A Shrine to Carlos Gardel

Our guidebook tipped us off to a bar just a few blocks from our hostel in La Candelaria that is a shrine to the creator of the tango song, the Argentinian, Carlos Gardel.

The bar is called El Viejo Alamcen (the Old Warehouse). It's small it it was packed on a Friday night. We were lucky to get the last table.

You see a large image of Gardel as you walk in the door and other images of him cover the walls.

Behind the bar are hundreds of tango records, mostly 78s, it appeared.

Gardel was at the height of his fame and popularity when he died at the age of 45 in a plane crash here in Colombia, in Medellin, in 1935. He left behind a legacy of hundreds of tangos and is still beloved of tango fans around the world.

It was actually hard to hear the music above the din of Bogotanos enjoying their beer and their aguardiente at the end of the work week.