Buenos Aires - Day 4

The 22 hour marathon, 6 glasses of champagne each.

Lesson at 12. Eva worked on boleos. Whipping back boleo, she kicked maestro several times. She apologized and he said jokingly, “If you’re kicking me, then you’re doing it right. No worries, I’ll bring knee pads for lesson in ganchos tomorrow.” Mine was uneventful in that respect, I was good to maestro, no kicking. By the time we left the apartment it was 3pm… We never figured out how time flew by. No sooner would we wake up, and it would be time to get ready for milongas! And that's while on vacation!

We headed for Bar Uriarte in Palermo Viejo, Eva remembered it to be a great place to eat. It had a modern atmosphere, elegant, spacious. Then we saw the garden! Green and luscious with plants enveloping the walls around, it was like a little oasis, so relaxing, yet refreshing. What would be the perfect thing to go with this?? Champagne, of course.

As soon as we ordered, Eva started to make signs at me, discreetly pointing to someone sitting behind me. I couldn't turn around right away, but then I heard her whisper "William Dafoe!" and I had to see for myself. Sure enough, there he was - one of our favorite actors of all times and one of these men that seem to get hotter with age. Sitting casually at a table in the corner in the company of an unassuming looking girl, almost surely Argentine, who was feeding him spaghetti across the table and lovingly caressing his face. Gorgeous blue eyes and the sexiest smile... We tried our best not to stare and fought all urges to ask for a photo. He gave us a big smile as we walked past him on the way out. That made our day, at least so far! What also made us very happy was the food - it was excellent, as any other dining experience so far! Very tasty salads - mixed greens with beef and caramelized walnuts and dulce de leche crème brulee for dessert! Yummy!!! It doesn't get better than that! Until our next food indulgence that is.

As we were sitting at the restaurant and enjoying every second of it, we both realized we had only been here for three days and had not once thought of home and the life we used to live there. We had so easily adapted to the porteno life of dinning after 10pm, beginning to dance only after midnight and getting home as the birds start to chirp “Good Morning!”... If only this could be our normal lifestyle! Then we also realized how lucky we were to have found each other - we had similar tastes in everything - there wasn't a second during our trip when one would want to do something different from the other or would rather enjoy a different experience in whatever we were doing. We were so well tuned into each other's whims and desires... Here in turn is what I want to say to my dearest Eva - thank you, thank you, thank you! For the gift of sharing these amazing days and for being so wonderful, always!

After our lunch we shopped the boutiques in Palermo Viejo; yummy lingerie at Beleidades and Amor Latino. Wanted to get manicure and pedicure, but realized we ran out of time when our cute masseuse called and said he had already arrived at our place. On the way home, we stopped at the little wine store right across from our apartment building. Two bottles of champagne. One chilled and one to be chilled for later. Champagne in hand, we walked over to Sebastian waiting with his massage table. “Hola Sebastian… we are so ready for you!” As he was setting up, he proudly showed us a new massage oil he had brought. It had aromatic ingredients of some sort and real fruit (that you could actually see!) "I made myself!" he declared with a glaring smile. Oh boy... We looked at each other, but decided to be nice and go with it... It wasn't going to kill us after all, or let's hope not... That day's massage was actually particularly relaxing. Maybe the crazy dancing schedule was catching up to us and we were feeling a bit more tired, but whatever he did, he took this all off our shoulders (and feet - he did a great foot massage, thank you Sebastian!), we felt like brand new. I sat out on the balcony while Eva was showering, still in my towel, sipping champagne and listening to the early night city sounds (early night meaning 10-11pm) - the air was full of excitement and bliss. Time had stopped. In what world would we begin getting ready for dinner at that time of night without a care in the world, other than what to wear that night and which pair of shoes will go perfectly with it??

We had planned on dinner in Puerto Madero, but it grew late, so we decided to go straight to milonga. Tonight's choices: El Beso, Porteno Y Bailarin, La Viruta, Practica X. We ended up going to El Beso first. There was a beautiful lady with long black hair who sat at our table, who seemed to know everyone at the milonga. We were still not completely at ease with the cabeceo ritual. Just when I thought a man across from us gave me the cabeceo, it turned out it was for the woman at our table. Don't ask me how I found out. Eva did say it was a bad idea for us to stay at that table with her, so after I felt as embarrassed as could be, we decided to escape this spotlight and sat at the bar.

We got our champagne and quickly got into our usual bubbly mood. It seems that draws people like a magnet because in no time we were literally surrounded by men hovering about and competing who will catch our glance first. I first danced with this porteno who, as soon as he found out we had only been there for a few days, decided to act as a teacher (you know the type - yes, they are everywhere!). Ok, I heard what he had to say. But then I put an end to this and danced with a few lovely dancers. So did Eva. We didn't sit for a second. I will remember El Beso by what a very nice gentleman told me there, something that I had heard many times before, but that resonated with me on a whole different level that night - tango is not about steps, it's about the embrace, the emotion that two people share at that moment.

As I was dancing with different people, I was constantly aware of this handsome guy's stare. Dark skinned, slender, with hair pulled back in a long braid, incredibly intense eyes. By the manner he was sitting and scrutinizing the floor with a couple of other men, it seemed that he was a big shot dancer. I was drawn by his eyes - we didn't lose each other's sight for a long time. Wherever I was on the dance floor, I knew his eyes were following me. It was a beautiful thing... How powerful this play was, maybe more powerful than a direct interaction could have been... Maybe. I kept thinking what it would be like to dance with him. Well, I didn't find out. That tango god never came down from his pedestal to dance with a mortal. And I wasn't willing to hang out there forever to find out if that was going to happen.

We headed off to Porteno y Bailarin with a bunch of other people from the El Beso crowd, we were told Alberto Podesta, the living legend, was singing that night! The place was packed, of course. We fought the crowd and headed to the back salon to get a table. We were starving at that point as we had skipped dinner. It happened so that Alberto Podesta had just finished his set and headed over toward us as his table with his whole entourage was right next to ours. People followed to get photos and autographs. Eva happened to be right in his path. He looked at her and smiled and seemed to be expecting some words of praise. Eva didn't really know what to say or rather how to say it, so she kept saying Gracias! Gracias! He gave her a kiss on the cheek and said "No, gracias a vos!". I snapped a photo of them together, beautiful!

We ordered a few empanadas without having great expectations, but they turned out to be the best empanadas we had tasted so far! We had to scarf them down as men were gathering around our table - it was funny, we didn't even have time to eat. It was a great night of dancing. While Eva was dancing with a porteno, who was shorter than her (unusual being the petite girl that she is), she looked over and saw Eduardo, the taxi dancer she hired on her last trip. They greeted each other with a kiss and he told her he had the video that a whole tv crew from Germany took of them dancing then. He said he would call her to make arrangements the next day. She wasn't sure she even wanted to see her dancing back from those beginner days.

Eduardo danced a few tandas with Eva. He then asked me to dance. I was becoming slowly aware that the guy was putting the moves on me! He knew Eva was not interested in hiring him any more or going any further with their acquaintance. I was the next prey. He showed everything he was capable of on the dance floor. Since he was a really good dancer, I didn't mind going along for a while. It was fun, although challenging too, to follow all his fancy moves and steps. This was actually the only time that I did the whole spectrum of "performance tango steps"; we even gathered a crowd. The fact remains this was not the tango you would normally see at the milongas in BsAs, and thank God - as much as i was fascinated by that as a beginner, I now grew to know what tango is really about. So when he decided to use the heat of the moment to kiss me as we were dancing, I was pretty much done. What was he thinking?! After all, that initial blind beginner fascination was long gone. A real vulnerable time for every tanguera, where you're easily seduced by the skills of a good leader. Thank God! Slimy Eduardo!

Eva's pilot/Greek God found her again, it was cute to watch that scene all over again. Eva and I danced some more with a few locals but the night was winding down. We left at 4:30am. Back home, early morning bird songs in the background...