Nightlife

Last night Dan and I decided to try out Dominican nightlife here in Santiago. However, things ended up changing for the better. One of the employees from the Puerto Plata office and her boyfriend were visiting Dan's host mom for the night and so instead of bar hopping we invited them to come with us. A tad disappointed at first because I wanted to see just how crazy Dominicans could get I quickly realized that if I want to party, I can do that in downtown DC or Philly. But to be able to spend the night with two Dominicans in their own culture, that is priceless.

So we set off in the hot humid night towards the monument. Thankfully there was a cool breeze but it was still easy to feel what remained of the oppressive heat that seeped into every corner of the city by midday. We had no idea where to go, as I was the only "local" and had only read about the bars in Lonely Planet and the street they were on. We walked around the monument first, enjoying the view of the expansive city with all its lights below. Heading down, we passed the main bar street and came upon a billiard room. Thankfully these two Christians do drink beer and we got an ice cold Presidente to share and played three rounds of pool. Despite 8-ball being played the same here, it isn't quite the same with bachata and merengue blasting amidst the swirling air caused by 8 fans hopelessly trying to keep the air cool. I played horribly as usual, but we weren't there to play, just to enjoy each other's company. I felt bad for Dan, his Spanish was limited so he couldn't enjoy all of the conversations. Once we were tired or scratching, we moved on to a local bar where a merengue group was performing. There is nothing like listening to merengue whilst sipping on Presidente watching bodies bounce up and down to the deep African rhythm and feeling a cool soft breeze underneath the dark Dominican night sky. It was almost surreal, after having forced myself to read about this in textbooks for Spanish class, to actually be in the middle of this fascinating thing called Dominican culture.

So that was my night. And I will remember this night for a long time to come.