Big Night on the Town

Last night (Friday) was our first big adventure night. We began the night at Guiseppes, an Italian restaurant. I ate pizza that actually tasted like pizza! 13 of us went to dinner. 5 of us shared 2 medium pizzas – veggie and Hawaiian. A few people sampled the local pasta but the majority of us ate pizza and drank beer (don’t worry – I only had Pepsi Light). We toasted, enjoyed each others’ company, and stuffed ourselves. After dinner, we ventured in the rain to La Rumba, a discoteca located above the grocery store. It is a movie theater with a “dance floor” in front of the movie screen. A bit strange but spacious enough. When we arrived, there were a handful of locales salsa dancing up a storm. We had a few drinks from the bar and joined in the dancing. More and more gringos piled in as the night went on, along with some “Guatepapis” (Guatemalan men, as we call them) up to no good. The majority of the music was Latin beats and few popular American songs from the radio played too. I obviously enjoyed the dancing. For the most part we danced together as a group. I had a few different Guatemalan dance partners (one of which I earned two besos from on the cheek, who was concerned about whether I was single and something about clothes I could not quite understand – prob for the better). Part way through the night, 3 separate men demonstrated solo salsa dancing routines. They were all from a salsa school. Then we had a group salsa lesson before the music changed to salsa exclusively. Our chicos showed us some of their moves and we practiced what we have been learning in salsa class. At the end of the night, the music changed again to some “classic” 80s music, including the YMCA and the Macarena. We left at 1am when the club closed. To hasten our departure, the civil police and some other law enforcement showed up with their guns (as per usual on the street). Jefe and Logioso made sure all the girls got home safely. I am looking forward to more nights but probably at different clubs. I am craving some sing-a-longs and music I know (other than songs I recognize from Zumba). We will probably test out the taxi service at some point too.