Catcalls in Argentina are very common, including ‘konichiwa’ shouted at Asians, but one caught me off guard. We were walking to the San Juan subte and a guy yelled ‘Obama!’
We took the subte to Plaza San Martin in Retiro, where we saw Palacio Paz, Circulo Militar and the monument to San Martin. We walked to around the corner to Filo, a pizza place that was recommended to us. The pizza selection was vast and the pizzas were very good. Plus the interior of the restaurant was interesting. Ingrid met us there then we walked past the Big Ben replica in Plaza Britannica on our way to Comme Il Faut.
Comme Il Faut is an exclusive brand of Argentine tango shoes, and the boutique in Retiro is hidden away in a fancy arcade. We gave our shoe size and they brought out every shoe in that size. Cecile and I bought tango shoes – hers are bright yellow and mine are leopard print. Yes yes I know, but they’re kind of totally awesome and are pretty comfortable. I can’t wait to start taking tango lessons!
Since we were close, we decided to walk to Teatro San Martin on Corrientes to buy tickets for a play that night. On the way we passed the Palacio de Justicia de la NaciĆ³n in Plaza Lavalle. We continued on to the Plaza de los Dos Congresos and the nearby Palacio Barolo, which was designed with Dante’s Divine Comedy as a guide.
We headed home to clean up and change, then went back to Corrientes for the play. We had drinks and snacks across the street at Farandula, then walked over to Teatro San Martin for the performance of ‘Dejala Sangrar’.
Ok – when we saw the poster for this play, we thought it must be about vampires. First, the name. Then the poster showed a woman in a red dress with people in black around her, and they’re standing in what looks like a grave. The play. Was not. About vampires. It was a very abstract production that had a lot of talking (which we didn’t understand) and not much actual action, which made it impossible to follow. Also it was bizarrely sexual. We didn’t enjoy it much, but it was pretty memorable!
After the play we had dinner around the corner at Oye Chico, a Cuban restaurant. My dinner was fantastic; I had some amazing beef and a great mojito.