January 22, 2011

CHIVA (Or the time we went on a party bus through Cali)

This Friday we celebrated my friend Beatriz's birthday in true Colombian party style, with a chiva! A chiva is a bus without a roof and sides that only extend about 4 feet up. Seats ring around the perimeter of the chiva bus, leaving the middle open as a dance floor. The idea is that the bus drives around the city, playing music, while you hang out with all of your friends throughout the city. I have seen hundreds of chivas since arriving in Colombia, but this was my first time participating!

We left from our neighborhood around 10 pm, water bottles of drinks in hand, and drove around the city for about two hours before ending the night at a bar. Despite the typically maniac drivers in Cali, the chiva drove super slow, which was nice because you could really see things as we drove past. Basically we just danced on the bus to a ridiculous combination of reggaeton, salsa and Beatriz's homemade "Miami 1999" CD while intermittently being interrupted by the on-board DJ and the microphone he should not have been allowed to use.

In summary - we totally loved the chiva and the subsequent dancing at a bar afterwards! Definitely a good birthday celebration :)

Tara, Beatriz and Kelsi outside the chiva.

Kelsi and I on board!

Let the dancing begin!

1 comment:

Bethany said...

Woah, that's so cool!!! I've never heard of a chiva...think I can find one here for my birthday next month? Hehe..

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