After a few meetings and discussions, Friday evening ended in a date with an Argentinean, an all-Spanish evening where we ended up in the bar where expats meet. The event is called speakeasy, organized by Daniel. An expat friend who's been living here for 10 years, he offers us his experience.
The date was very pleasant and I found myself being able to talk a little bit about everything. Thanks to my date for her patience. I still had to ask her to speak softly. And what a paradox, given how fast I speak in French, and how much I don't like repeating myself. Anyway, thanks again to her.
Arriving at the speakeasy event, I expected to find around thirty people around a few tables chatting. But what a mistake!
When you get there, you get your hand stamped. And we discover over 150 people, chatting, drinking, dancing and singing. What an atmosphere! But chatting in Spanish was impossible. What's more, to get a drink, there's a twenty-strong queue in front of us. Out of the question, so we went right to the front, where there were tables and we could order directly.
We continue our exchange, and everyone goes home with a good chat.
We're meeting up again the next day anyway, as she's invited us to an event at an out-of-town bar called "Sunset Party". Sounds so cool, we had to accept straight away.
When we got there, we discovered 200 people sitting in the sun or under the trees with music playing, eating and drinking. We're the first to arrive, so we settle in and order a Spritz. Some time later, we're joined by a group of 4 girls. And the mood of the evening changes, the tables are removed and the dancers inside each of us leave to make way for the madness of the dancefloor... or so I thought.
And even so, as we went along, people became a little more relaxed. I was more than a little surprised by the Argentinians' shyness about dancing to music. Except that, after many years, I'm used to dancing any old way to music, and it's obviously not lost on me.
So we form a shy circle with our group, joined of course by a few gentlemen only interested in chatting with a Frenchman ahah. I'm surrounded by 5 girls. Each one has his own strategy, either to ignore me completely, or to take an interest in me at the end of the evening to get this or that girl's number.
Even if it meant pimping, and I couldn't legally ask for money. I've negotiated an introduction to Padel next week.
The evening started early as the goal was to see the sunset. I think 90% missed it, me first.
The evening comes to an end early, as at 10pm we find ourselves grabbing a bite to eat before heading home.
The next day, we take a bus to the mountains north of Cordoba. We meet up with a friend of my roommate's, who takes us to spend the afternoon near a magnificent lake with her dog. It's been a long time since I've been able to spend time with a dog. I'm so excited.
We settle in quietly, the girls more prepared than I am, beach towel, bathing suit.
At the same time, how could I imagine taking this stuff to the mountains?
We chat with her friend: as well as being a nurse, she does astrology, teaches yoga and takes part in initiation rituals with various shamans. I also share with her what I do with "La Trame", the purifications of people or houses I've been able to do, and I share with her an introduction to the three great principles of alchemy.
As the day progresses, it becomes clear that a lot of knowledge is shared, even if it comes from different places.
We agree to do a practice exchange. We'll meet again next weekend to hear him play at a concert his band is giving in the mountain village.
We arrived late, so it's time to go. She drops us off at the bus, and we're back home.
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