3 decades in the makings. Why'd I try it? Nevertheless, dirty 30 is here to stay.
I never really thought about why they call it the dirty 30. I just thought it had a good ring to it. I come to find out that it has a literal meaning to it. Let the filth begin….
Filth Day #1, Friday November 14th
After a night of partying on the beach to celebrate this milestone, I wake up the next morning to the LOUD sounds of what I believe is a hammer striking on metal. Por que? I come to find that Mario and Luigi are working on the plumbing system in the bathroom. Yess....nice and early on a Friday morning.
They finally finish a days work of plumbing. But a big chunk of the tile wall is missing in the shower. Just dandy. Now I can't shower and it's time to get to the bus terminal. I'll at least put on a fresh pair of socks that are sand-free. A couple swipes of degree wouldn't hurt either. Bus leaves for Mendoza at 8pm. Off we go....
Filth Day #2 Saturday November 15th
We arrive the next morning in Mendoza after a casual 13 hour overnight drive. It's freakin cold here and I'm still wearing the same clothes. The next passenger who uses the pillow I just used is definitely in for a treat. They do have showers in the bathrooms in the bus terminals but major deal withs. Anyways, we need to get to Puru ASAP if we're gonna make our Inca trail reservations. After talking to several bus companies, we find out that there is no bus that goes directly from Mendoza to the Purivian border that leaves this day. With no time to waste....we are pretty much forced to head westward to Santiago, Chile and we transfer from there.
"That John Denver's reeealllly full of it." (TNT version of Dumb and Dumber)
Not exactly The Rockies, but driving through The Andes provided spectacular mountainious (not a real word but I like it) views. And after all these years of eating at Sizzler (roughly 1987 - 1998 [Joy's bday in Woodland]), I finally made the connection. Ahhhh....those minty fresh chocolates you pick up on the way out. A little ironic that my breath at that moment was NOT. Filthy, filthy, filthy.
Here we are just across the Chile border. Classic muzz goes for the pun of the year...
"It's pretty 'chilly' here."
After 9 hours (3 hours at Chile Border patrol) we finally arrive in Santiago, Chile. We have a break before we take on the MONSTER of all bus voyages: 33 hours to the border city of Arica, Chile. So how do I prepare for this?
Well, we have a couple hours in Estacion Central Santiago before departure at 11 p.m. I have a couple of options here.
1.) Go for a BIG dinner in the food court to set myself up for instant knock-out status on the bus. Risk though for potential bus dooks. Hopefully force dook before boarding the bus.
2.) Reduce risk of bus dook and keep it casual with the dinner and buy light snacks for the road.
3.) Take a shower at the station?
Keeping with the theme...option 3 is out.
We still need to use the restroom which costs 2.50 Chilean pesos. But the problem is that we have zero. So Jeff withdrawls $ from the ATM machine and instant giggles when he pulls out a single bill worth $10,000 pesos. They're probably not gonna have change for that bad boy. Instead, we eat first. It was tough to pass up on the hometown classics Pizza Hut and KFC (they don't have these in Arg.) but this being our only night in Chile, we went for something more local and picked up a scrumptious guacamole(supposed to be good here) lomo burger, soda, and fries. We also got free bathroom passes for eating at the food court. Yes!
After dinner, I felt the urge to go for that force dook. Uh-oh..no TP in the stalls. I walk back outside and see that the TP thing is outside on a wall. You have to guestimate and pull and gather as much as you think you'll need, tear it off, and bring it with you to a stall. Mike Timbang knows a thing or two about this steez. I went for the 'better safe than sorry' approach. The filth is on.
As I am brushing my teeth, i get a text from muzz "ready?" I guess I lost track of time cuz when I got out of the restroom, he tells me we have 5 minutes until the bus leaves. OH CRAP! We're about 500 meters away from the boarding platform! Off to the races.....major sprinting through the station malll with both my backpacks on me.
We get to the platform just in the nik of time as we see men loading luggages/backpacks in the bottom of the bus. Panting like a maniac, Jeff shows the luggage man our tickets.
OOOF!!! Looks like Muzz forgot to adjust his watch to the new time zone. So there you have it...extra sweat from the mad dash to add on to the FILTH. At least we have an extra hour to cool down. Goodtimes.
I spent most of the ride sleeping but I did manage to catch one movie, "The Girl Next Door" dubbed in Spanish. Yesss, my favorite, non-matching lips with words. I was surprised to see them choose a movie with the casual 'N' status. Guaranteed there were some kids on the bus. Guilt.
Filth Day #3 & #4
After 33 hours on the road, we finally get to Arica, Chile near the Peruvian border. My hair is oily as can be. Just gross. But the show must go on. The next bus will take us across the border patrol to the city of Tacna, Peru. We tell the bus man that we need to change our USD to Chilean pesos to pay for the ride. We follow him down a path as he walks us to the money changer. He pulls up at the corner and directs us by pointing down the walkway to the left. As soon as we meet him at the corner we realize that he is actually pointing to a Man who is wearing a black leather vest with hella pockets on it. He calls the Man over and me and muzz get a case of the giggles. This Man is a walking money changer with one pocket for his calculator and the rest of the pockets representing different currencies. Classic.
After an hour of bus and border patrol, we finally make it into Peru in the city of Tacna. I can't believe it.......only 14 more hours left to go. Next stop > Arequipa, Peru. But before we board the next bus, we get a taste of that Peruvian flavor, Chicken with green rice. Buenisimo! I can definitely get down with Peruvian eats.
Our first Peruvian bus ride was quite interesting. Casual video-recording of everyone as they are boarding the bus and then again when you are seated in your seat. But the biggest surprise came when they busted out the bingo cards. B-I-N-G-O en Espanol, you gotta love it. The microphone over the speakers had a muffled sound so I had to listen carefully. After about 5 minutes, I got BINGO status diagonal using the free space. I was a little hesitant at first but who cares, so I yelled out BINGO!! No reaction. One more time, BINGO!!!! The next thing I hear is the guy behind me giggling. He explains to me that we were playing to clear out the whole card. OOOOOF! Should've been listening to the rules in the beginning, but really?...who plays blackout for the first game. Geez. Anyways, the game continues and a girl from the back of the bus yells out BINGO! We look back and see that this girl is a cutie. As we're looking back, that same guy sitting behind me does the sexy whistle sound making us look guilty. Freakin jokesters up in Peru. Good giggles though.
THE HOME STRETCH : Arequipa => Cusco, Peru
Filth day #5
This 8 hour overnight ride was a breeze. But before boarding we went to grab a casual carne empanada at the station. Before selling empanadas us, the lady askes us if we want them heated up (caliente) in the microvave. And sticking to the jokester theme of Peru, Jeff suggested to the lady that she heat mine up for cuarenta cinco minutos. OHHHHHH! freakin' bromista muzz. Anyways, hopped on the bus, ate the bonus dinner we didn't know they were going to serve, passed out, and woke up at 10,000 ft above sea level. CUZCOOOOOOO!!! Viva el Peru!
FILTH HAPPENS.
FILTH HAPPENS
Up on the Roof...
A Lighter Shade of Brown
"Smooth, chillin', just kickin' it....on a Sunday afternoon"
Palmer always has a vision. Just go with it and it‘ll be all good. And as soon as he figures it out, it’s Go Time. We call it the 2 minute warning. No time to really figure out what/if you need anything. Like Santi says, “just bring your head.” This is what Palmer had in store for us on this Sunday afternoon. VAMOS!!! We're going swimming at The Yankee's penthouse condo.
Before going up the elevator, you have to get past Security Guard Adris Biedrins.
Check out the view of Rosario and the Parana River from The Yankee's balcony. It's awesome...
I do miss watching Entourage episodes, but it's not too shabby hanging out with Queens Blvd. himself.
That's Palmer looking out at The Island which is one of his favorite places to be in Rosario. It's about a 15 minute boat ride from the docks. He was going to take us camping out there but instead it started to rain and hail cats & dogs that afternoon.
The couchsurfing crew: Me & Jeff (USA), Kieran (Ireland), Adria y Begoña (España)
We walk up the stairs to get to the pool deck level.
It's cool to see other peeps flash the "peace signs" for pics.
And The Yankee himself 'kickin' it.
"When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me
Let me tell you now...
...When I come home feelin' tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet (up on the roof)
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat-race noise down in the street (up on the roof)
On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let's go up on the roof (up on the roof)...
...At night the stars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-tellin' you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I've found a paradise that's trouble proof (up on the roof)
And if this world starts getting you down
There's room enough for two
Up on the roof (up on the roof)
Up on the roo-oo-oof (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, baby (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, honey (up on the roof)"
- The Drifters
Rosah-ree-uhhs!!!
Welcome to the river beach city of Rosario, Argentina. It’s the laid-back city of casual times. My kind of town.
Buenos días
Buenas tardes
Buenas noches
La Casa de Artistas
You never know what's going to happen when you step out of the box and into the house of artists. Not sure if there is somewhere more casual than this place to couch surf. Palmer, Santi, Caro, Paris, & Fatima opened up their home to us and showed us the real Rosario. This spot, in the heart of the city, was pretty much headquarters for the entire Rosario crew. Under this roof and outside on the balcony, you can be a part of it all: TEACHING, cooking, dancing, eating, singing, chatting, drinking, sleeping, partying, drawing, exercising, reading, studying, dreaming, grooving, SHARING, writing, stretching, loungn’, painting, real/air guitaring, fluting, rapping, laughing, celebrating, joking, napping, you tubing, LEARNING. It was a blessing to have the coolest people in Rosario host us. We lived in this 2 bedroom apt. casually for 3 weeks and it was Dope!
Our couchsurfing hosts: Palmer, Santi, Caro, & Eva. They baked the house special - Pizza de la Risa on our first night here.
You wouldn't think that a death metal type of guy could bust out mad tunes on the flute. But Santi can rock the flute like no other.His real flute was in the shop but he would randomly pick up this wooden one and play a casual solid 8 note riff and then put it back down - Mr. Casual himself.
Begoña de España working on the kitchen wall.
Halloween Rocks!
-The view from the DJ booth (laptop on desk)
Everyone takes turns playing music from itunes or youtube. And when you mix in all these couchsurfers from Ireland, Spain, California, Denmark, & Germany you get a huge crazy melting pot of music. Muy interesante. One of my favorite bands from Argentina is Miranda.
Oh yeah, and you can dance solo right there on the living room floor or in the kitchen if you like. CASUAL.
Still a fan of couches and I still get my casual naps in.
Siesta, Siesta. Looks like the IrishMan Kieran knows what's up.
Muzz sharing Art as well. This was his best attempt at the "heisman trophy."
Adobosilog 101 (chicken)
They've never tasted Filipino food so we had to represent. No rice cooker here so we did it up old school. We served up a monster meal for 10 people. Mapex said, "You know what we forgot?....bread." I guess they ain't used to eating meals with rice. But they absolutely ate it up like Beasts. It was pretty cool when they gave us a standing 'O'. j/k , but they did give the chefs a round of applause.
We don't watch TV here, but we do huddle around Palmer's laptop to watch youtube videos.
Their choice for the night: America's Funniest Home Videos.
- as random and casual as it gets.
-Studying up on my Latin Spanish with Paris and Fatima
But nothing is cooler than learning the local slang:
"che" = dude
"boludo" = jerk (but in the cool friendly way)
"con carpa" = with tent (sneaky style)
"maca" = duh
Buddy status: Muzz & Fatima
Allergy Sneeze-boy
Not even a blackout can stop us.
This is Lulu sporting my headlamp to go and use the bathroom. And for dinner in the dark, just grab a fork and dig in for some tuna, peas, corn, and beans. Casual eats.
Adria & Begoña are excellent cooks from Spain. They whipped up this scrumptious chocolate-banana creamish dessert for my bday.
I have thirty years.
We play Tetris sleeps every night. No two nights of sleeping arrangements are ever the same. There are 3 mattresses, 2 couch seats, blankets, sleeping bags, and the floor to work with.
This night we were 5 couchsurfing + 3 residents + bonus friends and the 2 cats that randomly run around throughout the night. FULL HOUSE.
On warmer nights the mattresses can be found outside for that casual sleep on the balcony.
It's just a crazy couchsurfing world out there...
