The last few nights have been filled with bar and club hopping, lots of dancing, and music too loud for any kind of chatting whatsoever. My schedule lately has consisted of working at 4pm until 8:30pm then socializing with backpackers in the bar until 1:30am when we leave for the disco. I have been making it to bed between 5am and 8am- then sleeping until 2pm. Then Repeat. This cycle is slowly getting old as my body has been craving more and more sleep during the day. I'm definitely taking it easy tonight.

Thursday night we went to El Dragon- a jam-packed bar with lots of loud music. I danced in a corner with my friends until I asked a fellow hostel-stayer to walk me home- something definitely not safe enough for a young woman to be doing alone. Luckily we were only about 4 blocks away. Friday night was Help- the biggest club I have ever been to in my entire life. I accompanied Rodrigo and Diego, my new handsome & tall Peruvians to this enormous facility which had nearly 600 dancing 20 something year olds. As the three of us entered the club without any cover, we made our way through a VERY crowded audience which was swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the live band playing reggae and rock covers- some in english and some in spanish. I thought we would piss off the drunken music lovers from pushing our way through the crowd- but it turns out as long as your with 2 big dudes, and you're an attractive female, no one will cop and attitude! After some confusion as to why we were headed through the congested dancers, we made our way to the stage!! Next thing I know, Rodrigo is shaking hands with the band manager. COOL! After our quick hello, we made our way to the bar with the other hostel-stayers for a little booty shakin time. The energy of everyone in this warehouse-looking club was unbelievable. I'm sure there were less than 10 sober people- and one of the many non-sober people was a lovely hippie girl walking around asking to paint hearts, stars and war lines on our faces. She was sweet- so I let her. Amongst the 24 bars strategically placed around Help were small time vendors selling chachkees like woven bracelets, earrings, and colorful jewelry. I would have loved to buy something(s) but my wallet was stolen last week (not a big deal, don't flip out, my parents are aware, my cards have been cancelled and I only lost the equivalent of $75 dollars. I learned my lesson and everything is ok. My bar manager let me borrow some cash to do some laundry and otherwise I have everything I need. Whew. ok. on to the next topic). I left the club at 4:30am, which is when bars close in Lima (unlike 2am last call in Washington DC..lame) and returned to the hostel where my bar manager and fellow bunkmates were playing pool. So I watched and played mother hen for the drunkards who needed some water from behind the bar. I feel privileged being the bartender. I sometimes feel like I have a responsibility to my customers- especially the ones who started drinking at 5:30pm- OY.

Other than the frequent party scene, I went to Metro, the supermercado to try a few different prepared foods of Peruvian dishes. I saw something hearty with potatoes and peas and decided to give it a whirl. After chewing something of a strange consistency, I decided to ask my Chilean friend, Jose exactly what I was eating. It turns out that Cau Cau is cow stomach. The sauce was yummy but I decided not to eat anymore. I think I'll be ok if I never eat that again. Ever.

Because last night was CRAZY and many travelers departed for a new city, the bar is very quiet tonight. I have a feeling I'll be playing gangster rap and attempting to beat my bar manager in pool- something I am slowly mastering with his assistance. Rob lived in Malaysia for 3 years and basically became a professional pool player nbd. Welp- off I go to not lose at pool! Wish me luck.