The training was good. Again, I won´t write much about it as it is medical and complex, but I am always available to answer questions about HCG and weight loss. We were joined this afternoon by an anaesthetist from Maryland, Assiz, so now our group is five students. There was much information given. Today alone I took twenty–two pages of notes which I have to transcribe and make some kind of sense out of the scribbles. But once again I did learn loads of great information.
At 9 pm Argentinian time, which was closer to 9:30, we got into a car to drive to Sirop, a lovely restaurant in an old building that used to be a post office I think. At any rate, it was down an alley and quite lovely inside. The food was fabulous, the wine was great and the company wonderful. There were nine of us: Dr Belluscio and his daughter Anna, whom I´m begininning to think runs the whole shebang, and Beatrice, the marketer for the HCG group, and Maryelle, the nutritionist, and we five “students” or participants in the training session. We ate late, and didn´t leave the restaurant until about 12:30 pm. Way past my bedtime, but I had a wonderful time and Dr Daniel Belluscio was such a gracious host.
It was a strange day. Assiz didn´t show up so we were just the four of us again. In the morning, we had the nutritionist and in the afternoon the pharmacist but they choose to give their lectures in Spanish. So we had simulataneous translators, who were both excellent, except the Spanish person spoke loudly, the translator whispered, the headphones kept cutting out, and none of us could understand anything. We kept stopping them and they wanted to try one more time, just one more time please, and it was like a comedy show. Finally, they agreed to have the Spanish person speak Spanish and then the translator speak English and both would try to speak in a normal voice, and we would not use any headphones at all. That worked much better. I think we were all a bit tired today. We finished about 4ish and then we all went to Dr Belluscio´s medical office where he was seeing patients. We put on doctor white coats – I think it was the first time I´ve worn a white coat since I graduated in the 70´s except for when I worked in Israel or China or England. I don´t ever wear one in Canada. The offices were very small, but the entire staff was most gracious and accomodating and we did manage to see some patients and get a feel for his practice here. In Argentina, everybody kisses everybody – on the right cheek. The doctor kisses the patients, the patients kiss the nurse, the nurse kisses the nutritionist and everybody kissed us. I love it. It is a very civilized way to greet people. Men, women, doesn´t matter. Kiss on right cheek, not both. Very nice.
At 8 pm that evening, Frankie, Rene, James, Darryl and I were picked up to go to our tourist tango show. The minivan dropped us off and in we went, to be seated stage side. First we had drinks, and I have to say, I asked Senor Bartender what the best Argentinian drink was and he replied Gancia Batido. Without having a clue what it was, I ordered one. And then another. And then another. It was incredible and one of the best mixed drinks I have EVER tasted! I absolutely loved it. The red wine was pretty good too. But the Gancia was just amazing, so Senor Bartender wrote down for me how to make one and I will try when I get home to replicate that taste if I can. The meal was fine, Argentinianly flavoured, good.
Before the show Senor y Senorita Tango went from table to table in the audience to ask if people wanted to learn tango steps. They would then take a woman or a man or a couple up on the stage, and teach them one, or two or three tango steps, depending upon their capabilities. Senor Tango would dance with the tourist women and Senorita Tanga would dance with the tourist men. They got to our table and all four women ended up dancing and I think we were all three–steppers. All of us did very well and got shown all three different steps. It was very fun dancing with Senor Tango. I loved it. I think we all did.
And then the show. First the musicians: two violins, a bass, a piano and an elderly gentleman with long gray hair on the concertina. Then the singers, one male and one female. And then, at last, the dancers – four or five couples, dancing either all together at one time and/or individually. At times, it looked like an avian mating ritual. At other times, they looked like panthers, jaguars, or bunny rabiits. The dances were playful, serious, sexy and always intense. Really, it was the most intense dancing I´ve ever witnessed. And at times, it looked as though we were watching people, well, women on stilts (very high heels) and young men have sex in almost upright positions. I felt I was intruding to even watch. OMG it was sexy. At times.
Then came Mr. Ukelele Man. Really, he was from Northeast Argentina and he was playing a charango which is an instrument like a lute, but I still called him Mr. Ukelele Man. He had long dark hair flowing to his waist and was totally into the music. He looked liked an Indian hippie. The first two or three songs were great, but after the fourth or fifth, I was happy to see Senor Bolo come up on the stage. He pranced onto the stage carrying a large drum and he danced, stomped his boots and played his drum all together. Muy bueno. Then he put the drum down and brought out the bolos. With one in each hand, he swung them round and round hitting the stage with them in syncopated beats while he danced a kind of flamenco type dance, so his boots and his bolos made the rhythms on the stage. Very cool. And then the singers and then the dancers returned to the stage. The dancers were without question my favourite. I just sat there with my mouth wide open for most of it. And too quickly came the finale. Okay, they sang (in Spanish) “Don´t Cry For Me Argentina” and they waved Argentinian flags, and it was hokey but it was wonderful and we loved the show. I think we all had a great time and came back to our hotel well after 12:30 pm. And of course we have a session early in the morning again. I am not sure how long I can survive on only four hours sleep a night, but so far, I seem to be thriving.
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