“The men who learn how to dance at TangoCool dance really well.” I’ve heard this from several women at different Buenos Aires milongas and now that I’ve taken a few tango classes at TangoCool I can understand why.

Instructor Gabriel Glagovsky has developed a fun, effective system and fostered a wonderful environment for learning tango. And it’s not just the men who dance well here, the women dance equally well.

Glagovsky describes TangoCool as “the place for young tango” and “the most dynamic way to learn tango”. Both claims are correct. Instead of teaching finicky, precise movements, he gets his students dancing with unique, bouncy, rhythm exercises or dancing with straps to demonstrate good shoulder, spinal posture.

As a leader, one exercise I found particularly helpful was dancing in circular movements without using rebounds. Like many men at the intermediate level, I overuse rebounds and it kills the fluidity of the dance. This exercise helped me immensely.

TangoCool classes last close to 3 hours. Cost is just 15 pesos, and that includes entry to the práctica that follows.

I would love to spend a year taking these classes. There is no doubt in my mind I would emerge a very good dancer.

TangoCool classes are held at Club Villa Malcolm at Córdoba 5064 in Palermo. They are scheduled to start at about 8pm on Tuesdays and Fridays though in my experience usually started at least 15 minutes late. 

After class there is a práctica or milonga. The Friday night milonga at Villa Malcolm is popular and the quality of dancing is very good.

The best way to determine if TangoCool classes might be for you is to watch the video at the TangoCool website.

Sundays are quiet in Buenos Aires. This normally noisy, busy city relaxes, the traffic disappears and people spend time with their families or catch up on lost sleep.

One of my favorite Sunday activities is jogging in Parque 3 de Febrero, a beautiful greenspace in Palermo near the corner of Libertador and Sarmiento. Lots of porteños spend their Sundays here, kicking around the soccer ball, having a picnic on the grass, or strolling around the small artificial lake in the center of the park.

This park is great for rollerblading (inline skating) too since the wide streets around the little lake are closed to traffic and perfectly flat and smooth. You can rent skates at the park.

Two more fun activities in Parque 3 de Febrero are renting a peddle-powered water-bike on the lake, or renting a four-wheeled, multi-person bike and peddling liesurely through the closed streets, soaking up the sun.

Oh, and here’s another advantage to jogging on Sundays: Because there are fewer cars on the road the air is relatively clean and fresh.

Melia Buenos Aires isn’t the most luxurious hotel in Buenos Aires but it is a comfortable, modern business-class hotel in a good location, at a reasonable rate. Expect to pay about $150 per night for a standard room, with breakfast and spa access included.

I recently spent 2 nights in the hotel. I also spent a week there in 2007. Both times I slept well, felt comfortable, and believe I got good value for money.

Melia Buenos Aires is located at Reconquista 945, just a few blocks away from Florida (the main shopping street), Plaza Libertador San Martin and the San Martin subte (subway) station, which is on the C line. It’s a great location for business or tourism.

Reconquista is in process of being converted to a pedestrian-only street. However, I still recommend requesting a room on the opposite side of the hotel, away from Reconquista. That side of the hotel, which faces Puerto Madero, is dead quiet. On the Reconquista side there is a pub across the street that can be quite loud.

Buffet breakfast and spa access is generally included with the room. The gym isn’t large but the equipment is good and modern. The pool and whirlpool are indoors, next to the gym on level -2. It’s a good place to unwind.

If you stay here, see if you can squeeze another $30 out of your budget for an upgrade to a deluxe room. It has a nice king bed, excellent desk, good plasma TV and a stylish spa-like bathroom. (Both times I stayed here I tried to talk the front desk into giving me a free upgrade without success. I must be losing my touch.)

My one gripe with this hotel is that they charge 45 pesos for in-room internet connection, or 15 pesos for an hour or two of wifi access in the lobby. I don’t like paying for wifi but it seems pretty standard to do so in Buenos Aires hotels.

Also, this hotel needs a good cocktail lounge.

Nonetheless, the Melia Buenos Aires is the best hotel I have found in Buenos Aires in the under $200 per night category. I expect I will stay there again.

By the way, there is another Melia hotel in Recoleta on Posadas so make sure you book the right one.

Here’s a link to the hotel’s official website.

La Catedral is certainly not your typical milonga. Located on the second floor of a big, grungy warehouse, the vibe is more alternative than traditional. An enormous red heart hangs from the rafters. The dance floor is surrounded by beat-up old sofas. Kitschy art decorates the walls. There’s even a cat that cuts through the dance floor and will help itself to your food should you leave it on the table while you dance.

I went to La Catedral with my girlfriend on a Tuesday night a few weeks ago. That night the instructor was teaching milonga rather than tango. I was surprised how many beginners were taking the class. It was busy.

After the class the DJ played a ton of milonga. In fact, I had never heard so much milonga played back to back. We must have waited an hour before we heard tango. Good sound system, by the way.

The crowd here is definitely younger. Perhaps twenties to fourties. And the dress is casual. Jeans are the norm. In keeping with the alternative flavor of the place, I wasn’t surprised to see several same-sex couples dancing together.

On this particular night, the milonga attracted few experienced tango dancers. The crowd was made up mostly of beginners and intermediates there to have a good time, plus a number of people who came simply to sit around, have a drink and a bite to eat and check out the place. 

Special mention must be given to the dance floor at La Catedral. It’s an absolute disaster and not even close to level. I’d say it resembles the side of a hundred-year-old barn. Some might say this is part of La Catedral’s charm. In any case, you might want to wear running shoes (zapatillas) instead of dress shoes or heels.

Some people really love this place. I think it would be a great setting for dancing to electronic tango. However, on this night, the music was mostly Golden Age.

La Catedral is located at Sarmiento 4006. Here’s a link to their website.

Have a question about Buenos Aires? Have a tip you’d like to share? Post it below.

blogarama.com
EatonWeb Blog Directory
Blog Directory
Dmegs Web Directory
Globe of Blogs
GetBlogs Blog Directory
Directory of Travel Blogs
Blog Universe