Later today (Sunday), Argentina will take on Brazil in the final of the Copa America - the most important national football (that’s soccer, to all you Yanquis) team tournament in the Americas (team news here). As you might have guessed, there is something of a futbol rivalry between Argentina and Brazil (see Arjewtino’s post for more on this). In fact, in the past things have got so heated that the two countries have even resorted to humorous advert warfare…

Back in 2004, Brazil beat Argentina 3 - 1 in a World Cup qualifier, and shortly after, Tulipan, an Argentine condom manufacturer that puts out consistently funny and clever ad campaigns, came out with this provocative billboard of typographical genius:

“WE’RE ALREADY PLANNING THE REVENGE”
(Ya estamos pensando en la revancha)

I don’t think I need to spell out exactly what Tulipan claimed Argentina would do to Brazil in their next match!

Not to be outdone, neither on the pitch nor in creative use of typography, the Brazilian football organization responded with the following ad:

“IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME. AND IT WON’T BE THE LAST”
(No fue la primera vez. Tampoco la ultima)

Wow. Great comeback! And there was me thinking it was Brazilians like Pele that needed to use Viagra?
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Honduras 4999 (in Plaza Serrano), Palermo Soho

[Photo Credit: julianrod]

After a lazy Sunday afternoon spent “domingeando” (as the porteños say) - or in other words, relaxing and walking around the artisan fairs and examining the hand-made crafts and clothing items - head to Malasartes in Plaza Serrano (Palermo Soho) for a warm, welcoming café atmosphere any time of day or evening.

At weekends this focal point of Palermo Soho fills with artisans selling hand-made crafts and sweaters, which are definitely worth an hour of browsing while you are in this area of Buenos Aires.

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An Introduction to Dancing Tango in Buenos Aires

[Photo Credit: SMeaLLuM]

Note from Alan - We are lucky enough to welcome a seasoned Buenos Aires tango and milonga expert to the Buenos Aires Argentina Guide, in the form of Cherie Magnus, from the Tango Cherie blog (see the end of this post for more info on Cherie). Her first offering is an excellent guide to the types of tango salon in Buenos Aires, for those interested in the real world of social tango dancing in the city. So, over to you Cherie…

If you want to dance tango in Buenos Aires, where do you go?

Actually it depends on many things: your age, what style you dance, what day or night of the week you want to go out, if you go with or without a partner, and so on…

Dancing social tango in Buenos Aires has nothing to do with the Tango Show Dancing on the streets of San Telmo, La Boca, calle Florida, or Recoleta, or the many Cena-Shows with an orchestra, stage dancers and dinner. The first thing to know about tango is that what you’ll see in those places is a different dance - Tango for Export. And that is another post entirely!

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Salguero 1884 (between Guemes & Charcas), Palermo

Jazz in Buenos Aires at Thelonious Club

If you are looking to spend a night in a setting of utmost Buenos Aires cool, check out the famed Palermo jazz club, Thelonious. This bar features live jazz bands Wednesday through Sunday nights, starting at 9:30 pm. On Friday and Saturday nights there are two bands in the line-up. Thelonious, named after the legendary American jazz pianist, is not a place to hear second-rate jazz. The performance on any given night will enrapture you with the energy, talent, and improvisational skills of the musicians.

Cover fees range from $7 to $15 depending on the night: you can check their website, call for more information about that night’s particular show (4829-1562), or stop by Thelonious to pick up the current month’s schedule.

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It’s snow joke…

Yes, another play on words. Deal with it (for those unaware, it just snowed in the city of Buenos Aires for the first time in 89 years).

What is the carnival of cities?

First up, blog carnivals are where someone finds a load of blog posts on a specific topic, and then puts all those posts together in one roundup blog post called a “carnival”. I guess, back in the day when I did the weekly Buenos Aires blog roundups, I was really posting up carnivals. To be honest, it felt more like a circus.

The carnival of cities does exactly what it says on the tin. It includes blog posts submitted from cities around the world, about any aspect of each city - local news, opinions, travel advice, general musings, reports of public lynchings, philosophical treatises on city trash disposal policy, organization of hobo-baiting activities, and the like. Well, maybe some of those are made up. But not all.

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