Por fin, una boliche!

Saturday night my friend Alejandro had some sorrows to drown, so we decided that some dancing was in order. He had randomly spotted a sign in the street for an 80's/new wave night in a bar in the basement of a hotel near our hostel, so we decided to be daring and see what it was all about.

Discotheques in Argentina are called boliches, which originally was a word referring to any type of bar, but whose definition has become more restrictive. I hadn't actually been to a boliche here yet , but I've heard they're pretty intense affairs. Crowded, with people flirting to the max. Unlike in Canada where you go to the club with your group of friends and spend all night with people you already know, here groups of guys and groups of girls go to the boliche seperately, and it's all about meeting people ( in every sense of the word....) But since here seduction is a big game and guys have to basically do all the work, I'd heard that if you're a girl at a boliche you can barely dance for all the guys that are trying to chat you up.

But the place where we went was nothing like your typical boliche. There were lots of people, but it wasn't totally packed, and the vibe was quite relaxed. People really were there just to dance to the music, which was great. And maybe it was because I went with a group of 4 guys (we were quite an international contingent - 2 Columbians, a French guy, a Chilean and me), but I didn't get hit on once all night.

What's hilarious is that since the beginning of October it's illegal to smoke in bars or restaurants in Buenos Aires. but this being such a city, or rather country, of smokers, people are having trouble adapting to this new law ( to put it lightly.) Now, as with any law Argentinians find pesky or pointless, they quickly, easily and without much regret find ways around it. So the bar where we went had a couple of "smoke bouncers" on duty, who would basically follow the trail of smoke over and tell those tried to smoke despite the law ( like, half the bar) to butt out. This guy's job got infinitely harder once the DJ came out and turned on his smoke machine; then he had to spot the glowing red butts through the crowd. So everyone would hold their cigarette under the table or behind their chair, or just cover the end with their hand. Hilarious. And even when they'd catch someone, they wouldn't kick them out, they'd just tell them to put their cigarette out. If they kick them out they're not going to buy any more beer, now are they?

We left the bar at 6am, when things started winding down. We stopped at a cafe for breakfast on the way home. I've become a convert for the Argentinian late nights. It's perfect. When you leave the bar and the sun is up, there's no wandering down sketchy dark streets trying to find a taxi or trying to get your keys out when you get to your door in the dark. It's light out! And you can take the subway/train/bus home! And what's ore is that the buses and streets and cafes are full of other people on their way home as well. It's like the middle of the day. I love it!

Thursday's my birthday, so I'm trying to decide whether to organize and outing to a boliche, or to take things more relaxed at a pub or bar....