Mexican songs, mariachi, and Cuban music...‏

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July 22, 2006

So last night the Puerto Rican dude, Korean dude, and Austrian chick, and I hung out last drinking. I had more to drink last night than I have in a long while, which is kind of weird considering in a foreign city with three almost complete strangers. Oddly, though, I had a blast with them last night. We first went to this outdoor place in the one of the plazas that had singers singing traditional Mexican songs. After a couple of beers there, we split a cab and left downtown for another part of the city. The next place we ended up was called Bariachi. It was this pretty big, kind of upscale club with a full set mariachi band onstage. The music and atmosphere were pretty cool, but the service sucked.

We got there a little late in the night and the actual club was full, so were placed into this side waiting area. In there, we ordered drinks right away, but it took forever for our bucket of beer to arrive. The other Asian was getting hungry, so the Puerto Rican dude ordered a plate of appetizers for us. That never came. Then the waiting area pretty much emptied out and and we were alone. The Puerto Rican guy goes up front and asks when we could be seated. It seems like they must have forgotten about us, as they quickly had a table cleared for us.

Once seated inside were continued to drink our bucket and waited for the food. Like I said, the mariachi music was pretty cool, and the scene was pretty lively. But no one ever checked up on us for the next 15 minutes. So we all decided to book it. We saw a place across the street that looked promising. At first we were drawn by the music and as we approached the building, we saw that it was a Cuban place.

We all agreed to check it out and spent the rest of our night there. That's when the fun started. I had a mojito or three, and we all shared a Cuban combo appetizer plate. Both the drinks and food were deliciosos. The Cuban band was downstairs playing, and the Puerto Rican guy and the Austrian chick decide to dance a couple of songs. That left me with the other Asian dude talking. We continued our conversation about his girlfriend and my lack thereof. That part was kind of depressing. Well for me, not for him. The guy is 22 and says that he's really happy with his girlfriend right now. Whatever that means.

After a while the band comes upstairs to where we were seated. Because the area was really small they were literally behind me. One guy was so close that I could touch his flute. That's funny because they don't play flutes in Cuban music. The other Asian was feeling tired, and since he's staying in the same area as me, we took off together.

The ride back was interesting. The driver was telling us all the places to hang out at. Then when we got downtown, we saw what looked like a prostitute leaning her head into a car. It's kind of like when you see in movies or tv shows like Cops. Anyway, the cabbie says something like, "yeah that's a first rate prostitute there." Then he proceeds to carefully explain to his two young Asian passengers that other prostitute could be found in some other area of town. His two young Asian passengers remained silent. Mercifully the other dude's hotel was approaching, so the ride ended.

In Mexico, people traditionally eat this soup called menudo to cure hangovers. Back home it's made of hominy (corn), tripe (cow's stomach), cilantro, and onions. Now when I woke up this morning I felt fine, but I had a craving for menudo. It was a mistake. The menudo here is apparently different than back at home. Here they don't have the hominy, but they do replace it with more tripe. Not just cow's stomach, but the stomachs of other animals. I'm not really sure which animals, since I can't really distinguish the stomachs of every animal by looking at it in a bowl of soup. Or any other way, really. Good thing I also ordered the plate of fresh fruit, too.

Today I was supposed to go on a tour of Lake Chapala with the Puerto Rican dude. Unfortunately the tour bus doesn't come on Saturdays. So we decided to check out another part of town called Zapopan. There was not really much to do there, but we found some cool bars for tonight. I actually just made plans to hook up with the gang during the writing of this email.

Okay, I'm getting really sleepy now since I only got 5 hours of sleep last night. I need a siesta to get ready for tonight's action. Guadalajara, watch out for Señor Terence.

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