Buenos Aires Local Custom Tips by ptitetoile

Private tango lesson Tango Review

At the end of my holidays, I had finally my fantastic Argentina tango experience with a great tango teacher during a one-hour-private lesson.
He corrected my deportment while dancing and I learned a lot! And all that in a dance room in a old house of San Telmo : waw!!!!

Tango on the Argentinian way Tango Review

As you can see on my home page, tango is a passion and it is like that now for almost 5 years! I passed through the different phases : I did tango lessons, a lot of tango balls with the same partner, then I danced with different partners, always improving my style, then I travelled to go to festivals in Spain, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands dancers....but only one experience was missing : dancing in Argentina, the home country of Tango! So I was quite impatient to know how it was!

I saw that dancing in Buenos Aires is quite different than in Europe. I knew it more or less but experience it is something else (For more info about tango, see my travelogue on my Buenos Aires Page :-)

1) The rule for inviting of being invited to dance
In Buenos Aires, the search of the partner is made by the eye contact : you have to look to the person you want to dance. If the other answer with an accepting look and smile with a little move of the head... then it's Ok and you can meet on the dance floor!
The women does not ask to dance (unknown people) as in Europe (It is so frustating!!!!!)

2) The dancing style is close and small. There is not enough space to make big moves and high ganchos!
3) The general use of tandas and intermediary song
A tanda is a set of 3 or 4 tangos of the same style. The intermediary music (that can last 10 tot 60 seconds) means that the people have to go back to their seat. Then they can again dance on another tanda with a different partner. This rule is great to dance with a lot of different people but not when you found a great dancer!
4) The music style is quite "old". There are not a lot of new tango version, orchestra or neo tango (like it is in Europe)
5) When you arrive, you have to sit at a table which is yours till the end of the ball. Sometimes, the people at a table does not want to "share"....

The tango in Buenos Aires is thus quite traditionnal...and I prefer the modern form of tango but it was something I had to experience!!!!!

Dog-walker Dog walkers = Paseadores de perros Review

Dog-walker are something really typical of Buenos Aires : people are paid to walk the dogs of other people and watch over them a part of the day. They often hold 5 tot 10 dogs at a time by a leash. They use also the park to let them play more or less freely.

I was really curious about this custom and found information about it on the Internet.

According to one dog-walker, Juan Roccatagliata, interviewed by the China Daily on the 12/11/2004 : "It's well-looked on to have someone walk your dog. It gives you social status, just like having a house in the country or golf club membership."

This profession has a lot of success because it brings quite a lot of money (between 80 and 150 pesos (US$ 27-50) a month for each animal). It is possible to earn more than a teacher!
It has so much success that is now regulated by the authorities of the city :
-obligation to have a licence for more than 3 dogs (only 700 people are registred as having a licence...there are much more!)
-limit of 8 dogs at a time
-pay a fee of 200 pesos (US$67) every six months for the utilization of public space

Protests in front of political centers Protests Review

As political center, Buenos Aires is also a meeting point for all kind of people that want to show their unhappiness about the governement policies (of the past and of today) ...protest actions are in fact quite often and you will probably notice at least one during your stay like I did...

Locutorios

If you look to a possibility to phone or to send an e-mail....NO PROBLEM! Almost everywhere, in every neighborhoods, you will find little shops called "Locutorio" that offers these services for a very cheap price!

Internet : from 1 pesos to 2 pesos per hour