Florida life?

We have been here for a month. It took me some time to remember Florida ways.

Such as the need to drive everywhere as we are living in Delray Beach, which really isn’t a walkable city unless you are living downtown 

Remember, nothing here has a real street presence because every store is in a mall, strip mall, mini mall, or large mall.

A habit we have developed is to go to a cafe for an afternoon coffee; in Florida, the choices are very limited to Starbucks [ too bitter for me] or getting in your car and driving 20 minutes to downtown Delray, where there are a couple of places to get a coffee. 1 cappuccini and 1 cortado $ 9.00 US

Ouch, in Europe 2, coffees like this range, depending on the country, from 4€ to maybe 6€.
Last year, after suffering through this, we dropped the big dollars and bought a Nespresso coffee machine and an electric milk frother. 

Now we love our coffee break in the middle of the day, usually sitting on our terrace enjoying the mid-day sun!

In Florida, most milongas are charging about $ 20 entrada. For this price, some places include a bit of sweet or savory snacks, and I suggest bringing your wine. Most of the spaces here have good floors, strong air conditioning, and good music systems. Sometimes included are the matching computerized moving lights and mirrored balls with an outrageous light fixture.

Traditionally Florida milongas start at 9 PM and are finished by 1 am. Reservations are suggested, and sometimes prepayment options for admission are available.

After attending a few milongas, some faces become familiar, and others always remain strangers. As in most milongas in the world now, I observe women outnumber men about 2 to 1. If you have recently visited Bueno Aires, the ratio might be closer to 3 women to 1 man. This is the prime reason women are hiring tango taxi dancers in Florida, and this practice has been common in Buenos Aires for years. Haven’t seen much evidence of this practice in Barcelona or Istanbul.

In Miami, there is a large population of Argentinean migrants, so most peeps here are dancing traditional milongero close embrace, although you might find an occasional student from American Style Tango open embrace who just completed Fred Astaire dancing classes.

To know what’s happening and where to dance in Florida, there is tangomango.org presenting classes, practicas & milongas scheduling, and recently, Hoy-Milonga.com started its coverage of the tango in southern Florida.
This site is based in BsAs with coverage of the world of tango including BsAs, Berlin, Athens Turkey, and England.

Since arriving, the weather has been mostly windy and warm. We have been lucky and only experienced small bouts of rainstorms. There are nothing like the recent devastating events in Valencia Spain, but hurricane season doesn’t officially finish until the end of November. Here’s hoping we don’t have that experience.

The place we live in is a sprawling Florida-style gated community of residents all over 55 years.  This was not my choice, but I inherited the condo when my father passed 7 years ago.

It’s very safe and peaceful, kind of like living in the middle of a giant park with many types of palm trees and lots of different bird species, including egrets, big and small herons, hawks, and owls. For wildlife, some iguanas range in size from 2 inches to this big guy we see daily, sunning himself about 2 feet long, and of course, the squirrels.

During COVID-19, dogs were allowed and continued to be a part of the community, so daily dog walkers and there are many active walkers as the asphalt paths wander through the community that houses approximately 45 varied building types and 3000 people.

There are pools and a newly renovated and refurbished clubhouse with indoor pools, gyms, saunas, cardrooms, billiard rooms, an impressive current state-of-the-art theater, and a ballroom. Some clubs organize activities for interests, ranging from service to education and recreation. There’s also a large ballroom with a dance floor.

My apartment is a two bedroom but on the ground floor and a corner. My dad fell in love with the lake view that originally was a golf course but now is a development of new one-story houses.

Most of the year, the area is not fully occupied as, yes, Florida is home to many snowbirds from the north who flock to Florida to evade the cold weather.

This is my favorite time to visit October until early December or in May. The weather is not too hot, but Florida is always humid!

It’s a bit tough on the hair, though!

After not living in the US for long periods, it takes me a while to adjust to the terrible driving habits of Americans. They always forget to use signals, run through amber and even red lights, and just drive in the left lane instead of exiting after passing. My personal favorite is not respecting the flow of traffic in a merge and taking your turn.

Driving in France and Spain this year, we noticed and enjoyed the civility of traffic, especially in the roundabouts and on the highways.

This country that is the United States of America, has always been a land of immigrants where people have come to improve their lives for themselves and their children to escape oppression, political or economic. Other folks born here don’t realize or take for granted or simply don’t care about the freedoms that Americans currently enjoy.

All these worldly habits are fully on display in Florida, and on some days, it is truly an amazing melting pot of people. On other days, I can only scratch my head and say to myself, WTF?

I am grateful I grew up in the times I did. As a woman in my 70s, I am looking forward to spending the next few years traveling the world and dancing tango while living in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and spending very little time in the US.

The world is an amazing place, but we must remember to be grateful for all in our lives, to be kind to others, and to listen to each other.

To come to the milonga with an open heart, open mind, and a beautiful embrace to enjoy the dance and the life.

We are only here for a limited time.

Abrazo y Besos