Friday, March 03, 2006

Last Weekend in BA

Today starts the last weekend in the city, before heading back to the States. It's starting out with something I haven't really experienced first hand here in Argentina (outside of the busride from Mendoza): it's damned rainy.

I am absolutely soaked.

I have this little travel umbrella. Sounds great, right? The key is travel umbrella; in heavy rain it covers my head, and the top of my shoulders - not all the way to the ends, mind you - and about three inches below that.[1] Walking the last ten blocks in this fashion was not the brightest idea I've had all week.

Still, it hasn't been a bad day. I had one of my last tango lessons (one more on monday). It went pretty well, actually. The last two have dealt with the milonga style of tango. This is a much faster paced dance, in terms of the tempo. It often results in stopping and shifting weight in place, as milongas are usually very crowded. The last two classes covering this subject pretty much involved exercises consisting of taking a step, and closing, taking a step and then closing. The step could be taken in any direction (forward, backward, side-left, side-right, and cross-diagonals), with either foot. The weight is shifted for the desired foot at those closes. Now, one doesn't have to stop and weight all the time, it was just a very useful exercise.

I'm trying to see a movie this afternoon, just to wait out the rain. I've a ticket to see Munich. The movie schedules seem to be a bit odd, as the film is not at the same time as the previous day. Maybe it's because it's friday, maybe because it's Argentina. So I have to kill a little time, here.

My plans for the rest of the weekend (hopefully tonight, as well - I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather) is to go to various milongas. There is one tonight at Confiteria Ideal. Another one outdoors as part of the festival. The third, on Sunday, is outside in the Plaza Dorrego. I've heard that the Sunday one is really laid back. I'm looking forward to that one.

The instructors seem to think I've improved somewhat, which is good. Hopefully this means I will get out and dance a bit more...we'll see.

[1] How's that for a sentence. It has probably too much (incorrect) punctuation for its own good.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, no! Your last weekend already? I've been enjoying your travel blog here quite a bit. (And I whined that you left in the first place! Can't please some people, can you?)

Oh, yeah--and please bring me back a small rock, if you get this message in time.

--LS