On Saturday night, I was persuaded into going to the Ramadas again. Only this time in Iquique. A friend of a friend who is a Turkish-German man studying in Santiago, was in Iquique for a few days, and his Chilean friend Carlos decided we both needed to experience the Ramadas at night.
After a dinner of Indian food, and a few beers each, we walked to the Ramadas. Carlos made sure neither of us had anything valuable that could easily be pickpocketed.
After a dinner of Indian food, and a few beers each, we walked to the Ramadas. Carlos made sure neither of us had anything valuable that could easily be pickpocketed.
The Ramadas were fairly similar at night, but the crowd was heavier than when I had been Wednesday during the day. However, Carlos commented that it was obviously the last night because the crowd seemed thin to him. Our first mission was Terremotos. These are strong alcoholic beverages. Strong. It's made mostly from pipeño, a very strong sweet wine. They add a scoop of pineapple helado (more like sorbet than icecream), and some grenadine. Carlos explained it's called terremoto [earthquake] because afterwards you feel like the ground is shaking. With drinks in hand we stopped to listen to some music. At this hour (probably around midnight, but I wasn't paying much attention), the music was not Cueca, but rock. Several of the tents had been converted into bar/dance floors with 700 Peso entry charges. We stayed on the outside and listened for free.
The place was brimming with anticuchos, but Chuck the German Turk wanted empanadas instead so we ordered three. By the time they were reheated on the anticucho grill, we were all in need of a refill. So with hot beef empanadas in hand, we went to another stall and ordered three more terremotos for 1000 pesos each. We ate up our food, and then went to play some games.
Not surprisingly I was the big loser, failing to hit any of the targets with my rubber bullets. But we found a game with coins in slots where "Todos Ganan!" [Everyone wins!] and we each ended up with a small stuffed animal. Chuck decided we should find some small kids to give them away to, which was not as hard at 1am as I would have guessed. With our third terremotos in hand we left the Ramadas and walked barefoot along the beach.
Indeed, those drinks worked. I woke up the next morning with a bed full of sand and realized I never washed my feet before falling asleep.
The place was brimming with anticuchos, but Chuck the German Turk wanted empanadas instead so we ordered three. By the time they were reheated on the anticucho grill, we were all in need of a refill. So with hot beef empanadas in hand, we went to another stall and ordered three more terremotos for 1000 pesos each. We ate up our food, and then went to play some games.
Not surprisingly I was the big loser, failing to hit any of the targets with my rubber bullets. But we found a game with coins in slots where "Todos Ganan!" [Everyone wins!] and we each ended up with a small stuffed animal. Chuck decided we should find some small kids to give them away to, which was not as hard at 1am as I would have guessed. With our third terremotos in hand we left the Ramadas and walked barefoot along the beach.
Indeed, those drinks worked. I woke up the next morning with a bed full of sand and realized I never washed my feet before falling asleep.
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