Oh, the wages of sin and depravation! After two-thirds of a bottle of Trabiche Malbec that accompanied the three-course Argentinian beef dinner, followed by a beer during the tango show and 12:30 AM lights out, the 6 AM alarm was a most painful event. But do I regret it? No, not even the double dip of dulce de leche that preceded the night’s excesses. The meal was great and the show met our every expectation.

We came to the show with something of a critic’s eye, having experienced a tango show at this same venue five years ago. “Will it be better or worse? Will we recognize the dancers and musicians? Were we wrong to come here again, bypassing other similar shows in town?” The short answers are: better, different and correct.

For one thing, the venue is quite intimate. Having sprung for the VIP option, we were seated in virtually the same position as last time, this time however one row back rather than stage side so our photos have backs of heads every now and then. But that didn’t detract from the pleasure of the art.

The show had four main sections. First, tango dancing that I would term playful and smiling. Later, the more traditional tango dancing was emotional yet serious. The general idea was competition between ladies and gentlemen for dance partners. Attendant jealousies displayed. A singer interspersed songs during the dance routines. Fun.

A man and woman duo divided the two tango sections. There’s probably a term for it, but I would call it rhythmic dancing. Not tap dancing, although there was lots of rhythmic foot stomping going on. They accompanied each other on large drums and then danced together with the drums. The highlight, though, was their use of long cords with weights of some sort fastened to the ends. The dancers would swing the cords in large arcs, timing it so that the weights hit the floor in time to the impossibly fast rhythms established by the dancer’s feet stomps and/or the accompanying drums. Amazing.

The second tango performance was more similar to what I expected. Sensuous, dramatic and serious expression of emotion and, I suppose, love or at least attraction between man and woman. Classical tango moves that gives El Viejo Almacén its reputation as the home of classical tango art. Emotional.

The tango dancing we saw was certainly required high degrees of athleticism. The moves can only be accomplished by use of highly developed and highly controlled muscles. The same dancers do the same performance seven days a week. The dancers are fit, but show no signs of high musculature development. And the dancing isn’t a display of athleticism. Each move, no matter how complex or difficult, is performed with seeming ease, as if doing that twirl or toss or impossible pose is the most natural thing in the world.

The final act was an appearance by Hugo Marcel. I mean THE Hugo Marcel xxxxxx. Surely you’ve heard of him? Me neither. But the Argentinian crowd went wild when he hit the stage. I’d call him an old fashioned Argentinian crooner and it was fun to imagine his career as a popular idol in Argentina. He’d start telling a story of unrequited love (it was all in Spanish) and, when the emotion became more than he could bear, he broke into song, the only way he could explain the full scope of his feelings. Insightful.

Now, as I type, we’re half way through our 3:20 flight to Ushuaia. We’ll go to the boat and, hopefully, jump ship to reacquaint ourselves with Ushuaia, the southern most city in South America. Full report to follow.

Ushuaia has grown quite a bit since 2019 – population is now 80,000. While summer guests and workers leave in the fall, Ushuaia enjoys a strong winter skiing season with visitors from South America and as far away as Europe.

Our ship was docked close to the place where we stayed last time. After getting our carryon stuff in our cabin and checked in with the life saver drill, we headed ashore and walked a short  distance up the hill to the Main Street of town and from there a few blocks to our old hotel. Main Street hasn’t changed much and it was nice to revisit the pleasant memories from times past. A hit on the dulce de leche helped too. A beautiful day, temps near 60 with a moderate breeze and great views of the surrounding mountains.

That’s the good news. We’ve learned that, due to weather, our itinerary has been turned on its head. We’re heading tonight across the Drake Passage toward Antarctica. Then, we’ll proceed to South Georgia and finally Falkland Islands, the exact opposite route as had been planned. The main reason is that bad weather is forecast for the Falkland’s for the next few days, weather that would make the trip over miserable and preclude any shore landings while there.

Not to say that the Drake crossing is going to be a piece of cake. The captain informed us a few minutes ago that, once clear of the Beagle Passage where we’re sailing at the moment, around midnight, we’ll experience winds gusting to 55 – 60 knots and ocean swells of 12 – 15 feet every 9 seconds or so. Once in Antarctica the winds are forecast to be much more reasonable, especially in the lee (eastern side) of the Antarctica Peninsula. We’ll let South Georgia and Falklands do what they will do in a week or so.

The Octanis is a beautiful ship. This is its eighth voyage so it’s brand new. Everything is well thought out and well executed. But the proof of the pudding will be how well she handles rough water. Stay tuned!