Life Transplanet » Salsa dancing

Salsa Dancing Lessons

Cassie — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:23:05 +0000

We completed our 3rd salsa lesson at the FunPlex in Greeley on Tuesday night. Our final lesson will be next Tuesday, the night before we leave for Puerto Rico. Britton and I are feeling much more comfortable dancing to it, and we laugh through the whole thing. We learned a cute move called “the chase” and we did the fast right turn and the slower left turn that we call the “funky monkey” where Britton gets to do the “snake” with his arm. It’s pretty cool. So, since we will be frantically packing for Puerto Rico after a long day of work and salsa lessons next Tuesday, we decided to go out to the Rio in Fort Collins for their salsa night last night with Pam and Shana.

Me and Britton (ha-ha)
It was so much fun. We walked in and they were playing Aguanile (LaVoe)! We danced until about 10pm and would have gone longer were it not for having to get up early for work the next day. Some songs were much faster than our lesson songs, but we remembered most of the moves that we were taught. We also did a little merengue and bachata even though we weren’t taught those. Bachata seems to be pretty simple – a sexy little dance with two steps to one side then lift your hip, two steps to the other and lift your hip. I think we might continue to take lessons, but at the Rio there in Fort Collins instead when we get back from Puerto Rico.

We told our instructor that we were going to the heart of salsa: Puerto Rico and she seemed worried that the real experts might think our style is completely wrong. Well, at least Britton and I have a style that we understand.

Busy Musical Weekend in Northern Colorado

Cassie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:02:55 +0000

It was a busy four day weekend. First we had our party on Wednesday evening, then we had to clean and recover on January 1st. Then that evening we went out salsa dancing at Suite 152 in Fort Collins. We got there early to go to the lessons, but they weren’t open so we went to Lucky Joes (I think that’s the name of the bar) and had appetizers and peanuts that we got to throw on the floors.

Eating Peanuts at Lucky Joes with Shana and Lorena

Salsa dancing at Suite 152

We got a merengue lesson that could be a Larry David moment, I swear. Eets so seemple! There was reggaeton, salsa, hip-hop, techno and merengue played there. We were some of the oldest people there since it was 18+ night. But it was fun. I love to dance, Britton, not so much. We are also planning to take salsa lessons here at the Greeley FunPlex starting tomorrow night to prepare for our trip to Puerto Rico.

Then, Friday night, Shana invited me to temple and then to Island Grill to watch a co-worker’s husband play in a band.

Shana and Me at Island Grill in Fort Collins

Some of the girls: Lauren, Mary, Shana and me

A magician was even there to levitate some paper

Turn down your speakers because the sound quality on this is horrible…

Puerto Rico Trip Itinerary

Cassie — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:14:28 +0000

We are going to Puerto Rico for a little over two weeks. We bought our tickets on Top Vacation Package Deals at Expedia.com" target="_blank">Expedia. We leave January 28 in the morning and arrive in Puerto Rico about 12 hours later-in Puerto Rican time. Puerto Rico doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time so the time difference between Colorado and Puerto Rico is larger during the winter with a three hour difference. We will be returning on February 12 and on that return trip we will be going back in time, so it will only take us 5 hours in local time. I am not sure what all will be going on in Puerto Rico during that time (festivals and such), but we have a few things we need to take care of including (not in any order):

The last time Britton and I were there together Aug 2005

1) Find rental car on the cheap (or other mode of transportation)
2) Go Snorkeling
3) Go salsa dancing
4) Visit the bank we are working with to buy property
5) Vist the Dept of Natural Resources to see how things are going with title/easement
6) Visit Carlos, the lawyer
7) Learn about growing the various crops
-8) Visit a couple of farmers’ markets (where are these? I’ve heard there is one in San Sebastian and Rincon)
9) Walk the property
10) Research possible electricity generators -microhydro- and how that would work
11) Determine hot water and water pressure situation
12) Try surfing for first time?
13) Make pasteles and deliver them with Awilda, the current owner
14) Visit bioilluminescence bay -Bio Bay- in either Paguera or Vieques early in trip since full moon will be there at end of trip
15) Go swimming

And probably many other things that we can’t foresee.

Hibiscus in PR