natales night life

went to a fashion show last night. two things i've picked up on really quickly here - time means very little, and things at night start really late. the fashion show was a fundraiser for a local charity and was held in one of the bars. it was supposed to start at 10.30pm. since everyone takes a siesta from noon until 2 or 2.30 or 3 or whenever they feel like going back to work that day, they also all work until pretty late. so people don't eat dinner until 8 or 9pm. and if people are going out after dinner, they usually don't head out until 10 or 11 and oftentimes well after midnight. so the show last night was supposed to start at 10.30. when we were still at the hostel at a quarter to 11, i figured we'd be pretty late. we finally headed over a bit after 11 and that's when i figured out that time means very little. we were 45 minutes late and were the first people at the bar. (i've also figured out that if someone says they'll be there at 2, they won't be. they may show up around 3 or 4, and no one really cares. people show up when they feel like showing up and it's all good. and if someone says they'll be stopping by later, they actually won't be stopping by at all.....) so we got a drink and tried not to get too overwhelmed by the cigarette smoke - it's been a looooooooong time since i've been in a bar that still let people smoke in it and everyone here seems to smoke. after a few drinks, peole finally started showing up (most of them seemed to be my grandma's age) and the fashion show finally got under way. by this time, it was after 1am and i really started to understand that things at night start really late! it can be a lot of fun to look at things here through gringo eyes. the people setting up the show made a walkway with tealight candles and all i could think about was the fire hazard and which wall or person was going to go up first...... but there were no fires and the night progressed without any trouble. there were several teenagers modeling pretty modern outfits. towards the end, they started wearing more traditional outfits and the last guy to come out was wearing nothing but tight white boxer briefs and some sort of small sheepskin thrown over his shoulders. yes, it was my favorite outfit. then he and one of the girls each grabbed a napkin and did some sort of traditional dance around the bar (sorry, i don't know what it was....). every once in a while i remember how different life was just a week ago and this was one of those moments. it's 2am, i'm in a bar full of smoking grandmas, and there is a young man dancing around with napkins in his hand wearing nothing but boxers and fur. so there you go. fashion show natales style. this morning came awfully early (now i understand the siesta - everyone has to take a nap after staying out drinking until 5am) and now i'm at work watching the rain and wishing we closed for the siesta too......