Eat, Tango, Study

Sunday

The day began with more free breakfast!  Pictures included.  Coffeeee!

Wheeee!  The pastry is a little sweet, and the coffee is nice and strong.

I ventured out to get 3 bottles of water sin gas.  I only paid 30 pesos.  It was a little store very close to the hotel.

Javier started us out with a walking tour.  We saw a movie theater that showed the same movie every day of the year, Stairway to Heaven.  It was full of people every day.

We saw where the Congress conducts official business.  We ventured near the Casa Rosada the the Cathedral.  Because it was going to be important that we learn to venture out on our own, Javier abandoned us.  Ay Dios Mio!  We were given strict instructions to stay in groups of at least three people.  He suggested that we continue down the street, and five blocks later we would find restaurants.

We broke into our groups of three or four people and ventured on our way.  I was in a group with Dayra, Elise, and Maria.  We had lots of fun shopping!  There were plenty of matte bowls, and Dayra was able to find just the right ones at a good price.

Maria found a great knife for her dad.  The owner of the knife shop explained that the handle was from the horn of a bull (actually a cow).  So that the dairy cows do not get hurt, each year the horns are cut, and the next year they grow back. 

I was able to find a small leather notebook holder that included a calendar for 2014 that was in Spanish.  The front cover was red, and it included a map of South America.  I have been memorizing the countries in South America and where they are located on a map.  The red leather notebook holder was accurate!  There was also free engraving of the name.  My name is engraved on the back.  The artist burned the name onto the back with a tool.

We began hiking our way back hoping to meet another group.  We were 15 minutes late, and the others had already grown tired of waiting for us.  That is okay because we were late.

We continued on and went back to the hotel.  We arrived about 2:30.  Some people were going to Coto Market.  By this time, I was very hungry.  I thought about going someplace very close for lunch, but I realized that I did not feel safe going alone.  After going to the corner and taking a peek, I went back to the hotel and asked where I could find good pizza very close to the hotel.  The hotel restaurant!  I had a small mozzarella pizza for 48 pesos.  I ate the whole thing!  I think that I should not worry about the calories because I did so much walking with the group.  We had fun.  I have some pictures.

Time to rest up for tango lessons later today.

Before tango lessons, a small bus came to pick us all up.  Our teacher,

Dr. Celia Lopez-Chavez, was finally able to rejoin us.  She had been recuperating from her fall on the sidewalk near our hotel.  The sidewalks in Buenos Aires are not in good repair.  There are holes and spots where the sidewalk is not smooth and even.

It was very fun to see our teacher with her foot in a blue stretchy brace around her foot resting it on a footstool.  She was able to go with us to tango school because she had rested her injury for two days.  When she got x-rays, she was able to find out that no bones in her foot were broken.  Muy bien!  Her loving husband waited on her and got her ice at 3 a.m.  What a guy!

We also met the hermanas (sisters) of Dr. Lopez-Chavez.  Her sisters are Myriam and Sylia.  One is a Cancer born on July 2^nd (my birthday)!  The other is a Scorpio born on October 26^th (the day before my husband’s birthday).  I have an interest in astrology because I am an astrologer.

On the way to tango school, Senora told us about the history of the places we were passing.  She was eager to learn what we had been doing in her absence and what we had been learning about each of the streets and buildings that we had been passing.  The big street, Avenida de Nueve de Julio is very large.  It is so big that there are areas of cement in between so that you can get across without getting run over by a bus.  There is also a hotel that is very expensive at the end of the steet.  The name of the hotel begins with a C.  Tom explained that the rich people stay at this hotel and said that it is not safe to walk around near the hotel at night because people are out to rob the rich people. 

When we arrived at tango school, we waited downstairs till our lessons were to begin.  In one case behind glass were some very beautiful matte bowls.  I have pictures of them.  There were also record albums and record album covers depicting famous tango singers (pictures of these also).  I think that I also have pictures of what looked like silver knives on the bottom of the glass case that contained the matte bowls.

In another glass case there were tango shoes that looked very old.  These tango shoes were in many colors, and they looked as if they had been worn long ago (picture).

When the tango professionals were ready for the students, we climbed some stairs to arrive at our lessons (Thank goodness there was an elevator for Celia.  Her husband loves her, but I am not sure if he would be able to carry her up the stairs!)  LoL

The tango professionals were well-dressed.  The woman wore a black dress, and the man was elegantly dress in black and white.  He wore the special tango shoes, and I think that they were black and white.

Once they had given instructions about tango, the woman lined us up in rows and pointed to where she wanted us to line up.  Now it was really time for the fun!  Some of us looked like we knew what we were doing, and others looked like they did not know their left foot from their right!  I was one of those unlucky people.  Once I had done the cross-step and had the left foot crossing the right foot, I had no idea what to do next!  I was stuck.  That is okay, because I was having fun.

Each of us got an opportunity to dance with the handsome young men in our class, Cole and Spenser.  Cole was well-dressed in a pink shirt and white tie with black stripes.  Spenser looked very nice in his purple shirt.  It was very fun to dance with each of them because they are both very nice people.  Cole was much taller at 6 foot 3 inches.  Spenser was a little bit taller than I am.  My height is about 5 feet 3 inches. 

We also had an opportunity to dance with the dance with the tango professionals.  My problem was learning to relax and drop my very tense shoulders.  Before dancing, my partner had me relax the shoulders.  Also, the woman follows the lead of the man.  Obeying another man goes against my nature, but I realized that he was the professional and took his lead.  Also, moving from the upper body is important.  I was grateful that we were not learning the very close dancing that I had witnessed at the milonga with the old people.  I think that I should only be dancing that close with my husband!

Of course, since we were all beginners, it gave the professionals plenty of opportunity to make fun of us!  I think that I was a lost cause at times, but I was learning.  It takes me a few practices of each step to get better.  Tom Chavez danced with me and gave me pointers.  He was able to do a few brief steps with his wife before she needed to sit down and give her foot more rest.

It was also very fun watching Celia and Myriam, the sisters of Celia, learn to tango.  It looked like they were having lots of fun.  They were able to dance with Cole and Spenser.  Neither of them speak English, and it was an opportunity to practice our Espanol.  One of them is a psychologist for children with learning disabilities, and the other is a teacher.  I wanted to ask what the psychological diagnosis for our teacher would be.  I am afraid that muy loco en cabeza is not a diagnosis (just kidding!).

After about an hour, our class over.  Our fun was not over, as now was the time for the dinner and tango show!  We went downstairs and waited for our tables to be ready.  We were then shown to a very big room with tables that were elegantly set with lots of glasses for water.  There was a wonderful wine at the table (picture).  Of course, we did not have the wine because most of us are so young.

Our dinner was already paid for by the college.  Therefore, we could eat like little piggies and not worry about the price!  Hooray! 

We were allowed to pick which appetizer, main course, and dessert we would like (pictures).  I chose the onion soup with croutons as an appetizer.  My main course was pasta shell filled with ricotta cheese surrounding in a tomato sauce.  Dessert was crepes filled with ice cream and drizzled with caramel (another picture).  I think that I am writing a food blog because the title of my blog is Eat, Study, Tango.  I spent lots of time writing about the great food!  Anyway, the crepe is called warm pancake in Argentina.  Celia explained that the warm pancake is a crepe.  Thank goodness for her explanation because I love crepes!  The dessert was wonderful!  The soup was divine!  Now I am a food critic!

After talking with each other for awhile, it was time for the show!

The highlight of the tango show was the singing of Don’t Cry for me Argentina en Espanol.  The singer sounded like her voice was alto, and she was an older woman, perhaps in the sixties.  Her voice was great!  Behind her were actual movies of the real Evita Duarte Peron which were played behind the singer.  At the end of the song, ushers waved the Argentine flag right above our heads!

The gauchos who were singing were dressed in black and had quite the personalities!  They loved to joke with each other.  At one point, they played the theme song for the movie, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  The music had a western theme, and gauchos are the Argentian version of cowboys.

One of the gauchos had rather long hair, and he encourage the dancer with the baroletas to brush them near his long brown hair.  He did so.  It should be noted that the baroleta dancer was excellent.  His skill with the instruments was amazing because he could get them going so fast and it appeared that they would hit each other, but they did not!  He also had personality and flirted with women in the audience by winking his eye at them.

The tango dancers were amazing.  They were both young and old.  The movements could be slow and sexy or fast and precise.  They usually dressed in black and white costumes.

Our day was over, and we headed home in a huge bus.  Time for bed.