RIGA, LATVIA

My travelling tango shoe danced its way to Riga!!! FOR THE THIRD TIME ALREADY! Everything is different though...And some things are the same: the statue of Freedom is in its usual place, near the Laima clock.

BUT: 1. we have a new home in Riga. It's our third home and we like it very much! It's a brick house with spacious appartments and high celing. The only thing is... to go upstairs to the fourth, the last floor ( and, as it's double hights, it' s like going up to the 6th floor. No problem- great training after a long milonga night at 3 am or with two suitcases. We accept challanges!) But let me introduce you to the ' content' of our bourgois appartment. We were to share it with 2 beautiful cats. We definitely attract the most feline of the species! Look at Sabine in her favourite place for the intellectuals! Heidrun was other inhabitant of the ' cats' appartment' . This was no 2 change in our third Riga visit: a brand new organiser, a real German Valkyria!
Her ' right hand man', Reinis, had multiple functions during our week in Riga: a chofer, a cook, a Dj, a graphic designer, a leader- follower in one.
Cats loved our room especially when I hanged all the cloths for the tango fashion show.

Heidrun said they would miss it when I am gone!

No 3 change in this visit to Riga was an ecological factor about it. Let me present you our daily breakfast:

Home made butter ( sic!), fresh milk streight from the cow ( bought in the market), home made ham ( from the pork called Valdemar), 3 or 4 different kinds of wholemeal bread ( volkornbrod), free range eggs ( some green, some grey- remains from Easter time, Karlis was joking), fresh berry juice from the market ( a woman from the village is selling it) and herbal tea. On our special request we got coffee. Eco coffe, obviously! Isn' t it obvious that Heidrun changes this country' s environment and habits? If she is a super woman ecologically minded- it was Reinis at their Majesties Aisha & Victor' s service for breakfast time! 5 star hotel service- and no deadlines for breakfast- whenever we got up... Mayor Domo Reinis was there!

Heidrun is a perfect organiser too. We could never find a better one in the whole Eastern Europe! Our 5 days with tango was an intensive programme full of work and fun! Who designed and produced the posters & flyers- Reinis, obviously!

We hardly had time for walking around Riga and visiting it's charming old town. But we could not avoid dancing tango with one of our favourite backgrounds in Riga! The weather was splendid ( arranged by our German organizer :' there will be sun for you' , she promised). And there was sun.
But, but... who should be our cameramen?

Here comes an introduction our another hero, no 4 change to our annual visits to Riga!

Here is Rudi & Brigitte, a couple of our swiss tango students, who expressed their wish to follow us in our tour of Baltic States. But...they came flying their own airoplane! Yes, from their house in the Alps, Switzerland, to Riga! ( From Rudi´s ¨Erstens kommt das anders und zweitens als man denkt¨)

The plane is a kit model that Rudi & Brigitte built themselves! I would have loved to see Latvian yellow fields from above too!But Victor , my ' voice of reason' did not share my enthusiasm although Rudi invited us to fly with them to our next destination, Vilnius....

Another thing I would have loved to see from Rudi' s airoplane was this stalinist building that we see repeated again and again, from Moscow till Warsaw. It' s the most impressive monumental communist arquitecture, we have to give it its justice!
Three days full of workshops and milonga passed by quickely. Jurmala, where Heidrun arranged our workshops on Saturday & Sunday and a milonga with our presentation- showed us its gloomy face- it was cloudy and the sea was dark. Perfect tango weather!
Speaking about fun & entertainment: we loved the last point of the Sunday programme: ASADO at Heirun's made by Heidrun! Is there anything this Valkyria cannot do? Here we see her in action in the kitchen, assisted by two admirers: Rudi ( had to control the quality of food) and Valdemars ( distracting them with an article in Latvian magazine about tango and us)Rudi and Brigitte' s contribution to this latvian asado was a genuine swiss cheese, tete de moine, accompanied by the special cheese machine producing cheese flowers, a girolle. Valdemars was a guinea pig of the quality of cheese... It's difficult to prepare asado for so many people. In Argentina, the master of a ceremony is a man. But as Heidrum is a leader too ( in tango and in her company) , she had no problem providing splendid quality asado with an ideal grilling point . Even her salad was a delight ( any secrets?). Eco Delight!There was obviously wine, we missed so much! And our beloved Riga Balzam as a digestive!
Fantastic evening.... But SOME PEOPLE have to wake up early Monday morning to go to work...Next day, at noon, after breakfast ( thank you, Reinis dear) we were heading to another part of the programme- private classes for Rudi & Brigitte and Karlis & Dace in their lovely residence outside of Riga. They live in one of those enchanting wooden houses ( let's say properly- mansion house with tower, guest house and a garden) and enough proper dance floor to have a good tango session. It was a pleasure to teacher tango there, have a delicious coffee, cakes ( poppy seed cake especially for me) and laima chocolate as an extra energy supply! Next time we want to have a walk by the lake beside the house! Rudi & Brigitte were delighted to have such hosts and their appreciation of Latvian experience was complete! They invited Karlis and Dace to their house in Switzerland when... we are there teaching tango in September! TANGO CONNECTION RIGA- SWITZERLAND-BUENOS AIRES!The days flied so quickly.. we had such good time! And again, according to our 3 year tradition, we had a good bye dinner and a milonga at Dace and Viestrus' restaurant bar LOJA. Our sweet Dace served her best Argentinean wine. And delicous latvian food for us. Then we danced and danced and danced saying good bye till next time!
On the historical photograph above: behind me
Viestrus
Natalia ( our first organiser in Riga!)
Victor
Reinis
Heidrun the Valkyria
Dace

WE WILL MISS YOU ALL! AND WE WILL STRIKE BACK, WE PROMISE!

Accompanied by a bottle of Riga Balzam ( to have for the journey) and a bag of Laima sweets ( thank you tangueros of Riga) we were leaving towards Vilnius, Lithuania.
Brigitte and Rudi would have only 1hour and somehting flight in the same direction. Tango party continues in Vilnius!

"discover a nice new tangofestival in Latvia - Jurmala, directly at the beach of the Baltic Sea. Nice people from Eastern and Western Europe, great dancers, good organisation and and and. See further at www.tangostudio.lv"

RIGA's RULES!

Tallin,night life!Clubs bars restaurants and.... US!

Tallinn, beautiful Tallinn, why art thou that cold?
It s not the coldness of the place itself but its inhabitants seem to be cold. And closed. At the beginning. So it was with us. We were warned it would take some time to conquer the Estonias. We were suggested to see some Finnish films to understand this nordic nation. But we did it with tango.
After the first two days our general impression was: do they not like us/ or they do? Do they understand us/or they not? The most easy way would be to ask streight forward as the Estonians seem to be perfect at non expressivity.
( our guardian angels at the hotel expained us that the reason for this mentality, apart from the climat is a historical burden: wars, partitions, invasions and the last heavy period of communism and soviet rule)
It changed slowly-they were warming up. The last 4 days we were bombarded with invitations. Therefore we could disover the REAQL LIFE AND REAL PEOPLE here. AND THERE IS A NIGHT LIFE IN TALLINN!

INITIATION no 1: milimallika.
Strange local mixture. More than just a strong vodka with the spicy aftertaste burning your throat. Nobody knows what 's in it, they told us. A soviet bar which has not changed for decates- Valli Bar. Now, the municipality protects it. YES, WE DEFINITELY WANT TO GO THERE and meet the old Russians drinking and singing their songs! It was our first stop of ' clubbing' with Tiia Maria and Hardi.
After that shot sining with the other / drunken/ Russians and Estonians, estonian songs to the tune of accordion player. Even ' Buenos dias, Argentina'.On the picture: iron ladies- Aisha and our Estonian student Tiia Maria.

Another stop was very different- cosy romantic wine celler-restaurant called ' Three faced men' . They were so impressed by Argentinean tango that we exchanged our little spontaneous tango show ( they moved the tables and chairs) for a dinner. With wine and grappa!


The third and inevitable one was a famous Claaz club. Brasilian night, live music and friendly Brasilian singer Denise that we were presented to ( and chatted Portugeses). It was just GREEEEAT to dance some samba bossanova!Our guides of this special clubbing night were Hardi and Tiia Maria ( sic! its her name!) Tiia Maria, apart from looking latin speaks perfect Spanish ( from Spain). And BEHAVES LATIN, what a relief!
We had loads of fun together and the first hand information about anything ESTONIAN...Drinking cherry beer ( local speciality) and eating olives and cheeses made us feel at home. CLAZZ, on Tue ( and Sun) - highly recommended!


For a farewell dinner Karmen chose to invite us to a modern sushi bar ( she would not belive that we are satisfied with a take away Turkish Kebab place opened 24 hours...) so, we got to know another special place. Our students joined us to chat and say good bye.. our last night in Talllinn...up and out till 3 am, which I suppose it s quite unusual here.
BUT they want us to come back!
I got a declaration of love from my Estonian students- in Spanish too. Handwritten. But the most fascinating are their NAMES!!!
Hardi
Vambo
Tiit
Piret
Meelis
Liivi
Einar
Tiia Maria.... to name just a few!


On Tursday we said good buy to our favourite places in town...

And to our hostel. WE LOVED IT!
Its decor. Especially magic mushrooms paintings...


TO BE CON TI NU ED!
Victor with a strong estonian drink at the old communist harbour with a good view on the Baltic sea. The kitchen in our Hostel appartment and the view on the old trees. One of the mornings during the breakfast: meeting Spanish travellers who invited us to have... Argentinean mate! The first mate ritual in Europe!
Our Guardian Angel of the hostel: Rui, on a psychodelic background.
Chestnuts in bloom and the names of the streets in Estonian....

The emblematic view on the old Tallin/ the towers of the defense walls of Tallinn.

And the view of the roofs. Baltic sea in the horizon.

The place recommented for romantic walks, also by night-Danish King's Garden.
And more red roofs seen from above.
An picturesque ortodox church which we chose as a background for our project " Tango around Europe" .
and we danced our tango there!
Our travel continues!

Tallinn, Estonia POR VICTOR

...lituanialetoniayestonia....

lituanialetoniayestonia...Casi mecanicamente,
como un mantra pagano, recuerdo esa repeticion monotona, hace ya 40 anos,
para intentar retener en las clases de geografia esos extranos nombres de
parajes ignotos, casi imposibles de encontrar en los mapas. Tarde un tiempo
en entender que se trataba de Lituania, Letonia y Estonia, tres pequenas
republicas, ubicadas en la margen oriental del mar Baltico, y justamente por
ello llamadas genericamente, paises balticos.
Estas pequenas republicas, cada una de ellas de superficies como alguna de
nuestras pequenas provincias, como Corrientes, o Formosa, tienen mas de mil
anos de historia, y se puede ver en sus bellas ciudades ese tiempo
acumulando arte, arquitectura, memoria colectiva y cultura. En 1940, el
tsunami sovietico que arraso media Europa engullo estas pequenas republicas,
y las " invito", vaya eufemismo, a ser parte de la Union de Republicas
Socialistas Sovieticas, lo que duro hasta la caida del comunismo en 1991. En
ese interin, por supuesto, se comieron la invasion nazi, la recuperacion por
parte del ejercito rojo, y toda la vieja historia de la ocupacion.
Y sin embargo, han conservado su identidad, y cada uno de estos paises
tienen su particularidad.
Empezaremos por Estonia, la mas nortena de las tres, con su bella capital
Tallin, adonde llegamos en bondi desde Varsovia ( 17 horas). El viaje habia
empezado unos dias antes, cuando British Airways nos llevo Buenos Aires-
Sao Paulo- Londres- Varsovia. Ahi estuvimos dos dias, por razones familiares
y organizativas, rehicimos nuestro equipaje achicandolo considerablemente,
pues en Polonia quedaron 15 kilos de yerba mate, 4 botellas de los
excelentes vinos de OG, dulce de leche, etc.
Con menos bartulos enfilamos para el norte. Ante la ausencia de vuelos
baratos o tren, hubo que poner el upite en unos omnibus aceptables, y cruzar
toda lituanialetoniayestonia, de sur a norte, hasta llegar a Tallin.

Esta ciudad, muy antigua y en permanente proceso de conservacion y mejora de
su patrimonio, tiene 450000 habitantes ( tres veces menos que La Matanza) y
esta ubicada al norte del pais, en la margen sur del golfo de Finlandia, un
brazo del Baltico que los ferrys atraviesan en 90 minutos para llegar a
Helsinki, la impresionante capital finesa.
En auto, a unos 300 km. hacia oriente, se llega a la frontera rusa, y al
toque esta San Petersburgo, la otrora capital de la rusia zarista, ciudad
heroe de la segunda guerra mundial, cuando se llamaba Stalingrado, y se
comio un asedio nazi de mas de un ano, a costa de indecibles sufrimientos.
Para muchos historiadores, esa derrota alemana fue el principio del fin para
el regimen de don Adolfo.
Tambien de aqui salen ferrys hasta Estocolmo, la capital sueca, pero ese
viaje es mas largo, dura toda la noche, y tiene una de las mas terribles
historias de la navegacion en Europa. Leemos:

"El 27 de septiembre de 1994, el ferry Estonia partió de Tallin, capital de
Estonia, a las 19:15 horas, con 989 personas a bordo rumbo a Estocolmo. Pero
nunca llegó. A las seis horas de travesía tormentosa, el barco de 15.000
toneladas envió un llamado “Mayday” de auxilio desesperado. 28 minutos más
tarde, se hundió hasta el fondo del mar Báltico, llevando consigo las vidas
de 852 pasajeros y tripulación. Este fue el peor desastre marítimo europeo
de postguerra.

El Estonia, de 150 metros de longitud, dejó Tallin, la capital de Estonia y
navegó en un furioso mar Báltico. A diferencia de otros ferris de la ruta,
el Estonia circulaba a toda velocidad en olas de más de 15 metros de altura.
A las seis horas de travesía, se hundió a una profundidad de más de 75
metros.

La primera señal de peligro, fue un sonido de metal rozando metal. Este
ruido era causado por los cerrojos de la visera de proa débilmente
construídos, rompiéndose bajo la presión de las olas. La visera
eventualmente se desprendió del barco, dejando descubierta la bodega para
automóviles de la cubierta. El agua entró de prisa y desestabilizó el barco,
comenzando una catastrófica concatenación de eventos que, finalmente,
hicieron hundir al barco.

Sin aviso, la nave se tambaleó unos 20 grados a estribor, y continuaría
inclinándose hasta los 85 grados. Los pasajeros estaban en peligro de ser
aplastados por el equipamiento. En tal ángulo, era casi imposible moverse.
Aquellos que fueran a sobrevivir, habían llegado ya a la cubierta.
Trágicamente, para ese momento, la mayoría de los botes salvavidas no
pudieron ser liberados, debido a la inclinación lateral del barco. Pronto,
el ferry se deslizó debajo de las olas, hacia una tumba acuosa."

Cuesta entender que este calmo mar, casi un lago, plano como un espejo, se
transforme en tormenta en un infierno, pero asi fue. De ese desastre todavia
se habla, y el gobierno quedo pegado por el mal manejo de la crisis y la
investigacion posterior.

Otro episodio eston, mucho menos dramatico, se vivio hace poco tiempo aqui.
Resulta que los simpaticos camaradas comunistas, al replegarse en 1991, y
permitir el renacer democratico de estos pagos, dejaron en pleno centro de
la ciudad, un impresionante monumento de bronce, al soldado sovietico, en
reconocimiento a " los denodados esfuerzos del ejercito rojo para defender
la libertad de Estonia" Uhmmmm.... Claro que los modernos estones jamas
compraron esa cantinela, y decidieron sacar ese monumento del centro y
llevarlo a un cementerio militar, ni siquiera destruirlo, sino ponerlo en un
lugar menos destacado. Se armo un quilombo diplomatico terrible!! Los rusos
pusieron el grito en el cielo, amenazaron con represalias comerciales,
hackeraon los sitios web de Estonia, protestaron, etc., pero no les dieron
pelota. En otros tiempos capaz que hasta los invadian, pero ahora Estonia
forma parte de la Union Europea, y el bacalao de corta de otra forma, asi
que se la tuvieron que comer. Que se jodan!!

Bueno, aparte de toda esta charlanga, lo concreto es que vinimos aqui a
laburar, a pesar de que algunas malas lenguas murmuran desde las sombras que
no trabajamos. Asi que empezamos las clases en la comunidad tanguera de
Tallin, pequena pero entusiasta, y con un nivel aceptable. Apenas llegados a
la ciudad, la organizacion nos alojo en en hostel para artistas, muy bohemio
e informal, o sea medio atorrante, pero simpatico. Y asi como a veces
garroneamos hoteles y comidas 5 estrellas, los mejores vinos, lugares
increibles, esta vez nos toco la variante ' bohemio' . La comida esta noche nos la
rebuscamos nosotros ( olvidate de restaurant) asi que la gringa hizo magia
rasqueteando en las alacenas del hostel ( por suerte tenemos un departamento con
cocina dentro de hotel) un paquete de fideos sabe Dios dejado por quien, una lechuga
mustia que vino con nosotros desde Varsovia, un toque de aceite, sal... e
increiblemente, por aquel viejo dicho de que a buen hambre no hay pan duro,
estaba muy rico! La cena se completo con un riquisimo vaso de agua de la
canilla, y nos imaginamos un queso y dulce... hasta que encontramos el queso! El cafe no era imaginario,
tambien lo hallamos en el fondo de una lata que andaba por ahi. Ya vendran
tiempos mejores. ...

Sin embargo, esta bueno esto del hostel. Tenemos un departamento para nosotros solos, y en las alacenas y heladera hay una variedad interesante de cosas que van dejando los huespedes, y la norma es que cada uno puede usar lo que quiere. Entonces, la segunda noche Aisha se despacho con una sopa rusa bien espesa, con carnes y verduras, que con el hambre y el fresquito de la noche estona, estaba de puta madre. Solo falto el escabio, asi que la canilla volvio a salvarnos.
Y finalmente llego la " normalidad" en estos viajes. Ocurre que la mentalidad estonia es muy educada y cordial, pero para nosotros fria y distante. Por ello, no se precipitaron de entrada a invitar con birras, cenas y otras yerbas. No, se toman su tiempo, un par de dias. Finalmente aparecio una pareja estonia-uruguaya, super simpaticos, Lucia y Viktor, quienes nos invitaron a cenar a su bella casa en Pirita, un suburbio arbolado sobre la costa estona, a 15 minutos del centro. Ahi aparecio el legendario salmon de estas latitudes, buen vino, exquisitos postres de Estonia y la compania de esta familia tan agradable.
Siguieron dias de clases, un show el domingo a la noche, y de dia paseos por el casco viejo de Tallin, joya de la arquitectura nordica. Hemos bailado en un restaurant muy bonito, de onda nomas, porque la duena es gente amiga, y nos invitaron a cenar en el, con la muy buena cerveza estonia. Karmen, nuestra organizadora local, tambien nos llevo a comer a un restaurant muy pituco, de los pocos que estan abiertos mas alla de las 11 de la noche.
Estonia tiene algunas caracteristicas curiosas: Pequeno pais, muy al norte, con influencias finlandesas, es el pais mas informatizado de Europa. Aca deben haber mas de una computadora en cada casa. Toda la ciudad es WI-Fi, al banco no va nadie, pero nadie, casi no se usa efectivo, pues todo,todo se hace por Internet.
Otro detalle informatico, para mi magico: Un tipo esta cenando en un restaurant, y se da cuenta que su auto, estacionado a 5 cuadras, esta a 5 minutos de vencerse su tarjeta de estacionamiento.Entonces, manda un sms a la municipalidad, con su numero de patente y cuanto tiempo mas quiere. El buchon que controla en la calle, esta conectado online, y sabe instantaneamente que se ha pagado. A fin de mes se debita automaticamente de la cuenta corriente del tipo. Asi las cosas en Estonia con la informatica. Otro detalle: Skype es un desarrollo estonio.
Otra pareja muy amable, una linda estonia llamada Tiiamaria ( suena como el licor) con su pareja Hardi, nos llevaron de joda a un lugar de baile brasilero, meta musica y birra, y la pasamos magnifico, lejos del tango. Tiia Maria tiene la belleza y la personalidad latina, tan infrecuente aqui, lo que la hace aun mas llamativa.

Asi paso una semana de trabajo aqui, y luego de despedirnos, cobrar, y esas cosas, empezamos el largo camino al sur, con la proxima escala en Riga, capital de Letonia, a 300 km, en omnibus.

TALLIN, ESTONIA!

En caso que no sepan donde esta Tallinn... Sorry, forgot I am to speak English again.... Follow those pinguins if not sure where Tallinn is! We have just discovered! Arriving at midnight, which was kind of bright evening, as light lingers on till around 11 pm... we must be close to the Northern Polar Circle! And will get even futher north... afterwards.
Tallinn is our first, actually a second station on our long tour in Europe this year.
Brought to this Artists Hotel by the black jaguar driven by our estonian student, Ilmari ( start writing down the collection of the strange estonian names) we are confortably nice here...among international artists.
Although spring is still chilly( Estonian kind of spring) , the sun is on TODAY. And daffodils are in bloom everywhere!So, the first morning after an 11 am breakfast ( had to recover from long journey-Buenos Aires-London-Warsaw-Riga-Tallin, the last part of 17 hours by bus) chatting in English, Portugese, Russian, Polish and French with the artists around , we went out to explore the CITY. Old Town is a world heritage place by UNESCO. Victor, the arquitect, discovers the Estonian love of architecture:

.. and their practicality. Or is it a sense of humor? Yes, it s a BIKE, a multi-bike!

His another point of interest was the Polish Embassy ( as a fresh owner of a Polish passport opening his doors to EEC)


I discovered something for my ' spirituality'...

I have a good excuse: it s still chilly, inspite of the sun, and I need sth to warm me up. Wearing 3-4 layers of cloth ( OSCAR: here goes my soft shell!) and a wollen beret does not help 100%. I need 50% in form of a local vodka...

We both discovered that TANGO IS EVERYWHERE and making better money than in Argentina....

The city is a combination of old and traditional

and modern..


So we walk around the Old Town and listen to the admination for this place is all the languages ( including Spanish, Argentinean!)
An Argentinean tanguero is immediately spotted by the Estonian beauties ( on the photo-the one in red):She nearly follows him to the tango workshops....
Surprise, surprise, we had a REAL ARGENTINEAN STUDENT for our classes today! Another surprise is that about 5 of our students could speak Spanish! But enough of tango for today, tomorrow there will be another chapter!
After 5 hours of tango we refused to have our shots of vodka on the very first evening with our students ( temptation time begins! So far we learnt:
Vana Tallin- famous local licor
millimallikas-strong conctail
viruvalge-vodka, 50%)

and went back to our apartment in the hotel. Tomorrow is a long day...


The ambience is the hotel is as bohemian as its walls...But when tangueros are tired they may have halucinations.... There was mate waiting for us in the kitchen!