Friday night I finally convinced some friends to go to Candela with me. (I had to convince Andrew to stay home with the girls too but since he was getting up at 5:30 the next morning to go on his eco-tour adventure and leaving me with Ostara and food to make for a dinner party, it wasn’t too difficult.) I had been wanting to go to Candela since we arrived — it is rumored to be one of the best salsa dancing spots in Oaxaca.
I had planned to be there around 9 p.m., hearing that there is a dance class offered an hour before the band plays. I guess that is only on Thursdays though. Tonight the dance class started around 10:20 and the band began a little after 11. I was hoping I had the energy for this, considering it was already an hour later than I thought it would be. But there is something about live music that is totally contagious, the Candela band is amazing — replete with saxophone, large hand drums, regular drum set, guitar, bass, and a beautiful lead singer. There may have been more brass but to be honest, the dancers were the main attraction for me. The dance floor was a very small, wooden platform in front of the stage where the band played. It was surrounded by two rows of cafe style tables and chairs, a bar and two small rooms for those wanting a little more privacy.
The salsa dancing there is HOT! When I wasn’t on the floor myself, my eyes were glued to the amazing couples out there shaking it for all they were worth. I didn’t recognize many of the basic steps I had learned in Rochester; most people were far beyond that. Plus, I later found out that the band played different styles of latin dance music like cumbia, cha-cha, bachata and cuban style salsa, not to mention salsa that ranged in tempo from slow to mind-boggling fast.
I was nervous that it would be difficult to find guys willing to dance with a relative newbie like myself. The night started off rather slowly but as more and more people came into the club, I received more requests to dance. After three dances with three different men, I met Oscar. He was a very good dancer and we seemed to work pretty well together. He asked me to dance a few more times and before I knew it, we just stayed on the dance floor and kept dancing together for the rest of the evening. As we got to know each other better, I barraged him with questions about the other types of dances and the music. He was a very patient and excellent teacher, explaining the various cadences in the music and how they were signals to turn or change your steps. He seemed very happy with the quick progress I made but teased me because I shied away from what he called “the sexier moves”. What can I say? I am a good Quaker girl, after all!
The band stopped around 2 but there was still canned music to dance to, although the crowd thinned out a bit. I should have left then but there were a few guys that I had been talking to and I was afraid that they would try to follow me home. I decided to wait until my Spanish teacher was ready to leave, which was very late — like, 3:30 a.m. late! Oscar volunteered to walk me home too, but I was afraid. It’s so difficult to know how to trust these days. So I bided my time talking to some other guys, one of whom volunteered to give me a back rub. That quickly ended when he tried to kiss me. Eww! Finally Mari and her friend were ready to go and I was walked safely back to my apartment a block away. The only problem was that I was so pumped from dancing, I had a difficult time falling asleep. I think I drifted off around 5 a.m. and then I heard Andrew’s alarm ring at 5:30 for his adventure in the mountains. And so ended my amazing time at Candela in Oaxaca!