La Bomba and Private Tango Lessons

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Our internet has been down a lot this past week, so I'm pretty behind on this keeping people updated thing....

For the past week, my group of friends had heard again and again about La Bomba, a drum performance that happens at one of the cultural centers on Monday nights. With no real idea of what we were getting into, we grabbed a taxi on Monday night and headed over to check it out. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the crazy hippy drumfest that we saw. I'm sure you can get a feel for what it was like if you look up "La Bomba" on you-tube, but I certainly can't do it justice with a discription. I smelled pretty awful when I got home (if I had known what it was, I wouldn't have worn a sweater. To really fit in, I should have gotten a dreadlock mullet and failed to bathe for a week or two.) The music was amazing, though, and the thousand or so people dancing in the warehouse-like cultural center was an event worth repeating. We're planning on going back next week, a little better prepared for the event.

On Tuesday night, another girl in the group and I went with one of the guys to a place that offers tango lessons. We left during rush hour, and the taxi ride which should have lasted 10 minutes took more than half an hour. When we finally arrived, there was no sign, just a huge wooden door. You have to knock and say why you are there and a little old lady comes down to let you in....it's the sort of place that you only go to if you hear about it from someone else who knows. It turned out that the class that he had seen advertised in the special booklet had been changed, but they wanted to honor their word so they gave us a lesson anyway. For ten pesos each (that's around $3.33 in US dollars) we had a three person tango lesson. It was amazing!! I actually kind of know how to tango now. I can't wait to take another class. This guy was the real deal. I've never danced with a better lead.

Wednesday was Independence Day here, so the university was closed. We spent the day walking around the city with the host brother of two boys in our group. He's in his early thirties and was eager to act as tour guide. It was a lot of fun. We drank mate (the real way, in a circle on the steps of a university building in the south part of town) while playing the card game "chancho va" (which translates to "go pig!"). We ended the evening at a nice Argentine restaurant, where everyone else had the famous Argentine steak, and I had really good pasta.

Yesterday (and the rest of this morning after I finish this) was dedicated to working on my first real class project, a poster and presentation about Tierra del Fuego. Hopefully I can speak enough castellano to get my point across....

We're thinking of taking a boat over to Colonia, Uraguay tomorrow. The ride can take up to 3 hours on the slow boat, and I get pretty seasick if the water is rough. This could produce some entertaining stories. We'll see....

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Comments

[Mom]

sea sick?
Waiting to hear if you got sea sick on boat to Colonia? I am sure you have stories.