Street Party!!

Having over spent by a lot the previous day due to lesson and too many taxis we had no money to do anything with today if we hoped to go out with Jacqui this evening and also being a bit tired from the exertions of the day before (we had also practised a bit back at the hostel) we spent a lazy day on the computer, writing blogs, I chatted with Matt for an hour or so on skype, generally not doing much until it was time to make dinner and get ready to go out. We had our first attempt at cooking rice with beans as the beans have to be soaked previously and we haven't had the means to do this before now. It turned out ok but the best bit was the tomatoes stuffed with onion and garlic I made which was an idea I had gotten from our meal in Cuba at the Italian guy's house. After dinner we got ready and set out at 7pm as we had looked at the route to Jacqui's and found that it was only 3km and took us no more than 45 mins to walk. We decided tho that in future we would only walk it during the day as it was definitely a bit dodgy once we had crossed the river and we didnt like the feeling of being watched that we had. Anyway, we arrived at the studio without incident and waited for everyone to turn up in dribs and drabs until they were all there and we could set off. It now being past 10pm we were wondering at what time their performance was and where exactly it was taking place as we drove through some very rough looking neighbourhoods! Eventually we turned into a street to find it blocked off by a car parked across it and had to go round the block instead. It turns out they are performing at a lady's 90th birthday party and her son has blocked half the street off to form a kind of stage area and seating for family, friends and half the neighbourhood!! We sat down as a group, we were some of the first to arrive and over the next hour listened to the music blaring out of 2 huge speakers they had set up and chatted with Jacqui and the others while the seats around us slowly filled up. We were introduced to various people who it seems all dance (awesome :) ) and a man called Alex Alvarez who is also a teacher and clearly loves dancing as he was up doing a solo most of the time if he wasn't playing his clave's! Some of the group went off to find a shop and came back with a bottle (or 2) of the typical Colombian drink, Aguadiente which tastes a little like Sambuca but not quite so strong. We all had a few shots of this and before long were up dancing while we could and I had a couple of great dances with Alex whilst Andy danced with Jacqui. Shortly after midnight the music stopped and a man named Pepe who we think was a singer from the group La Sonora Mantancera (which is in the Guiness book of records for being the longest running band!!) got up and sang a few songs, mainly boleros which a few of the older couples danced exceptionally well to. Next came 2 men who did a variety of acts, a few dances which were amazingly fast Cali style salsa, some modern interperative type stuff which had the most awesome body movement as well as comical interactions and finally a hilarious singing act where the guy had a puppet on his arm singing and basically taking the mick out of everyone! They were fantastic and we really enjoyed watching them, a big treat to see them for sure! The next act up was a drag singing and dancing salsa but he didnt go down nearly as well as the previous 2, I'm sure had we understood what he was saying it would have been funnier but it mainly just looked crude. Up next was a young lad about 12 who sang with a beautiful voice a few songs before finally it was Jacqui's groups turn to perform. They had a couple of slight technical difficulties with the music but once they were going they did a great job with their 3 routines, a Charleston, a Salsa and a cabaret type dance, all of which went down really well. Last of all Alex got up and did one of his solo's which was brilliant and had everyone clapping along, when he was finished it was time to dance again and lots of people got up for the next hour or so to salsa and merengue well into the night. I got asked to dance by several men but unfortunately couldnt follow the salsa at all as they gave absolutely no lead whatsoever but did better in the Merengue where they were almost fighting over dancing with me! At about 2.30 it was time to go although the party looked like going on well through the night, we got a lift right back to our hostel, kindly provided by another of Jacqui's students and after a few glasses of water to rehydrate ourselves after the dancing and Aguadiente we went to bed having thoroughly enjoyed the evening.