Big Bad German!
If you are following our blog regularly, you might have read already that I had another awesome Central American experience.
During our travel in Central America we have always made a point to not drive or go out late at night. We can’t really go out late, because we are traveling with kids who need to go to bed way before there is potential danger in the streets. The apartment we rent in Alajuela is all fenced in with no contact to the outside world and that’s too bad, because there is a lot of life on the streets outside of our fence, especially at nights. There are a lot of people of all ages (many kids as well) hanging out and having a good time. 2 days ago when Allison’s parents (the in-laws) were asleep already and Allison was busy reading, I decided to check out the nightlife on the other side of the fence.
Almost every day we heard loud music from somewhere nearby, so I figured I’d just follow the noise and see where I end up. Once on the other side of the fence, there was no more music, but many people in the street seeming to have a good time. I walked a couple of blocks and saw a beer sign, indicating either a bar, tavern or restaurant. It really looked more like someone’s garage, but I went inside anyways. It was a tiny tavern with a small bar and 2 tables. Inside were about 10 to 12 people singing karaoke. I didn’t recognize any of the songs (all in Spanish) and some of the singers were pretty awful, but everyone seemed very friendly and I enjoyed being there. It didn’t take long until the bartender asked me where I was from, how I liked Costa Rica and of course she also asked me to sing a song. I agreed, but only if she had a German song. I felt pretty confident that they wouldn’t have any and if so that it would be some German beer drinking song or maybe something like Nena (99 red balloons). Never in my life would I have expected what was coming next. They played “Rammstein” for me!!! If you know Rammstein I’d be willing to bet that they aren’t the group you would choose in a Latin American karaoke bar. If you haven’t heard of them, Rammstein in the most hard core heavy metal band in Germany I know. They are actually pretty popular in the states and in South America as well. If you are into heavy metal, odds are you have heard of Rammstein, but if not, here are some samples for you on Amazon.com where you can also buy the album for $12.99. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00000I7L4001001/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_001/104-8424277-2032720) Normally at Karaoke you can read the lyrics on a TV screen, but not when they play Rammstein in Latin America. I had no idea what the lyrics were and I figured should start out with some head banging and soon thereafter half of the people in the bar (all of them were in there 40s and 50s) were banging there heads, too. The bartender insisted that I sing as well, so I just started screaming German words (no sentences) in the microphone to the sound of crazy guitars and drums. The song never seemed to end, but while I was screaming I remembered that the day before Allison cut my hair to 2mm length making me look like a real skin head or a big bad German. The longer the song lasted the closer I felt to being a part of Rammstein. After the song was over everyone at my end of the bar was talking to me and buying me drinks and now I am wondering if this could be the beginning of a new career.
Tags: Costa Rica, Karaoke, Rammstein
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