One of the many delights of Bogotá’s extensive nightlife is the
opinions of the rolos themselves as regards the best and worst places
to go. Opinions which they never keep to themselves. A polemic
nightspot is the Bogotá institution La Trampa Vallenata, branches of
which can be found at various sites around the city center.
Upon
suggesting this club as a feasible place to visit, one will be greeted
either with enormous enthusiasm and perhaps a heartfelt rendition of a
current vallenato hit, or quite possibly with disbelief and absolute
disapproval. ‘You don’t want to go there’, they say, ‘it’s full of
Costenos’.
Rolos, delightful as they are, make no attempt to hide their
strongly-held belief in the superiority of Bogotá over all other cities
and regions of the country, and as such consider the predominance of
people from the Atlantic coast in a nightclub to be a legitimate cause
for criticism of the place. However take no heed of this capital city
mentality, and head to La Trampa for a guaranteed night of hilarity.
First
you swank past the security guards on the door, receiving a cursory
look through your bag and maybe a cheeky pat-down to check you’re not
carrying anything you shouldn’t be, and you’re inside the dark, smoky
interior of La Trampa. Position yourself at one of those rickety wooden
tables with tiny stools so beloved of Colombian nightclubs, and pause
to wonder at the glorious display of innovative female clothing
combinations on display.
Bogotá is generally a pretty chilly city, but
here in La Trampa things can get rather heated so the ladies dress in a
rather more Caribbean fashion. Not to say that the gentlemen don’t make
a decent effort, you will see a lot of white shirts and fetching black
and white stripey hats on the older clientele, while the younger
vallenateros often sport quite fetching tracksuit tops and bling bling jewelery.
Get straight onto the aguardiente or rum and it
won’t be long before someone asks you up on the dancefloor to strut
your stuff. It’s true what the rolos say, this club does have a lot of
Costeno patrons and it must be said that their style of dancing is
slightly more personal than that of the Bogotanos.
Be prepared to be
very firmly clasped to the chest of a rather chubby gent with a spot of
chest hair on display, being furiously whirled around to the strains of
Silvestre Dangond’s ‘Me Gusta, Me Gusta’. Your fellow vallenato
aficionados will be very tolerant of dubious attempts at dancing, and
will do their best to teach you the basic steps, and before long you’ll
be the king or queen of the dancefloor.
At the weekends a live band
will belt out the latest hits while the clientele get down to the
frenetic sounds, and to make matters even better these temples to
vallenato stay open til 6 in the morning.
La Trampa Vallenata can be found on the Septima & 45, Septima &
47, in the barrio of Galerias at Carrera 27 & 51, in the Zona Rosa
at Calle 85 & 14, or in Paralela Las Americas # 70-60.