Buenos Aires - Day 12

Friday 3rd November

Feeling slightly better I decide to have a one-on-one tango lesson and go back to Darcos, the place I bought my shoes (and had an impromptu lesson) over a week ago.

An elegant, svelte girl with swept back hair and sparkly shoes drills me through the basic steps of tango for 40 minutes, practising back and forth until I can do it without thinking. I feel clumsy and lumbering next to her as she whirls around the floor effortlessly in her heels.

I´m tired and just when I think the ordeal is over, the ´proper´ instructor, Claudio, shows up and teaches me a couple of new sequences. The really hard thing about tango (apart from the fact that it´s all hard) is that the woman has to follow the man´s lead and be guided by him.

Claudio tells me I need to wait and watch which way his body is leaning and that way I´m know which way to go. For me it´s like second-guessing. I´ve no idea which way we´ll be going next and in the fear of going the wrong way, one of my feet permanently hovers in mid air, which apparently is a no-no.

I´m assured that it´s impossible to go the wrong way as I´ll break my legs or worse do one of us an injury. Exasperated with my ineptitude (actually he´s very good-humoured) he says ´go the way which feels easiest or more natural´. Hmm, it´s all the same to me i.e. very difficult.

Once I´ve 'mastered' the basic steps, I´m pulled up on my posture (slouched), my lazy arm draping and the biggest crime of all - looking at my feet. 'It´s ugly' the pretty girl says.

Never being very good at eye contact I have to stare Claudio in the face and try to dance without looking at my feet. I think I forget to breath.

I started to get slightly annoyed at the command 'juntos' (together) as I think I´ve been doing this ok. I tell Claudio I don´t think I can get much closer to him. He explains that it means ´feet together´. Good one Maria.

Alejandro and his friend have offered to show me what Palermo-Hollywood and Palermo-Soho are like on a Friday night, the hip place to be. Obviously we´re not hip as we go out at 8pm as opposed to 2am when all the bright young things head out. We settle in a bar for a couple of beers and exchange insights on London/Buenos Aires lifestyles.

It´s chilly tonight and I need my fleece for the first time. Alejandro advises me to urgently get a coat before I get to Bariloche.

(Photo - me and Claudio in tango pose)