Club Promoters and Mahou, by Ryan Voth

The city of Madrid, Spain does not truly come to life until after dark. During the day Puerta del Sol acts as a passage for pedestrians to get from point A to point B. But once the sun goes down, the purpose becomes something completely different. Life that has been hiding away from the beating sun and the penetrating heat decides to come out and enjoy the spectacles of the night. Puerta del Sol, by night, becomes home to people dressed up in costumes from Money Heist (Casa de Papel), street performers on roller blades jumping over anxious girls, Gypsy Kings cover artists performing all of their classics, and a plethora of normal people, like me, ready to see where the night takes them. The process of finding plans and getting alcohol is easily facilitated by people working the streets as club promoters and Mahou beer salesmen.

As tourists in a new place we were easy targets to be sold on the "great” deals that only club promoters could provide us with (at least that’s what they claimed). Nevertheless, my friends and I blindly followed these strangers allowing them to guide us through the labyrinth of Madrid's streets to arrive at clubs and bars. Something that is important to note is that depending on the club promoter and their affiliation with the club, you may find yourself waiting in line to get into a club that does not offer the promotions which had been promised to you. Luckily, most of the club promoters we met were truthful and were keen on getting our WhatApps so that they could relay more deals to us in the future.

The Mahou salesmen were interesting as well because they had a more limited grasp of the English language and therefore resorted to their practiced phrases which consisted mainly of “good price” and “6-pack for 5 euros”. My friends and I decided that this was indeed a good deal but with little to no reference of beer prices in Spain, it is safe to say that we really had no idea. We did not realize what buying a couple six packs meant for the rest of our night. As we started taking our first sips a couple more salesmen approached offering us the same deals for their beer to which we respectfully refused since we were clearly just starting to drink the ones we had purchased seconds ago. Yet the barrage of salesmen kept coming wave after wave. It became clear that the salesmen were resilient as they did their rounds, taking turns around the fountain to offer us their “good price.” After the seventh round we had to become a bit more stern with them as their presence and bombardment of sales pitches began to infringe on the enjoyment of our night. But all in all it was a well spent night that provided us with a glimpse of what a night in