Buenos Aires - Day 5 - Walking to the Tango

This morning was a repeat of the previous morning. A leisurely breakfast with Mrs L in San Telmo before catching the bus to the southern end of Costanera Sur and birding the reserve for the better part of the rest of the morning. Rather than take the path alongside the Laguna de los Coipos I walked the southern loop to the Camino del Medio, took that back to Coipos, and then walked north up Lagartos to exit at the northern end. Once again it was highly productive. The full list is here, and whilst the species were largely the same I did this time have a list of targets and so spent some time specifically searching for these. This included a Rufous-sided Crake in the northern portion of los Lagartos that I could hear but was frustratingly unable to see despite giving it about half an hour, a Green Kingfisher at the southern end of Coipos, Swainson's Flycatcher, 4 Streaked Flycatchers, a Yellow-browed Tyrant, Green-winged Saltator (another lifer), and a Black-capped Warbling Finch. No photos exist that show any of these, I was in pure birding mode with no camera which I increasingly enjoy. Across the two visits I'd managed to see in excess of 80 species, it really is a fantastic place.

Next stop Choripan. This is a well-known Argentine fast food, a grilled sandwich based around a Chorizo sausage and bread, hence the name. There are countless hundreds of these joints  - Choripaneira - established around this simple formula in Buenos Aires, and we chose one simply called "Chori" in Palermo. It did what it said on the tin - a great sandwich, some kind of mango salad, and a nice cold beer. Just the ticket after a four mile slog around Costanera Sur. 

Didn't happen....

We enjoyed walking around Palermo looking at the graffiti and street art, or more often street art that had been graffiti'd. After walking off lunch in this manner we visited the small but pleasant botanical gardens, always on my list of things to do in any major city. It was hot and this also involved a bit of a rest on an inviting bench. Once so rested, we popped into the Metropolitan Cathedral and looked at the Mausoleum of José de San Martin, the liberator of Argentina (from the Spanish) and to this day a national hero. We had a closer look at the Pink Palace, enjoyed some mid-afternoon confectionary products, and walked miles and miles.

A collection of mature Cycads, always a highlight

We ended the day at a Tango show at La Ventana, quite close to our hotel as we were able to walk to it. An inevitable tourist trap - how can it not be - but nonetheless a highly enjoyable tourist trap. It was a dinner and show arrangement, with a set menu and quite dreadful wine that one sip was sufficient of. I think you can skip the dinner, but one advantage of also eating there is that you get a great seat for the Tango. No doubt they know this, and also note that tips were compulsory and they preferred foreign currency! In short the show was great, exactly what we wanted and were expecting. There are loads of them running in Buenos Aires, and each offers something a little different if the various guides are to be believed. I can't remember what made us choose this one, but I had booked it before we left the UK and we were in no way disappointed by it once we got ther. In fact it was positively rip-roaring, with pairs of dancers emerging for various numbers and then all coming on at the end, along with a few other assorted acts including altiplano panpipes and a guy with boleadoras - the intensity of his performance being quite extraordinary. There was a ring-master of sorts who along with his dancing partner had clearly been doing this their entire lives. They were the senior pair and got all the speaking lines, but it was the dancers that were around them that stole the show. Alongside the traditional music they also managed to fit in Evita by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, "Don't Cry for me Argentina" during which all the waiting staff abandoned the diners to take up large Argentinean flags and parade down the side of the theatre/dining room before reverting once again to more traditional fare. Cringe-worthy one level but just perfect on another. It has to be said that the dancers and musicians were superb, they do this show twice a night I think, so hats off for making it still feel pretty special. An excellent evening.

The three pairs of dancers, with the Maitre D and his partner either side.