Mariposita de San Telmo — Hotel in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

I stayed at Mariposita for 36 consecutive nights (Dec 2017 - Jan 2018) and took tango lessons in the school below. I was delighted with the hotel and the teaching.||From the street, Mariposita appears as two adjacent doors in a terrace of old mansion houses. There is no sign indicating it is a hotel or a dance studio. Door number 948 is the entrance to the hotel on the first floor; door number 950 is the entrance to the dance studio and school on the ground floor. Both doors are monitored by CCTV. Residents are given a key to the hotel door.||Inside the hotel door a 35-step marble staircase leads to the first floor. There is no lift. At the top of the stairs there is a spacious hall with easy chairs, a small computer room with landline phone, and rooms 1, 2 and 3. Rooms 1 and 2 have balconies overlooking the street.||From the hall a patio leads to the new part of the building and rooms 4, 5 and 6. At the end of the patio, external metal stairs lead down to the garden and the dance studio. The garden is full of plants and trees and has a barbecue area. At the far end of the garden is a second dance studio. There used to be a swimming pool above it, but it is now the director’s living quarters.||A breakfast of freshly pressed orange juice, tea or coffee, toast, butter, and croissants (medialunas) is served on the garden patio between 0900 and 1100.||All rooms are exactly as depicted on Mariposita’s website. Everywhere there is evidence of forethought and style. There are no radios or televisions in any room, but there are plenty of electric sockets (type I) in the rooms and excellent, fast, and continuous wi-fi.||I stayed in room 3 and room 5. Room 3 is split level with a loft bed with a large skylight to the patio. It has effective air conditioning, an electric kettle, a microwave oven, a refrigerator, two wardrobes and two wall safes.||Room 5 is single level with air conditioning, an electric kettle, a microwave oven, a refrigerator and a wall safe. It has a balcony overlooking the garden. It has six or more electric sockets and a telephone connected to the control desk in the studio below. Room 6 is a mirror image of room 5.||Both bathrooms I used are modern with shower, anti-slip mat, WC, bidet and hair-drier. Hot and cold water was always plentiful with a good pressure. A maid cleaned daily, made the bed, and replaced towels, soap and shampoo.||The director, Carolina runs the dance school and her mother, Leti, runs the hotel with the help of Carlos and Isabela, a part-time maid. Leti’s quarters are on the floor above the hotel.||There is no staff on duty in the hotel on Sundays and public holidays, although Carolina and Leti live on the premises. Residents are given bread, cakes and tea or coffee bags on Saturday for their breakfast in their rooms on Sunday. The garden and tango school are shut on Sundays and public holidays.||There are sandwich shops, restaurants, take-away and home-delivery food outlets, and well stocked supermarkets within a very short walk.||I will be staying there again.||The Tango School|I went to Mariposita to improve my tango - and it was a great success. When I returned to London, all those that I danced with - and those that just looked on – noticed a massive improvement in my dancing. I constantly received praise.||The private lessons were taught either by Carolina Bonaventura or Patrick Arellano. Gisela, a trainee teacher acted my dancing partner.||When I told Carolina that I had old injuries that restricted my flexibility and balance, she prepared a special plan for me, building on moves that I found comfortable to do.||In the first week Patrick showed how to do compact ochos and giros so that dancers do not stray across lanes on a crowded dance floor. He stressed leading by turning the chest clockwise or anticlockwise whilst the rest of the body continued to face the direction of the line of dance.||Carolina gradually added more sequences to those I knew (and was learning) and slowly built me a substantial portfolio of new moves that I felt confident to lead. To give me confidence in the Vals, she first taught sequences of steps in the tango rhythm, and then the same sequence in the Vals rhythm. She also showed other Vals and Milonga moves that are now Building Blocks for me to work on in my future dancing.||The evening group lessons were fun with a mixture of friendly locals and visiting tourists.||I used to teach physical movement myself, and I can recognise a good teacher when I see one. Both Carolina and Patrick are excellent teachers. They encouraged me when I felt tired and praised me when I got things right. Just the right combination. Both are fluent in English and Spanish; Carolina also in French.||I will return to Mariposita, as...

Mariposita de San Telmo is a tango school both for tourists and locals combined with a charming boutique hotel, created and headed by Carolina Bonaventura.||||The first time we came to Mariposita was in 2012, after our tango teacher in Germany had recommended Carolina for her teaching in technique. We were amazed to find the modern hall and all of the lovely building and garden behind the historical front that is so typical for San Telmo. ||||We returned 2015 and this time stayed at the boutique hotel. With the warm welcome by all of the team at Mariposita, we instantly felt part of the Mariposita family. Starting the day with breakfast while next to our table the teachers are providing their classes, and taking individual and group classes ourselves — all without any travel in a city where one can never predict traffic — made us immerse ourselves in tango. ||||2017 we had the next opportunity to enjoy the Mariposita method: Again, we stayed 3 weeks in the boutique hotel and participated in group and individual tango classes. As all teachers convey the same philosophy, one can continue exactly where one left the time before. The concept that every week has a special theme to which not only all group lessons, but also the women’s technique classes are dedicated, is what makes Mariposita unique.||||The boutique hotel is located close to the many bars, cafés and nice restaurants of San Telmo - and not to forget, stores for tango shoes and clothes are also nearby. You can find a supermarket and vegetable shop a few meters from the hotel. Public transport is easily accessible (subte stop “Independencia”) to discover the rest of the city. ||||Our conclusion: Nice place to be, great place to improve your tango! We...

I discovered Mariposita 8 years ago, when I was in Buenos Aires for the first time - on recommendation of the langugage school I had visited at that time (Academia de Buenos Aires).

At Mariposita - owned and founded by Carolina Buonaventura (who is a globally renowned "gran maestra de tango") - tango is taught both, very mindfully and professionally in a beautiful and spacious dance room with a parquet floor - adjacent to a lovely patio at the interior of the building. Mariposita covers all levels of tango dancers, from beginners - as I was 8 years ago - up to world class dancers who prepare and learn choreography for the world championship.

What I loved as a foreigner (from Switzerland) was that the group classes are not only joined by international people, but I would say at least 2/3 of Argentinian participants ("Portenos") from Buenos Aires. This mix of internationals and locals allows you to learn tango in a friendly and relaxed athmosphere and also to connect with locals.

At the same time Mariposita is a boutique hotel (without breakfast - rooms only ) with a handful of lovely decorated and clean rooms. There are plenty of cafeteria's nearby for those who love a healthy breakfast in charming San Telmo neighborhood. The closest metro station ("Sube") can be reached in a 2 min walk as it is is just...