Over the past year and
a half in Paraguay, I have grown to love their music. The style is Cumbia, and
I totally dig it. So when I found out a Cumbia group was coming to a pueblo
near me and the tickets were cheap, I got super excited! I got my 16 year old
bestie and her boyfriend to go with me, and was totally stoked. Aaaaaand that
was the end of the excitement for the night. Here is the lovely story.
Part 1: Uncomfortable
Showing up in Santa
Maria, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I arrived to see hundreds of sex
crazed Paraguayan teens, I knew the night would be greeeeaaaaaat. Then, to top
off the already ‘ugh’ feeling that came over me, I experienced something every
PC volunteer dreads: I have to poop RIGHT NOW and there is no bathroom
anywhere. I sat there with my friends thinking about how low I was about to
stoop. Crouch behind a tree and nature poop is NOT something I had on my bucket
list, so I tried my best to keep my cool. Thankfully not too long later, my
volunteer friend who lives in the town saved the day when we showed up and was
willing to walk back to her house with me. PHEW! (although the feeling did manage to sneak back
up on me later and I just had to hold out the whole night…)
Also, after feeling
slightly better, I went to go buy a water bottle. But this is Paraguay, so of
course they don’t have any. So I am offered a plastic bottle with the top cut
off filled with tap water. Hope they weren’t using that for paint thinner
before I used it!
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| Forgive my hideous-ness. but um.... wtf? |
Part 2: 3rd
Wheel
Usually, Silvia and
her boyfriend are great party friends. This time though, not so much. I mean, I
can’t really blame her. She was at a concert with her boyfriend. But they were
superrrrr lovey dovey. And then there I was, just dancing by myself – good
times! Plus, I still wasn’t feeling all that great. I decided to let them do
their thing, and I would just head to the bleachers and sit (and stay for the
next 4 hours). I didn’t mind, but it was kind of a bummer.
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| The happy couple |
Part 4: Paraguayans
don’t understand concert rules
For example, when the
singer screams “How is everyone tonight!”, you are supposed to respond with
some screaming and excitement. These kids? Crickets. This happened several
times throughout the night, and gave me a good chuckle every time
Part 5: Please don’t
repeat the same songs over and over and over again.
There were four parts
to the show: The opener, a DJ, Q’mbia Juan (the main act), and then more DJ
music. The opener was a cover band, so obviously they played all the popular
cumbia music that is out right now. Then the DJ came on, where he remixed all
the popular cumbia music out right now. Then Q’mbia Juan came on, and even they
played some of the popular songs by other artists! And to end the night, more
of the same popular cumbia music played by the DJ. Don’t get me wrong, I can belt
“Lejos de Ti” at the top of my lungs with the best of them, but after the 3rd
time I wanted to crawl into a hole and die and never listen to cumbia again.
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| Q'mbia Juan |
Part 6: The highlight
of the night!
I have zero idea as to
why, but towards the end of Q’mbia Juan’s set, they started playing the
instrumentals to one of the CSI shows – Miami maybe? I don’t know. But it took
me away for a minute. I started imagining this as one of the episodes. The
plot? ‘American at a Paraguayan concert found sitting alone on the bleachers.
Just when she is thinking about walking out and jumping in front of a moto to
maintain her sanity, BOOM! The drummer gets up suddenly and boomerangs his
drumstick directly in to my brain killing me. But nobody saw it happen… DUN DUN
DUN’. Thrilling, right?!
Part 7: The End
The concert ended
around 3, and I was READY TO GO! But… Silvia and her BF were nowhere in sight.
I knew they were dancing, but couldn’t find them. So I text “hey I’ll be buy
the coke stand come meet me here”. To which she responds “Come here and let’s
dance more! Or do you want to leave”. Me being the cool person I am, said “I
prefer to go, but if you guys want to dance a little I can wait a few minutes”.
Welllllll, apparently a few minutes means an hour. And after sending them texts
every 15 minutes to no response, I finally found them and we left. I didn’t end
up getting back to my house until 5am. Lesson learned? Never go to a concert
with your 16 your old friend and her boyfriend.
So – Moral of the
story? I wish it would have rained like the forecast said so we wouldn’t have
been able to go.
Hope you all had a
fabulous Tuesday! I went to a pig asado – my neighbor volunteer Stacy killed the pig she had been raising! yummyyyyyyyyyy!
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| RIP Piggy (P.S. She's winking at you) |
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| Asado Happiness :) |
