From Noon To Midnight and Beyond

Last Saturday, I danced for 14 hours.  Fourteen hours? You ask. Were you training for some sort of Peruvian salsa competition or the next season of So You Think You Can Dance? Nope. Because apparently fourteen hours doesn´t qualify as marathon dancing in Peru; it´s just a typical Saturday at Embarcadero 41.

Playing card décor.

It all started when my friend asked if my roommates/coworkers and I would like to be put on Saturday´s list at Embarcadero. Having grown accustomed to such lists and their privileges (no covers, no waiting in line), I happily agreed.  He told me the location and the name of the list we´d be on.

¨Great.  And what time should we meet you?¨

¨Around 1PM.¨

¨1PM?¨ I asked, thinking he was surely confusing the abbreviations used to indicate early morning clubbing hours with those of Saturday afternoon napping.  It certainly wasn´t out of the question to arrive at a club in Peru at 1AM, but 1PM?

¨Yeah, 1PM,¨ he confirmed, not seeming to think anything of it. ¨We can spend the afternoon there dancing, then eat something and go clubbing again in the evening.¨

It´s not the idea of daytime drinking that made the 1PM start time sound foreign; most Americans of drinking age have done their fair share of afternoon (and early morning) tailgating for football games and concerts.  It was the intimidating idea that my afternoon hours would be spent inside a jammed packed club, dancing until my muscles ached, rather than in a spacious parking lot with comfortable folding chairs.

How would I make it?

But my friend promised we´d have a good time, and Embarcadero delivered. The day held many surprises, from cover bands and on-stage contests to all the free glow sticks, balloons and felt hats a girl could want. When we were tired of dancing, we refueled with large servings of pollo a la brasa and chaufa at a nearby restaurant.  Then we were back out on the town again (this time at a proper hour) for our second wind of drinks and dancing. 

You know how you hear those Top 40s songs about dancing until 4 o´clock in the morning? As you bop your head to the beat and mouth the words you´re probably thinking, ¨nobody in their right mind actually dances until four in the morning.¨

Make no mistake, my friend.  In Lima they do.