January 17th, Sucre Bolivia
Woke up this morning to see everyone sitting at the patio doing their Spanish homework. Like I've mentioned before, Sucre is the chosen place for all weary travellers to rest and most go to Spanish school to improve their language skills. There are around 20 schools in this small little town, and all are probably packed. Yesterday was a hard class, we learnt all the exceptions to verbs in the present tense and everyone was quite frustrated and down this morning, last class today and struggling with homework!
However our last lesson was much easier, our professor took us to a museum and we all only spoke Spanish. Once again, I was so surprised that I could form sentences and my vocabulary has definitely improved tenfold. However, I keep throwing in a couple of Portuguese words, which is very annoying because I don't realise that I'm doing it. Who would've thunk that I'd remember so much Portuguese?! The museum had 4 sections, one called the 'Mask room' was super cool and interesting with masks from all the different festivals. I sneaked 2 pictures before getting told off by security.
After class, we decided to go to Abis Patio for a lovely meal, and also as a farewell to Tim, one of the Brits who is leaving the group to go to the north of Bolivia to stay with a girl he met earlier on his trip. But she's not just any girl, she's a 'witch'... but a good one! I am so sad that my boyfriend does online advertising like me, which sounds so boring next to being a witch! Only in Bolivia! It's such a crazy fun amazing story - he met her at a bar and decided that it's rare to have such chemistry so he's going back to stay with her in the countryside. Unfortunately she has a big family and small house, so he's bought a tent which he's going to pitch in her garden for 2 weeks, and that's going to be his new home! I cannot wait for updates.
Before Abis though, I decided to crack open a bottle of red wine to celebrate our Spanish lessons. I also taught the boys 'Pemprepe', a card game that has brought so much happiness into the lives of all my friends! However they weren't catching on quick enough so we went back to playing the other usual games. Boys are so thick sometimes!
After a stellar meal at Abis, we then decided to go to a bar/restaurant called Florins which is quite popular with fellow travelers. It was nice and buzzing, a bar inside and a covered patio outside with tables that were later cleared for dancing. The place was full of 'gringos'. A gringo is a derogatory term for Americans, but is loosely applied to all white people most of the time. I am actually most thrilled to be in the gringo category! It's rare to see Indians this side of the world apparently, so they don't really know where to slot us, and most people think I'm just a very nicely tanned white girl! When I do tell people I'm Indian, they are so intrigued by me.
It's crazy, but I think Sucre Bolivia is the only place in the world that hasn't been inhabited by Indians! Actually, I haven't seen a single Indian in La Paz either, it's very strange to go almost a month without a sighting of my fellow country mates.
The music at Florins was quite loco, a mix of Elvis and Swedish House Mafia, Spanish pop songs and suddenly Vengaboys (all the foreigners including me ran around the place in a train formation)... There is no concept of mixing, just turning on and off songs. What really excited me is Marc Anthony's newest song (Vivir mi vida - we understand the lyrics!) which is a huge hit this side of the world and I already know it by heart. This must make me local no? I really missed my crazy dancing-jumping partner Iti, but in memory of her, I hiked up my shirt to show my tummy and danced like a crazy person! Bernie did his Bernie dance which included hitting a couple of people, but we didn't get thrown out (miss you Sachin and Preeti!!).
The Sucre girls have not heard of the 'boobs or ass' concept - only show one! There were lots of girls dressed to the hilt in tiny tiny tight dresses and super high heels with lots of makeup and jewellery and their hair all done up. They must hate us tourists showing up in jeans and sneakers looking like we've just trekked there.
Florins started clearing up around 12:30 am so we decided to go to the much talked about Mitos nightclub. The taxi had to drop us off on the main road and we had to walk down a little crowded lane (which had a strip club) to get to the entrance. At the entrance, the bouncer asked us where we were from, and then approved and let us in when we said Inglaterra, which I found really weird. We had to pay an entry fee and then walked down to the basement - and it felt like going into the basement of someone's house where they are having their sweet 16 disco party! It was full of really young looking gringos, all of whom seemed to be drunk or having a great time jumping and dancing to music that was not to different from Florins. There were very few locals in there, but they started arriving around 2:30 am.
I was ready to leave in 2 minutes, but our Icelander Thor's 'Sucre misus' (read a few posts down for more info) showed up with her friends so we decided to have a drink and dance a little with the group.
Dancing and jumping to some random songs, but a lot of favourites, in a basement 'nightclub' in Sucre Bolivia at 3:30 am... How did I get here, and do I need to leave?
So wake me up when it's all over
When I'm wiser and I'm older
All this time I was finding myself
And I didn't know I was lost
~ Avici
Nerdy me
The boys
Masks at the museum
