Zum, Zum, Zumba!
Posted on February 16, 2010 - Filed Under Friends, Fun, Mom Stuff, Personal | 6 Comments
My friend, Ann, and I have been thinking about how to lose weight together for a while. Neither of us feels comfortable in a gym, because, let’s face it, that’s where skinny people go to look even better! I’ve seen slightly pudgy people in the gym, but I’ve never seen someone who weighs more than 200 lbs there!
We contemplated walking together on a daily basis, but our schedules don’t mesh and quite frankly, we never got around to it. So, when Ann called to tell me that they were teaching Zumba for Q20 a month in Cesar Brañas, right in Antigua . . . well, actually, I asked what the heck Zumba was. She said it was a mixed dance thing. Warning bells went off. I’m NOT good at dancing. But I need to lose weight. So I signed up. The classes are twice weekly, for an hour.
Today was our first class. Ann had observed one and told me that everyone there was like us, overweight and oldish. Ahem.
I didn’t bring my camera, but the ladies looked kinda like this:
Many were very skinny. Bygones. We got into the lineup and began jerking our shoulders to the music. Except I have no rythmn. Which means I was probably the ONLY person in the room having to actually watch the instructor to see when she moved her shoulders.
Then we moved on to touching our toes. Except, I can’t. So I just bent as far as my oversized, not-so-post-baby tummy would let me. All good.
Then we did some step back, twist and jazz hands things. And that’s when I discovered that my shoes were not ever meant for doing dance on a slippery tile floor. They slid. They slipped. And I almost fell over. So, rather than concentrating on the moves, I was concentrating on not accidentally falling into the splits, which I’m sure would have surprised everyone in the room.
That’s when things got really complicated. The instructor added salsa moves to the mix. Now, I spent the first 3 years of my life in Guatemala AVOIDING salsa. I had a friend who was an instructor and he begged me to join his class. He even offered to teach me for free. I resisted because I KNEW how bad I would suck at it. And when I finally did do a class, I proved myself right.
Back to today. Imagine a room full of 125 lb. women who were born with natural rythmn ingrained into their systems, dancing the dance that is danced at EVERY party here. And, due to a lack of tarrying on my part when everyone was lining up, a very white (er, make that red) big gal in the middle, somehow messing up the simple one, two, three step. Yup, that’s me! 
Fortunately, it was kinda fun.
Things got even more complicated after that, with twirls and some kind of jazz/tap/salsa sequence that had me hopping back and forth, throwing my hands up at the appropriate times hoping no one would notice that I was mostly just trying desperately not to fall down with my slippery shoes!
Finally we wound down. An hour had passed. I was bright red, with sweat dripping from my face, a big wet mark on my back and yet . . . we made it! A whole hour! Both Ann and I were quite impressed with ourselves, once we recovered from the whole experience. Also, at least two other girls who weighed about 50 lbs less than me, were also bright red, so I didn’t feel so bad. Smiles were exchanged all around and we headed out.
On Thursday, we’re heading back to dance again. Only this time, I’m taking different shoes.
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6 Responses to “Zum, Zum, Zumba!”
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That really sounds like a fun way to work out!
sounds like fun, and since I’m a gorda lol… I would definitely be huffing and puffing and probably not even make it through the hour. As far as salsa goes, I can’t do that or cumbia-but after a few drinks I can do bachata
Let us know how it goes, and be sure to wear some good shoes!
Zumba is quite big up here too in Canada. I do that too – great way to exercise with awesome music! Keep it up and you will notice the inches whittling away. Twice in one week is such awesome exercise.
If that’s what the women there look like, perhaps I’ll enroll…
Does Antigua still do Zumba classes. If so, where?
In Cesar Brañas, on the road that leads to the public cemetery. You should be able to just go into the office and ask about their classes.