Legal in Argentina

Parental Advisory: Mom and Dad, if you don't want to hear about the craziness of the nightlife of Argentina, I suggest you skip this one. Don't worry! I think the only laws I broke were minor traffic violations (if those exist in Argentina, which is doubtful). But more on that later.

As previously mentioned, time in Argentina is much different than in the United States, so as I progress through this timeline, do not panic about how late things are, this is completely normal.

So let's get to the good stuff.

• 12:15am - I head out to the bars with one of my friends where we meet a bunch of other IFSA students at William Brown Irish Pub. One glass Stella Artois is consumed by me.
• 1:20am - We all head to PPTH Bar & Club where they pronounce us too young to enter (must be 23 for women, 25 for men). Culture shock no?
• 1:30am - We venture forth to Break Bar where I see a group of other IFSA students who ask me to join them. My close friend's host brother (who shall be called Brother Mario) was leading the crew in a round of Tequila shots. He's over 30 years old, sort of looks like Adrianne Brody and has already consumed half a bottle of wine and ?? shots. He's surrounded by IFSA students who all happen to be female. Coincidence?
• 1:45am - I take my first shot in my life (Dela you should be proud it was Tequila) which actually wasn't too horrible. It was also my last shot of the night. (I'm taking this whole drinking thing slowly). It involved licking salt of your hand, downing the shot, then sucking on a lemon wedge. I like the lemon part the most.
• 2:00am - Brother Mario decides he's going to get us into PPTH Bar & Club after all (I'm very skeptical about this).
• 2:10am - We get into PPTH Bar & Club (wha? how? still not sure).
• 2:15am - Brother Mario buys more drinks for my friends who at this point, in my expert opinion, should not be drinking more (but we all know how expert I am).
• 2:30am - We commence to the dance floor. I've got to hand it to that DJ, he sure can play a good set! We danced and sang (a lot of the music was mixed US and Latino) and fended off very persistent Argentine men. Don't worry Grandma, I have a lot of practice at this from clubs in Denver.
• 3:45am - One of my friends isn't looking too good. A little drunk, tired, stumbling, and super annoyed by all the attention, (she's tall and blonde and parts a sea of Argentine men in a way that would make Moses proud) we take her downstairs to have some water and sit for a bit at one of the lounge booths. I fully recognize my complete sobriety at this point (as in things aren't quite as funny anymore)
• 4:00am - Return upstairs to find Brother Mario taking full advantage of one of my other friend's fairly inebriated state by dancing and kissing her frequently. This is when I lose almost complete respect for Brother Mario as I've noticed how his persistent drink purchasing and drinking himself has set him up for a pretty easy make-out situation with any of my super cute, American friends. Needless to say we intervened on that one pretty quick and informed Brother Mario it was time to head home.
• 4:01am - Brother Mario says he'll drive us all home. This is when I lose complete respect for Brother Mario. Coldly, I inform him I will be driving and that he'd better hand over the keys. He looks at me dubiously "but it's stick!" "No hay problemo!" I respond. No way am I going to let this drunk man drive any of my friends home or should I say "home." I was definitely worried about his intentions at this point.
• 4:30am - Getting drunk people from place to place is sort of like herding cats, but finally everyone gets into the car (Brother Mario still dubious about my ability to drive stick).
• 4:31am - Lisa advances onto the streets of Mendoza (much to the incredulity of Brother Mario) where traffic laws don't really exist, lanes don't exist, and I've got six people crammed into a tiny beat up Chevy and I may have been the only one wearing a seat belt. Here I must say, thanks mom and dad for making my bucket list dream of driving in another country come true by providing stick lessons and a manual vehicle. I used extreme caution (intersections are very much first come first served as far as right of way). I'm also proud of the fact that I've learned the city well enough to drive and find my way around. I think all the walking helps.
• 4:45am - Dropped all my friends off and drove myself home, Brother Mario in the passenger seat. He insisted on driving his car back to his house because he didn't want it to get stolen. Fine by me if he wants to kill himself, he just can't kill my friends.
• 5:15am - Finally crawled into bed. First night out in Mendoza = success! (Success is determined by everyone getting home safely, minimal law breaking, and remembering the whole thing).

I should make a note here, travelers in Argentina can use their home country driver's licenses for up to three months in Argentina. So me driving was legal as well! And of course the drinking age is 18, so I remain a total rule follower. Bring on the next adventure!

-Lisa en Argentina