On se réveille un peu plus tard aujourd’hui, vers 8 h 30.
Je regarde tout de suite si j’ai une réponse de Sébastien. Oui, la conférence ici à San Juan l’intéresserait bien mais il n’en avait pas entendu parler. Il est occupé en ce moment. Il part pour Santiago du Chili aujourd’hui et a pas mal à faire là. Mais il va se renseigner sur le prix d’avion. Un peu plus tard, il m’envoie un autre mail, ce serait cher de venir et en plus il n’a pas le temps. Dommage.
Nous allons faire un tour en vélo. Il fait très beau et très chaud. Nous visitons des quartiers où nous ne sommes pas allés auparavant, tournons et retournons et arrivons dans le centre. C’est absolument mort, tout est fermé et pas un chat dans les rues. Les gens se remettent de plusieurs jours de Fiesta del Sol et dorment encore. Au fait, c’est la candidate de Rawson (un quartier au sud de San Juan) qui a été élue Reine. Je pense que vous serez heureux d’apprendre ça.
Nous prenons un jus d’orange à un des rares cafés ouvert et rentrons. Piscine, lunch et sieste. On dort tous les deux, la nuit précédente a été courte.
Puis travail et blog. Re-piscine.
Et la soirée s’approche ! Gerardo nous a invités ce soir au Club Sirio-Libanes à «una Milonga », une soirée de tango. Et dans le billet d’entrée est inclus une heure de cours de tango pour débutants, et Dieu sait si on l’est, débutant !
Gerardo nous a dit que le cours débute à 21 h. Nous y allons donc, à pied (Jens a peur qu’on nous vole les vélos) pour 21 h. Le Club est un grand et beau ancien bâtiment dans le style arabo-musulman, genre Alhambra. Les membres sont des gens riches, mais l’association de tango y loue une salle et c’est ouvert à tous.
A 9 h, on y est donc. C’est encore fermé et le portier nous dit que cela commencera à 10 h. Nous allons donc nous assoir à un petit café populaire dans une cour. Nous prenons deux Sprite et un sandwich que nous partageons pour 30 pesos (50 kr ou 6 €). Tous les autres clients sont des familles avec de jeunes enfants.
A 10 h, on y retourne.
Nous payons 30 pesos pour nous deux pour rentrer. Moi qui pensais que cela allait être cher !
Nous sommes une dizaine de personnes, la majorité des femmes. Le prof est un homme « enveloppé » comme aurait dit Obélix mais qui se déplace avec beaucoup de grâce. Nous apprenons à marcher, façon tango, en avant et en arrière. On doit presque glisser, le haut du corps immobile. On pratique en rond. Puis on apprend à suivre le rythme : 2 pas longs et lents, 3 pas plus courts et plus rapides. Puis une figure pour l’homme qui avance et une figure pour la femme qui recule. Là ça se complique un peu.
Gerardo et Jessica arrivent et il prend des photos de nous ! Je regarde mes pieds fixement et ardemment ! Mais Gerardo, sympa, me dit que tout le monde le fait au début.
Les débutants cèdent le plancher aux plus avancés. Les couples (une vingtaine) sont de tous les âges. Un couple a bien dans les 75 ans. Certains dansent calmement et d’autres font plus de figures compliquées. Gerardo et Jessica sont dans une classe à part. Ils dansent vraiment bien. Ils sont si coordonnés, font des figures compliquées sans effort apparents. Ils sont très élégants tous les deux. A un moment Walter (notre prof) annonce que certaines personnes ont leur anniversaire. Alors, tous le monde a le droit de danser avec elles. Par exemple, une femme a son anniversaire. Son cavalier attitré commence à danser avec elle, puis un autre homme s’approche et le premier cavalier se retire et la femme danse avec un nouveau cavalier. Puis elle change encore. Ainsi, Gerardo va danser avec une femme anglaise qui a son anniversaire. Elle danse bien (mais pas si bien que Jessica !), elle a du pratiquer pas mal.
Nous consommons un petit plateau de fromage et partageons une bière. C’est un plaisir de regarder les gens danser.
A 1 h du matin nous partons, après avoir beaucoup remercié Gerardo et Jessica de nous avoir permis de venir.
Nous commençons à marcher et, à un feu rouge, un taxi nous fait un signe. Oui, nous le prenons. Il nous raconte que l’Argentine irait beaucoup mieux s’il n’y avait pas tous ces étrangers Péruviens, Boliviens etc … qui envahissent le pays et apportent avec eux tous les problèmes de drogue et criminalité. On entend le même genre d’histoire ici qu’ailleurs.
We wake up a little later than usual today, 8:30 am.
I go to look at my mail to see if I have an answer from Sebastian. Yes, the conference here in San Juan would be interesting for him, but he had not heard about it earlier. He is busy right now. He leaves today for Santiago de Chile and has a lot to do there. But he'll look the air fares. A little later he sends me another email, it would be too expensive to come over and he does not have the time. Too bad.
We go on a bike tour. It is very beautiful and very hot today. We visit neighborhoods where we have not been before, and turn and turn and come finally to downtown. It is absolutely dead, everything is closed and not a soul in the streets. People are recovering from several days of Fiesta del Sol and are still asleep, I suppose. By the way, it is the candidate of Rawson (an area south of San Juan) who was elected Queen. I think you'll be pleased to know that.
We take an orange juice at one of the few open cafes and returned. Pool, lunch and nap. We sleep both of us, the night before was short.
Then work and blog and pool again.
And the evening is approaching! Gerardo invited us tonight at Club Sirio-Libanes to "una Milonga", an evening of tango. And in the entrance ticket is included one hour tango classes for beginners, and God knows that it is what we are!
Gerardo told us that the course starts at 9 pm. So we walk there (Jens was afraid somebody would steal our bikes) for 9 pm. The Club is a large and beautiful old building in the Arab-Muslim style, a little like the Alhambra. Members are wealthy people, but the tango association rents a room and it is open to all.
At 9 pm, we are there. It is still closed and the doorman says it begins at 10 pm. So we sit at a popular cafe in a small courtyard near Libertador San Martin. We take two Sprite and we share a sandwich for 30 pesos (50 kr or 6 €). All the other customers are families with young children.
At 10 pm, we go back.
We pay 30 pesos for both of us to come in. I thought that it would be much more expensive!
We are about a dozen people, the majority of women. The teacher is a "corpulent" man as Obelix would have said but he moves with grace and elegance. We learn to walk, tango style, forward and backward. You have to almost drag on the floor, the upper body not moving much. One practice in a big circle. Then you learn to follow the rythme: 2 long steps, slow, and 3 shorter and faster steps. Then a figure for the man who advances and a figure for the woman who moves backward. Here it gets a bit more complicated.
Gerardo and Jessica arrive and he takes pictures of us! I am looking at my feet firmly and constantly ! But Gerardo, as a nice man, told me that everyone does that at first.
We, the beginners, give the floor to more advanced couples (twenty), they are of all ages. A couple is in their seventies. Some dance calmly and others make more complicated figures. Gerardo and Jessica are in a class by themselves. They dance really well. They are coordinated, make complicated figures without apparent effort. They are both very elegant. At one point Walter (our teacher) said that some people have their birthday. So everybody has the right to dance with them. For example, a woman has her birthday. Her patner begins to dance with her, then another man comes up and the first man withdraws and the woman dances with a new partner. Then it changes again. Thus, Gerardo goes dancing with an English woman who has her birthday. She dances well (but not as well as Jessica!), She must have had a lot of training.
We consume a small cheese plate and share a beer. It is a pleasure to watch people dance.
At 1 am we leave, after thanking Gerardo and Jessica for allowing us to come.
We start to walk home and, at a red light, a taxi makes a sign to us. Yes, we take it. He tells us that Argentina would be a much better place to live if there were not all these foreigners, Peruvians, Bolivians and so on ... that invade the country and bring with them all the problems of drugs and crime. We hear the same kind of story everywhere.
I go to look at my mail to see if I have an answer from Sebastian. Yes, the conference here in San Juan would be interesting for him, but he had not heard about it earlier. He is busy right now. He leaves today for Santiago de Chile and has a lot to do there. But he'll look the air fares. A little later he sends me another email, it would be too expensive to come over and he does not have the time. Too bad.
We go on a bike tour. It is very beautiful and very hot today. We visit neighborhoods where we have not been before, and turn and turn and come finally to downtown. It is absolutely dead, everything is closed and not a soul in the streets. People are recovering from several days of Fiesta del Sol and are still asleep, I suppose. By the way, it is the candidate of Rawson (an area south of San Juan) who was elected Queen. I think you'll be pleased to know that.
We take an orange juice at one of the few open cafes and returned. Pool, lunch and nap. We sleep both of us, the night before was short.
Then work and blog and pool again.
And the evening is approaching! Gerardo invited us tonight at Club Sirio-Libanes to "una Milonga", an evening of tango. And in the entrance ticket is included one hour tango classes for beginners, and God knows that it is what we are!
Gerardo told us that the course starts at 9 pm. So we walk there (Jens was afraid somebody would steal our bikes) for 9 pm. The Club is a large and beautiful old building in the Arab-Muslim style, a little like the Alhambra. Members are wealthy people, but the tango association rents a room and it is open to all.
At 9 pm, we are there. It is still closed and the doorman says it begins at 10 pm. So we sit at a popular cafe in a small courtyard near Libertador San Martin. We take two Sprite and we share a sandwich for 30 pesos (50 kr or 6 €). All the other customers are families with young children.
At 10 pm, we go back.
We pay 30 pesos for both of us to come in. I thought that it would be much more expensive!
We are about a dozen people, the majority of women. The teacher is a "corpulent" man as Obelix would have said but he moves with grace and elegance. We learn to walk, tango style, forward and backward. You have to almost drag on the floor, the upper body not moving much. One practice in a big circle. Then you learn to follow the rythme: 2 long steps, slow, and 3 shorter and faster steps. Then a figure for the man who advances and a figure for the woman who moves backward. Here it gets a bit more complicated.
Gerardo and Jessica arrive and he takes pictures of us! I am looking at my feet firmly and constantly ! But Gerardo, as a nice man, told me that everyone does that at first.
We, the beginners, give the floor to more advanced couples (twenty), they are of all ages. A couple is in their seventies. Some dance calmly and others make more complicated figures. Gerardo and Jessica are in a class by themselves. They dance really well. They are coordinated, make complicated figures without apparent effort. They are both very elegant. At one point Walter (our teacher) said that some people have their birthday. So everybody has the right to dance with them. For example, a woman has her birthday. Her patner begins to dance with her, then another man comes up and the first man withdraws and the woman dances with a new partner. Then it changes again. Thus, Gerardo goes dancing with an English woman who has her birthday. She dances well (but not as well as Jessica!), She must have had a lot of training.
We consume a small cheese plate and share a beer. It is a pleasure to watch people dance.
At 1 am we leave, after thanking Gerardo and Jessica for allowing us to come.
We start to walk home and, at a red light, a taxi makes a sign to us. Yes, we take it. He tells us that Argentina would be a much better place to live if there were not all these foreigners, Peruvians, Bolivians and so on ... that invade the country and bring with them all the problems of drugs and crime. We hear the same kind of story everywhere.
La petite note que j'ai écrite pour qu'on ne touche pas à la moustiquaire
The little not I wrote to protect the mosquitoe net
Un monument marquant la fondation de la ville en 1564
A monument marking the city foundation in 1564
Le Club Sirio-Libanes
Les débutants
The beginners
Jens, Gerardo, Jessica
On s'entraine
We are training
Gerardo, Jessica
Gerardo, Jessica
Gerardo, Jessica
Jeannette, Gerardo
Gerardo, Jessica
Les danseurs
The dancers
Hibiscus du dimanche
Sunday hibiscus
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