the Rave Fiesta

I`d never been to a rave even back home. But a friend of mine once told me that its not what people think it is. Its not a bunch of people getting high and going crazy. In fact, the atmosphere is really friendly, everyone is there just to have a good time, and people just come up to you and talk to you as if they`ve known you their whole lives. (yes, the drugs might be a factor... haha)

My first raving experience EVER here in Bolivia really reminded me of my friends comments. Yes, there were a lot of people high (a lot of people going into the bathroom TOGETHER....), but most were there just to do have a good time with their friends.

Let me go rewind a little and tell you how we even ended up in one. Very simple. Tiana`s host family has 4 daughters, and the oldest one, Gabby, is a university student, and is about our age. She had been fighting with her boyfriend, and I think to get her mind off it all, she wanted to go out and entertain us. So Saturday night, she took us to a rave.

It was all techno music, and i pretty much hate techno, but when that`s all you got, you really don`t have a choice. There were a lot of differnt people, by that i mean, a group of teenage boys who were doing the WIERDEST hand movements ever, a group of men in their late-20s dressed like they stepped out of a J.Crew catalogue, and a group of hippy-ish looking dudes that were definately high on something. (we asked Gabby, and she said the popular "druga" around here is marijuana. Some things are the same everywhere i guess....)

What i found really cool is that, unlike a club in toronto where everyone is trying to be "cool", at this rave, i don`t think there was one person in the room who cared what anyone else thought about their appearance, their dance moves, nothing. I`m not sure if its a Bolivian thing, or if its a rave thing, but it was different, in a comfortable way.

The coolest thing ever about the rave was that there was this group of buskers, or street performers. Tiana and I recognized them from the streets, actually. There`s certain places downtown where when the lights are red and the cars are waiting for it to turn green, one person comes out in front of the rows of cars and starts juggling or doing something neat, and they have a partner walking up to the windows of the cars, collecting money.

So we see these people at the rave, and thought, oh cool, but little did we know they were gona start performing later!! It was really neat, because where everyone is dancing, they just started to swing around this numchuck-type thing lit with fire. They`re not only doing that, but moving their body to the beat of the music. And then there`s the crowd, dancing around them while watching. That made my night!!!!

We got home around 2:30, but I`m sure the festivities continued until much later! Don`t think i`ll be converting into a raver, but it was a fun experience for sure!