[HouTango-L] NYTimes Frugal Traveler: In Buenos Aires, Late Nights and (Very) Low Prices

[A. Lester Buck III]

A recent issue of the New York Times included this travel story
about the great values in Buenos Aires.  The web version includes
a small picture of tango in Confiteria Ideal, well known to all
tangueros who have visited.

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/travel/20frug.html?n=Top%2FFeatures%2FTravel%2FDestinations%2FCentral+a&pagewanted=all&position=

June 20, 2004
FRUGAL TRAVELER 
In Buenos Aires, Late Nights and (Very) Low Prices
By DAISANN McLANE

In Buenos Aires these days, everyone is having problems sleeping,"
said my Argentine friend César as we strolled down a street in
Palermo Viejo, the neighborhood of shops, bars and restaurants
known locally as the SoHo of Buenos Aires. It was around 3:30
a.m. on a weekend, cool enough for a leather jacket, but the
sidewalks were alive with people still reluctant to call it a
night, looking for another bar, another sidewalk cafe, in which
to linger.

I live in New York, where I'm usually in bed by 11. At 11 you'll be
lucky to get a reservation in a Buenos Aires restaurant. I didn't
expect that I would adapt to the city's famously late hours when
I first arrived there for a stay of about a week in April. Soon,
however, I found myself enthusiastically ordering grilled lomo
(tenderloin) and morcilla (blood sausage) at midnight - certainly
not conducive to a good night's rest.  But that's not the kind of
insomnia César was talking about. I'd asked him how things were
going since the Argentine currency crash of March 2002, when the
peso was devalued by the government and lost about two-thirds of
its value almost overnight. César shrugged, in that Buenos Aires
way, a shrug that said: Not good. And hadn't I noticed all the
ads on the Buenos Aires subway for melatonin and sleeping pills?

Most people are still struggling, he said. Life is not what
it was: Argentines have seen their purchasing power drop
drastically. Still, on a Friday night on the town, you wouldn't
guess it. At around 8:30 in the evening, along the brightly lighted
Avenida Corrientes (Buenos Aires's Broadway), the pretheater crowds
buzz with anticipation, thronging the entrances to opulent old
Art Deco theaters like the Teatro Ópera. Buenos Aires's theater
row vies with Madrid's to present the top musicians, actors,
dancers and orchestras in the Latin world; many come here just
for the theater. (César and I went to see the Argentine dancer
Maximiliano Guerra, a muscular and handsome international ballet
star, perform an extraordinary program of ballet, tango and rock
'n' roll composed by the Argentine rock icon Charly García.)

After the ballet, it was off to the Club del Vino, a chic cabaret
theater and wine bar, where the audience - another packed house -
quickly succumbed to a comedy troupe's affectionate parody of
a Latin lounge-lizard act. The laughter and fine wine flowed,
and by the end of the show the audience was on its feet dancing
giddily to "La Bamba."  Maybe the residents of Buenos Aires,
the porteños, were tossing and turning, but they also seemed
determined to keep their spirits up, and enjoy their fabulous city.

The flip side of Argentina's economic pain is that the United
States dollar goes a long way. Just about everything in Argentina
- from hotel rooms to fine restaurants to local transportation -
costs about two-thirds less than it would in the United States. The
five-star luxury hotel is $100 to $175, the two- or three-star
hotel $25; the best seat at the show on Avenida Corrientes
is $20, the bottle of exquisite Argentine wine $6.50. (And,
for those who want to be more than tourists in Buenos Aires, a
modest pied-à-terre in a gorgeous classic 19th-century building
sells for around $30,000.)

The inequality of this pricked at my conscience, but tourist
dollars, I knew, would help the local economy. "Turismo Es Trabajo"
("Tourism Means Jobs") is the slogan on a public-service ad
repeated over and over on Argentine TV. The people I met were
unfailingly friendly and helpful to a stranger in town. For
instance, a cabdriver parked by my hotel and walked me inside
to the desk to make sure I'd be O.K. Crime is reportedly on the
rise, but I exercised caution and felt more at ease than I have
in some other Latin American cities. And although I saw plenty
of broken sidewalks and streetlights, reminiscent of New York
during its 1970's fiscal crisis, I also saw encouraging signs
of the city's revival, especially in the area of Palermo Viejo,
where I began my stay.

Palermo Viejo is probably the best known of the new hip enclaves
in Buenos Aires. Once a suburb of downtown (it is about 10
minutes by cab and 20 minutes by subway from the Obelisco,
the tall Egyptian-style needle that marks the city's center),
its rows of two- and three-story early 20th-century houses, many
with rococo facades, languished in the 80's. Now they are being
renovated, one by one, by young entrepreneurs. Boutiques that
sell handmade shoes, designer home accessories or one-of-a-kind
evening dresses elbow for space beside new restaurants, clubs
and bars.  The neighborhood boundaries have expanded - there is
now a Palermo SoHo and a Palermo Hollywood, a district of thriving
film and television production companies.

Checking the Internet to find a place to stay in the district,
which doesn't have any sizable hotels, I found Che Lulu Guest
House, in a narrow cobblestoned lane near the edge of the SoHo
side of Palermo that has recently been renovated by a collective
of artists as a B & B. Welcomed into the spacious common living
room by a stylish young innkeeper and the throb of ambient music,
I settled into my little room upstairs. It didn't have a bathroom
(I shared one on the hall with another room). And with a renovation
going on next door it was a bit noisy during the day, but it was
sunny and pleasant. At breakfast, included in the $25-a-night
price, I drank coffee and ate sugary-sweet Argentine croissants,
medialunas, while sharing stories with tourists from England
and Germany.

Although Palermo Viejo is in the midst of a transformation, it is
still a working-class neighborhood, where fruit markets, schools
and social clubs provide a solid contrast to the trendiness. So
it's a terrific place to stroll. At the edge of Palermo Hollywood
is a superb covered flea market (Mercado de las Pulgas) filled
with the forgotten treasures of Argentine middle- and upper-class
households - row upon row of Italianate dining sets, tables piled
with antique silver and, in one stall, a ceiling hung with Venetian
glass chandeliers (I bought one, for $60).

Lunch in this neighborhood is an incredible value. At cool,
minimalist Central, after my flea market run, I settled back into a
seat on a white couch, and enjoyed a glass of sauvignon blanc with
delicious ravioli in a mushroom sauce, organic salad and dessert
for about $10. Lunch at Ristorante O was even better. There,
each course was a well-thought-out combination of fresh local
ingredients and European cooking techniques - especially the
risotto, delicately prepared but rich with the musky flavor of
local mushrooms. I asked to see the chef so I could compliment
him and discovered he was American, and had started his career
at Charlie Trotter's. Oh, and lunch, with appetizer, main course,
dessert, wine and coffee, also came to $10.

Despite its pleasures, Palermo Viejo is a bit out of the way, and
I wanted to spend some time downtown, so after two nights I moved
to a hotel I had stayed in on a previous trip, the Broadway All
Suites on the Avenida Corrientes. My room there was large, with
a kitchenette and sitting room, and the location was convenient,
but I was getting used to the Argentine way of looking at prices,
and $65 (plus tax) began to feel like too much money. César told
me about a new hotel downtown, the Ibis, which was offering a
deal for $25. I was a little dubious, since I'd checked out some
hotels of this French budget chain in Europe and wasn't impressed.
But my friend was right - it was great, and brand new, with an
enthusiastic staff. I booked a small, quiet room with a big bed
covered with a turquoise bedspread and Ikea-style furniture. For
another $2, I had breakfast in the lobby cafeteria, alongside
lots of Brazilians.

I had hit many of the key sights in Buenos Aires on an earlier
trip, but some drew me back for a second round, like the moody
Recoleta Cemetery, filled with gargantuan granite and marble
monuments topped with cherubim and seraphim. I also returned to
the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, or Malba, which
opened in 2001, a world-class museum of Latin American painting and
sculpture; its exhibitions of works by Diego Rivera and painters
like Roberto Matta and Wilfredo Lam as well as a host of modern
Uruguayans and Argentines, are on rotation. The Plaza Dorrego
street fair, on Sundays in San Telmo, is a tourist parade, but
still irresistible. How can you not love spending an afternoon
meandering along cobblestoned streets, listening to jazz bands
and watching septuagenarians in Borsalino hats dance the tango?

ABOUT the tango. It is, of course, a symbol of Buenos Aires,
probably the city's best-known export, and often invoked as a
metaphor for the culture.  There are dozens of clubs offering
tango shows, places where you can watch or participate, afternoon,
evening and night, in milongas, or tango dances. (My favorite is
upstairs at the historic Confitería Ideal, in the magnificent
ballroom of mirrors and columns used as a location in Sally
Potter's film "The Tango Lesson.") There is even a 24-hour cable
channel, "Solo Tango." I don't know how to tango, but on my first
visit to Buenos Aires, I had thrown myself into the scene, spending
hours watching dancers swirl and swoop, fending off passes ("I
am the tango teacher give me a little kiss") from tango Lotharios.

This time, though, I wasn't in a tango mood. For it seemed to me
the real action in Buenos Aires now wasn't the stagey, mannered
passion of the tango floor but rather the everyday struggle to keep
going through difficult times. So I skipped dancing, and instead
I walked the leafy streets so reminiscent of Madrid or Paris,
where the building facades were studded with placards that said
"Se Vende," For Sale. I stopped in bookstores - Buenos Aires has
an abundance of them, and they stay open late. In one, I found
myself standing for an hour, conversing with the owner about
politics, economics, Che Guevara and the movies. As citizens
of two complex big cities that have experienced ups and downs,
we soon found common ground.

"I love New York," the bookseller said as I departed. "Say hello
to Woody Allen for me."

I promised I would. Then I headed off to meet a friend, to share
steaks, wine, conversation and another Buenos Aires sleepless
night.

Visitor Information

I spent about $64.87 a day on food, lodging, activities and local
transportation during eight days and nights, at 2.85 Argentine
pesos to $1.

Getting There

Using the United Airlines Web site (www.ual.com), I found a
discounted round trip ticket from New York to Buenos Aires with
a connection in Dulles International Airport near Washington for
$572.50, with tax.

Hotels

Che Lulu Guest House, Emilio Zolá 5185, (54-11) 4772 0289,
www.luluguesthouse.com, was a good bohemian base from which to
explore the up-and-coming neighborhood of Palermo Viejo. My room
with double bed didn't have a bath (a shared shower and toilet was
next door) but was clean and comfortable. Breakfast was served
at a long table in the dining room (croissants, coffee, juice,
cereal). One night, with 21 percent tax and breakfast, was $25.

Rooms at the recently opened Hotel Ibis, part of the French
Accor chain, Hipólito Yrigoyen 1592, (54-11) 5300 5555,
www.ibishotel.com, are small but intelligently designed, and the
staff was extremely friendly and helpful. The Ibis, downtown on the
leafy Plaza Congreso, is a terrific deal at $25 a night. The price
includes tax but not breakfast ($2).  The Broadway All Suites,
well situated in the theater district, Avenida Corrientes 1173,
(54-11) 4378 9300, www.broadway-suites.com.ar, has more space
(each of the modern-style beige-on-white rooms has a sitting room
and kitchenette), and more style, at a higher price: $73 a night,
with tax and buffet breakfast.

Restaurants

At Ristorante O, Thames 1626, (54-11) 4833 6991, the set lunches
are an astonishing value at around $4 for three courses; dinner,
with wine, is around $25 for one.

At La Vinería, Salta 490, (54-11) 4381 2920, in Montserrat,
between San Telmo and Congreso, a typical neighborhood grill,
or parrilla, a dinner of grilled lomo (tenderloin) and mejillones
(sweetbreads) plus a bottle of malbec was $12 a person.

At Chiquilín, Sarmiento 1599, (54-11) 4373 5163, in the downtown
theater district off Corrientes, a well-known establishment
that used to be the haunt of famous tango singers and composers,
lunch for two, with a bottle of wine, was about $15.

Central, Costa Rica 5644, (54-11) 4776 7374, is another excellent
place for a bargain set lunch; a three- course meal of mesclun
salad, fresh pasta and dessert at this sleek, modern restaurant
(at night it turns into a hip cocktail lounge) is $5.

Activities

The Club del Vino in Palermo Viejo, Cabrera 4737, (54-11) 4833
0048, is a wine bar and performance space with jazz to tango
revues to cabaret.  Admission varies (the show I attended was
$5.25); the schedule can be found in the "Espectáculos" sections
of the daily Buenos Aires papers, La Nación (www.lanacion.com.ar)
and Clarín (www.clarin.com), which provide an excellent rundown
of the theater and music scene.

The Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Avenida Figueroa
Alcorta 3415, (54-11) 4808 6500, www.malba.org.ar, is open from
noon to 8 p.m. daily (9 p.m. Wednesday, when it is free); closed
Tuesdays. Admission is about $1.75.

At Confitería Ideal, Suipacha 384, a large, somewhat faded old
Buenos Aires cafe, there are daily tango lessons and dances;
the schedule is posted on a large sign just inside the cafe.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company