On the Road
Im in Córdoba…
Which is about 10 hours north of Buenos Aires, by bus. The bus ride up here was no joke though: reclining seats, a catering service that included dinner, snacks, coffee and a nightcap, and a movie. This country is so damn big I´m still not even close to the northern border with a Bolivia - thats another 12 hour bus ride. Anyway, I´m still figuring out my plan of action. I´m digging Cordoba right now - the people are nice, and there are so many young people here. Theres a huge university here (I think one of the most famous in South America) so there are alot of people around my age. Basically, its what I wanted to see - a regular, normal Argentine town. Its not very touristy and it doesnt have the most incredible sights - its got some - but it just feels so authentic. Not to mention the ¨extranjero¨ (foreigner) factor is definitely higher here…so I´m hoping that will end up paying dividends…if you feel me on that.
Its pretty funny - last night I went out with a Swiss guy and 4 Israelis. Apparently after every Israeli gets out of the Army (which is practically everyone 18-21) they take off to South America or Asia for a year before they go back into civilian life. According to my Israeli hostelmates, this is just the beginning - it sounds like most of the hostels north of here (in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, etc.) are overrun with more members of the tribe than Studio 4 on Thursday night.
So yesterday I get into Cordoba at 7 am - after a 10 hour overnight ride. 10 minutes after I get to my hostel, me and one of the Israeli guys take off for La Fiesta Nacional de La Cerveza - OKTOBERFEST. But, its in this town that is another 2 hours by bus, so we walk up to the bus station and take off for there. Something interesting about this town, Villa General Belgrano - maybe it was the lederhosen, the nonstop yodelling, or the overhwelming abundance of custom made Beer Steins - but these people really, really liked Germany and Switzerland. It really is a small world, my friends…As I sat there and watched this parade down the main drag, I couldnt help but note the irony of an American guy and Israeli guy chilling out, sipping a brew at a re-incarnated German village. Anyway, enough philosophizing - the weather was fantastic and it was a pretty good time. I was expecting a little better beer, but hey, it wasnt Quilmes (the omnipresent Argentine equivalent of Budweiser), so I cant complain. After that it was back to hostel to kick it, and then go out. The club we went to was fun, but alot different than Buenos Aires because the majority of music they played wasnt mid 90s American rock - it was mostly in Spanish (they got some nerve, right)?
Hasta luego,
Adam
P.S. Michigan football - Im dyin down here! No more Lloyd?
Tags: Oktoberfest
October 11th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
I like this whole traveling on a whim thing! At least you aren’t following the Let’s Go guide to South America or visiting every Hard Rock cafe on the continent…
Mmmm Beeeeeer…I know you must be craving some of the finest brew in the world, Estrella Dam. Well not much can be said about our pathetic football team in Ann Arbor. What defense allows a 60 yd. run with about 2 minutes left in the game!? It was pathetic! Anyway, despite the homecoming loss, the festivities were high in Ann Arbor over the weekend. You were sorely missed but we decided to press on without you. Let me just say that I think WW needs to consult us on the next residents to grace our lovely home away from home, 814 Church. Wass and I barged in on Friday after a long, drunken night at Ricks (9.00 bar tab despite buying at least 15 shots thanks Ricardo’s) and found the house to be bare! All that was in the common room was a couch and a mini TV perched upon a stool! We figured maybe it was better upstairs so we made the arduous hike up to the third floor and wass’s lair. Were there any strung flourescent lights and roofiecoladas? Nope, just some white trash kid with a twin bead and clothes thrown everywhere! It was truly a sad sight to see.
However, some things will never change like Dubs sweaty ass at ricks; wass trying to hook up with any girl in theta; zach going to colonial lanes for 3 hours; Bobby thinking he is tough and trying to fight all of us…the list goes on..
For a truly hilarious story you have to ask Dustin about his trip to Boston and Dub’s projectile incident
Hip
October 11th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
2 minutes? how bout 40 seconds? ridiculous! anyway as the hip has already mentioned homecoming was quite a trip down memory lane i swear i knew half the people at ricks on friday night and after leaving at 11:30 i remembered why i hadn’t been there all of second semester it was fun though but not for more than 2 hours
it was good to chill with ian now that he’s a tv star and stu’s young ass with his short hair short
you know we’ll be having a nice reunion when (if) you make it back to the states
all in all AA was good times when i’m back up next week i’ll try to remember more of it
-sags
p.s. the kid in MY room has 8 plants like big plants in the room what has 814 come to let’s either buy it or burn it to the ground
October 12th, 2005 at 10:33 am
Glad to hear even a 3-3 start didn´t put a total damper on the weekend. Also, it warms my heart to know that even the 9-5 grind hasn´t killed off your spirit to engage in the usual shenanigans (i.e. Sags trying to be The Dude - not Jeffrey Lebowski, the other Lebowski, The MILLIONAIRE - Bobbo trying to be a jerzey hardass, and Wass being Wass). On the other hand, the thought of our sacred home - the place that mothered us in her sweet bosom for 3 long, beautiful years - being turned into the set of a C-grade porn really hurts me deep down. I guess ¨Smokey¨ just wasn´t the cool guy we all hoped he´d turn out to be.
October 12th, 2005 at 2:16 pm
Just wanted to give a shout out from “The Man’s headquarters” I can only pretend I am actually being kept busy for so long. However, Sef has yet to write back and I am starting to think he bought a nice 3 bedroom in Valley Heights, has dinner parties and discusses the local news “hot topics”.
Anway, Im going to see Soulive tonight at the House of Blues. Im puuuumped, but Im sure it will be nothing like the Pink Floyd laser show. I cant get to michigan until the Ohio State game but the way things are looking, we will both(well us for sure) have losing records in the big ten so maybe it will be a battle to avoid humiliation. I also dont know if you aware, but the word around town is a NYPD has popped up where Leo’s, I mean King of Queens, I mean whatever the hell it used to be was. Should be good times. Anyway, looking forward to hearing more about your journey. Between opening shwag’s inappropriate emails at work and reading about the embarrasment that is the Ravens and MIchigan football its been some rough times. Play on playa, and if some Argentinian chick asks you to brush her hair and say something in spanish you know what to do…DO IT
October 14th, 2005 at 11:23 am
its good to hear that all is well in the dirty dirty southern hemisphere. im working on that three bedroom in valley heights, scott, but i dont know about discussing the news. as ali g noted, its too tough because it changes all the time. rough football season for you down there. youre not missing much. all you need to know is that michigan isnt nearly as bad as the record shows, breaston hasnt really shown up to play yet, the mike hart injury cost you two wins, mario manningham needs to get the ball more (particularly in the redzone, like how you used braylon last year in the redzone), and youll beat penn state this weekend. with a name like mario manningham, youre pretty much destined to play a sport somewhere, and if that isnt good enough, his middle name is cashmere. as far as the ravens go, we will be fine this weekend because ive decided to wear the purple ray-ray jersey to the game over the black ed reed and we are undefeated in regular season games when i go purple ray-ray. so with the combination of the jersey and jamal running better against the browns than anyone against any team in the history of football (500 yards in two games one season including a single-game nfl record 295), this one should be over by the time ray walks out of the tunnel. and if we lose i will cry for days. highlight of the month - our rabbi inadvertently quoting pootie tang in his sermon. i missed you at the high holidays man. to bring back memories of the good old days i put some beef jerky in the altar with the torahs. ok, that didnt actually happen, but i wanted to see what it would look like in print. glad to hear you met up with sebastian. jermaine dupri works in the same building as shwag. the place next to my office makes the best pizza bagels on earth. i ran out of things to say. later.