Tango y Mucho Mas en Mardel

The "season" in Mar Del Plata is soon beginning--January and February. Ruben and I went down in November to check things out.

























Our waiter who doubled as a tanguero.






These photos above are from the Friday night milonga, Chiqué, in the Centro de Castilla y Leon, Hipolito Yrigoyen 2067. We arrived at 10:30 and the class was still going on. This is rather a small salon, though, and gets quite crowded in the season, so getting there early might be a good idea.

Other Milonga options in Mar Del Plata are

Thursdays & Sundays at 9:00 p.m.
Tango Brujo
Gascon 3540
495-2196


Saturdays at 10:00 p.m.
Garufa
Bolivar 3367
155-606991 or 155-417792


Our friend Raimundo loaned us his beach house, and once again, Ruben played "survivorman," but this time it was easy.



















































But really, the best thing about our getaway was meeting and lunching with another expat I've only known by email, the beautiful and sweet fellow-blogger Katie Alley from nearby Necochea, who came in to Mardel to lunch with me at the Club de Pescadores on the pier.

Milongueando En Mardel 2008

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Argentina means little more than a time to get out of town. So Ruben and I took the bus to Mar Del Plata, like we did last March, for a few days at the beach. March is the low-season after the frenetic hordes of tourists from January and February leave, and the weather is still perfect.
















Of course we went milongueando, to Chique at the Castillo y Leon club, and to Social Rivadavia, where they played one hour of cumbia to every mixed tanda of tango.


































On Palm Sunday we attended an outdoor Mass at the Cathedral. And then we went to an enchanted Hobbit cottage in the woods for tea.




































A short and sweet summer vacation!

Milongueando en Mardel

I thought I was the only person in Argentina who never had been to Mar Del Plata, the summer playground of all Buenos Aires. On January 1st the roads, bus stations, and airports are jammed with people going to the Atlantic Coast on holiday. High season is January and February and I hear tell, and see on the news, there's no space on the sand to put one more towel. Of course, the prices are at their highest as well.

So we waited until March, and went for a long weekend, when there were less people and lower prices. I preferred to stay fewer days in a nicer place, and so I chose Bristol Condominiums on the Playa Bristol because they guaranteed a sea view. And beckoning out our picture window was the Club de Pescadores on a wharf which lit up the night sea sky with a neon blue Quilmes sign (below). We had the best meal of the whole trip there. Plus it's very old and made like a ship, so the ambiance inside as well as out was delightful.

We took the collectivo to the Puerto (right), and also to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes (left), just in time for Mass.








Of course we left the nights free for dancing tango. On Friday we went to Chique in the Club Asturiano, a small salon with emblems of Spain decorating the walls. We recognized several friends from Buenos Aires.
On Saturday we arrived at the Centro de Leon y Castilia early in order to have dinner. What a gorgeous salon, with a stage and red velvet curtins, large wooden floor, and a mezzanine running around the room. We had a nice, quiet time, with plenty of room to dance, but the music was a problem: the organizer was the DJ who just put music on and let it play through terrible speakers.

Mar Del Plata is a beautiful old city, smaller but with all the charm of Buenos Aires. I could easily imagine living there in one of the old stone houses that are everywhere, just a stone's throw from the beach. I liked it much more than I thought I would, and I certainly won't wait another three years to return!

argentine tango