Day: 192
First things first, I need to find a new hostel. I quickly pack my bag, pay my bill and wander to the number two listing in Lonely Planet (hoping they don´t make two bad recommendations on the same page). Walking through the door to the Terra Oculta hostel, I am immediately glad I decided to move, and as soon as Javier gives me the tour (kitchen, ping-pong table, TV room, and rooftop bar) I feel much better about this city than I did yesterday coming in sick to a bad hostel.
I drop my bag in my room and set off to wander Salta as the sun starts to break through the morning clouds. I take the Telecabine(Gondola) to the top of the lookout on San Bernardo, spend an hour or so taking pictures and enjoying the view, then realize I am hungry and set off back towards the hostel to find a grocery store and make myself a salad (Sarah sized of course..)
Sitting at lunch, having a tuna salad and a glass of syrah, Javier asks me in broken english if I want to join their five on five game of soccer tonight at six.
“Ummm…. I have never really played soccer before, and really would be worthless out there.”
“Its ok, its ok. Everyone can play.”
I grudglingly agree after pressure from everyone else in the room is applied to me. No worries, I think, I can just manage to not be around at six and Ill get out of it.
I polish off about half my bottle of wine and I am exhausted. Naptime!
Waking up I glance at my watch, 5pm. Good. Now all I have to do is make myself scarce for an hour and I won´t be a huge fool trying to play soccer. I sneek out the front door, take a walk to the grocery store to stock up on another bottle of wine for tonight. I toss it in my backpack and take the long way back to the hostel.
A baby blue Volkswagon van full of people, slams to a noisy stop right next top me, with a bunch of people screaming “Rob”, “Rob”, “Rob” in assorted accents of the world. They hustle me in the van, like a kidnappee. I smile weakly and think.
Damn, they found me..
Getting to the dirt field, everyone else looks exactly like I thought they would, hard core soccer players of the world, And I was still wearing jeans.
Shit, I am going to get my ass kicked…
Fortunately, I noticed we had a few extra player to switch out with, but I was still assigned to start. I ran around for 15 minutes never really touching the ball and more or less just getting in everyones way until the finally tagged me out.
Dripping sweat, I quickly made myself far more valuable by taking out my camera and getting pictures of everyone playing. I think we all were happy with this situation, especially me. I did get thrown in as goalie for the last five minutes though, and much to my glee they only scored on me once (but to be fair, that was the only time the players on my team let the ball get to my end of the field.)
I did manage to meet a bunch of new people, and before long I was back at the hostel, showered, and sharing my pictures with everyone else. I was quite proud of my first foray into sports photography.
The night started to pass quickly; with my bottle and a half of wine, beers in the bar on the roof, and finally we moved to a packed resturaunt for some traditional Argentine folk music, more beers, empanadas, and soup with jaw bones still in it. Yum!
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Yea these two days sound interesting. Haha you played soccer.
I’m glad you found a decent hostel. Looks like you are having a great time. Hope you are feeliing better. See you soon.
Nice work mate, but what about the photos of those Argentines jamming? Keep them coming.nrnrSome impressive pics though. Keep up the good work!nrnrRunarnr
Maybe you should stick with the sport of drinking, its more your style. At least you tried though…I would have paid to actually see you play soccer on a dirt field with those guys!!! Most likely would have laughed my ass off! I made Josh one of those salads last night, he could not finish it.
Amazing!