Tapas y Salsa

Another night out in Madrid. Thursday night we went out and had some tapas with some people from our school. The majority of the kids there were from BC, so they all knew each other. We got to know some of them as well as other students from other countries, like Eugenio from Amsterdam, Maria from Hamburg, and another girl from Germany whose name escapes me. I also met the BC professor who is from Segovia, and married to a Cuban man. We bonded over our common Cuban-ness. After lots of tapas a many cups of sangria we headed out to find some other place. It was 10:30 by then, and things don´t get started in Madrid until about 1 or 2 in the morning so we weren´t having too much luck. One person told us about this place called El Son (Havana Club) where they play lots of Latin music. Our resident Texan Michelle is a salsa instructor at the high school she works at, and so she also wanted to dance salsa. Not sure where we were going, Michelle asked some guys about where it was. After some discussion the young one, named Alvaro, decided that he wanted to see Michelle dance salsa ("¿Una americana bailando salsa? ¡No lo creo!"). The other two men, Julio y Geraldo, tagged along probably out of boredem. They were a bit older than us, and by a bit I mean at LEAST 15 years, so I think they just came along for a good time and because their young friend was having fun with us. Alvaro, who is 26, took an instant liking to Michelle and practically attached himself to her.

Before going to the salsa club and noticing that they party hadn´t started just yet, they took us out for some food and drink. Since we already had some tapas, we didn´t eat much but had some more sangria. Also, they ordered oreja de cerdo (pigs ear......ew) so I wasn´t too excited for the food. After some interesting conversations, which involved drawing maps of the US and of Spain as well as making fun of my accent ("suenas como una cubana!!! oooooooooooooooooye!") and making fun of the America´s accent, we went back to the club and danced some salsa. Us girls didn´t particularly want to stay with these men, so we had to find a way to ditch them. We decided we´d dance a bit and tell them we wanted to go home. So, I danced with this one guy who works at the salsa club and he taught me some sweet dance moves (if only I could remember them). Then it was time to evacuate. We told them we wanted to go home. Sounded like a good idea at the time to get on our know way, but it wasn´t. One had a car and wanted to drive us all home, while the other headed in the same direction as Tema and I so we´d have to get on the metro with him. All we really wanted was for them to leave so we could find some other place to go, without them. After a 10 minute discussion about how to get everyone home, we said our goodbye Spanish style (a kiss on each cheek rather than one like the Cubans do) and were invited to a BBQ they were having this weekend (too bad we´re in Toledo all day ;] ). They weren´t that bad of guys, we just didn´t want to hang out with them the whole night, specially when the age difference is so great. In the end, it was actually quite an experience. At least I got to practice my Spanish. It was interesting to see how friendly and out going they are with just anyone. Apparently all Spanish are that way (except for los Vascos, or so I have been told....haha).

Eso es todo por ahora. Esta noche voy a salir con unas amigos. Queremos comer paella. Mañana voy estar en Toledo el día entero. Super guay.

Vale, hasta luego!