Last Days of 2007

I was in Houston the last days of December, visiting the friends I left before moving to Barcelona. Driving around, I saw the old neighbourhoods I missed with their distinctive cultures, the Montrose area, River Oaks, Midtown, the Heights… and I saw all my most-frequented bars and salsa clubs, all lit up with Christmas lights. I missed Houston a lot, but also knew I’ve sort of outgrown it. On New Years Eve, Marco took me to my favorite Colombian restaurant (even though he is Ecuadorian), Mi Pueblito, where he forced me to speak Spanish. It was nice.

A Family Guy marathon later, we headed out to the New Years parties. But on the way there, my car tire blew up. Damn! 30 minutes to New Years. Marco was a hero and changed it in something like 10 minutes (he is experienced with cars). So I walked into the party right on the stroke of midnight, looking fabulous as always. My first dance was a merengue, with one of my best friends, Christian, who works in Cancer research for MD Anderson. He must have spun me like 10 times in a row. That’s our thing. He is the best dancer I know. Well perhaps after Marco. But Marco does NY On2 and Christian & I dance LA On1. I digress.

Latin music has the perfect rhythm to get lost in. My favorite dance was with Jose, a guy from Medellin, Colombia whom I met that night. He dances Colombian style salsa (obviously) which is very cumbia related, and is not widely taught in the US. But I’ve danced Colombian style informally before so we hit it off quite well. It was a very pleasant dance to the classic “Cali Pachanguero.” He was the nicest, most sweetest guy. He had this refreshing sincerity about him that many South Americans I know possess: probably as a result of their way of life being so free and open. And when he told me that Medellin was famous for coffee, flowers and textiles, and not drugs, I had to smile, because it was like I knew that already by heart. Sometimes little things like that make me miss Colombia. His Italian-American friend Dustin, whom also is in love with Colombia, gave me a traditional "Rumba Navidena" CD with lots of Cumbia-Vallenato songs.

New Years Day, I had lunch at Pei Wei with Andrew C whom I had danced a nice bachata with at the party the night before. It was very enjoyable. I wish we had hung out more together when I was in Houston. After lunch, he took me to get my tire replaced so I could drive back home to Austin. Before I left I gave Marco this big, long hug. He was wearing a red sweater, my favorite color. I literally didn’t want to let him go, because figuratively, I knew this would be more than just a simple parting of ways. He had set his life down in Houston, and I would probably be living in London after graduation. It’s funny that no matter how drastically you change your life, you always can feel at home in the past. But the rub is knowing that you cannot stay there, and must create your own home, somewhere else.