Salsa Groovin'

Last night I went out with a few friends to a salsa bar in Antigua.  My friend Ron has some killer salsa moves, and it is always fun to dance with him to improve and learn new steps.  And by always, I mean the two times I have gone out dancing with him.

We first started as a group of five, a couple and another girl I had never met before were with us.  However, the couple decided to leave when they realized their was a 10Q cover.  It sounds cheap--it equals $1.25--but when you are dealing with quetzales, you begin to think like a native, and 10Q can buy you a full meal at the market.  They hadn't taken salsa classes yet, so didn't want to spend the money when they didn't know what they were doing.

In the end it was two girls and one boy, so we had to trade him off between songs.  Lucky guy, huh?  I did not mind at all, even though it meant I sometimes sat by myself at the table.  I am not sure which I enjoyed more: dancing with Ron or watching everyone grooving on the dance floor.

I would like to say I am a decent salsa dancer.  I know the basic steps and have some rhythm, but I can also get really lost in the footing after a turn or slight alteration.  I was doing alright until Ron wanted to show me a new complicated move--well at least for me it was.  My uncoordinated dancing led to Ron receiving a big blow in the face, sent directly from my elbow.  Sorry!  But despite my short clumsy moment, I still enjoyed myself.

With the next song, it was my turn to sit down.  What I thought was really cool was all levels of dancers that were there, and no one cared how well you knew the steps.  A salsa teacher shook, twirled, stepped like it was nobody's business.  She was definitely the best in the room.  But one couple really caught my eye.  The man was a short, slightly chubby Guatemalan, and his partner a tall foreign brunette.  They kicked the dance floor's butt.  I could not keep my eyes off them because you would never guess they were such good salsa dancers, especially the short chubby man.  They were completely in sync with each other.  It looked almost as if they had practiced earlier, but you knew they hadn't.  And just a few feet away, a good but not great Guatemalan dancer was teaching a foreign girl.

The mix of levels all together just made me happy.  It was just one of those moments in which you feel good for such a small reason.  It may make no sense to someone else, but it really does not matter!