Fun With Hernan

Today was one of the best Sundays I've ever had. It felt very complete, it was relaxing, fun and interesting.

After the gym this morning and lunch, I read a little Newsweek Argentina and then took a nap. I was woken up by the phone. It was Hernan confirming that we were going to meet and go to a gay tango class in San Telmo. He said he would meet me there at 4:30 and then we could walk around San Telmo a bit.

I thought I was leaving early because I wanted to take some photos along the way and explore a little, but it turned out I got there at the same time as Hernan. I took the subte to Catedral, which put me right in the middle of Plaza de Mayo where the government palace and the national cathedral are, as well as Avenida de Mayo, one of my favorite streets - a grand old avenue and the Cabildo, the only Spanish Colonial building (maybe the only one in a prominent position?) - they destroyed all of the old colonial buildings to construct the neo-classical European style buildings of Avenida de Mayo. It really is classic Buenos Aires.

Walking from the Plaza de Mayo to San Telmo was also great. It was a gorgeous spring day and the buildings in San Telmo are also very grand, though a bit faded - evidence of a glorious past long gone.

I walked down Bolivar Street because Defensa, the street where I was going is where the Sunday San Telmo fair takes place. I knew it would be some serious pedestrian obstacle course. It was great walking parallel to all of the excitement of the San Telmo fair - you could still feel it, and at times hear it, but it was pretty easy walking with only a few people on the street and very little traffic.

I ran into Hernan on the way over to Defensa. I heard someone say "chaucha", but I thought it was two guys saying "ciao" to each other. It was great running into him before we got into the heart of the fair.

We walked through a bunch of people selling stuff and found seats outside of a Bar right on Plaza Dorrego. As we arrived a table of ladies was just getting up, so we sat down and had a great view of everything.

And then this guy came up and asked if the two other seats at our table were free. Hernan was kind of funny with the guy, because he didn't want him to sit down with us. The guy was a German tourist and I guess in Germany you might sit with other people, but Hernan said not in Argentina. When the guy asked if he could sit down, Hernan said, "facing the other way?" The guy sat down and when we placed our order, he placed his, but then when he wanted to pay separately, the waiter was very confused. It was kind of funny. Eventually, Hernan spoke to him a bit and I think everything was better.

We then went down the block to a gay bed and breakfast called Lugar Gay (Gay Place). It's in an old four story building with an incredible flight of stairs that must be murder dragging a heavy suitcase (or two) up.

The tango class was up on the patio on the roof. It was a great location with the beautiful day and a view of the old church in San Telmo that had two towers, one recently cleaned and one filthy with soot. It was a beautiful view and a beautiful blue sky was overhead with sounds from the Sunday San Telmo street fair drifting up from the streets.

Once the class started there were about 12 students. The teacher was Augustin, who is the guy who organizes lots of queer tango events in Buenos Aires, including the milonga La Marshall, that I had a horrible experience at last year. I won't go into details here because I've decided to forget it.

Augustin ran a good class. He separated us into beginners and advanced and ran two separate classes at the same time in this very small space. It was hard dancing with other people doing other stuff, but that is part of the challenge of tango. It was a two hour class and it was a lot of fun. I'm glad Hernan went with me though. I think we might go back. I think Hernan really wants to dance tango, but doesn't have anyone to do it with, and I like going with someone and having someone to dance and practice with. Eventually, I'm going to get Hernan to start coming to my other tango classes and maybe even my lessons with Marcelo.

After class we went to a wonderful ice cream parlor called Nonna Bianco (Granny White). It was really good ice cream and it was a great place filled with people in the middle of what was the last gasps of the Sunday San Telmo Street Fair. Some artesans still had stuff on the street and traffic had not started passing through yet, but most people had gone and there was more litter on the dark streets than there were people.

We went to Hernan's apartment building to have a mate with his neighbor. I don't know her name, but she was a character. Very high strung artist type. I think she is a photographer. There was another neighbor there. The two of them were organizing something - maybe a photo exhibit, maybe a benefit, maybe a photo exhibit benefit, I have no idea. When we walked in, they were both talking on the phone at the same time. Each on a different phone having two different conversations. Eventually they both got off and then talked to Hernan. I actually understood a lot of the conversation, which is good, because listening to native speakers talk to each other in a different language is very different from them talking to you when they know how to adjust their speech. But, even though I understood the words, I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Every now and then they'd look at me and I'd nod my head like I understood and hope they wouldn't ask me any questions.

The neighbors were both real characters. They shared a mate. Sharing a mate is a real ritual of friendship. I really like the custom and think I am going to start taking part in it even if it keeps me up at night. Maybe I really need to just live like people here live and eat dinner late and stay up until 2 am and not get a lot of sleep but just pop a mate when I'm feeling sluggish. I think that is why most people are thin.

I didn't take part in the mate until Hernan encouraged me to drink it right before we left. It was actually really good. The herb was delicious, almost like chocolate. And the water temperature was perfect.

We left and walked through San Telmo, now pretty much deserted and dark, to catch the D line. I got off at Puerrydon and Hernan continued on to Belgrano where he is staying with a friend.

We kissed good-night on this crowded train where no one blinked an eye at two men kissing.

Boy, I love Argentina!