Tina went shopping at a market, had lunch, and visited Cementerio de la Recoleta. I don’t plan to visit that one, but will at some point go to Cementerio de la Chacarita to say hello to Pugliese and Troilo.

While they were spending time with people of varying degrees of aliveness, I opted for a lazy day at home before just one milonga …

Milonga 8: La Glorieta de Belgrano

La Glorieta de Belgrano is another of the most famous milongas in the world. We visited last time, but there were only a handful of people there in the afternoon. This time Tina and I went at around 9pm.

It’s a very beautiful place to dance. A reminder that the videos are just short unedited clips, so expect them to end abruptly!

We found a mix of locals, tourist dancers and spectators. The standard of dance was very mixed, but you’re really dancing here for the experience of the location!

Our evening there was uneventful, but a friend had a much more entertaining experience when he was there a week or two earlier.

At about 10pm, suddenly mid-way through a Canaro tanda, Pugliese came blasting out of some nearby speakers. Apparently there was some rivalry between two DJs who are claiming the same territory. The police were called, and there was no more dancing that evening.

I later discovered that one DJ has been hosting milongas there for many years (decades?), but stopped when it became illegal during lockdown — but during that time another DJ came along and set-up shop! Then once lockdown was over, they both regularly fight over that turf.

Only in Argentina could you get what is basically a street fight over orchestras! I’m trying to imagine this happening in Britain …

Millwall supporter: Listen mate, there is no-one to touch the sublime magic of a Pugliese tanda down the back of the docks on a Saturday night

West Ham fan: Fsck off!, Pugliese can’t touch Canaro’s subtle interplay of rhythmical and lyrical phrases when you’re dancing outside Primark in Westfield

We stayed until around 10pm, and then had a bit of a struggle getting home. We walked blocks and blocks without finding any available taxis. We eventually called an Uber, which wouldn’t be there for 18 minutes. But we then discovered that this was all the plan of the gelato gods! There was a gelato bar right next to us, so we headed inside for a ridiculous amount of dulce de leche gelato while waiting for our ride.