2nd Lesson

After not getting to bed till late last night we weren't up until after 10 to find it was another scorching hot day. We breakfasted on fried egg sandwiches and then really didnt do a thing until about 2pm when it was time to leave for our next Cali Salsa lesson. We had decided that the distance was definitely walkable but even so left ourselves an hour to get there to be on the safe side. The walk, although hot and sticky, was definitely more comfortable during the day though the scenery was nothing to write home about being mainly ugly buildings and warehouses next to a busy main road. We arrived at the studio 15 minutes early and after standing in the shade for a few minutes decided to see if we could wait indoors out of the heat and knocked on the door. The small boy who had let us in previously asked who it was and we eventually got let in by his mother and when he saw us he exclaimed 'ohh Los Gringos'!! We went upstairs and opened the windows to let some air in before changing our shoes and going through briefly what we had learnt so far until Jacqui arrived. Our lesson started with us demonstrating what we did last time and she asked us what else we wanted to learn so we said more Caleno please!! Then things started getting tough...she put more music on for us to dance to, much faster than the last track and told us to only do one of each step and make everything faster...we were drenched in sweat by the end of one track!! However it is great fun and we were eager to learn more so she now added some more onto the end of our little routine including quite an awesome drop where I go through Andy's legs and 'ssshhhhooooooop' up the other side before we break apart and turn to the front for another bit of fast footwork! Our drop needs a lot of work to get it looking smooth as it should do and our footwork needs to be faster and crisper but these are things we can practice ourselves, so after making sure we had the gist of what we were doing Jacqui proceeded to add some styling into what we knew making it look more professional and show like. Exhausted we sat down and she asked us if we would consider letting her train us to compete in the Cali Salsa Festival which is held over a week each year in September or December!!! We would love for her to train us and were extremely flattered that she would think us worth her time training at all but explained that it would have to wait a year or two until we had finished travelling, but she seemed happy with that. She also said about teaching us more lifts and tricks but we said it would be very hard as we are practically the same height and Andy's not huge and muscular and I'm not small and petite but she disagreed and said it was all in the technique and that we would be good at it...she's the boss!! Shortly after, a man came up to the studio and as we rested him and Jacqui rehearsed a Foxtrot/Charleston routine which looked very impressive to me and pretty much perfect after ½ hour or so. We then proceeded to go back to Jacqui's house again while she sorted some music out onto CD's before heading off to the other studio she teaches at to watch 'her girls'. This is clearly a dance academy as there were many dancers there practising in front of mirrors, all with tops or leggings that had a logo on in red and black. We watched as Jacqui taught 4 girls (about 18-20yrs) the beginning of a show routine she had choreographed and marvelled at how she managed to keep all these different routines in her head at once!! She is a fantastic dancer and can pretty much turn to any dance and look amazing....dont you just hate it lol!! When she had finished teaching we caught a taxi together, dropped her off at her studio before heading back to the hostel for a shower and dinner, after which we lounged around doing stuff on the computer and watching a couple of films Andy had downloaded off the internet before going to bed around 2.