Tango lessons, shoe shopping and Milongas

After my high of yesterday, I woke up at 8am. I have a lesson scheduled with Luis at 9:30. I have enough time to go upstairs, talk to Tota, the housekeeper and eat my breakfast. The lesson was wonderful. Luis was a great teacher. We went over the basics today – posture, the tango walk, weight changes and the cortaro. Even though I have done this before, he brought out some good points for me to improve on these areas. And as Paula (another tanguera from Little Rock who was here just last week) warned me, I did get to hear my first “do not anticipate” lecture from Luis. Women follow the man’s lead and is not supposed to take any steps (other than adorning the steps that they have been led to) At any point of time, we women have no idea what the next step will be – there are no figures here and we just have to wait and feel the lead and yes – not anticipate what the next move will be.

After my lesson with Luis, Federico (Maria’s son) escorted me to Escuela de Tango where there was a group class for techniches and adornment for women. There were just three others in the class. A couple from Brazil, and a man from Paris. I learned a couple of adornments and practiced some more dancing.

After class, I went window shopping on Florida street, a famous pedestrian strip for shopping. (Picture)I made my pilgrimage to Zara – my favorite store. As my friend Jeff puts it, there has not been any city that I have been to that has a Zara store and I not visit it. Then I met Federico again at 2:00pm outside La Ideal. I have shoe shopping on my agenda and Federico volunteered to be my translator and guide. Yes, for all you people who have shopped with me and know what a pain I am when it comes to shopping, you can feel sorry for him. He had no idea what he was getting into. After 2 hours at four tango shoes stores, I still had not bought shoes. I think ever since I say Herna’s Comme il faut shoes, nothing comes close in comparison. They are expensive – but oh so gorgeous and excellent craftsmanship. I mentioned that to Federico, who offered to go there as well that afternoon (it is in a different neighbourhood). We walked 12 blocks to get there only to find that it was closed. So we headed home. Again, we decided to walk. We had barely started (and I was told it would be 12 blocks to home) it started raining. Not drizziling – but raining – a downpour that got us soaking wet in less than 2 minutes. There were no taxis available, and since we were wet anyways Federico said we could walk in the rain. Later he told me he lied to me… the house was not 12, but 20 blocks away. And in the pouring rain, I walked all that distance. It reminded me of my college days in Bombay where during the monsoons my friends and I would take a walk in the pouring rain at Marine Drive, by the sea shore and get soaking wet and then end the walk with roasted corn on the cob. I mentioned this to Federico, and after we got home, he went to the store next door and bought some corn. So sure enough, we grilled the corn and ate them, Indian style. That hit the spot.

Soon, it was time for Milonga. There are 3 guests from France who arrived today and Nora (Maria’s friend) escorted us to a Milonga at Buen Porteno. The place was beautiful, the dance floor fabulous, but there were not too many people. Maybe the rains kept people inside. I danced some, but danced terribly. So much for my glory the night before. My theory still holds true. I dance bad with people I can’t communicate with. At the Milonga, I met Miguel who knew Nora and sat with our group. I danced with him, and found out he was from Munich – Suddenly I started remembering my German and talked with him in German. It had been so long speaking to someone from that country in their language. It was great. I could talk, and understand him. That was the best dance I had that far in the evening. Sometime later that evening around 9:30pm, Nora and the French people left. I was actually surprised that I was not asked if I wanted to join them home or wherever they were heading. I thought that to be quite rude considering I come with them – Especially after hos hospitable and friendly Bert and Herna had been last night – this group was very distant and well uncaring – or so is the conclusion I have come to draw. Miguel was nice enough to say he would make sure I get home safely. He was an acquaintance of Maria and a really nice person who I knew I could trust so I was fine. We decided to go to another Milonga. Called El Beso. We reached there by 10:45pm and it had just begun. It was not too crowded to start with, but in one hour, there was no room to dance.

I danced much better at this Milonga than I did at Buen Porteno. I don’t know why. Since I danced better, I felt better and eventually had a great time. I bumped into David, my Australian friend from yesterday at the Milonga and we danced some tandas together. I can’t count how many people I danced with – some from Buenos Aires, others from Switzerland, Germany and France. Finally at 2am, my feet started hurting and I was ready to call it a night. Miguel, as he promised, dropped me off at the casa. Now I can relax, unwind and sleep. Maybe tomorrow I will treat myself to a pedicure. But first, I will be making a trip to San Telmo where they have a local market every Sunday which promises to be good. David said he was going there tomorrow as well, so I will meet him there and shop for souvenirs.