Saturday Night

After buying my Buquebus ticket I decided to get a manicure/pedicure. I'm on my way home to summer so I might as well prepare my cold feet for sandal weather. I decided to bring my own bottle of OPI nail polish so I could touch up any chips before I left. And as I presented the bottle from my purse: “Tengo mi propio –” Splat. The bottle rolled off the footrest and shattered on the floor, leaving my Bernardo-clad winter feet buried under a blob of red paint. So after waiting about twenty minutes for the manicurist to be available, I had to wait another ten minutes for three employees to scrub down the floor with rubbing alcohol as I stood there dumbfounded wiping the paint off of my hands, jeans, feet and shoes. I offered to help but they were worried about broken glass and my sandals. Oh well, I guess it's one less thing to pack. The pedicure was good, but they don’t use water. They do, however, use razors to shave off dead skin. So I had pretty feet and pretty hands for Damian and Annemarie’s previa that night.

Mark, Meg, Damian, Juan Jo, Sil & Annemarie

They hosted Jenny, Mark, Silvana, Juan Jo and me in their apartment. We ate chips and cookies and pizza with wine and vodka while playing games and listening to music until 2:30 am. Then we (all seven of us) crammed into Silvana’s subcompact Peugeot and she drove us to Crobar.

Meg & Annemarie crammed in the back of Sil's car

It was Cachengue Night, and I had called Leandro and Chasco to see if we could get in free. Leandro didn’t answer, and Chasco told us to get there before 3 am because after that we’d have to pay. And of course we arrive at 3:15 (after Juan Jo yelled River Plate fight songs out the window) and the seven of us rolled out of the car like clowns outside a circus tent. Damian says he’ll take care of it, but had figured the male bouncer would rather talk to a girl. So I told him we were on Chasco’s list. He said we were supposed to be there before 3 to get in free. “No sabia,” I lie. Maybe half can pay? “Pero es mi cumple,” Jenny tells him. “Pasen.” Yay teamwork!

But you have to wonder how many others got in for free, because the place was packed. Usually boliches are crowded, but you can at least make a path. People were shoving. I got pushed down the stairs. “No apoyes en la escalera.” Actually I wasn’t waiting in the stairs, or trying to block them, I was trying to walk. Maybe you should address your comment to the couple sitting on the stairs to make out.

So basically we checked our coats (at $5 pesos a piece) to decide the crowd was ridiculous. But we did get a couple pictures with transvestites, so mission accomplished: