Veggies, violins and vicious tangueros

Tuesday, July 17th

Ahhh. Much better. It’s 13:00 here, almost lunchtime and I just ate. I feel much better as today was the earliest day I awoke (9:00) and I was getting HUNGRY! I decided it would be worth my trek to check out this vegetarian place, Lotos. It really was worth my sore toes getting sorer. It’s a totally vegetarian restaurant (run by Taiwanese… thank you for making something healthy!) with an organic food market in the basement (THE BEST BREAD EVER… I’m headed down to get more after this.) It’s served cafeteria style. You take your tray and tell them what you want. I got seitan and vegetables, bread, apple dessert and water (with bubbles…by accident, but I like it… look at me! I’m turning into a crazy bubble drinker:)) all for about $6. Buenos Aires is great!

The reason I got up so unusually early today is because I had my first violin tango lesson with Mauricio Marcelli. He’s pretty famous but charges a lot. He gave (ha. sold) me a book of tango exercises and tango arrangements by him. It was an awesome lesson. I learned a TON about the style and it was great playing. He played the guitar or second violin part with me and I think he enjoyed it a bit too as I’m not his average student. Anyway, I didn’t speak much but I understood 90% of what he was saying. I think that’s pretty good. I was very happy to realize that sometimes I translated quickly and sometimes I didn’t even translate but knew. To get fluent in a language takes years but I’m at least starting out right. I asked him about the possibility of applying for a Fulbright and coming back. Would I have enough to work on? He said there are at least 4 major styles and two options of playing at the Escuela de Tango (he’d recommend me) or studying further out with him at a different school. We’ll see how the rest of my lessons go. At least now I have some music to practice (besides Don Juan ;)) I’ve decided to have one more follow-up lesson with him and he’s going to try and bring a guitarist. That’d be excellent!

I was supposed to have a lesson with Alejandro but just had to miss it. I was exhausted, had a terrible headache and needed a nap. The nap definitely helped.

Later that evening I met up with Ilene at a shoe shop to look for some awesome tango shoes. They are completely awesome, that’s for sure! We then joined back up later at a Milonga near Avenida Florida. It was great and I looked appropriate for it… but too appropriate. I looked good enough to be a good dancer. Which I am not. I barely know what I’m doing!! Ahhhh. It was terrible. I had to keep my eyes glued to the ground so no one would ask me. Finally, towards the end of the night after watching many experts I decided to give it a try. How am I supposed to get good if I never start? So I made eye contact and danced with this guy with a pink shirt. I was really awkward and just closed my eyes while dancing trying desperately to relax and just feel the direction I was being led. I knew too little for it to help though. After the song finished the guy said thank you and quickly left. I had to embarrassingly walk back to my table after only one tango. Usually they are played in groups of 3 or 4. You only leave in the middle of a set if the dancing is bad or it is a mutual agreement. I definitely screwed that one up. I left feeling even more shy about learning the dance. It was fun to watch but hard too because I hate not being a part of the action. I’m going to figure this out before I leave BA and that’s a pact.