After a long day in the mountains, lots of driving, and having a thumping headache, what would I do for the rest of the evening?
Why, head out for a night on the town, of course!
I'd had a couple of aspirin and a lie down for 2 hours, all while trying to rehydrate myself. By 10pm, I was feeling OK. Alexis and I had agreed to meet for a late dinner and drink and while wandering around to find somewhere to go, we headed into what I thought was a little coffee shop just underneath my apartment. It was a tiny little thing and I didn't hold out much hope for it, however we headed to the rear of the shop and there was a tiny little stairway heading up to a second floor.
Upstairs wasn't a lot bigger, but there were tables and chairs, a small bar, a TV screen and stereo pumping out tunes from a mix of 80's treasures (does anyone remember Criss Cross, or however they spelt it?), a bit of more modern rap type stuff, and numerous Lady Gaga things. It couldn't have contained much more than 20 or so people, but was pretty packed in, with one small table just big enough for the two of us. Perfect. The waitress brought the menu and promptly disappeared again, leaving us to unfold the very large and impressive looking menu, particularly when you considered the size of the venue.
As is usual in Chile, there weren't a great number of vegetarian options, so in the end, it pretty much looked like a vegetarian pizza would be the best option. Nope, the waitress said, we don't have them. OK, what next, the salad? Nope. The vegetarian sandwich (minus the ham)? Nope. In the end, we decided to share the most vego-friendly tablas (pretty much a tasting plate variety of things) option. Alexis then decides to order a beer. First two choices from the menu, no, we don't have those. Third choice comes through with a winner. Hooray! I order one of those small bottles of bubbly and surprisingly enough, nope, we don't have them either. OK, what about a normal Coke? Beaming smile, yes sir, we have Coke. I'll bring one straight away. It seems that the menu is very new and that they haven't got everything in yet. All of that other fancy stuff is for the future. We had to laugh!
Dessert looked like it might be another opportunity to try our luck with the menu. Do you have desserts we asked? Yes, definitely, she said. Can I have the apple pie? No, we don't have that. What about the chocolate mousse? Let me check. No, no chocolate mousse. Well, what do you have? Lemon meringue pie. OK, I'll have some of that. In the end, it wasn't so bad. Not the best I've ever had, but not the worst. If anyone is interested, you can find that at the Copiapo airport.
After that was finished, we caught a collectivo (one of the fixed route taxi's that run around towns in Chile - very cheap, usual fare is about A$1), which was my first time in one and I'm converted. Brilliant. We're off to the casino to meet up with Lizette and her husband, plus two of their friends. We arrive at midnight. How smart is this?
I think I'll have mentioned previously that many people in Chile smoke and many places like bars, coffee shops, some restaurants, and certainly the casino, allow smoking. The casino was remarkable. I guesstimate that at least 2 out of 3 people there were smoking. The extraction fans were working heroically to keep the room survivable for the few people like me that don't partake!
As it turned out, Lizette and Mauricio's friends couldn't come, as they had a sick child. So, the four of us adjourned to the Blackjack tables, the game of choice for Lizette and Mauricio. Alexis and I spent the first part of the evening just watching. I've mentioned previously that this isn't really my thing, but I am well aware of how to play Blackjack, so it was interesting to follow along in my mind. Alexis finally succumbed to the temptation (or drinks?) and joined in after a couple of hours. Me, I'm far too tight to give in. It was far more entertaining watching the games and the people wandering around. I adjourned from the tables at around 2.30AM for a late night snack (toasted sandwich) and a chat with Lizette, along with listening to the local band doing covers of various rock classics. They weren't too bad and even had the English lyrics reasonably correct!
Back to the tables and the evening wore on, drinks taking effect (as I'm sure the casino hopes) and for many of the participants, the bets were getting larger. All 3 of our gang ended up with reasonable sized winnings out of the evening, perhaps A$100 or so all up after drinks everything were taken into account, so a successful night for them.
I got back to my apartment just after 6AM. Latest night I've ever had I reckon, and absolutely exhausted. I realised how much I stank of cigarettes, so a quick shower, then off to bed.
Another entertaining day/night comes to a close.
A
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