Last Saturday night I was invited to be a guest at Pato's younger sister Marianna's friend's birthday party. Marianna is lovely! She and her friend Johanna (Jovi) took great care of me. Marianna speaks English quite well and Jovi was energetically slowing down her speedy Chilean Spanish so that I could try to keep up. A few Cuba Libres and the two of us had no trouble communicating!
Our evening started off at a bar - the Kamikaze. Chile was playing Venezuela in soccer, so when we entered, it was mostly silent until Chile had the ball, then.... Chee! Lay! Chee! Lay! Viva Chile! Nice and easy! Of course I joined in. Marianna and I had some lovely conversations at the bar. You know me... always up for a chance to learn something, even when I'm experiencing the nightlife in Viña del Mar!
- Soccer - The "Pele of Argentina", Diego Maradona is now the coach of their national team. They say Those who can't do, teach. In the case of Maradona it seems that Those who can do, can't teach! The Argentina has always been #2 in the South American rankings. #1 of course being Brazil (who is almost excluded from the running because no one else can touch them). However now CHILE is #2!!! This is huge! Maybe they will go to the World Cup next year.
- Politics - Including, but not limited to, Pinochet (Chile's militant dictator from 1974 - 1990), current *female* President Michelle Bachelet, Dubya, and of course ¡¡OBAMA!!
- Religion and Marriage in Catholic Chile - Divorce became legal in Chile in 2004, prior to that a lot of couples would just separate and move on with their lives. Even now, because of the cost of a divorce, some couples still follow this custom.
- The day the music died - Michael Jackson's passing was a big deal here too.
We moved on from the Kamikaze to Goose a discotequa. My first Chilean discotequa! (And well, lets be honest, maybe only the second or third in my life! I have some blurry memories of a French discotheque....) At Goose the music was loud the people had moves. Skinny jeans and mullets abounded. To be clear, this Chilean mullet is not a Billy Ray Cyrus style do, it's more of a few months late getting to the barber situation. I asked Marianna about it. She smiled, eyes big, and confirmed that this hair is Really REALLY good in Chile. The girls love it. I explained that in the US this type of hairstyle is something country people wear and thanked my lucky stars that not all the Chilenos were as stylish as the guy dancing in front of us.
Nightlife 101 - Lessons Learned:
- Take a nap before going out. (We got home at 4:30 am!)
- I dance like a Latina! (Sure, Jovi was a bit drunk when she told me, but that still counts right?)
- Mullets are here to stay. (*sigh*)
Sounds like fun! The mullet is back in New York, too. Especially the side mullet, a Brooklyn hipster favorite, which is super odd... but lots of bartenders are sporting it these days.
ReplyDeleteYou have to take a pic of the stylish mullet. I want to judge for myself :)
ReplyDeleteI have seen a few mullets on some hippster kids at Truman. NO BUENO AY AY AY.
ReplyDeleteFor reference, the top four teams in the South American Region advance to the World Cup. With the 5th place team playing the 4th place team from the North American bracket in a one game playoff. AND CHILE is going to the world cup as they secured the second spot edging out Paraguay (which aside from Uruguay is my favorite SA country to say in a Spanish accent) with a tie breaker. SOOOOO
CHILEAN FUTBOL ESTUPENDO!
well they are alright, about on par with the US. good but not quite one of the super powers yet, which includes Argentina, who has the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, who is a lot like if not better than Maradona.