So after our first disaster night in Milan, we weren’t expecting too much from our second nightly outing. Thankfully, it was nothing like the first. Mainly because of a very very lovely dancer called Danni – who we met in Puerto Rico.
Danni is one of the dancers with Tropical Gem (or Tropical Jam as Mandee would say). She had given Carlos her number, so he could call her when we were in Milan. So we gave her a ring, and she told us that she and a few others were heading out to a big festival outside of town that night, and we should come along. We jumped on a train, and she met us at a station close to her house, from which we headed out to the festival.
The festival is a local celebration of Latin American culture, that runs every day for several months – and it’s amazing! They have an absolutely stellar line up of singers and bands, stacks of food stalls from all around the world, bars, parties, shops and more! It has been running in Milan for 20 years, and is fantastic! It’s kind of like the EKKA in Brisbane, but completely Latin American style and it goes for months – it’s hard to imagine!
Anyway, when we got there we met up with some other people from Tropical Gem (including Fernando’s partner Sandy – who is also extremely lovely and very non-intimidating when she’s not on the stage!) and found ourselves eating Uruguayan BBQ, which made Elli very nostalgic as her family is from Uruguay. I have to say the food was absolutely delicious.
After food, we headed off to the main stage where Victor Manuelle was singing – live! For the non salsa dancers reading, he is an absolute star. Think Michael Buble of the salsa world. And he is fantastic live!! It was a brilliant concert and we had a ball.
After the concert finished, we met briefly with Jhesus Aponte (again, for the non-salsa dancers, he’s one of the world’s top On2 Dancers). We’ve met Jhesus before in Australia and Puerto Rico, and he’s lovely. I was also completely thrilled when he introduced me to his friends as “A salsera from Australia. She’s a very good dancer.” !!! For Jhesus Aponte to describe me as a good dancer is like gold dust. I was glowing.
The next few hours were basically partying at the fiesta (and drinking some truly revolting Brazilian cocktail) before we finally headed home to end our stay in Milan. I have to say that our second night well and truly made up for the first awful one. Between the great people, amazing music, good food, interesting conversation, and party atmosphere – it was fabulous.
The main problem with the night? We got home at about 3am, and had to be awake at 5:45am to get to the airport for an early plane to Rome.
Uh Oh.
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