We took a taxi to Palermo Chico for lunch at the café at Malba. However, it being Buenos Aires, the museum wasn’t quite open yet. So, we walked back along Figueroa Alcorta towards the National Fine Art Museum to take photos of the Floralis Generica – a huge metal flower that closes at night and opens during the day. As we were walking back to Malba we ran into Cecile and Nora’s friend Lauren, a member of their book club who, along with her fiancé, had been on our flight from Miami to Buenos Aires.
At Malba we had sandwiches at the Café des Arts and saw some cool Latin American art; there was a whole exhibit of mechanical/motorized art. We walked across the street to the Jardin Japonais and took photos of the koi and the little bridges and water features. Since we were close and it had been recommended to us, we walked to the far side of the series of parks to Volta, a gelato place. The gelato was really good and perfect for the hot day.
After gelato we walked back across the parks through Plaza Holanda. The original plan was to go paddle boating but we had done so much walking and it was so hot that we just wanted to get to our final destination: the Hipódromo Argentino.
We walked into the wrong part of the stands at first and ended up sitting in the cheap seats with the hard core gamblers. Sort of awkward, sort of awesome. We watched a race then walked over to the swanky part of the race track – a lawn with umbrella-ed tables where we were waited upon.
We headed back to San Telmo for Cecile’s tango lesson. The lesson was pretty early (for Buenos Aires time) but at the awkward time where it would be difficult to get something to eat beforehand, since everything is closed for a few hours in the evening. Nora and I decided to go to Desnivel; I got a delicious choripan (chorizo sausage on bread roll slathered in chimichurri) and Nora got a couple empanadas – the best ones in Buenos Aires so far. We ate on the go and finished up outside of La Independencia while we waited for it to open.
The tango lesson was pretty great to watch – Alfredo and Eva showed some new steps and lifts to the more experienced dancers, while being sure to offer alternative ornamentations to the beginners. I took a lot of video of the dancing (see them here). One of the attendees was a scientist who splits his time between Buenos Aires and Fermilab, outside of Chicago! Nora got his card and a promise for a tour of Fermilab when he gets back into town.
After the tango lesson we walked to Bar Federal so Cecile could have dinner and we could all unwind with some beers.