I left Cordoba, Argentina, looking like a mix between the Michelin man and the Ninja Turtle.
The Michelin Man look was created by wearing all the layers I could possibly can, to protect me from the freezing bus journey ahead (it didn't work). The Turtle look is easy to achieve: I just need to wear my huge rucksack. I added the word "ninja" because I'm so pissed off for wearing all these layers and carry this huge weight that I could easily attack, ninja style, anyone crossing my path. I'm not sure how I could attempt any moves, let alone ninja style, as I can barely turn my little head right and left. But trust me, I'll try.
So I arrived in Posadas looking like I had arrived from Syberia, except it felt like I had arrived in Mozambique. It was HOT. After a short walk between the bus and the taxi my layers had created a sort of "green house effect". No more water retention, then. The excess fluids built in weeks managed to escape. This was clearly visible in my crotch area. It appears that the Michelin Man just pissed himself.
In Posadas there are only 2 hostels. One has hundreds of negative online reviews. the other has no reviews at all. I opted for the second. At least once in my life time I can then say "I was the first".
The hostel proved difficult to find. The taxi driver had no idea it even existed. I would have liked to help him find his way around, but I was too busy drying my wet crotch.
Once I (him) found the hostel, I understood why it had no reviews: it wasn't even finished yet!
I had the impulse of offering the owner my help to paint and decorate and speed up the process, (maybe in exchange of a few chicken empanadas) then I thought: "fuck him! I have to pay full price for something so clearly unfinished? He can do the painting himself and stuck the brush up his ass when he's done". This, I regret thinking, because he was a nice man and he did not deserve a brush up his ass.
I'm the third person who ever stayed at this hostel. I wonder whether the first two were midgets who spent the night in the paint jars as it's impossible that normal people would sleep on beds still wrapped in their own plastic. Unless they're into bondage, of course.
I couldn't look more like a tourist if I tried. Flip flops? Tick. Camera visible? Tick. Map in hand? Tick. I might as well write "ROB ME" all over my forehead and have it over and done with.
The map....the map I was given by the hostel owner has no street names on it. It just shows a labyrinth of nameless roads. I can't read maps in the best of time, but this is a joke. Maybe the hostel owner is pshychic. he read my thoughts about the paint brush up his anus and he gave me a fake map to make fun of me.
I stayed an extra night in the unfinished hostel. Just for the challenge. And for the joy of the gang of mosquitoes which had been waiting for so long to feed. According to the state of my arm, they're done for the season.
Since I don't have much to do here in Posadas (except for making sure the mosquitoes create future generations of equally violent mosquitoes), I decided to help the hostel owner to have a successful business.
The dude has no idea. It never occurred to him that 6 people sharing a room might need 6 lockers. Or 6 tiny shelves. Or even one single hook to hang 6 coats (or hung themselves out of desperation). It never occured to him that a room might need a small paper bin (do travellers swallow their own rubbish or what?) or a curtain for the window (never heard of hangovers?). It never occured to him that 12 beds should not be placed in a room that can barely fit 2. ("I have an idea for a new name for this hostel: Auschwitz Hostel", I said, but he thought it sounded too German).
He told me with great pride that the next reservation is for a group of seven British. As soon as the words "British" and "7" clicked in my brain, my eyes automatically turned to the booze cabinet, left unattended and easy to reach. I suggested he´d put a lock on it. "Wow, you're just so clever", he said. No, no, it's you being stupid. You obviously never got drunk at a hostel with a bunch of random people before, either.
It took me exactly one month to feel relaxed and start being myself around people. In the beginning of my travels I used to measure my words, worrying to offend with my bluntness. Now, I pole dance around Argentinian flag poles, I tell people I don't want another empanada because they give me diarrhoea and I have already shared some of my anecdotes which have left people (the one who didn't leave the room) rather disturbed.
Not many people get me, but this is the price I happily pay for being so wonderfully unique (although not modest, but nobody's perfect).
I took a taxi to get to the bus terminal. As I got off the taxi a young man opened the door for me.
"Gracias". I said. "2 pesos, por favor", he replied. My outrage was senses by the stray dogs that immediately fleed the scene. 2 pesos for what? To open I door I had already half opened myself?! So I looked him in the eyes and said: "Dos pesos?! Estas loco?! (two pesos?! Are you insane?!). I expected a little resistance. I expected a little argument, but his reaction left me speechless: he just laughed and gave me the most amazing and warm smile! I guessed:
A) He never witnessed the outrage of a Michelin Man/Ninja Turtle and found it utterly amusing
B) What I said actually translated into " I won't give you two pesos, but I will suck your smelly toes"
C) He wanted to show off his gold teeth
D) Even HE recognized the absurdity of his request and was laughing at his own audacity.
I gave him nothing, of course. But I was grateful because this event put me in a great mood.
I am in Salta, my last stop in Argentina before moving on to Bolivia. The trip to get here lasted 25 hours.
I usually don't mind long bus journeys, but I'm often a little cross because it is not allowed to poo on buses (and they tell you so quite openly).So I took revenge for not being able to poo for an entire day and stole their blanket. I thought this would be fairer than poo in a bag and leave it on my seat.
I am a lady after all.
Lol. I have an image of you looking like the michelin man wih a wet crotch. Funny shif Fede!! Lol
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