Windy City

After finding out, a few months ago, that some of my friends were going to the Chicago International Salsa Congress, I decided that I could not let that opportunity pass. In this post I will talk about salsa, the Paseo Boricua, and deep dish pizza.

Ride to Chicago

I had never been to Chicago. Even when everyone talked wonders about the Windy City, and the fact that it's "only" 4 hours away, I had no plans for going there in the near future. I've probably said this somewhere else, but being a Puerto Rican, the longest drive you can possibly make by highway on the island is about 3 hours. That's crossing the whole island from on side to the other, and only crazy people do that and come back the same day.

I didn't come back the same day from Chicago, so that might be why I actually drove there. Taking an airplane is worse, since you have to go through all the security checks to give Americans the peace of mind that Puerto Ricans living in Michigan are not a threat to National Security.

The ride was smooth and we had fun along the way.

The first thing that shocked me was to see a McDonalds drive-thru in the middle of the highway, right before the toll. You literally drive through it to order your food, then stay in a center-ish lane made specifically for the purpose of eating it. Then you proceeded to pay your toll and continue on to the city. We decided that a much better system would be to order your food, as usual, then, when you get to the actual toll booth, the attendant will charge you for the food-plus-toll and give you the food in return.

They might even devise a new business model where, by buying from McDonalds, they reduce your toll cost. Ronald pays the difference. If that ever happens, please remember that you read it here first.

Arriving and... salsa!

Once we got to the hotel (we were already checked in by the previous group of friends that showed up), we got ready and went to the lobby, where they were having the biggest salsa party. It must have been thousands of people dancing salsa to the music of Sonora Carruseles. It was already midnight, and I was tired from driving for 4 hours, but we still went there.

At about 3:30am my feet decided to quit.

We just hung out in the hotel until about 6:00am, when sleep finally beat me. I woke up at 9:30am to get ready for breakfast. Right after breakfast, we only had a 15-minute break to get ready for the morning salsa workshops. It was totally worth it.

Rueda de Casino workshop

I love dancing rueda, so I decided to join this workshop. The class was good, although I felt it was a little too basic.  I still learned a few new twists to moves I already knew. I liked it.

Turn patterns workshop

Bleh... I got late to this one, since it was in the opposite side of the hotel. It was supposed to be really good, and it actually looked so, but by the time I arrived all the ladies were taken.

The instructor didn't rotate the partners. Oh well... I watched and rested for a while. Joel taught me the turns properly later in the day.

Crazy salsa dude workshop

This guy was hysterical! I loved his method of teaching: he rotated partners really quick, doing very small additions to the move in a very fast way. Through fast repetition and general humor, this guy was able to carve the moves into our brains.

I usually have a hard time remembering any new moves I learn, but even a few weeks after taking this workshop, I remember how the move goes. Amazing stuff.

Street salsa footwork workshop

This was more like an open dance floor with the leader teaching an intermediate footwork pattern. We danced for a while, but after learning the pattern, we left to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

Morrocan dinner and... more salsa!

We went to Andalous, a Morrocan restaurant. We had a great time and laughed a lot.

I had a meddley of eggplant, green pepper, and other vegetables cooked in a tagine and served in a bed of couscous. Delicious!

The most memorable parts of the dinner was the Morrocan mint green tea and the fact that we learned that in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, frogs go Quack Quack!

I had to take another power nap as soon as we got back to the hotel.

After waking up we went downstairs to the party. This time it was more crowded than the previous day, but it was still good enough space for dancing. Everyone danced for hours.

This time, at about 2:45am my feet decided to quit. I've never really felt exhausted from too much dancing, but the lack of sleep helped. I had to leave before I collapsed. I took a long shower, then off to sleep.

Sunday: day of rest

I woke up early, had a very nice breakfast with Jess, and then left to visit my good friend from high school, and former neighbor (back in Puerto Rico), Enid.

I was very happy to see her! We haven't seen each other in years, so we decided to catch up while walking around. She showed me through the Paseo Boricua, the epicenter of the very large Puerto Rican community living in Chicago. Very interesting for me since 1) I am Puerto Rican, and 2) There's no such community in little college town Ann Arbor, Michigan.

After walking for a while and going into a coffee shop and a music store, we decided to get the car and head downtown.

Let me tell you something about Chicago: parking is ridiculously expensive! We were there for about two or three hours and the parking fee was $22.00. For longer stays, it's probably cheaper to get a parking fine than pay for parking space.

So we walked through the great Michigan Avenue, taking it all in. My first impression, which has been confirmed by every person I tell about it, was that Chicago was like New York City, only clean.

We walked to Millenium Park, and on the way I randomly spotted two friends from Michigan, one of whom is also Puerto Rican. After we got to the park, we took the bus back to the Hancock tower. We went all the way to the 94th floor and I took pictures of the city. Soon after, I had to meet with Anwar to take him to the airport, and then meet the rest of the group for dinner.

Deep deep dish pizza and back home

For dinner we went to Giordano's Pizza on a friend of a friend's recommendation. We weren't disappoited. The pizza was extremely good and filling! Still, I had three pieces, which is enough to feed a small country. It does take long to cook, though.

We left afterwards and drove back home the same way we got there in the first place: happy.