Nightlife in Granada

Not only is Granada great for daytime excursions and sightseeing, but the nightlife is pretty sweet as well. A friend of one of the girls in my program visited Granada before and sent her a list of really cool places to go. Seeing as how we only had one free night in Granada, of course we wanted to make the most of it. One of the places on the list of places to visit was the chupiteria (shot bar). This place was literally described as as "arcade for alcoholics". Every shot costs one euro and for every shot you buy you get a point. The more points you have, the bigger your prize can be. Of course, this is the place we decided would be the best to go. But honestly, just getting there was half the fun.

Inspired by the costumes of the people in the Spanish style Amazing Race, we decided we all had to go out as a team with a unifying costume. After intensive searching by two CIEE-ers we decided to all buy sombreros. I'm not quite sure how this was the only thing we could find, but we just went with it.  Before going to the chupiteria,  a friend of one of the guys in my program who happened to be studying in Granada met us at our hotel. And this is where the fun began.

We all put on our sombreros and walked down the street as we blasted music from speakers. I thought it was especially hilarious because some people don't know the differences between Hispanic cultures, so we sort of looked like the "ignorant Americans" who think Spaniards wear sombreros. Although this is something I would never think to do in the US, we only had one free night and we were there to have fun.

Once we arrived at his friend's apartment, we chatted, etc. until the idea for Sharpie mustaches came about. The two guys from my program had a friend draw on full curly tipped Sharpie mustaches on their faces ... I would like to take credit for supplying the Sharpie : ) The rest of us just got mustaches on our fingers so we could hold them up periodically for picture time. Then it was chupiteria time!

DISCLAIMER: Due to my battery dying I didn't bring my camera with me, so I have no actual pictures of that night. I suppose it's better that way : )

Example of shots menu

There's not much I can say about the chupiteria. I don't drink at all, so I guess the better way to phrase that is "there's not much I should say about the chupiteria". Nothing dramatic, just not my stories to tell, you know? Leaving the chupiteria was as much fun as getting there. Directly down the street from the bar was a pizza restaurant, and my friends headed straight there. One friend, who gets a bit feisty when she's been drinking, asks the worker how much a calzone costs. He says five euro and her response was Que ladrón tu eres! (What a thief you are!). Then, she manages to drop the money over the counter landing in a pizza. That didn't have a point, I just thought it was really funny.

Somehow, our group manages to get separated and we end up with the friend we just met that night and his two Canadian roomies. As we're walking, we see this lemon tree and one of us decided that we really needed some of these lemons. The only problem is the tree is planted behind a 12 foot wall. A plan was soon hatched to hoist our new Canadian friend up so she could grab a few lemons and throw them down to us. In the end, the lemons were beyond sour and we eventually began to use the pieces as objects to hurl at each other.

Eventually, we made our way to a discoteca (nightclub), but the bouncers were super rude. They wouldn't let my friend in because they said he was wearing tennis shoes. Honestly, I thought the sombrero and drawn on Sharpie mustache would be the bigger problem, but apparently not. Also, seeing as how the fee to get in was ten euro and the bouncer was rude, I really didn't feel much up to going in. Not to mention, at this point it's probably 3AM and we have to be at breakfast that morning by 9 or 9:30. For Spain, 3AM is pretty early to go home, but I was super tired and we had an early day the next/same day. So, three of us walked back to the hotel and the rest stayed at the discoteca, and my one night of fun in Granada was over.