Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Boliches and 'Burbs

This past weekend, I made my first attempt at going out like a true porteña. At Vassar, I’m used to nightlife that extends from about 10 pm to 4 am at the latest. Here, it’s not uncommon for people my age to go out around midnight and stay out until at least 6 or 7 the next morning, sometimes later. And since dorms are non-existent here, and most university students live at home with their parents, going out is entirely city-centered, rather than campus- or apartment-centered.

Friday night, I met up with some amigas (I’m gonna be an a-hole and italicize – “Hey! Look! A foreign word you couldn’t possibly know!”) at a bar in Palermo So-Ho* around midnight, and it was pretty clear that most people there were either fellow Americans or were just finishing with dinner. After some electric lemonades, we took a cab to a gay bar in Recoleta that had a 30-peso entrance fee (about $8 US) for an open bar. It was a cute place, with disco balls hanging from the ceiling and pictures of Hollywood starlets on the walls. They were projecting a bizarre film that looked like it was from “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on the back wall. Nothing like dancing to Lady Gaga with a bright pink drink in your hand while watching clip after clip of people passing out at weddings. Seriously, it was a fun time!

After a couple of hours at the gay bar, we got a little depressed by the (surprise!) lack of straight boys, and decided to go someplace a little more hetero. We took another short cab ride to a boliche called Sahara. DO NOT GO TO THAT PLACE!! The first floor contained the 40+ crowd, while upstairs was full of what looked like 15-year-olds. One boy told me he was 20, and when I didn’t believe him, he took out his passport to prove it. Odd.

I left feeling a tad disappointed, thinking that all boliches would be like this. Later, I told my host sister the story of the night, and she practically exploded laughing when I told her we went to Sahara. She said it is the worst of the worst. I was relieved to know that there was hope for me yet in the boliche world!

Saturday night yielded no further boliche experiences, but I did get to eat some amazing Peruvian food in celebration of Veronica’s birthday. Afterward we went out to Plaza Serrano in Palermo So-Ho. We ran into tons of Americans from our program and hung out ‘til around four (i.e. we turned in early).

Sadly, I have no pictures to go with these stories, as I didn’t want to lug my camera around, but other people were taking pictures, so who knows what gems might pop up later on facebook...I’ll post them here if there are any good ones.

The “’burbs” part of this entry is considerably shorter, but still important. Saturday morning, I headed out to the suburbs to visit family friends. They are from the city but are currently staying in a gated community while their house is being renovated. I was extremely tired, which further stunted my Spanish, but it was a lovely day nonetheless. It was great to finally meet them after such a long time. They are a great bunch! They also fed me some of the best food I have ever tasted. As souvenirs, I brought an uglydoll for each member of the family. Up next are some snapshots from the trip.

*The city is divided into barrios, and Palermo is further divided into parts, including Palermo Hollywood and Palermo So-Ho

3 comments:

  1. I like the image of you being approached on the dance floor by a "20 year old" fifteen year old. I imagine he looks like Neil Schweiber from Freax + Geex. But I am absolutely jealous of the awesome gay bar experience, that sounds beautiful and like my ideal club.

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  2. He wasn´t quite Freaks and Geeks material, but he was wearing a mighty spiffy pinstriped collared shirt and had recently had a haircut (which, as we know, transform the manliest into 8-year-olds).

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  3. That reminds me of of this one time this French girl wouldn't believe I was american lool. It was so awk!!! hahaa.

    Nice about the GC sounds like F-times. Me and Adessa abbreviate everything now. Some popular ones are FUTA and KMS. Stay tuned for meanings ! they are funny!

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