Buying Tango Shoes

Yesterday was a busy day. We had a Tai Chi lesson in the morning. Then we had to go to the bank to exchange some dollars for pesos. This took a lot longer than we expected. After a late lunch, we went shopping for shoes. In the evening we had a light dinner and went with Lina and Wendy from South Africa, to a club called Jazz&Pop. Lina�s boyfriend was playing Argentine folk music that night. We went with Lina, Raul, and Wendy for drinks afterward.

We figured that the perfect souvenir from our trip would be to get some tango shoes from Buenos Aires. Lina sent us to a place where the shoes are custom made. We have very little Spanish. The salesgirl had very little English. There was a wide selection of options for the design of the shoes. It will be interesting to see what our shoes actually look like when they are ready.

We went into the store. It was a small shop with a small display of some shoes and a selection of ready made shoes. There was also a desk for the salesgirl and a bench for the clientele. First we were shown a book with photographs of various styles of shoes. We discussed at length different kinds of heels for ladies shoes. Our discussions involved much pointing at samples and hoping.

I picked out 2 shoe styles. Then I had to choose the color and type of leather for the uppers that I wanted. There were too many choices but I finally narrowed it down. Then I had to let the salesgirl know what I had decided. This involved more pointing and hoping. Then I had 3 choices for the heel that I liked. Finally, I had 2 choices for the sole leather. The soles here are different from the suede that we find on ballroom dance shoes. One was a dark almost suede. A little thicker but with some texture. The other was light in color and harder. We think that this sole will be good for the milonga on Freedom Plaza in DC. Now that these decisions were made, the salesgirl measured my feet. She traced the outline of both feet on a piece of paper. Then she measured my foot 4 different ways with a tape. Finally, she recorded all of our choices on the tracings.

While I was doing this, Doris almost had enough time to come to her decisions. She ordered 3 pair of shoes. She then went through the same steps for her shoes. Our shoes will be ready for pickup on the 25th. Just in time for us to pack up when we leave the next day.

One of my pair is a smooth salmon with black patent leather. The other is a gray almost suede with black patent leather. One has a high tango heel. The other is a little lower. Doris� shoes include one pink pattern and solid fuchia. The next pair is silver with black patent leather. The 3rd pair has a red pattern with gold accents. Her heels are about 2 1/2 inches high.