Day #8 in New York - Eddie Torres!

I found a great place to go jogging here in New Jersey down at JFK Boulevard east by the water front with the Manhattan skyline on the other side of the Hudson river. Wonderful. I also ended up in a notably richer residential area with some beautiful houses.

I had a BLT Bagel at Murray's Bagels and went over to Jamba Juice to use their bathroom but walked away with an absolutely delicious blueberry/banana smoothie. Nice! I think Jamba Juice is great and I definitely think there is a business opportunity for a chain like that in Stockholm. Why isn't there one, or have I missed it?

I had my daily visit to the Harbor Conservatory and sat in on their beginners salsa workshop led by Ramon Gonzalez. There was another guy playing bongos and I didn't feel like interrupting him so I left after a while. It was beautiful to just sit there and enjoy the Mambo though. I forget the name of the song, but the mambo part was great.

Thanks to a tip from my new friend Tasleem I dropped in at an intermediate Mambo workshop with the legendary Eddie Torres himself. I have been dancing salsa for over six years and been to hundreds of workshops probably. This time though it was special. I haven't taken salsa classes for several years and I really enjoyed it! It was nostalgic and new at the same time. Eddie Torres and his wife Maria created such a friendly, playful, energetic atmosphere and made us do lots of fun moves. It was a blast! After the class Maria insisted that everyone go up and introduce himself to Eddie. Eddie said he had a great time in Sweden and is coming back to visit. There were other international visitors in the class as well such a couple from Poland. Great experience. Also, I think for me, great to be able to change from *trying* to be a musician in an orchestra to going back to being a dancer. Not sure where I belong. Why choose?