theworldwelivein:

Buenos Aires (by daidix)

i want to go back to buenos aires.

argentine energy emanates from the graffiti on the walls and the tango on the street; deep cultural tradition melts together with gritty new york youthful swagger. political statements are scrawled everywhere, one generation criticizing another. it is not mindless. the vandals feel loyalty. their loyalties are not to their gang or their neighborhood but to their country and their people. unity of spirit and pure concentrated passion color the building facades. 

light fades and music and stray dogs wander the street, released by some person into their city and accepted by others as part of it. a drum circle, making instruments from everything, plays unashamedly in a dingy alley. they draw a crowd. the crowd grows over the course of their 90-minute set, and when we show up, we start to dance.

there are no inhibitions in buenos aires.

we had no inhibitions in an alley in buenos aires.

we took away the crowd’s inhibitions in an alley in buenos aires. together we danced, american and argentine, to the raw beating of bare hands on taut leather plastic cardboard. dreadlocks flail, hips swing, soles fly and faces glow as people let go. 

we are dancing through the dark, with the pounding in our ears and the spirit in our souls. 

(photos of my own)