Salsa is not my jam.....yet

I am not very good at salsa.  My seeming ease at working the Reggaeton dance floor gave me a false sense of dancing talent, which quickly dissipated on Friday when I went with Ivan, Gordon, Walli and Jason to a free salsa concert at La Estancia.  La Estancia is a beautifully maintained plantation right in the middle of the city.  The grounds are maintained by the government and they have free concerts and events on the property throughout the year.  Friday, the headlining act was an EXCELLENT salsa group from Puerto Rico.  For three hours the group of us, plus Ivan's Mom, Dad and friends hung out and tried our hand at salsa-ing.  Ivan's Mom and godfather were incredible, and on the other end of the spectrum was me.  I was spending so much time trying to get my feet right I forgot about the rest of my body!  And the tempo of the music was so fast, I never really got my feet right, even though there are only a few steps!  The evening was really fun, despite my shameful attempts at dancing, and I really want to keep practicing until I can look half way decent at it, as Salsa is a very popular pastime here in Caracas.

Saturday a large group of us attended Hash #2!  The block of ice returned and I found myself in a middle of the hash circle quite a few times.  Ivan received his Hash name after six years of attending Hashes- he is now, forevermore, Smelly Goat.  I think Gordon and Catherine are next for naming- Gordon because he's, well, Gordon and Catherine because she has been Hashing for four years.  The naming is not a pleasant process though, as you could probably expect from a group that forces binge drinking while sitting on a large block of ice.  They basically douse you in beer and corn flour while making you drink with no hands. If you thought that frat hazing ended in college- you were wrong.  I have found my new fraternity and it is awesome to be mere months from turning thirty and getting to be a pledge again.  

Sunday we did some shopping to complete the stocking of my apartment and hung out by the pool, and these first two days of work have been remarkably manageable.  I realized this was probably because I did not stay up until 5am both Friday and Saturday nights, so for the first time since I arrived, I have kept a reasonable sleep schedule. So there's the trade off- I engaged in planned binge drinking yet am getting enough sleep. Sorry Mom, but it sounds like a fair trade to me!