We'd gone looking for this bar based on our friend Lindsay's recommendation, but weren't too sure what to expect when we saw the small, almost empty place. I'm so glad we stopped here instead of seeking out some of Lindsay's other favorites.

We could get either Leon or Modelo at 2 for 25 pesos...Modelo being the Mexican equivalent to Anheuser-Busch, manufacturing almost all brands of beer including Corona. The sweet young waiter brought our beers in a bucket of ice...we hadn't realized we would be getting 2 at once. The beers also came with a pile of some odd crispy fritters, great with hot sauce.

Los Girasoles

Strange but tasty fritters

Starting our night right

Officially too many beers

We were the only ones downstairs at one of perhaps 3 tables, but a couple guys were upstairs having a little karaoke night. The waiter tried to convince us to sing, pointing at the 5 English songs on the list which all happened to be disco. We thought we'd stand strong.

Hilariously, the guys upstairs started singing "Back on the Chain Gang" with fully rewritten Spanish lyrics; we happily joined in at the chorus and puzzled over the changed meaning. During a song that used liberal amounts of bouncy wood-block, Jasmine got up to do her horse-riding impression. It turned out a bit more...thrust-y than she probably intended. The guys upstairs loved it of course, and sent us even more (unnecessary at this point) beers and compliments on her "amazing" dance.

Eventually our table was covered in beer bottles, as our benefactors came to join us. They were young law students, although they looked older than they were. After a few more $1 beers, we conceded to trying some karaoke ourselves...even though the English songs were not only disco, they were bad disco. Jasmine mangled "Gloria" (the only sort-of non-disco song), Rubina realized she didn't actually know the words to "I Will Survive," and I got stuck with one of my most-despised songs, "YMCA."

Some of us (Jasmine) should never sing

By the end of the night, I was pleasantly drunk and had spent most of the evening laughing. It was a great reminder why, as much as I love my solo journeys, there's something really special about traveling with fantastic friends.

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