It Takes Two to Tango

Our excursion in Montevideo included seeing the highlights of the city and then ended with viewing a Tango performance at a local Tango bar. Our tour guide for Montevideo was Lorenzo.

Lorenzo

Uruguay (pronounced yur-wa-way by the locals) is often overlooked by it's larger and more well-known neighbors Brazil and Argentina. Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay and is a beautiful port city located at the delta of the Rio de la Plata. It enjoys a very pleasant sub-tropical climate. Almost half of the population of Uruguay lives in Montevideo. 

Our tour took us first to the Old Town plaza known as Independence Plaza, where we viewed government and other buildings surrounding the town square. 
















We stopped at the beautiful Parliamentary Palace to take a few photos. According to Lorenzo, the Uruguay Parliament building is one of the three most beautiful parliamentary buildings in the world.



We drove through a few neighborhoods and also a few parks with monuments.












We drove along the Montevideo coast where we had beautiful views of the ocean and coastline of this city. Lorenzo told us that the water here is not safe to swim in. We did, however, see a few people in the water. They must have been tourists that didn't get the memo! Our next stop was at a nice, scenic park with some views of the city.










After our tour of some of the highlights of Montevideo, we went to a Tango bar. Most people associate tango with Argentina, but it is just as big here in Uruguay. In fact, there is a controversy as to whether the tango originated in the streets of Buenos Aires or the streets of Montevideo. At any rate, the tango is very much a part of the local culture here. People meet in Tango bars for meals and to socialize. There are Tango bars where people enjoy lively evenings of dance and socializing until 1 a.m. on weeknights and until as late as 5 a.m. on weekends. Tango has been featured in quite a few movies, including "Some Like it Hot" and "Sunset Boulevard." 

The Tango performance that we attended took place in a bar called Baar Fun Fun. No kidding, that is the name of the place. Baar Fun Fun is a family business that has been run by the founders and their descendants since the 1800s. It is a small intimate place that made a great venue for the tango performance that we viewed. Before the tango performance, we were treated to a taste of the bar's classic drink, Uvita, which is a wine liquor. It is their own secret brew which they have patented. They also served empanadas and soft drinks.

Baar Fun Fun

The tango took place on a small stage that was very close to the audience. At first two dancers engaged, and then a third joined them (two ladies and one gentleman). The dance told a story that was pretty easy to follow by watching movements and facial expressions. The first "story" involved the two dancers who eventually invited the third dancer to join them. She feigned timidity and reluctance, but was encouraged by the other two performers (as well as the audience), and proceeded to tango as the expert that she was. Another story was a clear competition between the two women, where the gentleman held out a wad of cash, ready to give it to the better of the two dancers, and invited the audience to choose one or the other. 

During the performance the dancers occasionally came off the stage and selected some of us in the audience to join them in dance. Joe was approached by the pretty blonde dancer, but he used the excuse of bad knees and hips to decline. 


It takes two to tango.


Apparently three can tango.










Our overall opinion of Montevideo is that it is a very pleasant town. It seems very safe. There are lots of expats that live here half the year. There are lots of nice parks and tons of coastline, which makes for beautiful views.

After the Tango performance, we headed back to the ship. The Viking Jupiter, left the port of Montevideo later that evening, and we were treated to another beautiful sunset on our way out.




Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 10, 2023 at 9:31 PM

    Next time joe gets asked to dance by a blind tango dancer tell him instead of saying I have bad knees, he could just say: I can belly dance and I can do the Mardi Gras mambo !
    Glad you’ll having fun! Watching from Louisiana!
    Ellen Hutchinson

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 11, 2023 at 10:59 AM

    I meant blond not blind! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 12, 2023 at 4:50 PM

    Nice city! Seems peaceful, quaint, and beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

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