Buenos Aires! It has been almost two months since I was in a big city (Santiago) and I have missed the vibe. There is something about a city that gets me going, especially after two months in country. Listen to me, like its been a brutal experience being outside a city.
The last couple weeks have been a bit slow. A couple long bus rides (21 hours and 31 hours) plus this nagging chest cold has kept me a bit inactive. Not a bad thing at all. Sometimes you need to rest and that is exactly what I was doing. I am still working on Moby Dick (what a brutal read), been studying Spanish daily for a couple hours, getting lost of sleep and working my way back into trekking shape. However I have just realized the one massive bad habit that I picked up that last couple of weeks, out of sheer neglect and laziness. I have not been drinking enough water.
On any given day I try to put away 2L of water. I know, drink 8 pints of beer no problem, 2 litres of water a huge challenge. Yesterday I found the Alamo in the Recoleta district. An ExPat sports bar about a 30 minute walk from my hotel, so off I went. It was NFL Game day! I got there early, 3pm and the games did not start until 6, remembering we are 2 hours ahead. So I sat in the pub with a few other guys who did not know the Saturday schedule and dove into decent chicken wings and the special. A pitcher of beer for 40 pesos, about $10. The bar filled up to sausage capacity and the beer was going down great. First half over, time for chicken fingers and fries..oh and another pitcher. The San Fran / New Orleans game was a good as it gets. I was starting to wobble a bit and was going to leave after game 1. New England was going to blow the doors off Denver and I still needed to find my way back to my hotel in San Telmo.
I remember the way as I am a landmark guy and keep the streets to main streets and a minimum when I get too a new place, and when I have been drinking. Well I was finishing a second pint when the American dude beside me when to the bathroom and came back with the standard dude phrase "I broke the seal about an hour ago", then followed up with, "Dude are you a camel?". It took me a second but before I could say anything both him and a few other guys that we were bull shitting with wondered if I was ever going to pee! Now don't get the wrong impression. Guys don't go to the bathroom together, guys don't talk in the bathroom and you always leave an open urinal between you and the guy next to you, and you don't really pay attention to when guys go. However, if you (well me) drank 3 pitchers of beer plus 2 pints and did not move from your chair from 3pm until almost 10 pm people notice that. I was ready to leave so I got off the chair. Suddenly these fools gave met a round of applause because I was heading to the bathroom. It because pretty funny.
** the americans were US Marines and were every bit the cliche, but they cracked me up**
Well walking home I had to think about the absurdity of it and I could only conclude that I must have been extremely dehydrated. I put away almost 200 oz of liquid and did not pee. Remember dehydration is a lot different than thirsty. Dehydration is dangerous. Its also 35 degrees plus here!
I wandered back to my hotel along a very busy 6 de junio to indenpendcia and the streets were jammed with people. Walking, sitting on patios or just hanging around. I just smiled my half drunk smile with my internal monologue telling me I was half in the bag walking the streets of Buenos Aires and I did not have a care in the world.
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