BACK TO SKÅNE-BIRTHDAY-MALMÖ- BEDDINGESTRAND -HÖLLVIKEN
It's good to be back. We are home again after a long, long journey...
There is cognac, Schapslieder and story-telling. The sun is shining, but RAPS FIELD ARE NOT THERE ANYMORE! MAY IS OVER. A new chapter will be written soon!


It is a second of June ( 02/06 2007) today and it is MY BIRTHDAY. I am a big girl now, and I hope a better dancer too. Age is good for tango, therefore I am absolutely relieved, and give a permission to anybody to ask about HOW OLD- I will answer with pride!
Each year I let the destiny ( tango destiny) choose the most appropriate place to celebrate it. So the list is very exotic: some years ago it was Ibiza, last year it was my cherished Provence, south of France, and now it is OUR SKÅNE, Sweden! I don’t remember having my birthday in mi Buenos Aires querido, anymore! Maybe it will happen one day, but considering that June is winter in Buenos Aires, I ‘d rather have a summery birthday- this is a requirement of my latin soul! WE WILL NOT HAVE WINTERS IN OUR LIVES- WE PROMISED EACH OTHER 4 years ago. AND WE KEEP THE PROMISE!

I woke up in a REGAL APARTMENT in Old Town of Malmö this morning: the sun was entering through the white, delicate curtains ( the northern folk does not have a custom to block the sun coming into the bedroom), the birds were singing and noises of pedestrian street down below was saying a BIG HALLO. It was a real pleasure to have this ***** room, freshly refurbished, just before our arrival. Very stylish:prevailing while with touches of light blue. Was it coincidence that Leif has prepared our special room in ARGENTINEAN FLAG COLOURS? And was it a coincidence that I arrived, a night before, wearing a shirt with Argentinean colours on it, with ARGENTINA written on the back ( Victor took a photo of me, stretched on a white-blue bed, having siesta, with ARGENTINA sign shining with little diamonds)
It was a delightful night after our performance in Camarin- each year’s tradition. But this year, unlike the other times, we had a lovely walk from our Långgårdsgatan 6 to Torpsgatan . It was almost ARGENTINEAN sensation ON LILLA TORG that evening, full of people and life, which, so long held inside, was booming out, covering all the chairs of terraces of cafes and restaurants, strolling through the cobbled stones streets: a warm summer evening that is SO FAMILIAR TO US: IT SMELLED BUENOS AIRES!
The Camarin milonga was a special prelude to my birthday too: coming here for the last 6 years in a row, we feel like in a family: so many familiar faces of our students, our friends. Not only tango between us, but many precious SYSTEM BOLAGET wines and beers, conversations and dreams about going to Buenos Aires, trips through raps fields, farewells and welcome back! So, as our Sven sings ( 60’s song) ‘ What a night, what a night, what a Saturday night’ : everything perfect, but one very Swedish detail: TIME DEADLINE: nightlife finishes at midnight, and that is LATE for SWEDEN. Special occasions, like our visit with a show, exceptionally prolongs the fiesta for as much as one hour more.
It is NOT Buenos Aires, where life just starts at midnight! Little differences: different climate, mentality and thus: habits…
I woke up in the REGAL APARTMENT in Långgårdsgatan 6. First gentle noises from the street and smell of orange-yellow birthday roses. Special birthday breakfast. We are fans of Swedish breakfasts anyway, their abundance and colourful display of different breads, cheeses, hams, marmalades. A delight for the eyes. And for the palate as well. Taken by the beauty of this MORNING, and it was AN ARGENTINEAN MORNING INDEED, or, I should rather say, a TANGUERO MORNING, 11 am, Saturday, I rushed to fetch my camera to immortalise the moment. And this anxiety had its price. As I wanted to have everything and every one of us in a picture, I asked Leif to use his tripod and place my camera on it. My remark: careful not to knock it down,was too late. THIS BIRTHDAY MORNING WAS THE END OF MY CAMERA! It did not even lived long enough to have its FIRST ANNIVERSARY! But there is a kind of spell of our cameras- they do not last long! Is it intensity of our travels! Experiences, feelings, tension, which kills them? Is it TOO MUCH TO STORE?!

-There was one drown in a Russian River ( was it Volga?) while canooing
-One we had stolen in a night train from Prague to Cracow ( while we were put asleep by a sleeping gas)
-Another was stolen IN SWITZERLAND WHILE WE WERE GIVING A SHOW ( what a fantasy of a theft)
-and given this sweet flat SAMSUNG as a compensation
-and on my birthday, 5 days before its FIRST ANNIVERSARY ( still on guarantee) IT COMES TO AN END. Farewell our faithful travel companion, sleep well and dream TECHNICOLOR DREAMS!

But may this little accident be the ONLY unpleasant accident of our tango tour!
Easy to arrange: we will get a new travelling companion just on my birthday.
Therefore this chapter will be only verbal and NOT ADORNED BY ANY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS- those taken last days are gently sleeping in our Samsung…
Any conclusions: DO NOT PUT A CAMERA ON A TRIPOD WITHOUT FIXING IT TRYING TO TAKE A PHOTO OF TOO BIG GROUP OF PEOPLE FROM A VERY NARROW KITCHEN DOOR; ESPECIALLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!
We have learnt!

But, on the other hand, our Divine Tango Protection sent me two gifts ( by now) for my birthday:
- an invitacion to go to Norrland en of June ( especially valuable and flattering that it was due to the Presidents of Two Tango Associations meeting us at the Tango Event in Sollefteå) I m very proud because this case certifies that SWEDISH can become ARGENTINEAN in certain actitudes: Åke decided to organize it in ONE MONTH, which , for Swedish timing IS A VERY SPONTANEOUS ACTION ( normally they organize everything a year or at least half a year in advance!)
-a contract for TANGO FESTIVAL in PERU, with solid confirmation to take us to CUZCO y MACHU PICHU: THIS IS FOR INREDULOUS ONES: TANGO TAKES US EVERYWHERE. WE DO NOT NEED TO BE TOURISTS OR PAY OUR TRAVEL PACKAGES!
And in that case too, the invitacion is due to the stage in Valparaiso, Chile, which connected the eyes of Peru Organizers with ours... INESCRUTABLES SON CAMINOS DE TANGO!- Victor says!
And now, there is a surprise party, on the most southern point of Sweden: SMYGEHUK. Our wonderful students from Beddingestrand , together with our SUPER AGENT INGER are preparing it in a secret. EVEN THE SUN IS ORDERED, and , according to Swedish Weather Forecast it will be so.
Meanwhile, cognac, schanpslieder and some brief nostalgia of our house- SO FAR AND SO NEAR….