What is a chiva? you might ask. First, you can check out this interesting wikipedia article about it, but basically it's a party bus. It was traditionally used in rural parts of Colombia and Ecuador for transportation, but as more modern transportation options have arrived to those parts, some have been transferred to the cities for party-goers to reinvent for a completely different use.
Basically, you and 30 of your closest friends all pay between $5-$10 to rent a chiva for the evening. I went with some friends that I know that are on a Fullbright scholarship (hey, it's a must-do cultural experience for all of us!) and with some Ecuadorian co-workers of theirs and some other friends. The chiva waits for everyone in the popular Mariscal district (also known as gringolandia- filled with lots of international restaurants, popular bars, and dance clubs), and people slowly file on. The music is a-bumpin', and the canelazo drinks are a-flowin'. There are small benches on the sides, but mostly everyone stands up and dances while holding on to ropes that have been hung from the ceiling for just this purpose.
We rented the chiva for 2 hours, and it drove from the New Town (La Mariscal) to the Old Town (Centro Histórico). The whole time, it blasted lots of American dance music (an Ecuadorian on board confirmed for me that you can pick your playlist- from salsa mixes to reggaeton to American top 40 hits- apparently the latter had been chosen for us), and although it's been a while since I went dancing in the US, I'm going to throw it out there- I think Ecuadorians like David Guetta more than Americans do- 40% of the mix was David Guetta, and I've noticed that his songs are always met with big cheers in Ecuadorian dance clubs. Anyway, we all got our groove on while our bus headed into the Old Town. The Centro at night is really beautiful- the churches are all lit up, and you can get a nice view of La Virgen statue on a hill. We all disembarked our chiva for about 15 minutes for a birthday dance competition (there were two cumpleañeros on board), they set off some pretty impressive fireworks, and we got back onboard to dance to more David Guetta and about five Lady Gaga songs in a row.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. I've been seeing chivas run by ever since I got here, and I've always wanted to check it out. The whole time I was just thinking- why aren't these popular in the US? I read in the Wikipedia article that there might be a few in NY, but seriously! Warm weather cities and PNW cities in the summer could make a fortune with chivas- the whole time I was imagining 21st birthdays, last-day-of-classes parties, etc. Maybe I'll start a chiva business back home and make sure there are lots of granadillas available- all of Ecuador's best exports, on display!
wait, do you get off and go to any clubs/bars? or is the chiva the bar/club? this sounds epic...make it a water-bus that goes in and out of a body of water (think duck boats) and your business will be booming.
ReplyDeleteI've seen pictures of these, but thought they were some quaint bygone kind of transportation. I didn't realize they were a party-on-wheels. Cool!
ReplyDeleteYou should see pictures of these sorts of buses in Dominican Republic. I remember seeing buses like this in Costa Rico too. Why don't we have these here?
I'll have you know that chiva-style party buses are alive and well in Scottsdale, Arizona. I've been on two. (They're just more expensive and fancier.) They generally feature blasting music, lots of booze, disco lights, and stripper poles.
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