Shady Dealings In Lima

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One night, Joe and I looked for a club to do a bit of dancing. We took a cab to Miraflores and scouted "Pizza Street" where a lot of pizza restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs were. Joe enquired about door charges (mostly s/.20 and usually with a jarra of beer), the price of beer and checked out what kind of music was being played before we made a decision. A club around the corner called Tumbao VIP was one of the better clubs there and that night, a popular Cuban group was performing.

Joe hit up the bouncer, a big black guy at the door, and was told that tickets tonight would be s/.40 each, but... for s/.40 in his pocket, he could get us both in. At first we thought that we'd get a stamp on the wrist and just flash it to (re)gain entry, so I was a little apprehensive since we wouldn't actually have tickets to prove we had paid. I knew that Joe was keen to go as he was a big fan of salsa cubana, and thought, "Sure, what the hell?"

So we hung about across the street until the bouncer signalled to us, and for s/.40, we got two actual tickets. Pocketing these, we went to Parque Kennedy for a bit of a chill out before going in. We had no problems at all. The beer was crazy expensive, double that of the bars, but it was a fun night. The music was played by a DJ until the group arrived and they were great; five guys singing and dancing on a tiny stage with at least a dozen musicians.

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