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Published: December 1st 2007
The Glider Competition
This is how it all starts.....How the hell is everybody???
This is a special installment recounting the events of one night: the Glider record. We should first explain that the hostel we are working at has two other hostels, in Peru, one in Lima and the other in Cusco. There is a lot of rivalry between them all, especially Cusco and here in La Paz. Nearly all of the staff are either Irish or English, so naturally the rivalry presents itself in the form of drinking competitions. One other thing we should throw out there is that a Glider here is a shot, like a B-52, with vodka, kahlua and bailey's...its kind of like the hostel's official drink, we always do 4 or 5 at the end of every night shift, and several during.
Well, apparently there had been an old record, set by the guys here at La Paz of 164 gliders during one shift (6 hours), and that pissed Cusco off. We got a call from the owner at Cusco, pissed out of his mind, saying they did 165, and we can all go...well, you can imagine. The next day, we looked at the system to verify the tally and it was
actually 205. However, the next day a couple of people came that had worked at Cusco but were travelling on now, and it turns out that the "record" was set by 22 people over 8 hours (the 164 in La Paz had been set by 8 people in 6 hours).
Our bosses therefore decided to show them what drinking really is, and planned Glider Night. They ordered extra Vodka, Kahlua, and Bailey's, extra shot glasses, and set up one end of the bar especially for glider consumption. They spent the whole morning figuring out the math to pace themselves, and recruiting some of the guests to join in. The night shift is from 7-1, so we planned on starting at 7 on the dot, and taking a shot every 18 minutes until dinner, when we would start picking up the pace. By 7:05 we had done three rounds, and (so much for pacing ourselves) by 8:54 we had broken the 205 mark. Of course, that deserved a celebratory round, and another, and so on, until by the end of the night, the tally was 425. I should also mention that those were only the ones that got put into
the system, and it is very likely that there were more not put on tabs. So, though we can't officially say more than 425, it is pretty likely that it was upwards of 450. The whole night there were about 15 of us going steady, every once in a while some more would join in a round, sometimes people took a break, but 15 was pretty average. I should also give special mention to the Arizona boys, whom we met in Rio at the beginning of our trip. They turned up that night, and made strong additions to the team.
Um, we can't really think how to end it, so uh...look at the pictures and enjoy.....
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Marc
non-member comment
That's my boy!!!
You my boy, bro! It's good to know that you're taking full advantage of your experience. I mean, most people would marvel at the architecture, see a museum or two, maybe an exotic zoo. But you, Gremily, you've stumbled onto the best way of travelling- the drunkenacity. Yes, I said drunkenacity. It's a new word. Anywho, congrats on the record. Your return to the U.S. will be a celebrated one, maybe a ticker tape parade is in order. You, Gremily, will return as a hero. Kudos. ;) XOXO- Marc