Twenty-One !!!!!!!

Feliz cumpleaños a mí! Today is my 21st birthday and I'm so excited! Last night was wild, my friend from UCLA, Stephanie, and I went out to a bar called 'Bar Rockolas' to celebrate. Steph and I are both in the same program at Veritas University and are both living with Doña Mayra. Mayra had left to babysit Santiago for the evening because Adriana and Jonathon were going out for Adriana's best friend's birthday. They invited us to tag along. Steph and I were left to our own devices to get to the bar which became an adventure in itself.

I had ridin in a taxi with Mayra a day prior and the driver had scribbled down his contact info for if I ever needed a ride. We called 'Ecar' only to find out that he wasn't working evenings, so he gave us another driver's number and said he would call his friend for us and tell him to pick us up at Mayra's at 9 o'clock. So come 9 pm we're dressed to kill and waiting outside, waiting and waiting. No taxi. 9:30..still no taxi. So we decide to sacrifice some of Steph's precious pre-paid minutes on her classy track phone and call up 'Marco'. Keep in mind that we have absolutely no idea how to describe where the hell we are. He answers and by the sheer luck of the penny, Ecar had already told him where the 'dos muchachas norteamericanas' lived. He was prompt and came in just under 3 minutes. We had both rehearsed Adriana's directions and promptly proceeded to forget them upon entering the taxi. I rummaged to find the vague scribblings on a receipt buried deep in my purse... "Taco Bell curridabat" were the magic words and off we went.

Steph and I finally arrived at Bar Rockolas and followed the music upstairs. There were tables upon tables of chatty Ticos having a great time. The theme of the bar was Rock n’ Roll and a live band blasted in the back corner. It was my first time ever in a bar and to my surprise, there was no ‘bar’, and the LCD screens suspended from the ceilings weren’t playing a variety of sports games but rather images of tranquil rivers, migrating birds and monkeys. Muy tuanis! Adriana spotted us and yelled for us to come join her friends. I had so much fun, maybe a little too much fun! But hey, you only turn 21 once! Adriana and Jonathon bought me tequila shot at midnight to officiate the right of passage. Ladies and gentlemen, its official…I’M TWENTY-ONE!!