Saturday, June 13, 2009

Dining Out after 10:00 pm

In the States, Cat and I would normally eat dinner anywhere between 8:00 and 9:00. Among our family and friends that was pretty late. (For example, Cat's sister eats dinner around 5:00). We were always considered the late eaters. People couldn't understand how we could wait so long before dinner. For us it was simple. It was the dinner pattern we chose and it worked well.

In Paraguay, however, eating at 8:00 or 9:00 is considered early. From our experience, people do not eat dinner until 10:00 or so. In fact, some restaurants do not even open until 8:00. Needless to say, Cat and I had to adjust our dining times. We find that if we go to a restaurant before 9:00 we have our choice of tables. However, if we wait and go to dinner at 11:00 we must wait for a seat to open up. It's incredible. The tables are packed, the atmosphere is vibrant, and the patrons are coming in from all directions for a bite to eat.

We have adjusted well and now we do not eat dinner until 9:00 at the earliest. Normally, we eat after nine, mostly closer to 10:00. We have even gone to 8:00 movies and have gone to dinner afterwards. When dining out that late, we have never had a problem finding an open restaurant to accommodate us. Finding an open table, however, has proven a bit more elusive.

Little story about dining out.
After around two months here, Cat and I went to a local mall to look around and take in the local shopping scene. After walking around and checking out the stores, we decided to go to dinner...at 7:00. We found a restaurant that looked quite nice so we decided to stop in. Unbeknownst to us, the restaurant was not actually open yet. We were about to leave when one of the workers came up to us and asked if we wanted to eat there. When we asked him if the restaurant was closed, he replied that it was but he could open it up if we wanted. We took him up on his offer and suddenly found ourselves exclusive diners in that fine establishment. At one point we saw a cook come out and give us quite a perplexed look. Obviously, the guy who invited us in forgot to tell the cooks that they had patrons. We were very glad that we decided to stay because the food was excellent and we were treated to a great set of Bossa N' Marley and Bossa N' Roses.
Below is one of our favorite restaurants, Indigo, at two different times of the night. The difference is plain to see.

(Indigo at 9:00, still kind of dead)


(Indigo at 10:00, bright and lively)

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