Understanding the city to understand the dance
With all of the people on the streets I feel like I practice some of the tango steps by simply walking down the street through crowds of people. I take small steps to make room for people to get of the subte (subway). The dance seems to be every where.

The Tango Map put together by my bed and breakfast seems to be the best free city map I´ve found and it travels with me everywhere. The accompanying booklet listing dance classes and some of the Milongas each night has also been very useful. I was reccomended the magazine ´El Tangauta´ and seems to only be available a certain Milongas or tango spots around town.

To continue on with useful tips, the book ´Buenos Aires Experience: Enjoy the Tango of Learning Spanish´ has been interesting to read. It uses articles about famous tangueros, both dancers and musicians to explain the culture and certain Spanish grammar rules. For culture, slang, and interesting facts it is great, but I think the vocabulary might be a little too challenging if you are only just learning.

For music most people reccomend Zivals, but for more obscure finds an Italian man at my B&B recommended the Buenos Aires Tango Club on Lavalle 2039 - 1. He said to talk to the man with glasses. He also told me I could not leave without CDs from the following artists: Juan Darienzo, Miguel Calo, Osvaldo Fresedo, Francisco Canaro, Osvaldo Pugliese, Edgardo Donato, Alfredo de Angelis, and Enrique Rodgriguez. A german girl in the B& B recommended the electronic groups, such as Bajafondo and Otros Aires.

I did look into shoes, but it seems to overwhelming. I was told to check the shops on Suipacha (300 block), Anchorena (600 block), and others have mentioned the names of shops, such as ´Comme il faut´, or ´Neotango,´and 2x4 al pie.

When people plan to come to study for a couple months they usually make arrangements with one teacher. There are many choices and classes seem to range from 20 pesos a group class to 80+ pesos for private classes. A number of people have talked about the DNI and I would be curious to try a class or two there.

The non-tango tourists usually takes in a dinner and tango show and there is quite a selection. I did stop by the Carlos Gardel house on Wednesday to check it out and do not recommend it because there is not really much to see. Along with Eva Peron, he seems to be the face of BA on most postcards.

Those are my notes,so far.