An evening in an exotic land...

While we were out being tourists on Friday, Jaime's sister sent us a message that she would be dancing later in the evening and that we were invited to the party. Luckily, we found someone to sit at our apartment while the boys slept and we went out.

Jaime and I grabbed a quick caña (draft beer) and a lomo bocadillo (pork loin sandwich) at a funky little "diner" before heading to the Teteria Tuareg, a cozy little bar/teahouse in Santa Cruz where they also have belly dancing lessons and shows.

The Tuareg's were a legendary nomadic tribe of warriors, the blue men of the desert. Belly dancing is the Western term for a traditional Middle Eastern dance form. There are several different styles of these dances now and each performer customizes her own routine.

Nuria is also part of a dance group that competed in Tienes Talento, Spain's version of America's Got Talent. They passed several rounds and even got to travel to Madrid to compete. They were great and had a lot of fun doing it, but didn't win the competition. (Click here to see a video of the competition)

Anyhow, we had to park further away from the bar than we wanted to and ended up missing Nuria's first dance. So, we ordered a tea (one of 100's they offer), hung out with Jaime's sister, and watched the other dancers until it was Nuria's time to dance again.

Us with Nuria:


And a couple little video clips of her dancing, a little dark, but, what can ya do?



It was a fun evening, but we paid for it in the morning. We went to bed at around 2am... and the boys still woke up at 7am!! How inconsiderate of them!

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul." ~Martha Graham