Clubbing!

The onset of my first weekend (for those of you keeping score, yes, I'm still a week behind) meant my first ventures out into Buenos Aires's nightlife. The sleeping/partying schedule in Buenos Aires is fairly backwards, in my opinion, since they party like Spaniards until 6am and then go to work like Americans at 9. There's no mid-afternoon siesta, no 35-hour workweek (many people work 6 day weeks), and all in all, no sleep. That's not really a problem for me, though, since so far I've yet to start doing anything productive or meaningful with my time besides wandering around the city, so I go out late and sleep until noon.

Last Thursday night, my third in the city, I decided it was time to go out and thus called Sarah and Carly, who had plans to go to some club or another. We hung out at their apartment for a few hours--they live in the busier neighborhood closer to the center, along with two of their roommates. They live in a 5-bedroom apartment, and their roommates are an eclectic bunch of twenty-somethings, and it seems like a pretty fun situation. The two we hung out with were a girl from France and a guy from BA who spent much of his childhood in Miami. I called Martin, my local family friend and he came over as well, and soon we were in the taxi on the way to Puerto Madero.

Although I barely saw it from the window of the taxi (we were squished 4 in the back seat), Puerto Madero seems to me to be similar to Puerto Olimpico in Barcelona, that is, a modern development of fancy clubs and bars that overcharge tourists who come seeking a feeling of stylish entitlement. The club we had picked, Acqua, let the girls in for free but charged the guys 40 pesos a piece, which although only costs US$13, is an obscene cover charge for this city. We stayed and danced for a few hours to music that was too loud, and the place was too crowded, but at least I was out and exploring something besides the hostel. The one up-side--drinks were free with the cover. If you can manage to get to the bar twice (once to get your ticket, and a 2nd time to actually get your drink) through the crowd, they make fairly generous drinks.

Friday night I was looking for something a bit more authentic, and hopefully more fun. I had been in facebook contact with a guy from Buenos Aires whom I had messaged out of bold outgoingness, and he mentioned to me that there was a great gay club just outside the center that he would be going to with his friends. I asked to meet up with him and his friends before the club, thinking how nice it would be to sneak into a gay friend group while I'm here. He politely declined, ostensibly because they already had advance passes into the club and wouldn't have to wait in line, but probably because I was just some dude from the internet.

My options were thus twofold: I could have stayed with the pack (of dudes) from the hostel going to some club that someone read about in Fodor's, or I could go alone in a taxi to this club, and hope that I might meet up with my new friend. I chose 2, and after a 15-minute cab ride (which only cost US$8) and a 20-minute wait outside, I was in the Fiesta Plop, hosted at the Teatro de Flores. The club was great, it's a converted theater that has a stage, pit, and balcony cleared of all the seats, and plenty of bar space meaning lines were short. After the 20 peso cover (more typical, about $7) drinks were only 8 pesos apiece, including some vodka in the glass and a whole can of RedBull.

Fortunately, through text messages, I was able to meet up with Cristian (the facebook friend) almost immediately and then somewhat forcefully joined his group of friends. After a little while of dancing and chatting/screaming to one another over the music, I seemed to have earned my right to hang out with them, and ultimately I had a fantastic time. So much so, that I have plans to meet up with them tonight for dinner and round two of Fiesta Plop.