| If you want to go out dancing at night, be prepared to stay up late - real late. Like much of Latin America, discos only begin to get going at about one to two in the morning. There are three or four clubs in Chahue, within walking distance of each other, and they all charge
ten dollar covers. Which is the best is usually a matter of musical taste, though the ambiance of each one is quite different from one another. Papaya is perennially popular, upstairs in an open air atmosphere. Behind one of the bars
is a glass partition looking into a swimming pool, where underwater dancing girls frolic at certain times of night. The music never seems to change from night to night, so if you've experienced Papaya once you pretty much know you're
going to get the same thing every time you go. One of the other downsides to Papaya is the lack of a proper dance floor - patrons are left to dance in the spaces between tables. La Mina ("The Mine") is an underground club
in the basement of the Hotel Aligheri and favors much more of a house/techno blend of music. There's a proper dance floor at La Mina with lots of flashing lights and dry ice,
and there are comfortable booths and tables. Boulevard is
a fairly new addition to the scene, just down the street from Papaya, and is already attracting a loyal clientele who appreciate its more formal nightclub atmosphere. For singles looking to hook up with someone,
the discos are the only good option in town because they're where everyone goes to party. On the other hand, if it's not a big holiday time with lots of people in from Mexico City and elsewhere, you can forget the
singles scene. The discos on an average night are usually filled with very young self-contained groups of locals, the hotel, bar, and restaurant workers of the area
who don't have to get up before noon. |
