July 26, 2008: The fundamental eight
Catching some sleep was not only tough because of my roommate but also because I was worried about finding a place for the night. At 9:30 I started to get ready and hopped online only to find all hostels full. Sara had mentioned a short list of other non-HI hostels so I decided to grab breakfast, check in for day activities with HI and check how much space was left at our hostel as a fallback all before waking Sara up to give her the news. We found space on the last one on her list but I decided to stay at the same place since Javi (the guy who manages Casa Babylon) mentioned I’d be moving rooms to one with only 4 beds.
With that set, I needed to withdraw cash and Sara had to exchange money so we walked down to Santa Fe street, got the moola and then parted ways. I headed to the HI hostel to try and sign up for a bike tour and set up other arrangements. It turned out too late for the bike tour and, as far as destinations, I was hoping to visit Salta but the hostel was booked for the next night and Iguazu and Bariloche were too far out of the way so Mendoza won by default. The AR$168 bus (semi-bed seat, cause all full beds were booked) would leave at 7:15pm and travel overnight arriving at 9am saving me the trouble of a hostel for Saturday night. I spent a good couple of hours booking everything and then learned there were no morning bike tours on Saturdays so I’d just rent a bike and do my own thing.
I headed back to the hostel where I napped for a bit and then checked on what was going on that night. Ismael, Carlos and Dante were going to celebrate the end of the course with their classmates over drinks at a tango night so they extended the invitation, which I gladly accepted. We walked looking for the place and it ended up being a space called La Viruta, in what is essentially the basement of the Armenian Institute, on Armenia street, across from the Armenian Embassy (or consulate?) - an odd locale for tango night, we thought. We went downstairs and ended up at a pretty large place with a small stage, and a large open area for dancing in the middle surrounded by tables. AR$13 later, we met up with up with a bunch of their classmates and chatted for a bit when the lessons started.
Everyone got split up based on their Tango skills so, obviously, most of us ended up in the beginners group. Ismael had commented about us being a bunch of guys and I thought there’s no way that could be an issue when it comes to dancing lessons and, sure enough, it was easily a 3:1 girl to guy ratio. The group got divided by gender, forming two long lines in parallel facing each other with the instructor going over the fundamental eight moves of tango. We then got randomly paired up and got to practice for about 10 minutes. My first partner was Argentine and was there with an English girlfriend she hooked up with Ismael. She also liked to lead a little bit which can always be uncomfortable but it was a fun first practice. We then got split up again, went over the steps and a small variation and then had to pair up with someone who hadn’t danced before so I ended up with a lady in her 40’s who had missed the lesson and wanted me to teach her (as if I had been paying attention to the women’s steps). Needless to say she eventually asked the instructor who adamantly asked her to join the introductory group who was still going over the basics. After a few minutes we got paired up again and my final partner was fortunately the best at helping us learn and practice.
Following the lesson was dancing with the pros taking the floor while we watched. The music started with modern electro-tango but quickly shifted to classic tango. We gathered back at the table to enjoy more drinks and food and eventually ended up back in the dance floor when things shifted over to salsa, rumba, samba, cumbia and merengue. Around midnight we noticed a band setting up on stage and, lucky for us, we were just the second table from the front because they proceeded to treat us to a fantastic performance of tango music. The band, formed by a pianist, tall bass, guitar, two violins and two accordions was then joined by a female singer for a few of the songs. This was probably the highlight of my trip so far; considering not 4 hours before I had no plans for the evening and was looking forwarding to an early night since I’d be biking in the morning.
Ismael and I walked to the hostel and I thanked him for the invite, mentioning it was a night I will never forget. It was now 4am but I was as happy as a kid on Christmas day.