La Milonga Gay y mas

My friends want to go to the Gay milonga.  I have never been.  One is American and one is Argentine. So after dinner we get in a taxi and head toward Maipu 444.  After so many years in San Francisco and the Gay bars there, I am sure this will be tame.  I have heard the music is great.  But then don't Gay places always have good music?

When we come up the steps the Gay flag is displayed.  The cover is 18 pesos, this is more than the traditional milongas I go to here.  It is not as crowded either.  We are 3 women.  We are seated on the street side of the room.  It appears that this is where all the Gay men are seated.  Gay women seem to be on the other side of the room.  Mixed couples seem to be on the sides. 

On one side of us is a table of men from France, on the other side is a table of men from Italy.  I look on the floor.  The style of dancing is mostly escenario.  Large steps. Ganchos.  Boleos.  This floor is too small to accommodate this style.  There are some traditional dancers.  During the cortina it seems only the mixed couples who dance nuevo stay on the floor.

I like the music.  The DJ is doing an excellent job.  Although the style of dancing is different, I hope I get to dance.  I feel very comfortable here.  I notice several men dancing with other men who come to the regular milongas.  I see people that I know but they look away. Nobody seems to greet anyone at this milonga. 

After about 20 minutes our Argentine friend announces she is leaving.  She does not like it here.  She is very uncomfortable.  I am not sure what she thought she would find here.  She knows that Snow and I are not uncomfortable so she does not want to appear weird to us.  It is obvious this was not a good idea for her to come here.

"I wonder if anyone will ask me to dance." Snow says to me.  "They probably think we are a couple." I tell her. "Thank God you aren't ugly.  I would hate to have someone think I would be with an ugly chick." I tease her.  She laughs.  "Maybe they will think you are my sugar momma."

I decide to add some drama to my life.  Not like I don't have enough of it already.  I text him "Donde estas?"  In seconds he texts back "Estoy en Dandi. Cuidate, nos vemos."  I text back "Estoy en la milonga Gay. Cuando?"  At this point I look to my left and I realize I am being invited to dance.

I go to meet this man to dance.  Open embrace.  It has been more than 2 years since I danced this way.  Since I last visited California. This is not fun on a knee that hurts.  The man's name is Sergio. He is surprised when I talk and I am a foreigner.  He thought for sure I was from here.  He is very sweet.  I am trying not to knock him over when we dance.

Dancing on this floor reminds me of dancing in the U.S. I just got kicked in the butt by the couple behind us.  I toy with the idea of doing a hign boleo to get them back.  I decide to be nice.  It is a dance, not a war.  I watch them continue to kick their way around the dance floor.  I don't think I will ever understand dancers who collide and kick other dancers and don't apologize.  It is so rude.  It seems to be universal in this style of dance.

Sergio feels genuinly sorry that the dancers are so rude.  I tell him that I normally dance salon style tango and I am not used to this bumper car attitude.  He agrees.  He makes an interesting comment to me.  He tells me that he asked me to dance because I was so feminine and pretty.  He says that he is gay, but that when he dances with a woman he wants her to be like a woman, not like a man, because he dances with men all the time.  When the tanda ends he thanks me.

I go back to the table.  Snow is trying to make eye contact with anyone.  "I guess I am not attractive to the women." she says to me.  I tell her "The women are on the other side of the room.  You need to go to the bathroom if you want them to see you."  She thinks about this but stays put.

I pick up my phone.  Another message. "No se cuando quieres verme :) este noche?" (I I don't know when you want to see me, tonight)  I am not stupid, I know what he is thinking so I text back, "Si, pero en el baile." (Yes, but in the milonga) He ignores the baile and texts back to me "What time are you going back to your home, if you want...I don't know if you want.."  I decide to wait awhile before I text back.  This guy is such a jerk.  Especially for a guy that is supposed to be engaged to another woman. 

I accept another dance.  This dancing open is really not my style.  Maybe I would like it better if I was not in so much pain.  Snow says I look like I am in pain when I am dancing.  That is not good.  I don't want it to seem like it is from my partner.  She still is not dancing, but we both like the music, and we both are laughing over the stupid text messages.

Finally I send one back. "I am not interested in the man of another woman.  Soy mujer derecha y con valor (basically I have values and am not desperate). You need to look for someone else."  Which I know he is doing because he is sending these same kind of text messages to several other women. I found that out the other day when I was having mates with a group of women dancers. He is really mad.  He is not used to being turned down, especially by me.

We stay until 1:00 am.  Snow has not danced at all.  We decide to leave.  We decide that Michael my Gay husband should come here.  He might meet a really nice man here that I would approve of.  I like the music.  I felt very comfortable here.  It is not my style of tango, but I would not hesitate to come again.

We hail a taxi.  I tell the driver where we want to go.  He immediately takes off down Corrientes.  I ask him "Como vamos?, No vamos por Cordoba?"  He tells me we are going por bajo.  I tell him I think this is farther and I would prefer to go the other way.  He tells me the other is faster.  He ignores me.

This turns out to be the taxi ride from hell.  It is a good thing that I live here and I know how to act. He is driving like a lunatic.  He refuses to stop the taxi.  I am watching the meter.  I argue with him the whole way down Libertador.  I tell him the trip should not be more than 15 pesos he tells me I don't know what I am talking about.  I know he thinks that Snow and I are both tourists.  I tell him 50 times I live here.  It should be obvious, that although my accent is not native my form of talking is close.

We pass Scalabrini and I ask him why he did not turn down Scalabrini, the same with Sarmiento, next thing I know we are by the Hipodromo.  I call him a pelotudo and tell him I do not need a tour of the city after living here for 5 years.  Snow is terrified.  (She has never heard Porteños argue)

This guy is so stupid he has not realized by now that I do live here.  He tells me to pay him what the ride costs.  I tell him no problem.  When we get to my apartment, Snow insists I pay the meter price of 23 pesos, I refuse.  I have 15 pesos ready for him.  She runs out of the cab into the building while I give him the folded money.  I walk into the building and alert the guard as to what is going on.

When the guy realizes that I have shorted him 8 pesos he comes to the door screaming that I shorted him 8 pesos.  I yell back "Abusador de los extranjeros."  He is furious and calling me all kinds of bad names.  I start to laugh.  Snow is so freaked out she goes upstairs to the apartment.  Even the guard is laughing.  Finally the guy leaves.  The guard looks at me "Aprendiste bien! Sos una porteña!" He told me had the guy stayed a minute longer he would have called for the policeman stationed on the corner around the block to come and told him it was a case of an abuse of foreigners.

I go upstairs.  Snow is still shaking.  "You are amazing."  she says to me.  "No," I say to her, "If they over charge me 1 or 2 pesos, maybe 3 is one thing, but this guy was an asshole.  8 pesos is rediculous. I wonder how many people he has done that to. That is the first time anything like that has happened to me.  I have heard about that happening to others, but it has never happened to me."

I go into the kitchen to see Roxie and to make a cup of tea.  I am checking my email when I get another text message.  This one says "I am in my bed and I want to tell you that I think that we can be friends.  I think that you understand that I don't want anything else other than friendship (does he have a short term memory problem or what?)and that we can teach classes together in your apartment.

I text him back "I think you are already sleeping, because you are dreaming."

Comments

[Carole]

I think I got that taxi driver. I got so mad when he didn't listen to me (even though I am a foreigner) that I flung 5 pesos at him and flounced into the hotel... Didn't get any trouble from him though, presumably because of hotel security