Santiago again, part 2

11pm. A brief wander - there seem to be a number of cops around, maybe there were last time and I just don't remember, though on the whole no bad thing - and as I was on the verge of going into Crazy Bar I saw an (apparently, who knows really) distinct karaoke bar next door. It's a bit dead and fairly but someone (who I couldn't see) was singing and I guess different has to be good. CLP2000 for a draught beer in a glass, although I think it's only a half litre, although these things are a bit hard to judge. I don't want to get too pissed too early but on the other hand it's a bit more expensive. Still cheaper than London though. I shall see how this goes and stay or move next door to Crazy Bar as circumstances suggest.

Apropos of nothing, I have this tiny scab/patch of hard skin on my left hand (at the base of my little finger) as a legacy of the Potosi mine. Given the larger scabs on one arm and both knees have healed, why is this hanging around so long? It's not painful or even particularly annoying, but it is a bit odd.

I feel a bit compelled to justify my 'passion' for karaoke bars. It's primarily that there's activity. If I could find live music that would be equally cool, but failing that, a karaoke bar has something to watch which a regular bar lacks, and when you're on your own it's an important distinction.

I vaguely hope I will get to see some half decent jazz somewhere on the trip but I'm not overly optimistic.

Midnight. I just signed up to sing 'Si no te hubieras ido', which is far too difficult for me (and maybe too chavy, Zuhamy?), but the way I see it I am 5000 miles from home and leaving this city for the forseeable future in 3 days, so I can bear the humiliation. As I handed the slip in the waiter asked me something about the song I didn't understand so I just said yes. What the hell. I feel I am being stupid but stupid in a slightly (only slightly) cool way.

12:15am. Just sang. I think they cut me short but it was a laugh. I couldn't stop grinning stupidly on stage in a half nervous half "this is a big joke" way. I asked the audience to sing along (if my Spanish was understandable, I said "I am a drunk Englishman and I can't sing in English or Spanish, please sing with me") and they did. It was shit but I'm stupidly proud of myself for doing it. And I'm still in the bar and haven't run out of here in shame. :-)

Although I would have sung just as shitly, I must observe this place is weird, the words are on a big screen behind the stage and nowhere else. So you can't face the audience all the time unless you know the song 100%. A bit odd. Also from a general audience perspective, the words are at the bottom of the screen and you can't see them for the intervening people, which is a bit crap from my learning-Spanish-from-the-lyrics and crooning along perspectives. They could take lessons from the Eat & Drink, which is probably about the size of this bar, although less rammed as it's a table-based bar.

Bit of a shame although not much of a surprise that they don't have Ebenezer Good. In this country of the blind I would have been king. :-)

I would vaguely have liked to sing "Eres mi religion" by Mana, which rocks a bit more and would have been easier, but although they had a lot of Mana songs in the book that seemed to be missing.

12:50am. I am probably five, ten tops, minutes walk from my flat. Just got another beer and it occurs me to me that any cab driver I speak to is likely to take me a stupidly short distance if I mention the nearest metro station (Baquedano) or be completely unaware of the street I want him to take me to if I ask for a ride all the way home (esquina Dr Ramon Corvalan y Libertador). Maybe I denigrate the cab drivers here unnecessarily but I have recollections they either don't know that side street or my pronunciation is too bad. From my perspective the two are equivalent.

1am. Fuck, it's 1am. I have no major plans tomorrow but still. To be honest my ideas are pretty much:
- take clothes to laundry on Sunday, if I can find anywhere open, to take advantage of being here a few days
- try to ride the funicular (and maybe the cable car too) tomorrow (Sunday) after my failure last time
- maybe have a quiet night Sunday night
- maybe try to find some club on Monday night which is a bit lively (would probably have to be a studenty place, assuming they are in town now)

1:30am. Somehow the atmosphere down there wasn't right. Left half a pint and came next door to Crazy Bar. The barman couldn't understand my Spanish but was keen to speak English with me. I think this is the cusp of the night, depending on how this goes I either go home or stay out late (probably drinking coke). Not totally pissed but not sober either. Half feel I should have enjoyed the other bar more but I wasn't feeling it so what the hell.

1:45am. No karaoke down at Crazy Bar but not a bad atmosphere. Am feeling a bit 'heavy' (seriously I have to describe it like that, I don't exactly feel pissed although a bit). The barman is Turkish and has been telling me about Raki (sp?), the big drink in Turkey as I understand it. How international it all is. I don't think I will be out til 5am at this rate but I will take this one slowly and see how it goes.

I say there is no karaoke but the screen implies differently. Maybe there is and it's just a lull. It's not remotely the night I planned but what the hell, see how it goes. All the same I don't expect to be out much longer unless something flips me over to drinking coke to sober up.

Not just because I am still drinking alone, the place has a very different feel to that Friday a month or so ago. It's quite a bit less heaving in here.

2:10am. I have just somehow half requested and half been invited to song down here. it is no proper karaoke night, I have not seen anyone sing snce I got here. "El Rey" was an option and I was tempted but I couldn't resist the far too difficult "Ojala que llueva cafe". I can practice my subjunctive while being a drunk twat. :-)

5:10am. A better night than I expected. Sort of met some women down at Crazy Bar, danced quite a lot with one of them and we ended up chatting til 5am when the bar shut. I switched to diet cokes towards the end. Suspect I paid too much but what the hell. Now down some pizza place (am navigating home via GPS in some sense, though once I got a basic direction I knew where I was, as I said earlier I walked over there and knew I wasn't far from home, I feel fairly sober) where I failed to understand what the woman behind the counter said to me once I paid, but fingers crossed I will get my pizza. In an odd way the night feels like a failure because I didn't get invited down some illegal bar, but I think that's irrational as I did at least meet people down at Crazy Bar and was surprised when it was 5am. Vague plan outlined earlier still holds good, want to try and get my laundry in tomorrow and if I can find some sort of decentish club night Monday (or, I suppose) Sunday that would be coo
l. Must put a positive spin on things and can't deny tonight was a lot more sociable than I expected.

Oh, the song was terrible. I didn't know it well enough and the accompaniment wasn't enough to carry it. No harm done but I should have done "El Rey", which I know inside out.

5:20pm. Got my pizza and was navigating home by GPS. Two cops approached and one advised me to take care of my phone. I asked where my street and also explained that I was using a GPS to get home, mostly as a sort of "I'm not drunk officer" kind of situation. I must admit they were helpful and I think they were just trying to protect me. Streets were pretty busy, including the street outside the building (which is pretty central), I guess I have always just been back either at 1am-ish or 8am-ish and never seen it like this. Thank fuck I was sober-ish anyway when chatting to those cops.

Anyway, lashings of pizza now and then to bed and hopefully up not too late tomorrow.