Vamos al Discoteca!

One thing that I distinctly remember from my middle and high school spanish classes was how the young people in the text book scenarios always seemed to be talking about or going to the "discoteca."

We all always thought that this was so cheesy and that either the books were outdated or the authors were dreaming about their youth in the 70s.

However, this weekend I learned that there really are "discotecas" in spanish speaking countries and that young people do in fact go to them.

My friend Laura, from St.Lawrence (who works at the school), hosted a party Friday night with her boyfriend Carlos. He works as a guide for a canopy tour company (zipline) in La Fortuna, where they live. I was the only person that came from Ciudad Quesada, and incidentally only knew one person there. It's been a while since I'd done anything like that, but it reminded me how much that type of scenario can actually be.

Everyone else there worked with Carlos and was in their twenties or thirties. Apparently there aren't many women in the zipline business because out of the 20 people that were there at one point, there were only five women. Laura and myself, the solitary female zipline guide, and two of the guys wives who were there with their babies.

We had grilled steak and salchicharon with tortillas and popcorn and there were plenty of Pilsen, Imperials and Bavarias around. Apparently the movie Jackass ("Yakass" if you speak spanish) is still pretty popular and shotgunning (or "turbo" as they call it) is a new concept. There was quite a bit of that before everyone decided that we were going to the Discoteca.

I couldn't believe my ears. Vamos al discoteca? Es la verdad? Apparently they really exist....

The one we went to was upstairs in a big warehouse style building. There was probably an even mix of ticos and gringos, La Fortuna being a big tourist town, and lots of pumping spanish music and dancing. I had a great time dancing, although the ratio of 7 guys to one girl (Laura and I were the only girls that went) was a little intimidating at times. I was surrounded!

All in all a good time.