Tigre (AKA Escapeland)

Goa, India, December of 2003. For the past few weeks, I have had my tent pitched underneath a hut on one of the famous beaches in Goa - which the name escapes me...- at 5$ a night. Listening to the ocean waves crash is soothing af, but alas, not thunderous enuff to submerge the sound of my neighbours pouncing each other like luv bunnies But lo and behold, out of nowhere (and everywhere), the excellent tune "Working Class Hero by John Lennon" suddenly invades the early evening :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXRvfMMgBk

I zip open my tent, step outside and follow the mesmerizing lyrics that lead me to a nearby shack. "Hello" I yell out before stepping into the guesthouse, informing the American fellow of my imminent entrance. He seems initially surprised by my presence, but we soon embark on a discussion that stems from "that song is electrifying man!!!", to discussing the journey of lost souls.

This American (about a decade my elder, thus 35 or so), had spent many years travelling, seeking and tripping, oftentimes finding himself HIGH af on multiple hits of acid and trying to find the purpose of it all... This journey of his was going astray (and deeper down the psychedelic rabbit hole), until he met his lovely German wife. The enchanting way that he speaks of the love of his life, makes me vicariously fall in love with her... Through his eyes... Embracing his experience... All cuddled up in the emotional haven that she once provided him with... This dreamy reality materializes itself when she walks into the room : her eyes are indeed overfilled with kindness, her smile an illuminating blessing. I smile back at her, thank my newfound friends and leave both of them behind, never to be seen again... Except in memories, of course, where I take salvage in the knowledge that somewhere in time, a kindred lost soul brother had found his path... And that perhaps I would find mine as well...

8 months... 8 lonnnnggg fracking months is all it took for our trip to finally materialize itself after being cancelled when La Cuarentena was suddenly announced back in late March And still, we were deterred from booking a remote cabin on an island off Tigre, as tourism has yet to be rehabilitated in the provinces.





Nevertheless, we did manage to rent a suite in the charming town of San Isidro, 22kms of bicycling from our flat.








Social activities are still particularly limited with all amusement parks being shutdown in Tigre (along with the casino and whatever fun activity you can think of ), but we did manage to make a ton of coffee stops - at least I indulged in SKY HIGH caffeine levels -, decent restaurants, with some (simple) live music in the process yo




Portray of leaving the city behind yo


It was great to just soak in the sunshine, get a ton of exercise and gtfo of Dodge, you know


Peace

Such a nice vaca...very jealous.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Down by the Coast

I mean, sometimes, everyone needs to GTFO. It might seem ironic that peeps feel the URGE to leave Dodge while living in remote af areas like up in Dawson - AKA northwest of nowhere -, a town of under 2k population and with the closest lol city (of 25k) located 5-6h of driving away, yet leaving refreshes the eff at of the mind. Right. Or when you live in SEA in a small coastal village and get that antsy feeling of wanting to hit the road only to end up in a nearby beach town for the WE So anyhow, in the year 2020 and after being locked down inside an urban apartment for essentially a year, that sentiment of wanting to escape WAS THAT MUCH FRACKING HIGHER, you know

The trip to the coast had been planned for several months. Sure the COVID19 cases were slightly on the rise again, but given that we had a vehicle rental lined up, a government authorization to circulate and the fact that both my gf's son and his best friend (who was tagging along) had been out and about in the world only a handful of times in the past year (and for mundane essential activities like grocery shopping and whatnot ), it was just f**king time to hit the road yo




Our little natural haven was a daytime resort getaway consisting of fun outdoors activities like a couple of pools, 4 tennis cours, a bball, volleyball and a futbol court, an artificial lake, about 100 picnic tables and bbq's grills and a restaurant.


The 2 teenagers got a blast out of playing outdoors all day ; we tagged along for most of the (fun) ride at first, only to bailout somewhat on day 2-3 with the excuse of being exhausted/too old Because nobody was allowed to enter the premises outside of a handful of folks renting out the cabins, we basically had the WHOLE place to ourselves




The nearby town of Santa Clara del Mar was a peaceful-if-touristic little village with a ton of charming stores and restaurants




We were forced out of our little haven on day 3 because of a mismanaged (on their end) reservation. Nonetheless, we got to ride up the coast and explore another coastal town : Villa Gesell





All and all a more then successful trip with the added adventures of encountering a police control and having to interject as the officer let me go : "Ehhh, I don't mean to sound like a dumbarse and all, but I don't know how to put my vehicle in reverse " ; trying to find an open restaurant for 2h1/2 on NYE (everything was shutdown/not appealing) ; having my gf scream out "STOP!!!" as a dog is crossing the dirtroad in the middle of nowhere at 1am and she runs out to save him/phone the owners ; finding upon return a significant bump and scratch on the car after leaving it parking for an hour or so

Up next we will be visiting houses in the province in order to move out to in the next couple of months. So even if the upcoming adventures will be of sedentary nature, adventures nonetheless they remain

Thx friend, this one was even better


Peace

The House Across the Street

Prague, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv... Sprinkled in with a little of Buenos Aires, Lima, Guatemala City, San Cristobal... Even pitch in the Goa's, HCMC's and Melbourne's of the world to this international flavours of city list and yet, as much as these have nourished this thread with tasty af savoury narrative touches, none have been palatable enuff to act as an actual home... Nope. Not even close. I mean, there was interesting stops along the way : think Lake Louise in my early 20s for a couple years where zooming on shrooms on the WE's or broiling up daydreaming fantasies of a hippie-leftist-Revolution in the midst of my kitchen daily shifts was a thing ; or the seasonal stops in Nelson or Jasper to cook up a storm ; even the 3 years spent in SEA ; but nah, outside of Montreal and Dawson City, none have cut close to being a place to call mine. Until San Isidro, that is, some odd 12kms outside of the B.A. city limits. :





It is a simple house. In fact, because of housing regulations in these parts (that also grant accessible and cheaper rents and prevent - thank God - a ton of evictions/larger homeless population from happening ), we were capped at 500(CAD)$ monthly and thus limited in our selection (we needed to provide proof of income, which only L has ). Nevertheless, we still found a 3 bedroom (one of them acting as my office), a cozy af living room, large kitchen, front garden-garage/backyard, laundry room and a backyard shed house yo





Despite being a mere 12kms outside city limits, our little neck of the woods feels like just that, the woods It is my first time living extensively within a metropolitain area of 15 mil of peeps, so the urge to find a little tranquillity was obviously at the core of our search. It is great to be able to now benefit from the best of both worlds with our street located in a quiet and residential area (the noises of the birds, the wind and other natural occurrences actually prevail over the ones of the vehicles ), while the street adjacent to ours holds all the desirable shops of computers, groceries, cheeses, cakes, clothes and so on yo




Another example of how nature meets civilization




And then, of course, the coveted river (mainly by my dog ) that is but a few blocks away


Life is good. I mean, really good It is pretty ironic how I have visited some of the world's most remote places, and yet I come to the conclusion that my urban household is somehow tranquil A matter of perspective, I guess This house has also brought all 4 of us closer together as we sit in the yard, gathered up in the little group that we are, sip on mate (Latino tea) and simply listen to the evening stillness


And oh, one last little story before departing : we had just newly arrived at our house and were still literally in the midst of moving, when we heard our puppy squeak out a savage and desperate/pain-induced screech of hers : low and behold, she had chased up a cat to our 2nd story terrace, followed her to the edge of the roof and fell off into our neighbour's yard in her desperate attempt of hunting She was fine and left with just a few bruises and a little blood, as she luckily landed on top of the neighbour's table ; nonetheless, here is a pic of her after the incident :





Peace

Good to read you again. Nice crib, BSAS is a beautiful city indeed, cool to see you're enjoying it!

That pooch just radiates joie de vivre.

Backyard shed house! Would love to have one of those. I would turn it into my writing domain (and probably sit there doing nothing and listen to the birds).

Suburbs and Blisstards

The first time I made it up to the Yukon, I remember the disillusion felt upon arrival into the the Promiseland, following an exhausting month of hitchhiking/bussing, after being exposed to the BIG f**king yellow M from Mcdonald's overseeing the city of Whitehorse like a fracking bad premise I mean, we had not come ALL THIS WAY for just another suburb-like-industrial-town, right, like the majority of the North American towns/burb that offer little else than the cultural experience of the fracking Mcdo's, Burger Kings, Starbucks and Walmart's of the world along with either dirty mines or factories to slave away... Was this really the Lost Paradise that we were seeking!?! Another example of the decaying culture of the rotten American Dream... Did civilization's putrid grasp reach even the Northernmost parts of the Arctic... Disclaimer

Since the inception of my grudge teens, I have held this disdain for surburbia. In the 90s, it was the cringing style embraced by the preppies/fresh peeps (as opposed to the skaters/grunge/hippie folks) as well as their gangsta-wanna-be attitude that was repulsive... When I hit my 20s, this aversion would manifest itself through a mirror reflection of the dark side of the American Dream/Capitalism. Tbf though, suburbs have diversified themselves over the past 3 decades in the form of gastronomy selections going beyond your standard Chinese, Italian or Canadian restaurants (in fact, you can find a multitude of tasty (and even elite) restaurants in the burbs outside of Montreal nowadays ), even if the stale taste of all the houses being so fracking identical remains as well as the unappetizing strip malls extending themselves all over the place




Sure, San Isidro still has your standard suburban fence, lawn and dogs, you know


When I first moved to San Isidro, I never in my fracking life considered it as a burb. Even if it was located a mere 20kms outside of the B.A. city limits. Nope. God no. Not with its colonial architectural houses and buildings. Or its interesting culinary variety that in fact exceeds the options of our previous neighourhood of Chacabuco in B.A..





Moreover, you have the nearby river, biking routes, touristic train rail as well as San Isidro serving as a hub along the way to Tigre, itself located a mere 7kms away. In fact, if I was to use a comparison closer to home, I would use the reference of the charming towns of Saint-Sauveur, St-Adele and St-Agathe just off highway 15 in Les Laurentides in the province of Quebec (who also display a charming colonial lure ).





So when you combine these architectural aesthetics with the linguistic distinction that is Castellano and that this happens to be a foreign country and all, we are clearly Miles upon Kms away from the cringing comfort zone of North American suburbs, yet... And yet the bustling traffic of the Avenidas here act as a constant reminder that we are directly connected to the Metropole by the extension of its arteries... Or that most folks do not hop on the train to head to Tigre, but back to the hustle-bustle of the capital... Still, the nocturnal peace instilled upon my soul when I hangout in front of my fireplace in the evenings, is certainly not loss upon me after a year spent locked inside an urban flat, you know






Thx bro and yes, it sure is I do plan on moving to Uruguay eventually if we can workout visas somehow...

Indeed man ; I mean, I really thought she was very happy in the capital and all, but she now has reached a new happiness level, no doubt

It is just a place to store our boxes and junk for now, unfortunately. We have yet to put our terrazas to use neither. As far as writing goes, I actually just prefer to lay down in bed with my laptop, however lazy this might appear


Peace

Salta (AKA Back 2 da Andean Heights)

Saying that I was reluctant to the expositions that involves hopping onto a plane, do a bunch of tours and hangout in touristy restaurants, would be quite the understatement, but L felt compelled (and secured enuff) to GTFO of dodge, so off we were




Salta has a population short of a mil as a northern city and serves as the base (for tourists) to explore the surrounding Andean regions.

I really did not to expect a plane packed af along with peeps slipping off their masks to munch or indulge in wine ; but, alas, wtf can you do, right, and this feeling of unease was rapidly brushed away when we landed amidst a welcoming, friendly and laid back city yo Moreover, the food was amazing, the sightseeing breathtaking and the climate, well... all over the fracking place with dips to a lowly -3c and a high of 30c



Las Salinas (AKA where they extract salt) was frankly a tourist trap, but the road to get there was epic as can be





My favourite part remains the desert-like mountains/vegetation, a little a la Grand Canyon, but a bit less vertiginous :





8 overall days were spent in this towering part of the world, enuff time to definitely soak in some nicer weather and a rural vibe ; not sure what our next destination will land us (aside from the coast in December), but we will be resuming our search for our next home (after B.A.) very shortly...


Peace

Nice pictures. Good to hear from you again.

Lonnnggg Weekends, Argentina Style Yo

Sedentary life has its advantages. Obviously. Think emotional and physical stability. Higher happiness floor. Greater focus on long term projects. Establishing a stronger routine. But it also holds its notable disadvantages. Like less extravagant international traveling months/years on end. Or less frequent updates itt

Nonetheless, my present lol traveling has been revolving around my gf's work schedule ; which basically means strictly Argentino destinations (for now) and during long weekend's, while the whole god damn country is also on holiday

A few months back we booked an Airbnb by the coast, a couple of handful of kms north of Pinamar (330kms from B.A.). It was a private little luxurious (and touristy) town, constituting of private little residential barrios with different beach accesses, a sports centre (tennis, bball, gym, futbol), some beach volleyball, beach equitation, a golf course, a food court, a general store, restaurants and bars.





There was hence a handful of activities for all of us (+ the dog) to indulge in, while basically never having to live the confort of our little pueblo Nonetheless, while a very enjoyable getaway for a handful of days, I would eventually end up ripping my hair off if I had to permanently live within these yuppyish restrictive confines of this artificial place

Last WE's Carnival also saw us into looking to get away from the Capital. Us and (seemingly...) millions of others Because we starting looking into it a mere 8 days in advance, most options were off the table. Meaning we were not going to the Atlantic coast (and probably never again after it took 12 hours to drive back the 330kms last time ), so I opted for a neat looking little cabin on an island off Tigre ; but, alas, when I showed the pics to my gf and her son, I rapidly came to the realization that I would be the only one enjoying its very roots settings, while they would resort to some subtle passif-agressive complaints, you know . So we ended up booking a MUCH cozier house in a Polo club barrio, of all places, which everyone was very happy with.




Just being on the road and seeing some impressive antiquated buildings like this, was a nice little break from my standard urban settings yo




Our Country Club offered all of a tennis court, swimming pool, sauna, basketball hoop, futbol field with a TON of open space for our dog to run around yo


While our little town of Olavarria (5kms away) had a few restaurants options and whatnot, the true prize was visiting Tandil 120kms away, a very charming little town/city which we will most likely visit again.




While both Olavarria and Tandil are small cities of 110k peeps, both are surrounded by some decent outdoors


Our next travel plans, will be revolving around an Argentina MTT series (with BIs stemming from 400$-2k) located in 5-6 different cities over the next 8 months. I am aiming for 2-3 stops, with L will be tagging along on the WE's (when we will spend time visiting/enjoying) and me grinding a mere 1-2 tournaments per stop during the weekdays.


Thx friend


Peace

Rosario (AKA Narcoland)

Listen : I was never going to travel like yesteryears Dubnjoy000. Never. Again. I mean, at least not at that youngster's pace Age is a thing - am at the ripe age of 45 -, as is a LTR. And a sedentary life. Not enuff to keep stuck within 4 walls indoors at all times, mind you, but things have nevertheless changed, obviously. If the 20s Dubn was hitching the world with ideological ferocity a la Jack Kerouac, meaning with very little monies to his name and oftentimes pitching the tent by the side of the road, sleeping in parks, on deserted beaches and other odd corners of the world, this newer version of Dubn likes to indulge in comfort and travel for tournament series. And the latter is exactly why I ended up in Rosario, a couple hundred kms north of B.A..




For as bad as of a nasty narco reputation Rosario has, the downtown area was pretty sweet, with lovely parks nestled by the river




Parque de la Independencia is the third most reputable park in South America, if I am not mistaken, mainly for its lovely garden of flowers and monuments




The casino was actually one of the nicest ones I had the pleasure of grinding a live series in. Granted, I have not played the PCA in Atlantis, nor the EPT in Barcelona, but the 5 star hotel attached to it and the fact that series was held in a lovely conference/lounge sort of room, was pretty appealing, to say the least





As far as the series itself went, I did end up cashing in the SHR, but, alas, when I find myself second in chips with 10 to go (and the final 9 ending up on the live stream), my flopped set ran into a well disguised turn str8 Such has been my luck this year, but I will nonetheless going back for the CAP final in November yo


Peace

Daylight and Penumbra Across the Globe

The Pantagonia-Mendoza family trip had been planned for several months, an outlet that had all of us absolutely looking forward to It was meant to be a (approximately) 5000kms laidback road trip (of no more then 650kms/day) in a sweet and comfy rental family SUV where the five of us would indulge in restaurant stops, dips in lakes, ice cream breaks etc. The first half of the trip had Bariloche as its main destination (with nightly layovers in Santa Rosa and Neuquen - AKA 2 live MTT destinations yo , or more precisely, Puerto Manzano, a touristy winter ski destinations by the side of lake Nahuel Huapi which offered a ton of rain and chilly weather.





Meanwhile elsewhere in Argentina, poverty levels are closing in on 50%. And our house might be located within the apparent security blanket of the northern richer suburbs, yet it lies within a middle class neighborhood and is outlined by the slums a (threatening ) 6 blocks away (where one cannot even walk safely at nighttime). So I guess it would come as little surprise that while we were dwelling on the yuppier outskirts of the country, peeps unscrewed the lock to our gate, hopped onto our rooftop, made it to the backyard and, after ripping off the mosquito protector, popped open our window...

L's son and our dog were absolutely enchanted by our nomadic-road-adventure ; the pooch roaming around freely, exploring every new soil encountered, jumping into lakes, befriending street dogs etc. while L's son dreamt of living one day in the quieter and cooler parts of Argentina yo Moreover, the road separating Santa Rosa from Bariloche, offered a soothing desert-like vegetation :





After banks robbed every Argentino citizen of their hard-earned USD$ a couple of decades back, trust in the financial institutions remain at an all-time low. But with crime levels climbing rampantly in a country, where the f**k can one hide his savings!?! In the bank??? Well no, history has a way of (scandalously) repeating itself... Under the mattress??? Hell's no, one could just barge in and cut your mattress to feathers. In our case, thankfully I had left nothing of value in my safety box. Nor under any mattresses. And my personal ID's were of no value to them. So outside of my safety box that was smashed open, all was left intact. Unscathed. Thankfully.


After we got news of the robbery of our house - L and her son both weeping over the phone -, we zigzagged our way back east to Buenos Aires as opposed to heading north to Mendoza... Sigh It is one thing to lose a few k in material goods, the equivalent of perhaps 12 minutes or run bad in my normal online games, but yet another all together to sense that the security of those 4 cozy homey walls that seemingly safeguard us in the evening, are all but a comfy illusion... That feeling of being violated... Trespassed. Add to the latter that L and her son could no longer stand our house, and... well, you get the picture


There is a reason I have been taken MMA for the past 5 months, an activity that I would of never partaken had I stayed within the safe Canadian boundries... Also reasons why I have now setup an alarm system, purchased a wifi security camera and that we will be moving to a nicer neighbourhood (and house) within the next few months... In a country that is imploding a la Venezuela, the option becomes fight or flight. I choose to fight. To stay here. But here's the thing : beyond a stressful af 10 days, I have the financial power to simply replace (for a better quality) all the material goods that were stolen, purchase better security for us, move us to a yuppier better part of town, or even gtfo when shyt completely hits the fan in this country and go back to Canada, you know, while other victims just do not have that flexibility... And then I start to think of friends/family back in Canada and folks just do not know to what extent the other half of the planet is crumbling to fracking pieces... Sigh and a thousand times sigh!!!


Be Well All

I was glad to see an update, friend! Liked the idea of the trip. Wasn't Bariloche where Butch and Sundance supposedly went?

Then so sorry to hear of the break-in later in the post. Glad nothing seriously harmed, but you're right. It's a huge hit to one's sense of security.

Best wishes.

Absolutely loved Bariloche (and its sourroundings like San Martin de los Andes and El Bolsón). Can't repeat enough how beautiful Argentina is geographically as a country: you have everything from glaciers down south to mountainous and desert villages up north (Sallta, Jujuy).

On the other side well, you have **** like what happened with the break in (I'm surprised you live in a house and not in an apartment).

Is such a shame that a country so rich of resources, landscapes and beauty all over is filled with corruption and political issues. Is kinda fascinating to see from a distance but sad too. Hope all turns well for you and much respect for your decision of staying and not running away like most locals would love to do if they could.

I have no idea about Butch and Sundance and thx friend, much appreciated

Yup, but the optimist in me sees it more like we were truly lucky in our misfortune that they did not end up trashing our house/furniture, stealing our moto, AC, tool kit, tennis rackets, expensive shirts etc.

Man oh man, when I went back to Canada and started to talk a little about how things are in Argentina, I usually got a blank look of indifference (or blissful ignorance) look back at me... The thing is, without one immersing himself into the twisted reality that is this country, it just remains purely unintelligible. And I am not speaking of a first world/third world disparity over here, as Argentina has this EXTREMELY rich and unique cultural flavor to it - that were severely lacking in countries like say Cambodia, da Phils, Vietnam and whatnot... -, blended with levels of corruption/black markets/market manipulation that are just ungraspable in a country like Canada!!! All that being said,
Thx friend and yeah, I do have an inner commitment made to L and her son and am REALLY a stubborn-determined-little-f**k, which I see as being a strength but

Speaking of life run bad or, perhaps more accurate, absolute run good in times of misfortunes : L phoned me yesterday with a trembling voice, warning me that she had just been the victim of an accident : a speeding af vehicle had just burned the red light and smashed into her motorbike. When I asked her a couple of times if her injuries were serious, she would answer with hesitancy and unconvincingly "...no" to which I would retort "don't lie to me!!!".

The Uber ride to the hospital was infernal, with the likely scenario of her being unable to walk moving forward haunting the living shyt out of me . I mean, it did not help that she sent me a pic of her lying in a stretcher with a neck thingy on and strapped down and all ; moreover, when I Asked her how her back was doing, she informed me that she could not move, which just fracking unnerved the freaking hell out of me... It turns out it was not much more then a fractured thumb and swollen leg/hip ; once again, we were very lucky in our misfortunes, as milliseconds of the car striking her full blown and diagonally were literally life and death alternative scenarios

Recent life mishaps might sound negative, but, I don't know, I feel very grateful tbh... Grateful that they were very small incidents (in the scale of things) and am just overall happy, so who gives a flying f**k, right


Peace

Hey man, long long time since my last post on your threads. Sorry to hear about the break-in and L's accident. I´m staying in Buenos Aires right now and have to say I didn´t feel unsafe any single day, regarding crime in general (obviously staying in a nice neighborhood and taking the precautions when I go anywhere else and avoiding the bad areas etc etc etc, same things I do in Brazil whenever I go to big cities like Rio and São Paulo), but having been in Chile just a few weeks before, I must say argentino drivers have very little respect for pretty much anyone else, like, let´s say, people crossing the street. I came here a few years ago and it´s sad things didn´t change that much, or not at all.

Phew. Of course, we'd all prefer L had no accident, but given that one happened, that seems like a good outcome.

Oh yes, definitely indeed : much like our house intrusion that convinced her to move to greener - AKA more rural - pastures moving forward (in about 2 years time), this moto incident has persuaded her to no longer use the motorbike to go to her work (we will just use it for WE's/quieter (traffic) times.

Hey, which part of town are you living in? Do you wanna meet up for coffee/beer? Send me a DM if such is the case, gl friend

Hey Dubnjoy, sorry for the extremely late response LOL, I took something I read in the Chilean Patagonia very seriously and apply it in everything/everywhere:

"Quien se apura en la Patagonia pierde el tiempo"

Haha but yeah, I was already in my preparations to leave BsAs (I´m in Salta where I'll be staying til the end of this month), and while I was using the other forums, I just more or less forgot to check the travel part

I was staying in Almagro btw, nice place, relatively close to Palermo, Recoleta, the sightseeing spots like Plaza de Mayo etc, nice restaurants and Cafés, and very safe as far as I can tell. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to stay in a more middle class type neighborhood that's still close to everywhere basically but is cheaper.

Well, this is my first time living in a country that is literally crumbling to pieces... Think peeps destroying/robbing supermarkets, because inflation just rocketed up to over 50% in a few days after the extreme political right is well on its way to being elected Words fail to explain how I feel right now... I was a bystander in places like India, da Phils, Vietnam and whatnot, but investing so much of myself in a country like Argentina (learning the language, having a family, amazing friends etc.) and witnessing it crash leaves you with clear PTSD, apparently

I might come back - or not... - and write a more exhaustive post on the situation, but am presently in Canada, AKA a first world country, splitting my consciousness/self in both schizophrenic realms of living a first world life while planning for highstakes Mtts and whatnot (WSOP Bahamas and Vegas 24) - and fighting for every inch of space in Argentina...

Be well folks

Ah, cool, where you at now??? We actually moved to a much safer neighborhood (San Isidro) and have a security guard at the corner of our street, literally located 20-3m from us. On top of an alarm system, me progressing with my MMA training, all of which seem necessary at this point, tbh.

I finally got my residency in Argentina and left that day my bike locked up at the San Isidro train station (with many cops and security guards nearby) and went to Retiro to get it, but by the time I got back 3h later, my bike had been robbed!!! Welcome to Argentina, baby

Sorry to hear about the current situation in Argentina, I could see quite a few economic problems back when I was there 3 months ago, but no way was I expecting everything to become so bad so quickly. I´m in Huaraz, Peru.

La Copa Mundial, 2022

"Muchachos, ahora nos volvimos a ilusionar"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4t1bGD-j9M





9:00 : My phone alarm buzzes away, snatching away what little expectations I had left of making it to 6 hours of sleep

9:03 : After turning in bed a few times and trying to negate the waking realm, I come to the realization that the day to come will be quite an uplifting one : after all, it is the World Cup finals, two of my favorite teams will be facing off and I got a day packed of festivities awaiting me yo

9:50 : The 1h morning meditation has come to an end. I head towards the kitchen, throw together my standard breakfast of granola, banana, nuts and yogourt, stuff it down my empty tummy, sip on my coffee and chat away with my gf yo. Both of us are heading to the city, but while I will be joining a buddy in the downtown (much busier) core, she will hangout with her friends in the more trendy neighborhood of Palermo

10:20-11:15 : Uber simply refuses to acknowledge my presence I mean, who can blame the drivers, right, as who in the hell in their right mind will not be watching the GAME!?!?!

11:20-12:00 : I hop on my gf's motorbike, drive away in the surprisingly hectic traffic towards the Capital... As the minutes tick by, the streets start to desert themselves and folks are freely and nonchalantly crossing the normally crowded boulevards, making the streets theirs and our progression much slower...

12:00-12:15 : Realizing that the downtown core is literally shutdown with the streets being blocked and all, I jump off the bike, handover my helmet to my gf, inform her that I will be taking it on foot from here.

12:15-12:30 : My MMA training is put to good usage as I bolt away in the streets, covering the 3kms separating me from my buddie's place in no time yo Sure I did a good amount of biking and tennis over the past couple of years, but I had yet to put to trial my cardio levels outside of my training and holy-molly, do I feel like a fracking youngster yo

12:30 : Goallllll!!!. I don't get to see it in live action, but the roaring from a nearby bar leaves no doubt as I confirm the fact with a lovely hippie-looking girl outside "hizo un gol Argentina!?!!?", before coming to the realization that she is actually French and that we would furthermore spend the rest of the day together...

12:35 : We meet up with my buddy down the street in a, luckily enough, not fully jammed packed bar And the rest... well... is history, as they like to say : Argentina will increase their lead to a commanding 2-0 in the first half ; all is smooth, easy... too easy, one might add... There are only 15 minutes left to the game and with such a TITANIC advantage of 2 goals, what could go wrong, right... Ehhhh Mbappe, that is : first, it is a penalty shot then, 90 seconds later, he puts to shame Argentina's defense by tying the game : f**k our fracking lives

Life as an Argentino is one of constant challenges. Sure you have the vestiges of the rich past that once was this country and you do get moments of lull when the economy momentarily rises from the ashes...

Spoiler:

only to fall back to dust

Nonetheless, every little bit of joy has to be fought for... Success, conquered... Peace, triumphed in the toughest of wars... And victory... well, it needs to be snatched from the jaws of hell!!!

2:00 : . Extra time. The mood in our bar has gone from an easy-peasy festive one to a fracking gloom-and-doom eeriness ; outside of the sound of the commentators, there is a complete silence... All are awaiting the faith of the nation... And perhaps... just fracking perhaps, this one time a positive outcome will finally emotionally uplift this country... AND MESSI SCORES!!! Destiny, I say, pure fracking destiny as the man only needed a World Cup victory before being considered the greatest ever and ahead of the likes of Maradona and Pele!!! Pure fracking gold, I tell you, PURE-F**KING-GOLD All is steady now, smooth sailing you know, with a mere-tiny-infintesimal-single minute to go Except... Yup, you guessed it : Mama fracking Mbappe . A penalty shot later, and we are tied up again, sigh

These are hard times. Who would of funked that, when I first arrived here in 2020, that the Peso would be devalued from 75P to a 1USD$ to now an unfathomable 1000P... . Safety has become more than an issue and stuff like having access to gasoline, can no longer be taken for granted. With all this rampant suffering, one needs just a moment of rejoice...

2:15 : Penalty shots. This time, things do actually go smoothly : a goal, followed by another goal!!! We got this The celebration is a sweet one : beers are flowing, we light up a celebratory joint outside and head towards the downtown core yo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4LKm0w5Yvw


3:00 :. We make it to the Obelisco but, as opposed to the above youtube drone video, we arrive before peeps start to flood in . We sip some more, puff some more, before the French hippie lady proposes that we go back to her place.

6:00 : We have rested some, sipped on another beer and we decide to head out for yup, a beer

12:00 : We are still dancing in the streets to the tune of "Muchachos, ahora volvimos a ilusionar!!!" and while my energy level is still sparked up by the INCREDIBLE FESTIVE ENERGY of the Argentinos, my buddy is sleep-walking and I, unable to find an Uber, follow him to crash on his floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQDt...AP-cP2FujgTGsQ


Be happy folks

Nice write up, being in BSAS during the final must've been something unique, no other country would have enjoyed winning the WC as much as Argentina did.

I was there last month BTW and foud BSAS more beautiful than ever, didn't venture out of CABA but within the city limits it feels like any "1st World country". The USD exchange rate although it ****s up locals is ideal for people coming from abroad with USD, was there for a bachelor party and for some stupid small amount of $ each we had a weekend that would've been impossible to do for us anywhere else in the world.

I'm moving back to LatAm when my thai visa expires in April, wanna be closer to my people, not only my friends but latinos in general, feel a big disconnect with asians (thais) recently and going back there for my friend's wedding sealed the deal for me. Your write up of how they lived the final is a great example of how people in LatAm are vs asian cultures where everyone is more "respectful", keeps to themselves, and put some distance between you and them (after 8+ years of living in Thailand I can't say I have a thai friend).

Thought about doing BSAS but don't want to live in cold weather ever again so it looks like its gonna be Rio, still close to Uruguay but hot all year round. Can see myself doing some small stints in BSAS tho, ****ing love that city, hope that whatever happens in the upcoming elections they don't have something similar to 2001 but wouldn't be surprised if there's some unrest, especially if Millei wins.

No shyt, by FAR the emotionally strongest sports event in my life!!! Apart from the more Hollywood-than-Hollywood script of the game itself, the IMMENSE suffering in Argentina made this a welcomed af moment of momentarily relief

And thx! I had started writing this a year ago but simply lacked the motivation to get back to it. In fact, I have not been writing for a couple of years, having lost motivation and, tbh, passion for the English language all together (that I just about never use nowadays, at least not verbally). So anyhow, I did rush the end of my story and did not put in my usual perfectionist touch ; but whatever, I just wanted to put it out there

Yeah, no shyt, quite a paradox that the same grandeur of yesteryears remains despite multiple economical crashes... Then again, perhaps there is also a little tragic beauty that can be found in human suffering as well, as much as I hate to say it/write these words as a privileged person...

Yeah, I completely feel you on Asia, as I never felt like a local there, but do here. Part of the blame on my behalf for not (fully) learning the local language while being in Asia, but even if I had done so, Asians frequently established a distance upon interactions by either putting the foreigners on a pedestal (or simply despising them) or not fully letting them into their inner-worlds. And I never connected much with foreigners over there

And curiously enough, as opposed to living in North-western Canada where despite having access to an other-worldly Nature, the culture felt cold af, I actually feel quite at home in B.A. Argentinos remain quite intense for me in contrast to my more mild nature way of being, but I nevertheless appreciate it a lot - at least most of the time...

Darn man, question of perspective, I guess, but as a Canadian, the climate here is actually one of its (warm) advantages for me

Yeah friend, if only we can get these elections done with and try to move on to something better!!! Enjoy Peru