Tango lessons at La Viruta in Buenos Aires

Milongas are Tango Salons, which of course are found all over Argentina.  In Buenos Aires, one of the most traditional milongas is La Viruta, located in the Palermo Viejo neighborhood.  For $15 per person, you can get  Tango lessons in group style, in the largest milonga in the country.  They also feature delicious meals, bilingual teachers, and a big ballroom that’s fully air-conditioned.

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, La Viruta features gust professional dancers and live bands from all over Argentina.  Even if you’re not planning on taking any tango lessons, you can still enjoy the dance, the style, and the molonga scene.

There’s nothing like the flea market at San Telmo on Sundays.  If you’re bent on doing some shopping in Buenos Aires, Head to Plaza Dorrego, located in the San Telmo area, for one of the best flea markets ever.  As with any flea market, you never know what you’ll find, but on one day, shoppers were able to find antique chandeliers, knit halter tops with metallic yarn woven in – disco ready- and vintage postcards worthy of the pickiest collector.

If you want new things but still want a crafty edge to your shopping in Buenos Aires, go to the Recoleta area of the city- known for antique shops.  There’s an artisans market at Plaza Serrano where you can get super deals on famous Argentine leather goods.  Look for boutiques Prune and Blaque, who sell handbags starting at $40.  Contemporary Argentine designers are showcased in shops in the Recoleta area, so it’s a good time to buy shoes, bags, and belts.

Mendoza Province in Argentina almost as big as the state of Idaho.  It’s located on the western side of Argentina, at the base of the Andes Mountains bordering Chile.  From Buenos Aires, it’s directly west to Mendoza Province, whose capitol city is Mendoza City.  The region has rich soil that produces grapes to make wine that rivals that of Sonoma and Napa Valley.  Vintners are able to produce wine at a fraction of the cost of wine in those places, and Mendoza Province has taken off as a new wine destination.

In fact, lots of experimental wineries have sprung up in the past decade, and it’s a very exciting place to be if you love wine.  It’s also a great place to be for hiking, with the Andes right there.  Mendoza City boasts slick hotels, lively restaurants and bars, and wine menus everywhere offering hundreds of different wines.

Mendoza City is close to several wine regions in Argentina:

• Valle de Uco
• Chacras de Coria
• Lujan de Cuyo

There are over a thousand different wineries in the Mendoza region!  If you want to sample lots of them, there’s a place in Mendoza City where you can sample them: it’s called a tasting room, and it’s near Plaza Independencia.  They have almost 100 local wines youc an sample, plus you can book Argentina wine tours there too.  It’s called Vines of Mendoza.

The wineries of Mendoza are spread over large swathes of terrain, sometimes on dirt roads.  You need an appointment for most of them, too.  Book a tour or hire a guide, that’s good advice.

Buenos Aires is very hip right now, thanks to a blossoming of art and design culture.  Find examples everywhere from chic new hotels to street art.  The new scene in Buenos Aires has it roots in the financial problems of 2001.  Imports became expensive, so arts, design, and crafts took off.  Design is hot, thanks also to an international scene in this city, which is more vibrant than ever.

For the new design culture in hotels, check out the Home Hotel.  For examples around town, let’s take a look at Nobrand.

Nobrand is Buenos Aires shopping at its best.  This is not a tourist shop, but a store full of unique whimsical designs based on traditional Argentine symbols.  Take the cow:  Nobrand’s logo is a cow, which symbolizes so much about Argentina: the rough wild areas of Patagonia and the reputation for exporting superb quality beef.  The logo is a simple, deco modern cow face, great design.  They have gaucho espradrilles, but with a modern twist: there’s a cow motif printed on them.  And of course there are Che Guevera T-shirts, but with a new, stylized Che face on them  Tres Chic.

Buenos Aires hotels come in many forms, but right now staying at a boutique hotel is a special treat.  One such is is Home Hotel, opened in 2005 by a local paired with a Brit.  They make a great team:  Home Hotel was one of B.A.’s first boutique hotels, and their collection of mid-century furniture and vintage wallpapers is wonderful.  The interiors are eclectic without being outrageous, and quietly underscore the pair’s love of collecting modern furniture from the 1950s.

The building has many strong elements of glass and cement, forming the perfect backdrop for the mid-century modern details of the hotel.  There are twenty rooms in all, and vintage wallpaper permeates the strict harsh lines created by the glass an concrete.

Home Hotel has a pool and garden, and there are two rooms with kitchens and lofts.