Sunny Saturday

As promised, here's a rundown of our Saturday. We started the day by sleeping in after our late night on Friday. Once up, the next event on our agenda was a 30 min walk to the Novotel hotel. For $16.50Cdn you get their brunch buffet, and access to their outdoor swimming pool for the day. Although the day started out overcast (which was nice for our walk), it quickly heated up.

The buffet was really good. There was a grill-chef on duty, who asked us (in the requisite broken English) if we wanted "top sirloin or New York;" he slapped the meat right down on the grill, and cooked the steaks for us. There were small cheese-filled tortillas that you emptied skewers of meat and peppers into. Poblano chilies were cut in half, and filled with egg and cheese, then baked. Sausages were wrapped with bacon. There were salads (including a corn and pineapple one -- not as bad as you would think), and a several-gallon-sized bowl of fresh guacamole. The dessert table had (in no particular order): tiramisu, cheesecake, carrot cake, chocolate cake, little walnut rolls drenched in honey, chocolate-dipped strawberries...

Needless to say, we gorged ourselves. After about 4 plates of food, our group wallowed outside into the 40 degree heat. There weren't any shaded lounge chairs left, so we were left to bask in the sun. The wooden planks and concrete around the pool literally burned the soles of our feet. The pool's cool water provided a refreshing break from the scorching sun.

We left the hotel around 6pm. We headed home, and I took a brief nap in preparation of the night to come. We were all going to convene at the Rumba club. I was told that it was a location for drug cartel fights, but we were undeterred (and after seeing this place, I find the rumor hard to believe). The club was huge, the line-up long. In the distance, cavern-sized doors hid the source of the pounding music: all of this from the sidewalk outside. We headed in, and paid the exorbitant cover charge ($5Cdn for girls, $15 for boys) and looked around. Girls in micro-minis and stilettos. Boys in tight shirts, posturing for the girls.

There was a large balcony overlooking the dance floor and sizable stage. The house band sounded like a Spanish rock-hip-hop fusion. The crowd was teeming, and it was only 11pm. It seemed more like a concert venue than a club; the band had a team of three male and two female dancers. They were all very good, doing a mix of hip-hop-ghetto and break dancing. Very high energy. The heat off the dance floor was almost visible.

In this place, you don't line up at the bar for drinks. You make eye-contact and order with a server (for lack of a better term); our beer came delivered in a large bucket filled with ice. Despite the fact that we only ordered drinks for the eight of us, the bucket held about 12. The server was always nearby with his bottle opener to help you the second you pluck a fresh beer from the bucket (each cost $2.50Cdn). All drinks are kept on a tab; for anyone to exit the club, you needed to show a receipt from the server proving that you paid. At one point in the night, samba dancers came onto the stage in full costumes. Some male partners hoisted their female straight above their heads, and held them in this dead-lift for up several minutes while the remaining dancers twirled around the stage. I cannot emphasize enough how overall amazing the club was.

We left around 2:30 (early by Monterrey standards) and ate from a taco stand across the street. We were given a lift home by our mates and, needless to say, slept in on Sunday. Over the course of Cafe Iguana, the Luv Pub, and the Rumba, I think we have seen the spectrum of Monterrey nightlife.