Siesta then Fiesta: the new normal

The nightlife here is crazy because people eat dinner around 10 or 11, go to the bars after, then go to the boliches, or clubs, around 2. I've been told it's normal to return to your house around 7 or 8 in the morning, after the buses start working again and after you've eaten breakfast. Jose explained to us a timeline of a typical weekend, and it involves sleeping from 8 am to noon, lunch, then siesta again from 1 to 4, followed by another night of craziness. We got to experience an amateur version of this Wednesday night when a bunch of us from the program went out.

    I didn't know how I was going to possibly make it through the entire night, but it turned out to be pretty easy, even though we started with a sprint, not a marathon. Eating so late makes me feel like it's only 7, and I get my second wind a few hours after dinner, so it turned out well to eat at 10, go to the bars after, then be wide awake at 2 to keep the fiesta going.    We went to a plaza where there were many different bars and a couple discotecas so we could stay in one area all night. I started the night with some delicious empenadas and more quilmes. A bunch of us from the program were able to bond over drinking games in another bar, and then we ventured to a discoteca where they were playing American music, possibly because we took over the dance floor.
    We tried to stick to the clubs that didn't have a cover charge, and at one that charged, while waiting in line, we met the Harlem Globetrotters on their South American tour. They tried to get us into the club for free but it didn't work so they might have been phonies. So we went back to the original discoteca, where they were playing a pretty good mix of US music and Argentinian music while spraying fog on the dance floor. and eventually, around 5 am, found some taxis to take us home. We've been warned that the taxis here will drive around extra streets to charge you more, so we can only call a radio taxi, not find one off the street. I was surprised how easy it was to stay up that late since we had been traveling for two days with full days of orientation. But it was necessary to experience the Buenos Aires nightlife.