SLO Tango -- diario # 5

[Beth Sweetwater]

hola chicos y chicas,  today I am suffering from heat!  Isn´t it how it goes!  Actually, the weather has been pretty nice, but Sunday and today are in the 90´s.  I think I have a bit of a cold, but everyone here says I am just suffering with what everyone suffers from...the dryness...it´s a bit like California where everyone starts to have allergies, especially in the valleys.  So, very soon I am heading home to nap and stay in bed for the rest of the day.
  Also, my feet are needing a rest with all the walking and dancing, the have been screaming lately.  
  Time is going by quickly.  I wish I could stay more time because to really catch on to all the chatting you have to just be living it everyday.  I can get the gist of most things and sometimes miss details that are worthy of knowing.  
  There has been an official ban for smoking inside buildings for a year, then they laxed a bit to say at a later time at night there could be smoking, but now they are back to the stricter version.  There is still an enormous amount of people who smoke here, and many who don´t have a clue about the people who don´t smoke.  
  I now see an average of 5 fender benders per week. It is a real mess with the cars and who has the  right of way.  At first, I wondered how it was that they never had collisions, but now I see that they do.  It is kind of like the game of chicken with some people. About 4 people that I know have had fender benders in the past 2 weeks.
  I started a lolklorico class on Mondays.  We are learning the Chacarrea, Gato, and Zamba.  I hope I learn it well enough because it would be fun to do at our milongas at least some of the time.  They are really very flirty dances and fun to do.
    I am still working on my balance which has greatly improved in my yoga, but not as well for tango with my tacos (high heels) I have been complemented on my dancing because I have good rhythm, but I am a little tipsy. That is the emphasis for my lessons.  The well marked steps are not that hard as the equilibrium for me.  I just keep on counting the small successes.
  The end of next week I am going up north again.  My friend´s mother is having her 82 birthday.  I then will go to Salta and Juijuy for the week and return through the valley and be back for the following weeks classes. I am meeting up with my friend there, and if he is not too busy I am going to learn or try to learn to sing some of the folklorico.  It is hard enough to communicate with people you know, but just add another culture, language, distance, gender and you really have an adventure!  
  This is definitely the weather to be outside, eat ice cream and go to the parks and plazas.  This weekend I am thinking of going on a wine tour, Saturday night there is an asado, and Sunday it is the day my friend and I go out.  I have been doing some wine tasting and decided to join a wine club.  I will receive wines that are only available in Argentina (Mendoza emphasis).  There are 4 shipments per year and I can stop at any time. I am doing this because to ship wines to the US in the mail is very expensive.  I am looking for someone who will practice with me one time per week for an hour.  I offer them a sharing of Argentine wine for the trouble.
  The other day I tasted a Torrentes, which is a white wine famous in the north.  I decided to please my friends from the north.  The wine is from Salta and the name was Jean Mounier.
  It had a real beautiful floral aroma, but it was dry to the taste.  In, fact, it was wonderful and I was really delightfully surprised. Normally, I am a malbec fan, but this was a very nice change and great with cheese or fruit. But all in all, three tastes and I am done for.  Just too weak in the blood for much more alcohol.    However, the wine tour is out of town and includes lunch thank goodness!
  Inflation is bad here. Now, vegetables cost as much as meat. People are mad and there have been various striked from different groups. The election for a new president is Sunday,October 28, and is obligatory to vote.  Imagine everyone voting and on a day that they are not rushing to work. I am leaving the very next day, so I am sorry to miss what will follow.
  I have been drinking yeba mate in the mornings. One time I had some in the states and almost had a heart attack I was so buzzed.  But here I haven´t had a problem.  I bought some with orange peel and it is mild and no need to add anything sweet.  You drink it in a special cup, the mate, with a metal straw, bombilla, and often share it with friends.  Before one of my classes, the group of the day sits around in a circle an drinks mate before the class starts.  It is a very powerful ritual in Argentina, Uruguay, and I think in part of Bolivia. In the different provinces, they drink it differently, from really bitter to really sweet. And I can tell you both of those extremes are extreme in taste.  
  Well, I see from emails that SLO tango is anything but slow.  Hope you enjoy yourselves, and I will join you in November.  
  Besos, Beth

       
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