Friday January 27th - Saturday January 28th 2012
Back to BA, to the “Chelsea” district of Palermo – we recommend the lovely converted convent we stayed in – 1555 Malabia, loads of atmosphere and great service.
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Ate at a fun taco café, not the best
food, but crowded and buzzy
and easy on the wallet!
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Next day we tried to walk off some of the vast amount of food we’re eating, so wandered all over, through the Botanical gardens, past the zoo, through green plazas with amazing statues (they love their statues of past heroes).
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Does anyone know the
name of this glorious
tree?
It’s everywhere and
if it’s not the national
tree it should be – the
flower is not unlike our orchid-tree Bauhinia.
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A brief air-conditioned respite at the
MALBA modern arts museum where
we were impressed with the works of
Carlos Cruz Diez (Google him) and
of course Frida Kahlo though sorry to
find only one.
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On the standard tourist trail is the macabre and weirdly engrossing Recoleta cemetery, full of over-the-top mausoleums, necropolis and chapels to the dead.
It’s huge and we never did find Evita’s tomb, which apparently has the “Don’t cry for me” quote on it. After about 15 minutes we were both overcome by a need to get the hell out and join the living again.
I wonder if this sad old Lady comes every day to chat to her late husband
or lover (this is the tango town, though not for her any longer)
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A final long stagger to the Theatre Colon
proved a disappointment – the entrance fee
of P100 (= HK$180) a head did not seem worth
it for a building whose main selling point was
that it was exactly like a European theatre.
Not surprising when you consider that it was shipped
out brick by brick from Europe.
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On home by taxi for a well-earned siesta before heading out for dinner and then a Milonga – the local neighbourhood tango halls. Our one – Salon Canning – didn’t even open till 11pm. We ate in a cafe at the local square but it wasn’t as much fun as the San Telmo one with the itinerant muscians and dancers.
Then to tango! Except having no idea what to do, we could only watch entranced –it was everything we anticipated, lonely souls and passionate couples, predatory men and ladies dressed to kill. The height of the heels were so intimidating I vowed to buy new shoes before we returned.
The plan is to spend our last day in BA (after Montivideo) devoted to tango – first buy the shoes, then go for a lesson, then return to the milonga and hit the floor…..
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