Sunday, May 22, 2005
A Cut Above
Obviously, even when you're in a less developed country, not everyone around you is poor and our last night in Aerequipa probably provides the best example of the upper class.
It was Saturday and I wanted a night out. Following the recommendation of one of the hosts working at our hostel, Tambo Viejo, we headed downtown to the plaza to a place called Daddyo's. The line-up there was HUGE - longer than what you might see outside The Blarney Stone in Vancouver - absolutely ridiculous. So following another lead, we walked a few blocks to what turned out to be a truly upscale club called The Forum. Inside the club looked like a tropical paradise complete with multiple bars, palm trees, bamboo walkways, and a lagoon (and a giant bed). And drink prices were nearly the same as those you would find here in Canada. The bartender had an excellent command of English and so did the group of locals we hung out with that evening. They were all in university pursuing degrees in either business administration, accounting or engineering, and nearly all of them had spent a significant time abroad in the US or Europe travelling and/or studying English. It was also obvious from the way they carried themselves they were from a different class.
I wanted to ask them how they viewed the "common class" in their city and wondered how they thought they were viewed by other people in their society. They were obviously much wealthier and far more educated than the majority of people there, and I wanted to know what it meant to them to be a cut above. In the end I didn't ask because it just would have been too inappropriate... but at least we got a couple of free drinks :D
.
It was Saturday and I wanted a night out. Following the recommendation of one of the hosts working at our hostel, Tambo Viejo, we headed downtown to the plaza to a place called Daddyo's. The line-up there was HUGE - longer than what you might see outside The Blarney Stone in Vancouver - absolutely ridiculous. So following another lead, we walked a few blocks to what turned out to be a truly upscale club called The Forum. Inside the club looked like a tropical paradise complete with multiple bars, palm trees, bamboo walkways, and a lagoon (and a giant bed). And drink prices were nearly the same as those you would find here in Canada. The bartender had an excellent command of English and so did the group of locals we hung out with that evening. They were all in university pursuing degrees in either business administration, accounting or engineering, and nearly all of them had spent a significant time abroad in the US or Europe travelling and/or studying English. It was also obvious from the way they carried themselves they were from a different class.
I wanted to ask them how they viewed the "common class" in their city and wondered how they thought they were viewed by other people in their society. They were obviously much wealthier and far more educated than the majority of people there, and I wanted to know what it meant to them to be a cut above. In the end I didn't ask because it just would have been too inappropriate... but at least we got a couple of free drinks :D
.
# posted by doris : 7:44 PM
