BUENOS AIRES, Argentina _ Marimi makes a living from the tango. She goes to the La Boca district several days a week and dances tango on the street for the tourists. Her fishnet stockings are torn, and the shadows under her eyes reveal the weariness that comes from dancing outdoors in the middle of winter. While she collects in her tin cup only a few pesos a day _ which she splits with two other dancers, a man and a woman _ there is great dignity in her bearing and attitude.

Dressed in black and in her mid-20s, Marimi could make more money doing something else. However, dancing tango is her thing. When I first met her she was about to open a musical revue in a small theater in the capital. She was tired, but happy.

Happiness is not a widely shared feeling in Argentina. Or, at least, I didn't see it that way. Among Argentineans there's a clear consensus that there have been better times. And so they really don't feel like smiling.

After landing at the Ezeiza airport, a tourist needs no more than half an hour to realize Argentina is Latin America, and not Europe. There was a time, however, when Carlos Menem was president, that Argentina felt First World. It was cheaper to vacation and buy property abroad than at home.

With the illusory money from privatizations and loans, Argentina pegged its peso to the U.S. dollar, declared itself rich and abandoned the Nonaligned Movement. "We are not a Third World country," boasted Menem. The ruse, however, did not last long.
Once the country ran out of money _ because there were no more state companies to sell and no one to borrow from _ Argentina hit bottom, and one out of every five workers lost his job and the banks couldn't pay their clients.

In the last couple of weeks, I have spoken with dozens of Argentineans. All have complained about their politicians and about being "corralled," the trap that still prevents them from withdrawing their own money from the bank. Their savings have literally been abducted.

No wonder, then, that many Argentineans, like victims of a robbery, are bitter and resent the fact that they don't see the people responsible for their national disgrace going jail. Besides, they are frustrated at having to listen to tourists with dollars and euros say that everything in Argentina "is so cheap." It humiliates them to have others take advantage of their misfortune.

With the U.S. dollar hovering at three Argentinean pesos, the country is full of foreign companies taking advantage of that low cost, like the advertising agencies filming commercials in Buenos Aires rather than in New York.

And I doubt there is any other place on the planet where you can dine at a first class restaurant on superb sirloin steak, with an exceptional wine from Mendoza, pasta, super-fresh salad, and caramel desert for less than $10.

Argentina is a great value. Few other countries can offer more for your money. But tourists who spend and shop are of little comfort to the locals. Most are poor, and sadly have few ways to escape. During the last decades, the gradual elimination of health and education programs has precluded social mobility. There are no more dodges that work now.

The good news is that this year growth in Argentina promises to reach 8 percent, and unemployment has come down to 10 percent. A weak peso has boosted exports and investors are regaining confidence.

There's no doubt that Argentina is politically more stable. The chaotic year 2001, when it had four presidents in 10 days, is a thing of the past. And despite President Nestor Kirchner's flirtation with the authoritarian left-wing camps of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, Argentineans do not wish to see another dictatorship in their land.

No, it seems there is no danger of Argentina returning to its undemocratic past. The country already had more than enough with the Dirty War _ a lesson the citizenry learned very well.
Kirchner, however, may easily be re-elected unless a viable contender comes out for the October 2007 presidential election. A survey by the Public Opinion Center (CEOP) suggests that only Kirchner's wife, Sen. Cristina Fernandez, could snatch that office from him. Would Kirchner step aside? That would really make news!

In Buenos Aires, I talked about all these things _ politics, food, tango and more _ with half a dozen daring cab drivers, who are always ready to swerve and opine, simultaneously, at the slightest prompting. Besides, why go through psychoanalysis when, for less than $2, one of these drivers can solve all your problems (and Argentina's) and take you wherever you want?

I leave the Argentine of Carlos Gardel, Evita Peron, Che Guevara and Diego Maradona ... knowing that it will take time for the country to get back on its feet. But, like the rest of Latin America, Argentina drags its history behind it, making it hard to focus on the future. And so, there are few reasons to feel optimistic when there is a certain yearning for the past.

However, it is certainly clear in Argentina that, except for Marimi, you can't make a living from the tango.