Advertisement
Published: January 7th 2008
I had written an entire blog about how the first night in Argentina was the best in my life. It got deleted because of my poor internet connection that I’m steeling from the adjacent hotel. Well I was going to rewrite it, but then my second night happened. Holy Fuck.
My Israli friend asks me if I want to go check out San Telmo/La Boca because he hears there was a parade on Sundays. I said sure why not. We arrive and have relatively no idea where we are. We hear loud music and decide to follow it. As we approach the crowd of people gets thicker and thicker until we are just raindrops in an ocean. I can’t really explain to you with words the scene. Let’s just suffice it to say that I had no idea that people lived this way…anywhere. We find about 15-20 people drumming in a walking drum circle. Everyone is dancing. Everyone. 5 year olds, scetchballs, 80 year olds. It’s the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. I can’t explain it to you really, it’s the atmosphere. We follow the drum circle down the ave. across the entire neighborhood. We follow them for a few hours. There are street vendors everywhere. We shop a while. I stop to buy a beer, and I see a guy that we had talked to earlier. I ask him if he knows where any of “that” is. He says yeah of course. I buy 2 40s (I think they’re actually 60s here) so I chill on the street corner with these homeless guys (mad chill, not sketch) and get drunk. We start singing and dancing(when the drums came back around) So I meet a guy from Peru, Uruguay, tres portenos. We start walking, and drinking, to the plaza where his friends are. Now san telmo is an incredible environment. Every one knows everyone. There wasn’t 5 steps we walked where the people I was with didn’t stop to say hello to someone they knew well. We get to the plaza catch up with drums. I get invited to smoke with them. We smoke on a joint on a busy street corner. We buy more beers. My new friends and I stumble towards the drums. They meet someone else they know who’s good. We smoke another joint on another busy street corner(legal by the way) We dance and follow the massive procession of drums further into the night. Eventually I loose all buy my Paraquanian friend. We walk and smoke and drink and talk more. He has an awesome dog. I meet a hippy from the Netherlands who speaks fluent English. He dances ridiculously. People have started a bonfire on the curb of the busy street. It’s getting late and I have to wake up by 7 the next morning. So we decide to call it an early night and go back to take shots with him and his friends at his place. We walk for god knows how long. 20 blocks? Why? Because we’re drunk and wouldn’t have it any other way. We get back and go on the roof of his apartment complex and drink a local liquor. He almost falls off the roof getting his laundry down. We leave, and I get a cab home.
I can’t express to with words the night. This is the best I could do. Pictures might help but I still need to get batteries. They’ll be up here, you can bet your ass I’m going next Sunday. It’s a different way of life. People here seem obsessed with life. They seem intent on having fun. There is more culture in san telmo than anywhere in the states. Period. It is the most amazing thing that I have ever experienced. Ever. This is my third day here, and I can’t imagine how I ever lived in the states. Literally the best night of my life.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.035s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0194s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Pop
non-member comment
That's Amazing
It's good to know you're enjoying yourself. I wasn't sure when you were leaving but I have your blog bookmarks and I'll be sure to read each and every post. Even if you decide to runaway and never come back, know that we got love for you back home. P.S. Write and save your posts in Word before you post it so that if the connection shits out you don't lose it next time. Peace and Love, Holla