be local. That is my quirk.

What is more local than using a bus or train?

Sube train to Caballito

With my help, my friends learned to use the bus and I think they enjoyed the experience. In their homeland, bus service has shrunk after covid, as there are not enough drivers.

In BsAs, I noticed this odd phenomenon…not only does one bus arrives, but usually it’s 3 in a row. Why? Who knows!

So the chance to get a bus is pretty much guaranteed. If you miss one, just wait a few minutes and one will arrive.

We take buses to shop, we take buses to meet other friends for dinner and we take buses to Milongas.

Train to Lomas de Zamora

But late at night, service is not very frequent. We are usually unwilling to wait 20 or 30 minutes at the bus stop, so we then take a taxi.

Getting back to living in the city, I like my experiences to be as a local. Finding my neighborhood coffee place, my small fruit and vegetable vendor. A charcuterie. A couple of local restaurants, maybe even a book store.

Street café in Palermo

Getting to know the vendors, and being able to greet them and engage in a bit of chatter is important as it creates a sense of belonging in a place.

Maximo and I on the bus going shopping

And we all need to feel as if we belong in a place, as it breaks down the barriers of isolation.

So when I travel to new, different places that I will live in, the initial places I discover are a place for coffee. Then the small market, a gluten free bakery, the butcher, the fruit stand etc. Once done, I feel home in whatever city I am in. Then I am local.

Dinner at the Parrilla with good friends from New Zealand

And when I am local, I feel as I am living my best life.

Abrazo

 

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Changes

December 30, 2022

With the close of 2022, comes a change or two in the tango world of Buenos Aires.

The vaulted space of Salón Canning [Parakultural] is closing and moving in the new year to Club Marabu on Maipu calle.

With out of country friends visiting, we all decided to go to this mecca of Tango.

For me, this was so sad because after entering this cavernous room, you noticed that fabulous huge tango photomural was not there. It was replaced by some mediocre small paintings or a big blank wall.

Over the years, this showcase of Tango presented some of the finest dancers and tango orchestras.

Salon Canning will be missed, but as we know, life is fluid and changes all the time.

Happy New Year, and may you enjoy your life, laugh with loved ones, and dance with the joy of being alive.

Abrazo

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And now Happy Holidays

 

From my house in Buenos Aires to your house I wish you wonder, joy, fun and tango in the New Year!!! Abrazo

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Home is where the heart is.

Embrazo

Who said that?


The phrase “home is where the heart is” means that you feel emotionally connected to a place that is not your home.

For instance, if you’ve lived abroad in another country other than your homeland for a long time, you could say that “home is where the heart is” when people ask you if you miss your home country.

The saying can also apply to situations where you’re arriving back in your homeland after being away for a long time and missing your country of birth. The expression can also apply to homes and venues, and countries.

For instance, you could be talking about your family home or an apartment that makes you feel at home.

Information courtesy of English-Grammer-Lessons.com

Am thinking about this as January marks my 3rd anniversary of living outside the USA.

Me at the recently renovated and reopened Confiteria Ideal

I know my choice is not for a lot of folks, but if you are an explorer, then this experience is something you want.

I feel alive when all in front of me is viewed for the first time. This applies to a city, a space and or a milonga. What at first is foreign, soon becomes an everyday experience.

San Telmo Market

As to my heart, living in Buenos Aires is my heart. Here in this wonderful, cacaphonic city surrounded by people expressing emotions all the time. In the street, on the bus and especially on the phone. But always forefront are the people. All heartfelt emotional connections.

I think that’s what Buenos Aires represents for me. The corazon.  The heart.

On the wall, San Telmo

This symbol is expressed not only in tango, but in the emotions of people here. Everything is always very emotional. And always an embrace. A touch, a little hug a little kiss. And always slow. Slowly.

Everything is much slower here. Everyone takes their time. And being late is not understood. Argentineans live in the moment. Not lots of planning for the future. As there might not be a future. Where the value of the pesos fluctuates like the wind.

Café con leche

Coffee in a cafe with a friend can easily last 3 hours, that includes the time it took you to get the menu, order from the waiter, then drink your coffee. The final step is getting your bill for the coffee. In all of that time, you have had a wonderful time chatting with a friend.

People depend solely on each other, not the government. People hold each other very dearly.

Dancing at Villa Malcolm

Men embrace each other and kiss on the cheeks. It is very manly here. Goes right to the corazon.

And that leads back to tango…the tango of the corazon and the abrazo.

Tango is about vulnerability. Embracing the person you are dancing with. Expressing your heart to another heart. Opening your heart to embrace another heart, be it for 12 minutes.

Dance floor at Sueno Portenyo

Listening to the music with your heart.
Moving your feet with your heart.
And listening to you partner with your heart.

That’s tango to me.
Doesn’t always happen as so many folks come to a Milonga preoccupied by life, but its worth the time to transform yourself from the everyday to the sublime.

And dance Tango.
Abrazo

Me y Maximo at Club Marapu

 

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Maybe it’s time!!!

Looking into my Dreams, sculpture at Perez Museum by Jaume Plensa

While living in the USA for last couple of months, I met many folks who admired my decision to no longer live in the US. Most expressing disbelief, but saying you are so brave for living the dream in retirement. Traveling, dancing and living as an expat in different counties.

I paused to consider how to respond to the statement without seeming to be a life coach, or a smart ass.

I am blessed [and cursed] with a wonderfully logical brain and am not a sentimental person either, which is very helpful.

Light reflections of me and Maximo

In hindsight and reviewing the details, I was so ready for a change.

In March 2020, I found myself at a life intersection.

In remembering those days, that was the beginning of the pandemic that became know as Covid 19.

I decided to stay in Argentina for a few reasons. Chief reason was I was searching for a way to change my life.

The moon over
Aveneida de Mayo

My previous role of a successful contemporary gallery owner was coming to a close. I had found, mentored and trained my replacement manager over the prior 2 years.

Reinvention is a wonderful process, as you get to choose what you want. Sometimes.

Having the choice to choose your action can be overwhelming on the wrong day and amazing on others.

Living in Buenos Aires offered me a place and a space to reinvent myself, as the person I choose to be. I was no longer struggling, I had evolved without carrying most of the baggage of the past.

Tango

I found this moment to be awesome. And yes Scary.

But then again I learned that I am the most alive and aware when am out of my comfort zone.

Will say packing up my rental apartment and putting all my stuff in storage was liberating. A few months later selling my home after 2 years of trying was again …liberating. Done

No more phone calls or emails about things needing fixing or so many other types of troubles. Rodents, leaves, bugs….
Done.

Being homeless is not for everyone, but have enjoyed renting or staying at different places, airbnbs, hotels, friend’s houses and apartment rentals.

Crowds at Cafe Tortoni

So travel is always the game changer. Sometimes for the best and other times, you question your sanity.

Like booking a flight at 3pm and imagining it is 3pm in the afternoon, but forgetting most of the world uses the 24 hour clock.

Its really shocking to receive a notification, while in bed in the middle of the night, I forming you that your luggage can be picked up at carousel 3, while you are still in bed at least 300 miles away.

EZE upon arrival

This was a great learning experience for the rest of the trip, but also one of the biggest laughs.

As we are returning to Buenos Aires, I look forward to the challenges of living in a city, where you can dance tango at 20 different milongas a day.

Excited and looking forward to my favorite malbec with my carne assado in this beautiful, crazy city.

Been home about a week and Buenos Aires is as exciting as ever. The city is experiencing an influx of foreigners, and it’s only November. Will expect summer to be very crowed and hot.

The jacarandá trees are blooming purple flowers and the drunken trees are blooming pink.

The air is warm, and the humidity is perfect.

Happiness At Gay pride, great costume too.

Saturday was the gay pride parade, and many parts of the city were closed to car traffic. We ended up walking thru the parade area on our way home. The exuberant crowds were wonderful as was the choripan sandwich. The music, the costumes too. Lots of sweetness in the air.

The beginning at Calderón de Soho, Palermo

Today, I had my first carne at a favorite restaurant in Palermo. Calderón de soho. The ojos de bife, practically melted in my mouth and the malbec from Nicosia Bodega was a great pairing, but we skipped the papas fritas and had an ensalada instead. And took home the leftovers.

Hmmm. So happy to be back in BsAs again.

Now onto the Milongas after my visit to my podiatrist.

Abrazo y besitos
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Back in Seattle, Washington,USA

Olympic Sculpture Park

Brrrr. I am cold.

Yes, laugh it is 65 degrees in Seattle and the sun is shinning. My body is used to 75 and 85 degree weather. Yes, I have turned into a weather wimp. Ahh at least it’s not raining. And the sun is shinning.

Tuesday night, we went to Gabriela’s Tango Happy Hour milonga at this fantastic restaurant, Harissa Mediterran restaurant on 65th in Seattle. There was live music, a duet of bandeon and a violin.

The restaurant is a beautiful space with wooden floors and delicious aromas of Lebanese food.

It was gratifying to see a few people that I had known before dancing tango here. I only danced 2 songs in a tanda as my foot is still tender from the a fracture in my foot. The music was good, so it’s much harder to just sit and listen, as my body really wants to dance.

Dancing at Tango Happy Hour at Harissa Restaurant Allseattlerango.com

But because I couldn’t dance, many other woman in the milinga loved having an opportunity to dance with an experienced lead. I chatted, ate some good food and drank while observing folks dancing. I was happy to do so.

Dancing at El Secreto Milonga

On Friday, we will go to Patricio’s El Secreto Milonga in Lynnwood. There is a bit of a political controversy here, as
actions taken by the host during the pandemic were not admired by many Seattle tangeros.

The good news is he does draw folks from many tango communities and the dancing is good. The music he plays is usually fabulous. At this hall, there are only chairs against the walls for sitting, and no tables making socializing a but different. The wooden floors are nice to dance on. It’s BYOB too.

Dancing at Dance Underground

On Saturday, we went to Dance Underground, a long running Seattle milonga. This milonga got it’s name from the fact that one must walk down a flight of stairs to the dance hall. Once there you are greeted by Illana, the host and teacher. Her partner Toni, is usually the DJ. The room is a big rectangle with wood floors. Some tables are placed at the edge of the floor while single chairs are only against one wall. Illana usually makes all the yummy desserts.

Looking around the floor there are many familiar faces and many unknowns. The quality of the dancing is usually very good. Both men and woman cabeceo here, as this place can be very friendly. Especially if you introduce yourself to Illana as a visitor to the milonga from a different city or country.

The following weekend was the Seattle Elegante Encuentro. Starting with the Friday night milonga, then two afternoon milingas, on Saturday and Sunday and an Saturday evening milonga. The encuentro also included admission to the La Garúa Milonga early Sunday evening.

First night, Seattle Elegante Encuentro

This is the 2nd year of the Encuentro held at Polish Hall on Capital Hill, which has a parking lot and nearby limited street parking .

The hall was beautifully decorated for the event with black clothed tables with a small bowl of fresh flowers. Placed on the tables, are pieces of burned out paper with different expressions about tango and small elegante candle like lights. Single chairs were placed against windowed walls.
I believe there were approximately 140 gender balanced dancers from all over the US and Canada.

Dancing Friday Night at Seattle Elegante Encuentro

The music was marvelous with female DJs outnumbering male DJs representing Vancouver, Canada; Bari, Italy; Newport News, Virginia and Port Townsend, Washington.

Many wonderful tandas

My other favorite was a full bar, with the most amazing hard working bartender. Was wonderful pleasure to have a Martini at a Milongas.

Close embrace

Okay, I’ll share my other favorite marvelous moment.

I had a reunion with my two besties, Jan who lives in Seattle area and Christine who now lives in New Zealand. With the pandemic, we were not able to have a gathering since January 2020. The reunion was awesome as we used to attend many tango events together. Good times in the past and we started up, just where we left off.

Ahhh friends, left: Ruth [me your author] Jan and Christine

And our partners, got to meet each other, mine is Máximo from Argentina and Christine’s partner, Jamie is from New Zealand.

Was so much fun to dance [a little for me, as it was very difficult to listen to glorious music and not dance] and just hang out together. Chat and sit with new and old friends. Just enjoying living tango.

We are already planning the next gathering, in January 2023 in Buenos Aires.

Travel is my pleasure, meeting and chatting with new folks is my soul food.
Seeing and dancing with old friends is the dessert.

The after dinner at Babar Restaurant on 12th near Cherry, Seattle

And living and loving these experiences makes me who I am. Abrazo Ruth

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Oh no!!! WTF…I said,

Really I have 2 fractures in my foot and can’t dance for a minimum of 2 months.

This was the news my foot doc gave me, a week before leaving Istanbul for the US.

That statement changed my perspective quite bit.
I am used to being an active person moving, walking daily up to 4 miles, dancing tango almost nightly.

Am practicing RICE Rest, ice, compression AND elevate…when posdible. Harder to do while traveling, but we have found a few interesting solution.

Instead of walking places, we ride those electric scooters. Me standing in front and Maximo in back driving. He’s an amazing patient driver, very polite to pedestrians crossing the streets and never tailgating cars in Istanbul and now riding scooters in San Francisco. This type of mobility cuts down on my walking greatly allowing us a method to enjoy visiting a new city.

For a different experience, try taking the wheelchair service in an international terminal.

Was marvelous as I sat in a wheelchair at Istanbul airport, as the helper guided us thru all customs and passport services, making the process much quicker as dedicated lanes exist specifically for wheelchairs.

Arriving on the plane we were greeted by Turkish Airline’s staffers. Our seats were forward, so not much walking. Once seated, was able to relax…

13 hours later arrival in San Francisco and the wheelchair process was reversed. Again, cordial chair handlers expedited the process with customs and immigration. They even helped with the luggage.

As we arrived in US, with no US cash, am atm machine in order, then a Lyft .

20 hours after leaving Istanbul at 9am we were in SF at 6pm.

Safely ensconced in a friends apartment with a beverage in hand. Ahhhh. Life is good.

And off we go for an 8 week trip visit to the states, with possible stops in Yosemite, Grand Canyon and more beautiful spots.

Disfrutas & Besos

Thanks for reading.

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Late August

Its late August. Where did the time go? A moment ago it was June.

As we prepare to travel to the the USA for a month or so, my thoughts focus on the experiences of living and dancing in Istanbul.

Primarily, this city is a dichotomy of new and old creating a force field of energy that is unique to this city alone.

Stark clean modern underground trains [the Metro] take you from one area to the next in minutes, but only until midnight during the week and 24 hours on Friday and Saturday.

Car and taxi traffic is incredible toxic during early morning rush hour and again in the evening. Never take surface transportation during these hours if you can get to your destination via a train or tram or ferry.

This city has buses, ferrys trains, trams and a funicular, rentable scooters and motorcycles. But my favorite is always walking except uphill, and there are many hills in İstanbul as Istanbul is historically known as the City of Seven Hills

Living in Buenos Aires, I walk alot but here in İstanbul am walking almost double the distances as everything here is very large and far flung.

Residing in the part of the city called Şişli, close to Osmanbey train station, we are able to go to the milongas in Taskim or Beyoğlu by train in 10 or 15 minutes as as we are one or two stops away.

Most milongas are not on ground level, unless you are at the Armada Hotel [changing to Monday] or Zeytuna on Thursday. In my opinion, it’s one if the best in the city.

Many milongas are difficult to find on first attempts. You must listen for the tango music or see another milongeros entering the space. Sometimes asking the nearby restaurants owner works too. What a relief to arrive at the correct place, especially after climbing the stairs as most Istanbul buildings are fairly old and do not include elevators.

Often the spaces are very small, some with beautiful old floors and antique trim on the ceilings. While others are checkerboard black and white tile or plain linoleum. A few are in basement and others are in shopping malls. A great variety of spaces as the dancing in İstanbul is as varied as the places.

There is style I would name Turkish Tango. Its very different from Argentine Tango. It is usually excercized by younger dancers in open embrace, with no musicality or connection and involves lifting the legs high on crowed floors and lots of giros [turns] too. Especially on crowed floors. Injuries do happen. Seems more like gymnastics than tango to me.

Fortunately, we have found spaces to dance the tango we love and practice, Argentinetango.
Having a few helpful tango friends, we discovered a few other practitioners of Argentinetangoas we know it. Close embrace, and listening to the music. This discovery made our dancing so much more enjoyable at many milongas.

Shortly we will dance in a few cities in the USA, one east coast, Miami and two west coast cities, San Francisco and Seattle.

Look forward to this. Visiting some friends not in contact with for over two years…should be exciting.

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Another amazing weekend of tango.

With the conclusion of Cappadocia Tango Maraton on Sunday, we moved onto a different locale. 


From the heights of Cappadocia [1000 m] to the sea level of Marmaris, a small city on the Mediterran coast of Turkyie, we continue with this adventure.

I do want to share some insights about Cappadocia Tango Maraton. First off it was a wonderful experience. The people we met were very warm welcoming and curious. From all over Turkey, Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, Italy and Israel speaking many languages and all a bit of English.

Dancing was all closed embrace and the musicality was good. The crowd of 250 or so tangueras ranged in age from 25 to 75 or so.

Hair colors of all shades and many bald heads were seen. Many of the bald men were wearing a bandana of their heads to catch, the perspiration. Thank you. Some with huge heads of hair, tamed them a wrap tie. Many men wore ponytails at various heights on their heads.

And the woman were dressed from very casual with shorts and a very small top to total tango clothes…most looked very beautiful.

The djs for the Festival were very good, some of the tandas were one orchestra while one dj varied orchestras in the tanda. Each tanda and dj created some exquisite connections with partners and the floors.

One thing that was very different then other festival or maraton was the number of children running around. Many dancers brought their mothers as baby sitters while others took care of child by themselves.

Am looking forward to returning next year as the hot air balloon at dawn was canceled for 3 days because of winds and dust.

Little did we realize that our upcoming flight would also be canceled. This was truly a difficult time as we received the cancelation almost at the airport. Turkish Airline rebooked us on another flight from a different airport an hour away. And at that airport total chaos ensued.

This change event led us to miss our connection from Istanbul to Mugal-Marmaris airport.
We ended up staying for a few hours at the Turkish Airlines domestic lounge, where we found almost comfortable chairs, and a good assortment of food. The best thing about the Turkish Airline club is that there are busses deliver you directly to the gate.

So after a few hassles we arrived in Marmarais for a few days of beach and sun before departing for a week in Rhodes Greece.

So life is good!!!

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Istanbul stories

Galata Tower

We’ve been here two months and continue our discovery of all the milongas in the city while exploring the food and nightlife that exist here.

We love Tango. We live Tango. We love Tango. We live Tango.

But sometimes a change is really good for the hips and heart. [Think tango and then blues fusion]

On Saturday night in the heart of Taskim, we found a blues club Kumsaati Blues Club. The club holds about 50 people and to gain entrance requires walking down the stairs to the cellar from the street. Think Greenwich Village vibe in the 1970s. The beer is on tap, the music is loud and good and smoking is only permitted outside. Was a fun experience sitting in club in Istanbul listening to 3 guys wail out blues riffs on their guitars.

Interior of Kumsaati Blues Club

Later that night we walked to the main street at 1.30 in the morning, but we were not tired. So we went in search of more music.

Street with view of Galata Tower

We found a great club for nightime Jazz. Coq Coq Pera is a Thai restaurant down the street from the Pera Palace that serves traditional thai food in a beautiful environment
complete with an outdoor
garden deck.

Taskim at night

On the night we visited, there was a jazz trio, stand up bass, saxophone and guitar with a soulful singer. The space is a mixture of intimate bar space with a few couches and chairs. We tried to dance tango on the floor but we needed different shoes or powder, but still had a blast playing around with the jazz and 60’s sounds

The following day, after celebrating two Cancer friend’s birthdays we decided on Sunday night to go dancing again, we looked for a place to do some more salsa dancing…in a turkish city to find Latin dancing was not that difficult.

Interior of Grand Pera

We found it at the Grand Pera AVM, a mall with a large open space on the top floor that offered Salsa lessons in one area and Batcha classes in the other room with Latin rhythms playing continually.

We found it at the Grand Pera AVM, a mall with a large open space on the top floor that offered Salsa lessons in one area and Batcha classes in the other room with Latin rhythms playing continually.

We danced a mixture of tango, batchata, cha-cha, rumba, salsa for what seemed like hours. We left exhausted but happy at 2.15 am, they go until 3 am.

On weekends the trains and some buses run 24 hours a day making it an easier and less expensive process to discover other music in the city.

Abrazo y Besos, Ruth

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Istanbul continued…

This city is so embedded with ruins and history everywhere you go.

This city is huge 1539 square kilometers (594 square miles)

And it’s history has over 2000 years going back to the Greeks, Romans, and the Ottomans before becoming the city known as Istanbul. For many years this city was previously known as Constantinople until
the 1930’s when the Republic of Türkiye was founded.

Just a bit if history to remind us how quickly times does fly. We have been living here for 3 weeks.

This city is huge!!!
I think 20 times bigger than Buenos Aires.
10 times bigger than New York

To visit a friend of mine on the other side of the city it takes about an hour and a half on the bus which is faster than a taxi and much cheaper.

We have danced in a few local Milongas in the city outskirts and just finished the Sultans Tango Maraton.

Pretty exhausted after 6 days of dancing tango, but happy and content with sore feet, but not too many bandaids.

We look forward to dancing at more local Milongas on both the European and Asian sides of the city.

After experiencing Sultans I felt that I should pass on some observations about the Sultans Tango marathon.

The event was at the Dedeman hotel, uphill from the Bosphorus Straits in Beyoğlu. The rate for room and maraton was reasonable, plus a great location with lots of restaurants close by.

We invited a local friend to the festival and this was her first large event.
As a new tango dancer, she found the experience a bit overwhelming…
Totally understandable.

But for me experienced tango dancer and out of towner, it was not the typical maraton.

These are my observations:

The crowd is predominantly under 40 and very cliquish.
The quality of the dancing is pretty rough as a line of dance is not observed and on a crowded floor, folks are doing high boleos and lots of running into other couples . Wanted to sharpen my elbows.!!!

Mostly dancers are using open embrace, but there were a couple of amazing close embrace dancers.

Musicality is a bit different than BsAs, as I don’t think the lyrics are understood and ergo the mood and rhythm of the dances.

To get a cabeceo was not easy and was almost impossible as the men here, I learned do not like to be cabecoed, but they will continue to stare at you after receving your cabeceo as you are invisible. A bit unnerving and perhaps at a marathon this is what happens when you are over 40.

Met a few other experienced dancers from Italy, Canada and the US, and chatted with them and discovered they had a similar experience.

This is so sad, as the folks I spoke to will not return to Istanbul to dance. The Milongas here are usually intimate and marvelous. Great dancing, very friendly to newcomers. In the past visits I have met some fabulous milongeros here.

Luckily, there is the Turkisk version of Hoy Milonga here. And in looking at various days there are about 5 events a day, not 25 like BsAs.


And here planning is very important as the distances are very great, but luckily public transportation is cheap,
7 ₺ each way.

We will dance on Asian side on Wednesday night, very exciting as the Milonga/practica hosted by Hassan Gogani.

This man was the first Turk that I danced with 5 years ago, on my first visit to Istanbul. Hassan is an wonderful and kind dancer and teacher.
He hosts a practikas on Wednesday and a Milonga on Saturday, but they are not listed on Hoy Milongas.

Probably tango politics at play here as in other cities, which is sad but particular to human nature and unfortunately to tango.

First installment of life in İstanbul…more to come. Abrazo y besitos till then.

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