Thursday, Septiembre 24
A group of us went out to a bar called "La Biblioteca" in Chillan. We ordered snacks and drinks and everyone was having a great time. Our group hit it off with the bartenders (well, some of the girls in our group hit it off with them, I should say), and one of the girls got to go behind the bar and make a couple drinks.
After La Biblioteca we went to El Bronco. Apparently the first two nights I had been were not normal, because it wasn't nearly as packed this time. I realize now it's because the first two nights I went were during Chile's Independence week (September 18 is Independence Day), so the students didn't have class. But we still a great time goofing off and dancing. After we'd been there for a couple hours, one of the girls in our group got us together because she had a little surprise for us: the bartenders from La Biblioteca were at the Brocno, and they could get us upstairs into the VIP section! So of course we went!
It wasn't a huge deal, but it was fun. I remembered that when I had been dancing I'd always look up and thought it would be fun to just sit upstairs, drink a beer, and watch the party. So I did just that, and I was right.
As the Bronco was closing down, we got another surprise: the bartenders from La Biblioteca were willing to drive us back into town, which was nice because it saved us the cost of a taxi. So we took them up on the offer. They took us as far as La Biblioteca, and Dave and I walked to my house from there. After getting three hours of sleep, Dave and I got up to go to Santiago.
Friday, Septiembre 25
Dave and I caught a bus to Santiago at 12:45pm. It was about a 5 and a half hour ride, so it was a good time to rest and catch up on some sleep.
When we arrived in Santiago we contacted Dave's friend Paula, the cousin of his tutor at the universidad. Her family was willing to let us stay at their house for the weekend. We found the metro, determined where we were and where we needed to go, and rode the thing all the way across Santiago! I liked the metro a lot. Part of it is above ground, and part of it is underground. There are five main lines that span the length and width of the city. Santiago is huge, if there was any doubt. It took us nearly an hour to get from the bus station to the stop near Paula's house. The metro was packed, but not unbearably so. The whole system was very effecient, and cheap, too. It cost us only 460 pesos (less than a dollar) for the whole ride, including a transfer between lines.
When we got to Paula's house there was yet another surprise in store for us: the family had brought an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and a set of drums for us to play with! Dave was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. We got everything set up and jammed for about an hour and a half. Dave played the drums, and I switched off between the guitar and the bass with Jorge, the father. We mostly covered songs, including Hotel California, Sweet Child O' Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, Hey Jude, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Highway to Hell, Shoot to Thrill, You Shook Me All Night Long, Nothing Else Matters, Bad Moon Rising, and a bunch of songs that Jorge knew and that Dave and I were able to figure out and play along with. Jorge is a great guitar player; he handeled the solos in Hotel California no questions asked. Again, I was amazed at how easily music can bring people together.
Saturday, Septiembre 26
Paula and her friend Catherine took Dave and I to Cerro San Cristobal, where they have a big statue of the Virgin Mary. They also have mass there, and I want to go back sometime to attend it.
On the way to San Cristobal we passed a restaurant. Some of the hosts from the restaurant were outside, joking with people walking by and trying to get them to sit down and eat. Our group got noticed by Ricardo, who spoke very good English. He told us to come back when we were hungry, and he was so funny that we couldn't pass it up, so after San Cristobal we did return. The meal, and Ricardo, did not disappoint. We had a great time, and there are pictures and a video of Ricardo on my Facebook page if anyone would like to see Ricardo in action.
The real highight of the weekend, however, was that night. We went back to Paula's, had dinner, and headed out to a club.
Jorge drove us. First stop was a Hummer parked at a gas station, where they hand out invitations to this dance club to students. Once we had our invitations Jorge dropped us off at the club where we ran into a problem with security. The girl in the Hummer wrote our student ID numbers on the invitations to make sure that no one got more than one. The problem was the girl had written my ID number on Dave's ticket as well as mine. So the security guard wouldn't let Dave in. Paula called her Dad, and he came back, took us to the Hummer where we sorted out the issue, and returned us to the club. This time we got in.
This is the front of the club:
Pretty cool, right? Well, we walked inside and this is what we found:
Fun, but more like a bar than a disco. I think Dave and I were both a little disappointed for a second. But people were having fun, so Dave found an open table and started to sit. But no, the girls pointed to a doorway at the back of the room. We went through it, down some stairs, and turned the corner to find this:
Yes, the dance floor is actually a dance pit. Yes, those are platforms rising out of the pit. And yes, some professional dancers utilized them:
So we spent a couple hours dancing, having the time of our life, thinking the night couldn't get any better, when the girls took us through another door, where we again went down some steps and turned a corner:
A wholly separate dance pit, and in this room they play 80's music (Night at the Roxbury, a song from the Grease soundtrack, ect.). Dave's exact words upon entering this room: "What!?"
At 5am the club was shutting down, so Jorge came back to get us. We slept until 11am.
Sunday, Septiembre 27
Ever since Dave had heard that there was a Starbucks in Santiago he'd been dying to go, so before we got on the bus back to Chillan we got Dave his coffee fix. It wasn't as good as in the States. We discovered that we are indeed coffee snobs.
Another long bus ride, and we were back in Chillan. We had homework and a quiz the next morning to study for, so our fun had come to an end that weekend. But what a weekend it had been! I didn't even get to do as much sight-seeing as I wanted to do, so I think it's safe to say that I'll return to Santiago. I just might try and go to that club again, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment