I got a marriage proposal, ugh, rather plea, from an old Peruvian man. Ugh. He told me I wasn't too young (that was fine with him, I guessed probably even preferable). However, I insisted that it was NOT OK with me. Ugh. Then, I walked away. Luckily, Alejandro came early to pick us up today.
Lunch and some laying out. Spanish lessons--last one of the trip. Took pictures with Gustavo, the teacher. Dinner, a new one and my favorite one of the trip. It was a traditional Peruvian dish. Papas Rellenas-Mashed potatoes are formed in a ball about the size of a regular potato around marinated meat, part of a boiled egg, and an olive (I picked that little guy out though). Then, the whole thing is lightly fried (not breaded, but still fried). Scrumptious!
After dinner the real adventures began! There were 9 of us--8 girls and 1 Frank. Being the one guy, he became the bodyguard/"keeper" (as one Peruvian man later told him) of our group. He lived up to the title well. We set out for one of the two bars we've been to, the one we call Tortellini's (certainly not the name, but something with a T that sounds long like that...I never actually know the names of the places we go here, just how to walk there).
As we walked down the street, we heard loud music and soon ran into a parade! The street was filled with college-aged Peruvians and they were celebrating the University's anniversary. We ran down the street to catch up and I broke into one of the circles of people running down the street. Holding hands with a young Peruvian guy on my left and a Peruvian girl on my right, I ran and followed the line down the street. Our line snaked down the street and I saw the other girls I was with later down the line. As I danced around, I passed other familiar American faces and saw that everyone from our group had joined the celebration. We were running, yelling, laughing, smiling and holding on tight to the hands next to us. Another line wound around and danced by us and I saw three more faces from our group flash by. They were having a blast too. We ran like this for several minutes and I thought about how this was one of the most fun moments I have had on the trip. I tried to keep my eyes on the people in my group and felt safe if we were all together. Soon we became out of breath and decided to break out of the crowd and continue on our way. We broke out of our lines, yelled a thanks and gave a wave. The Peruvians waved and smiled back. I think they were happy to have us as part of their celebration.
Our group of gringos pushed our way down the crowded street. There were hundreds of young Peruvians filling the street, more there than I had ever seen in one place. The majority guys. We received more whistling and yelling in these next few moments than we had the whole trip combined. We raised our arms up and cheered back.
The street proved too crowded to make it all the way to Tortellini's, so we stopped at the much closer other favorite, Black Magic Tavern. The bartender, that Frank knows well by now, gave us a last night of the trip celebratory drink. We talked in the back room of the bar that had long wooden tables, big flat baskets covering the ceiling, and warm yellow walls. We got a little loud, as big groups of Americans tend to do, and had a great time.
Next stop, the new hottest dance club in all of Ayacucho--"Killa." It would be a 4 sol (about $1.30) taxi ride up to the top of the city....you know that is far away because taxi rides here are usually about 1 or 2 soles. We piled into two different taxis and proceed to wait it traffic from the parade for a least 10 minutes. Honking, somehow, didn't help the traffic move faster, though all the taxi drivers thought it would.
Finally, our taxi sped up the hill into a darker, quieter neighborhood. We pulled up to a dark, huge two-story warehouse looking building. Frank informed us this was it. Clearly, it was not open. Amy poked her head out of the other taxi (that had somehow arrived before us though left after us) and yelled, "it's not open" as their cab realized the same thing we did. All of our faces slowly went from a smile to a frown of disappointment. We sat in quiet shock for a minute, not really expecting this, so not sure what to do. It was only a minute though, and a new plan was made. Frank asked the taxi driver and he confirmed that "Killa" was closed on Thursdays. "Why didn't you tell us that before you took us here??!," was of course Frank's next question. Supposedly, it is sometimes open on Thursday, but not today...duh.
Our taxi coasted back down the dark hill and we decided to go to the next best club-"Hot." (yes, it is called "Hot," not "Caliente") Prior to tonight, I had walked by this place and decided I probably never wanted to go there, but since this was a night for celebration-why not! The taxi driver told us a much too high fee for the drive (like many prices people here tell gringos--I call it the gringo surcharge), so we quickly gave him a more appropriate amount and got out of the car. That was fine with him.
When we arrived at "Hot," Frank bribed the guy at the door with a group of gringas, and we got to cut the long line. We paid our 3 sol ($1) cover charge (they have cover charges here?) and walked inside. Oh, wow, it was an experience. The room was dark and the music was loud (just like any other club). I didn't recognize any of the songs, but the base was turned up so high you could feel the beat in your chest. There was a green and red laser light show flashing on the crowd. Little circles of light would shine on us and then break apart in to hundreds more little lights. There were also, of course, some flashing white strobe lights.
The real shocker was the smell. It was utterly overpowering and unlike anything I have smelled before. It was sort of a stale combination of old sweat and rotten parmesan cheese. Eww. I crinkled my nose. Didn't help. Sope had to cover her nose with my green scarf as we walked. We pushed our way through the crown of dancing Peruvians to the second floor balcony that lined and overlooked the whole first floor. Somehow we were able to go to the DJ booth/VIP area on a balcony above the main dance floor. It was a great perch from which to watch the crowd. We danced and had a ball.
Soon, it was getting close to 11:00pm--curfew at the house. So Elizabeth, Sope, Sarah, Bri and I walked back to the home laughing about the fun time we had. Amy, Danielle, Frank and Jenna stayed to have more adventures which we would hear about the next day.
Check Peruvian nightclub off my list of things to do in my life!
Take Me Out to the Dancehall, Pat Green
We went to a Peruvian dance club-whoa!
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