Turista o Tanguera

I feel like I have to decide because it´s quite tiring to do both. Yesterday I did a quick walk through the parks in Palermo to see the Dia del estudiante and spring celebrations. Since there was no school the parks were full of young people. I felt very tall, white and foreign in the crowd. It was earlier afternoon, so I felt safe enough and watched a band for a little while.

I got back onto the bus to go to Marcela and Mario´s apartment for a BAM (Body awareness method) class followed by a tango class. The focus of the first class was on becoming aware of arm movements starting from the tail bone and too be honest I didn´t quite grasp the notions of the tango class, but they were trying to build on the idea of focusing on your base (which I was interpreting as my hips/lower body). After the class I was finally invited to drink some Mate. The tea like drink that is very popular here.

Today I headed out to visit the Boca area to see the colourful Caminito and the Boca Juniors soccer stadium. Whereas yesterday was nice and spring like, today was cold and rainy again and the outdoor museum was not as attractive as it could have been. After I finally made it back accross town, I joined the Art week tour in the Palermo area. It was great experience.

La Semana de la arte is like an Open Door city tour only better. My tour met at a contemporary art gallery and then took us around on a mini bus to see about six different art venues. One place was a restaurant full of uber-kitsch art in every corner, another a radio-bar restaurant that served us Champagne, and others small art galleries. In one gallery there was a serviette decorating contest on display, in others photography, and we even got to meet one of the artists who wanted us to explain his work to him. I was sad to leave early to get back on the bus for my tango class. Big cities take lots of time to get around, but with this traffic I would not dare bike. As a pedestrian you have to keep a careful eye on all cars as they swerve around you at crossings. Anyways I am a little torn between tango dancing and tourism. Because right now I am too tired to go to a Milonga.