In an effort to be more proactive about learning salsa, I posted a message to the Medellin Couchsurfing group to rally some people for a night out at El Eslabon Prendido in the city center. I suggested last Thursday night, but Ellen (Holland) and others responded that Tuesday nights were best, as a live band played music to a packed bar.
Tuesday night at El Eslabon Prendido
I met Martin in Parque Periodista a half block from the bar, and we also bumped into a few couchsurfers hanging out after attending a show at Teatro Lido, in addition to a few heading for the bar. Arriving around 9 pm, and paying a 4,000 peso cover (about $1.60), we were there early enough to occupy a group of tables near the front of the bar where the band would be playing. Slowly, people began to file in and the bar filled up as the band began to set up around 10 pm. Wax candles were lit along the walls, providing an intimate ambience.
Salsa band
Guiomar (red shirt) asked me to dance while everyone else was still sitting down and chatting. I quickly found out she was an amazing dancer -- one of the two best I’ve had the pleasure to learn from. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak much English, which added some humor to her attempts to instruct me verbally.
As the band began to play, more and more people got up to dance. I was really enjoying the whole atmosphere. I danced with several people including Ellen, Jesusa, and an Australian girl. The three and a half hours I was there went by too quick.
By 12:30 am, I was relegated to the sidelines, too tired to keep dancing but not quite ready to leave the bar as the band had begun a second set. It was fun to watch the most skilled dancers go at it. It only motivated me to want to get better, faster. My plan was to ask for Guiomar’s help in that respect.
I hope to find a few people wanting to go out to El Eslabon Prendido every Tuesday, which would give me the chance to immediately practice the new moves I learn in my dance classes.
El Eslabon Prendido -- Calle 53 #42-55, Centro. (Maracaibo, a half block above Parque Periodista). Hosts live bands Tuesday nights.
Salsaaaaaaaaaa que rica!!!Que grupo tan bueno el de ese día.
What a great band!!!
This packrat has learned that what the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved. In the end, it’s the family stories that are worth the storage.