It helped that the teacher was Pablo, one of Margaret's favourites and I see why. He's an excellent lead and picky on technique (in a good way), not to mention easy on the eyes! I managed to follow him and the other men in the class and felt great. THAT's how it's supposed to go, where I can close my eyes and relax and listen to the music. I even got taught a few new kicks and turns that made it even more fun. I still have lots to learn but I finished this session with a smile.
Margaret and I had dinner in San Telmo since she'd stayed there when she first arrived and knew of a good restaurant. We met at 20:30 at Origen. That's early for Argentina but apparently not for that restaurant. We managed to sneak in our order before the kitchen closed and we had to be done eating by 21h. Odd, but it was SO good that we didn't mind.
That gave us more time to go and check out the carnavale festivities I'd heard we're happening nearby on San Juan.
The 'before' shot:
We wandered through the crowds to get a view of the bands and got 'snowed' several times. It turns out you can't just watch the performers, you have to participate in the shenanigans! It boiled down to "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
In many spots there were people selling cans of spray snow, 1 for 10$, 2 for 18$. I have no idea what is really in the cans but it's odourless, not slimy and Margaret confirmed that it doesn't taste like much. In any case, these aerosol cans can't be good for the environment. We tried to ignore that fact and bought five cans between the two of us.
We began slowly, only retaliating when attacked. That strategy changed in short order and we too began attacking unprovoked. Our main opponents were groups of teenaged boys. Occasionally 'big kids' (adults if you will) and very young children would point their cans at us and spray too. Everyone had a mischievous grin and without fail, whenever I would burst out laughing I'd get a burst of the snow in my face. Bad form boys and girls! Argh!
By the end of the evening my eyes were so raw from the foam and my cheeks were sore from laughing. There's nothing like bonding with the locals while acting like a child and wreaking havoc waging a snow-in-a-can war! That's the stuff memories are made of!!!
We were quite the sight when we showed up at the hotel!
The 'after' shot:
Despite our alarming appearance, Mariano let us in and even got us some towels to dry off. We sat in the courtyard and he poured us the first of a couple of glasses of wine. We had a nice time just hanging out and both Margaret and I commented on how much fun we'd had. All good!
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