Photo by Ciara Richards-Benson

To be honest, the thought of a tourist bus has never sent shivers of excitement down my spine. Three hours on a bus packed with camera-happy people while wearing enormous headsets and listening to someone tell me about monuments that I was going to forget the name of five minutes later was not really my idea of a good time.

So it was with a sense of dread that I headed out to brave the open top of the recently launched Buenos Aires Bus, a new tourist bus service that takes you around the city’s main sights. But what I thought might be a tortuous affair turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Since the service works on a ‘hop on, hop off’ system, I was relieved to find out that I wouldn’t be trapped on the bus for the whole trip. In fact, you can spend the day getting off at each stop to explore the nearby sights and hop back on another bus at your convenience. The circuit consists of 12 stops, each strategically placed to put you in walking distance of most of the city’s best sights, and buses arrive at each stop every half an hour. Beginning at Plaza de Mayo, it takes you through Congreso, San Telmo, La Boca and Puerto Madero and then onward to Palermo and Recoleta. The route in total is just under three hours.

Photo by Ciara Richards-Benson

Ignoring the bright yellow colour scheme, the buses are very comfortable and the open tops will be much appreciated during the middle of summer. An audio guide accompanied by images is synchronised with the bus route. It is available in ten different languages, including Mandarin, Hebrew and even Arabic. As for the information, it was not the dreary list of dates and names that I had expected, but various interesting and quirky facts that even surprised some of the porteños onboard.

The service offers one or two-day passes, so if you only have a short time in BA this is a quick and easy way to see most of the main sights. You can almost think of it as a taxi service that will take you, hassle-free, around the city, allow you to get on and off, and impart a few fun facts at the same time.

A guide is also present on each bus, selling and checking tickets, handing out maps that detail the sights at each stop and adding further information to the audio tour. The service runs from 9am to 5:30pm in high season, and 9:30am to 5:30pm during the low season. A one-day pass is $18.75 for porteños and (adding the foreigner’s tax) $25 for everyone else.

For more information on prices, times and the route visit www.buenosairesbus.com.

Veteran director Francis Ford Coppola returned to Cannes at it’s opening today for the first time in 30 years. Coppola won the Palme d’Or for ‘Apocalypse Now’ in 1979, and it is now with ‘Tetro’ that he is making a remarkable comeback.

After failing to submit ‘Tetro’ into the official runnings, many are still speculating on the film that Coppola filmed largely in Argentina. The director of the infamous ‘Godfather’ movies, and twice winner of the Palm d’Or, he accepted to open the Directors Fortnight, a section outside of the official Cannes competition.

‘Tetro’, starring Vincent Gallo as the troubled artist protagonist, follows the story of a dysfunctional Italian immigrant family. It is Coppola’s first original screenplay since ‘The Conversation’ in 1974, and concerns the lives of two sons of a talented but difficult Argentine orchestra conductor.

Shot in emotive black and white, the US$15 million budget movie was funded by Coppola himself, and much of the filming took place last year in the La Boca quarter

 

Photo courtesy of Bicicleta Naranja

The age of the traditional city coach tour has definitely been and gone.

La Bicicleta Naranja is part of a growing trend of new school, eco-friendly city tours, where groups of tourists and porteños alike cycle across the city on luminous orange bicycles. So much for blending in.

I was worried that my aversion to trainers would inhibit my enjoyment of the tour. Luckily, you don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to keep up with the easy pace and flat routes – in the end, the entire experience turned out to be quite flip-flop friendly. The bicycles are comfortable and easy to ride, and helmets are offered, but thankfully not compulsory.

Our group was lead by two guides, who explained where our three-and-a-half hour tour would take us before we set off through San Telmo to Plaza Dorrego. Stopping to the side, our guide Belén explained some of the history surrounding the square, and managed to make myself and the other English person hang our heads slightly by talking about the unsuccessful British invasion of Buenos Aires in 1807. Ahem.

In the baking heat, we cycled through Parque Lezama to La Boca, dismounting to stroll down the colourful street ‘Caminito’. After a 15-minute photo stop, where we heard about the history of tango and the conventillos (houses inhabited by multiple families), our tour took us briefly to the river mouth.

 

Photo courtesy of Bicicleta Naranja

Thankfully, we didn’t linger at the old port, but instead headed inland, away from the pollution to the ecological reserve of Puerto Madero, the guides stopping every so often to share an interesting fact or two about something we passed.

As we reached the reserve, I was starting to lag and the sun had left me with a pink left arm. In spite of this, the gentle cycle around the park was remarkably peaceful and enjoyable, and after 20 minutes, including a stop at the “beach” and a quick gawp at the people swimming in the brown river, we emerged from the reserve for a drink and a rest in the shade.

Despite a near miss with a lorry and minor sunburn, I was amazed by the knowledge gained from the tour. Looking at the tourists taking photos through the windows of buses, I felt they were missing out on the fun, hands-on and thoroughly informative experience I had just had.

There are five city tour routes available as well as individual bike hire. Visit www.labicicletanaranja.com for more information.

Photo by Nina Kourea

Paso Han arrived in Buenos Aires in the beginning of December last year with one aim, to dance tango and learn Spanish. Now seven months later he is becoming a real porteño, dancing tango like Gardel was behind him, whipping him.

For the record, Paso Han is not his real name. He was born Yoon Chul Hu in Busan, South Korea, 31 years ago. But since he is here in the name of tango, we will honour him and call him by his tango alias, Paso Han.

First off, I have to ask you, how did you come up with the name Paso Han?

I took the name Han Gul Hm in Korea when I started to dance tango. Han translates to ‘uno’ or ‘grande’ (one or great) and Gul Hm to ‘el paso’ (step or passage). When I came here this then became ‘Paso Han’, meaning ‘Un Paso’ or ‘Gran Paso’ (a step or great step). Dancing tango is not something I can rush, but it’s a slow transformation. I hope to become a great name in tango, therefore the name is ‘a great step’.

What did you do before you arrived in Buenos Aires?

Actually I went to university to study mechanics and cars. Upon graduation I worked in a pharmaceutical company, quite strange or what? At this point I started dancing ballroom as a hobby. Then I started taking it more seriously and slowly became a professional ballroom dancer.

So you weren’t one of those who were born with dancing shoes on?

No, I didn’t dance as a child. I did martial arts like tae kwon do, aikido and taeken. Like I mentioned, I didn’t start dancing until university. I fell in love with a dance partner at this time and I loved dancing with her. That is also when I first started dancing with a partner, up until this point the only dancing I had done was imitation what they did on TV. I enjoyed working with a partner a lot and slowly turned my new hobby into work.

How did you become interested in tango?

Well, one day I was offered a free tango lesson by coincidence. That is when I heard tango music for the first time and I loved it. It was so beautiful! There is a sense of reality and truth and honesty in tango that you won’t find in ballroom dancing. My interest in tango grew strong and I wanted a change, unfortunately my partner wanted to keep on dancing ballroom so we went our separate ways. Now I only dance tango, nothing else.

What is it that you like so much with tango?

I don’t know to be honest (he laughs). Tango is the dance for me. It has emotion, heart, passion, loneliness… I have this idea of tango being present in all aspects of life. Because of this I find the dance so interesting. I used to like modern tango, but now I am more into salon tango. I like the traditional.

Photo by Nina Kourea

Where do you dance here?

I work at a tango dinner show called ‘Milonguisimo’ in Confiteria la Ideal on Fridays and in La Barrica, a restaurant in La Boca on Thursdays and Sundays.

So, in the future, this is where can we come and see you perform?

Yes, and also, my tango group will have a show on 16th June in Lugones 3161. You can come along to that too.?

How is Buenos Aires treating you? Is it very different from Korea?

I am still studying the Argentine and porteño culture, but I don’t know that much. I guess it’s not that different. Both Koreans and Argentines are human. There is a lot of shit in the street. In the beginning I found this horrible, but now it’s getting better.

What are your plans for the future?

Primarily I would like to become a great tango dancer. I want to continue teaching and perform. I would also like to arrange and do a tango show here, but I still have so much to learn so this might not happen in a few years. At the moment though, I am considering settling down and live here. I am also going to Korea to attend a tango festival there.

Tango Festival in Korea? Wow, tell me more about that. Is tango popular in Asia?

Well there are several tango festivals in Korea actually. I am going to festivals in Busan and Jeju. All Koreans know about the dance but very few dance it themselves. The festivals that exist are only for Koreans thought, so I would like to do one in the future for all of Asia to enjoy. Later, I want to travel around the whole world – dancing tango.