School, salsa, sleep, school, salsa, sleep….

Day one: On Monday, after much convincing by Sam, another new teacher at Colegio Bolivar, I found myself in a third floor salsa studio overlooking La Quinta, one of the main streets in Cali. The whole room was completely occupied by people of all ages, Caleños, Europeans, and us, the Gringos. Warm ups began. As my body warmed up, my mind also came to ease with the fact that I am really doing this, and I want to be doing it. We began with the basic step and quickly eased into more steps. Then the warm up ended… the gringos were grouped off into the beginner group. We danced individually following the salsa instructor, who, might I add, is pretty good looking! The more my feet fell into the steps, the more I realized that I really may be able to do this! And I wasn’t even the worse one! We completed our hour and a half of salsa and then moved into a quick Paso Doble lesson. I’m thinking I am going to be ready for So You Think You Can Dance soon! Then we regrouped to do a last minute salsa circle, and before I know it I am salsing with the instructor… now I know I am in this for the complete class package.

Day two: With much enthusiasm from our instructor the night before, we find ourselves in class the next day. This day I learn that when a women dances salsa she must be high up on her toes the whole time. We also got to try our hand at the Bachata. Two straight hours of dancing… this may be the best exercise I have ever done, and it sure beats the gym. My toes and calves survive the whole two hours. I end up purchasing the dancing shoes. This is getting serious….

Day three: Happy Hour at Penelope’s Martini’s instead of dancing.

Day four: Back to the lessons. I think the instructor missed us… We fell right back into the old steps and learned some new ones. We were told that if we keep dancing as we are we will be moved up to the next level. Who knew that I could salsa?! After the salsa lesson we were introduced to the Cuban Son. We needed to partner up, and I had no partner, so the instructor came to dance with me. Until they noticed that the special ed boy had no partner. Just my luck…