A Rainy, Pre-Easter Saturday Night

Clint messaged me to say he was heading back to Poblado a few nights after our last adventure, and since I had recovered in that time, I met up with him in Parque Poblado along with Martin, my roommate, and his visiting friend from Peru.

Martin is thinking of living in Japan for awhile, and since Clint had done just that before arriving in Colombia, it was a good opportunity for questions.

We then walked the few blocks up to Parque Lleras where a few beers and a bottle of Aguardiente were purchased.

Jamie, Clint’s friend, commented that the night was starting out in an eerily similar manner as before.

I agreed, and therefore refrained from the Aguardiente (save one shot for good luck) to ensure the following day could be productive.

Clint commented that he’d never seen so few people around the park on a Saturady night.  Clearly Semana Santa was having an impact on the nightlife, especially on the eve of Easter.

Soon, Amu joined us along with 5 Peruvians who were couchsurfing with him.  It is worth noting that 4 of them were girls, and at least 3 of those girls were semi-pro salsa dancers.

If they weren’t professional, than it is at least safe to say they loved to dance and were very good at it.  Eventually, the majority of the group and I headed toward Habana, a bar with live salsa music, while Clint and Jamie headed for Octava Bar.

Two Colombian guys joined our table, so we eventually had a rather big party.  I asked one of the girls to dance, and felt rather inept at my lack of abilities, though she was happily doing her thing.  Salsa lessons were definitely in my future if I want to fully enjoy the dance style.

Rain was pouring down, but we eventually made a move for Barlovento, a nearby discoteca at the recommendation of one of the Colombian guys, though I had hoped to steer our group toward Le Pub de Octavia where I knew conversations could occur alongside dancing.

Stepping inside the club for the first time, I was met with booming music.  Deafening actually.

Exactly the kind of place where you’d better be up and dancing around to have a good time because conversations would have to entail yelling, and forget trying to communicate across a table.

The main bar was in a U-shape and was plenty wide enough to indicate it was built for people to dance upon.

A round of drinks were ordered, and the club mixed up the music between salsa, and typical rock and reggaeton offerings.  In these parts, you would classify the club as “crossover.”

Around 2 am, the house lights came on and we paid the bill and exited the club.

While the girls still though it was early, a Colombian guy outside informed us that even the clubs which stayed open until 4 am on the weekends would be closing early at 2:30 am due to the Easter holiday.

And that put an anti-climactic end end to our night out.