Estoy casada pero soy solo.

Cj has left. I am in school. Routine has set in a little bit. Man alive it is so much easier to travel with Cj than by myself. He´s a motivator, a caretaker, a jokester, and has a great internal compass. Me? I get lost, frequently, yelled at on the street, and last night I drank too much out at Jennie´s favorite Bar, Lo de Roberto. I miss you, Cj. That said, it also feels exciting to have to buck up and figure out what to do and how to make it wonderful all on my own. Plus I feel like I´m cheating a little because I´m not really alone now that I have these smart, fun, wackadoo new friends.

I don´t know if I should chronicle all the stuff we did since last posting, so I will just address the highlights:

Thursday last Cj did serious research and found a milonga in our neighborhood. A milonga is a community dance space where professional and amateur tango dancers can meet and tango their little hearts out. Apparently the environments are all very different, so we had no idea what to expect because this milonga is not very wellknown or frequented by tourists. We got gussied up (I took off my ankle brace but still did not go for actual high heels or tango shoes) and set out to find it. We got there with no problem and mounted the dark stairs with that quickening heartrate sense of anticipation that comes from approaching the unknown. We pushed open the doors to a large room with a stage at one end, a medium sized wooden dance floor in the middle with a dozen or so tables surrounding. Only a few of the tables were occupied at this time, about 11:30pm. We figured things out with the host at the door, got a beer, and sat down floor-side. Over the next hour, couples would come out and dance to the canned tango tunes playing overhead, singles would find each other, twirl around and move on to new partners. It was lovely to watch, but I could feel Cj´s anxious desire to get up and DANCE! I was feeling nervous as we had one class in Seattle and one more successful class here in BsAs, and I was worried less about looking silly and more about knocking people over because the dance is done in pairs, in a circle. I was saved from braving this experience for a moment because the lights went down and onto the stage amid a burst of smoke came 5 beautiful women in black with their instruments: bandoneon, cello, bass, violin and keys. They proceeded to play a few beautiful and spirited tango numbers and the dancers on the floor increased. Finally, Cj poked me, grabbed my hand, and we were tangoing!! I couldn´t see anyone else, I was just looking at him because he was leading me around and signaling what steps we were doing like a PRO. It was, to be trite, exhilarating. Anyway, we didn´t knock anyone over but sat down after that song and hung out and watched the rest of the evening, riding high on our 3 minutes of glory. That was one of my favorite evenings so far.

Friday I took a placement exam for spanish classes and we did a lot of errands, spent the evening at Roberto´s bar in Almagro drinking with friends and listening to a well known local tango singer named Estelle (in Argentina this is pronounced es-te-zhe), and just hung out to prepare for...a day in the country on Saturday! Much to both of our relief we escaped the oppressive heat and humidity of BsAs for a day at an estancia outside San Andres de Giles, which is about 2 hours by bus from BsAs. We spent the day eating: homemade empanadas, salame, cheese, bread, salad, barbecued beef, chicken, sausage, homemade flan (TO DIE FOR), crazy cookies, and mate...and swimming in the pool. Oh the pool, it was magnificent. So cold and delicious. It was here that I learned Argentinian women do not wear swimsuits with full bottoms. Nope, it´s up the ass or nothing at all. I lolled about in my granny suit all the same, rode horses with Cj, played pingpong and napped in the grass. Ah yes, we also were treated to a horsemanship show by the local gauchos (or cowboys), one of whom was astoundingly beautiful. You will probably have to check facebook for proof as i am incapable of uploading pictures to this blog or correctly backing up my photos. Hah.

All in all, those were my favorite things from the past 5 days or so. Least favorite was cj leaving, though the day of tearful goodbye-ing in Buenos Aires did feel awfully romantic. He surprised me after class on Monday with a totally hip bracelet that I cannot remove now that I have put it on, so it will be the equivalent of a picture and a loveletter while I´m on the farm and can´t communicate. Or be dry. Or unbitten by mosquitos.

Te quiero todos.