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We were eagerly up for breakfast again today and spent the morning, which was grey and cold, in the hostel faffing about on the internet until when I had arranged to Skype with Kim, it died and they couldn't get it working again! So instead we headed out to look round the centre of town where the majority of the touristy sights are to be found. Apart from the frequent graffiti exhorting the English to get out of the Falklands (?!!!!!) we saw the Casa Rosada, Cathedral and Cabildo at 'May Square' in daylight and decided they were much more interesting at night yet took the obligatory pictures all the same. We spent much of the afternoon searching the tourist shops up and down the pedestrian streets for a new T shirt each, I found one significantly reduced compared to most we had seen but Andy couldn't find what he was after until eventually we spotted one he liked in a cramped little shop. After establishing they didnt have it in his size they offered instead, if we were willing to come back later, to make one up for him as they do all their own embroidery and were able to copy the design he liked onto a smaller t shirt that fit him for the same price. We agreed to this and left to continue our sightseeing, returning three times before it was ready nearly 4 hours later during which time we saw the beautiful Congress building as well as many of Buenos Aires' streets!! After finally collecting his T shirt we went back to the hostel to change and grab our shoes as we were off to another tango lesson with Gerry and Lucia, this time upstairs in what appeared to be someone's house in a room they had converted into a studio, complete with floor to ceiling mirrors. We were the only people to show up for the lesson apart from one other guy and so practically had a private lesson with the two of them, which was lovely as we were able to focus on technique and our faults without holding up the rest of the class. After our enjoyable lesson we said farewell to them both and made our way back to the hostel for a quick bite to eat (ham sandwiches) before heading out again to a local, non touristy, milonga held in some kind of social club. We arrived to find it was already packed with people dancing and we were lucky to find a table to sit at even if it was by the draughty door. This was clearly a favourite local spot as most people seemed to know each other and although they still tended to stick to the same partner for most of the night we did see a few people asking different people to dance, more than we'd seen at the previous 2 milongas certainly. There was a real buzz and general excitement at this crowded little club and we felt rather like intruders at a birthday party, not really fitting in or knowing anyone to talk to. We attempted a few dances wanting to practice what we'd learned earlier that evening but found that unlike other dances in tango you are taught to move around the room as a beginner yet the more advanced you get, the more you tend to stay on the spot. This caused considerable difficulties for us as there being no space to manoeuvre easily we kept getting stuck behind people and didnt know enough moves to be able to dance continuously, therefore not really doing anything and feeling a bit stupid :( I could tell Andy was frustrated and agreed to leave early when I actually got asked to dance!! It was good to be led by someone different so I didnt anticipate what was coming and although he kept the dance very simple I enjoyed it very much, going back to my seat grinning like an idiot. We watched a few more dances but as the place was getting even busier decided to leave so someone else could have our table. Making our way back to the hostel we reflected that we had experienced 3 very different milongas in 3 days and even though we weren't great at tango and would need to dedicate a serious amount of time if we ever wanted to be any good, we were pleased that at least Buenos Aires lived up to its hype and vowed to return one day when we could dance competently and fully enjoy the dancing here!
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