BACK IN TIME!

Can't believe I haven't written about this yet! BUT THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP SO FAR - TANGO!!

It has been about 3 weeks since I've been here and I hadn't danced tango yet... that's like a crack addict quitting cold turkey or Cournal Sanders eating vegetables. The time had FINALLY come though. It was a Friday night and half of the group was set on going out to a boliche located on the coast, the other half was sick, and I felt like changing it up a bit/couldn't stand not tango-ing yet. During our weekly "family" dinner Laura mentioned that she wasn't really up for a boliche either so we agreed to make a trip out to Viruta - a local place that was recommended by a local Argentinian that attended the same ballroom studio as me and by the dance teacher from the University.


IT WAS BETTER THAN I EVER EXPECTED!
Literally, it was like walking back in time/into a movie. The building was not a restaurant by any means (more like a government building than anything), but we walked into the basement, and we immediately realized we were the only Americans there. At least 200 people filled the room: about 75 sitting in chairs and oldish/cheap looking tables and everyone else was on the floor. The majority of the crowd was over 30 and many people were in their 70's or 80's -- but these were the best dancers! I couldn't stop watching them because they knew how to tango.. not just the steps but the attitude and the feelings behind it.

Tango is so much different than other dances. It's not a show, it's not flirting, it's just you and the other person (all the while requiring a lot of floor craft!).We  just had to watch for 20 minutes..

We eventually decided to try it out though. Think we caught on pretty fast! Having a floor filled with that many people definitely creates an atmosphere -- there's so many people it's almost as if there aren't any there at all.. if that makes sense??

After about 45min-1hr of open tango dancing (there are different types of Argentine tango by the way, which I never knew -- I have some learning to do!) they had a mini competition! After that they actually started to play a mix of salsa and rock music. Finally something we were a little more familiar with!! Laura danced salsa back in the states so we ended the night with some underground latin dancing.

At the start of the night, it was raining and after walking 15 blocks to get to Viruta we were completely soaked. We dried off a bit but then got covered in sweat. When we left it was still raining so why not?! Another shower -- it felt great though, one activity checked off the bucket list and countless more to come!!

The tango video won't upload but you can see it HERE!

Melissa and Leah are visiting this Sunday and we'll be heading to Mendoza for the 2nd bucket list item -- wine tasting! And lots of it.