Visiting Plaza Garibaldi is different when you're with a friend.
As a solo traveler, the musicians gave me barely a second glance, but with a friend in tow they are hoping we are ready to pay cash for some live music.
Sitting at a very reasonably priced restaurant terrace (60 pesos, or $5, for top shelf tequila), we were intermittantly approached by musicians offering a song--for what amounts to a song.
After bargaining a young fellow down to 50 pesos from 70, he said "One moment please" and disappeared to round up his partners--who turned out to be another guitarist and a trumpet-wielding hipster with dark glasses and a smartphone.
It was immediately clear that 50 pesos gets you a trio, at most, which includes a horn player busy texting his buddies between riffs! This was great fun for me to "give back" after many years of playing similar gigs in Thailand and elsewhere. The trumpet player reminded me of several ex-colleagues of mine, lol. . .
Later an older, more decrepit pair of singing guitarists attempted to entice us with the old, worn out cliches "La Cucaracha" and "Besame Mucho".
"No! but no, no Besame Mucho, no. . ." we protested.
But if we wanted something better, it was going to cost us. . .50 pesos! "De accuerdo" we agreed, and the duo gave us fairly decent rendition of we don't what, but it was a beautiful song, and everyone was satisfied with the transaction.
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