While football-touring eastern and central Europe in September and October 2011, one of the things I enjoyed the most was meeting locals (and other travelers we happened to be visiting the same place, same days), members of couchsurfing.org. For my own reasons, I chose to stay at hostels, didn't ask anyone to host me (which you can do), but I did meet people in practically every city I visited. At Budapest, I was lucky to meet someone who turned out to give me that last little extra push I needed to go on with an idea I had been toying with for some months...
Seeing how miserable my life in Greece was, I kept thinking how great it would be if I could get a little job elsewhere, make just enough to rent a little apartment, experience what it feels like to LIVE abroad, not just travel around long-term. One of the places I had at the top spots of my “to consider” list, was Buenos Aires...
Martín was in Budapest/Europe on vacation. Along with a third CSer, a local girl, we met up, and when I told him I had it in the back of my mind to “settle down” at “his” Buenos Aires, he jumped into inviting me to stay at his place(!). It was just... too good to be true. He looked serious about it, but... I hardly knew him, so I chose to... hold a small basket...
Early November, when I returned to Greece, I got in touch with him, and that's when I realized that he really meant what he had suggested when we met in Budapest. Sometimes, what it looks too damn good to be true, is -amazingly- just that, true. In a matter of days I had bought my plane tickets. I had decided to give it a try, make Buenos Aires my home for at least six months, find some source of income, maybe writing for Greek websites from Argentina, with which my own... troubled country shares a lot in common, especially since the day the IMF... took Greece over(...).
Halftime rest (after singing most of the previous 45 minutes) for fans of Lanús, at Estadio Ciudad de Lanús – Néstor Díaz Pérez, aka "La Fortaleza"
Before the end of the month I was at Buenos Aires, which, last time I had been there, had felt “home” to me (there is only one more city I can say the same thing about, and that's Melbourne, which I failed to make home-home in 2004).
The idea was to start working as soon as possible, but as it usually (almost always) happens with my... ambitious ideas, it remained just that, an idea...
Soon, I knew I didn't have it in me to find a job there. I could have, I should have, and I would have if I had just a little bit more self-esteem, but I didn't. That's the “mal” part of the title, the “bad situation”...
Perfect for football late February afternoon at Estadio Monumental, home of Colo Colo
I felt the least I could do was travel, go see a great friend at Rosario, and then visit countries I hadn't been to before, Chile, Peru, Bolivia. That is the “bien” part of the title, the “good thing that came out”...
So I did, headed west, meeting people, watching football, feeling a bit “lost” (truth be told, since I was supposed to have returned to South America to work, to “live” there, not to go on yet another long backpacking trip), but... definitely enjoying myself. Mid May, I had made a big loop, and had reached my final destination, Rio de Janeiro, where yet another great friend hosted me for a week. In something more than five months I had watched 23 games, anything from Copa Libertadores to Chile's Primera B (second division), experiencing several “highs”, and one lamentable “low”...
Estadio Hernando Siles, the... nightmare of many a non-Bolivian team, because of La Paz's... dizzying altitude and its effect on players who are not used to that
On March 25, 2012, I got attacked and robbed just a few blocks away from Lima's National Stadium, on my way there to watch Sporting Cristal against Real Atlético Garcilaso. What's... hilarious, I reckon, is that the guys who attacked me, as they were fleeing the scene, dropped the ticket of the match which I had pre-bought at some shopping center, so... (here comes the hilarious part) after cleaning the blood off of my elbows and knees, despite the shock and my totally screwed up psychology, I... well... went to the game either way (but left during half-time, to go report the incident to the police, not because I expected them to do something about it, but because I just couldn't sit and do nothing about it. I had to do SOMETHING, no matter how pointless it looked -and was indeed).
I must belong to the 0.01% of foreigners who have been to Cuzco but did NOT go to nearby Machu Picchu (had my reasons). I did go see Cienciano, though
As for “highs”, too many to mention here, so I'll just share one, an as memorable as it gets scene at Cuzco's stadium, where an old indigenous couple were sitting in front of me, half watching the game and half picnic-ing, with the lovely granny explaining to her husband in Quechua and using nervous gestures, what exactly was going wrong with local side Cienciano, and why they couldn't score against Unión Comercio. I repeat, an indigenous, granny, in Quechua, opening her husband's eyes, decoding for him Cienciano's wrong way of trying to score. Priceless. One of those scenes that make a football game unforgettable, no matter how lethally boring the on-field action may be...
Engenhão, Rio de Janeiro, return leg of the Carioca championship finals between Botafogo and -grand victors- Fluminense
68 to 90
68 Lanús-Olimpo 0-0, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011, December 3
69 Independiente-Newell's Old Boys 1-1, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011, December 4
70 San Lorenzo-Independiente 0-1, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011, December 8
71 Arsenal Sarandí-Sport Huancayo 3-0, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012, January 24
72 Rosario Central-Sportivo Desamparados 2-1, Rosario, Argentina, 2012, February 6
73 Godoy Cruz-Peñarol 1-0, Mendoza, Argentina, 2012, February 16
74 Universidad Católica-Junior 2-2, Santiago de Chile, Chile, 2012, February 23
75 Colo Colo-Universidad Concepción 1-2, Santiago de Chile, Chile, 2012, February 25
76 Unión Española-Universidad Católica 2-2, Santiago de Chile, Chile, 2012, February 26
77 Coquimbo Unido-San Marcos 1-1, Coquimbo, Chile, 2012, March 3
78 Alianza Lima-Unión Comercio 3-2, Lima, Perú, 2012, March 24
79 Sporting Cristal-Real Atlético Garcilaso 3-0, Lima, Perú, 2012, March 25
80 Universidad San Martín-Sporting Cristal 2-1, Lima, Perú, 2012, March 31
81 Universitario-Cobresol 3-2, Lima, Perú, 2012, April 1
82 Cienciano-Unión Comercio 0-0, Cuzco, Perú, 2012, April 8
83 La Paz-The Strongest 1-3, La Paz, Bolivia, 2012, April 15
84 Bolívar-Universidad Católica 3-0, La Paz, Bolivia, 2012, April 17
85 San José-Bolívar 3-0, Oruro, Bolivia, 2012, April 22
86 Real Potosí-Universitario 2-1, Potosí, Bolivia, 2012, April 29
87 Universitario-Aurora 2-1, Sucre, Bolivia, 2012, May 3
88 Aurora-La Paz 1-1, Cochabamba, Bolivia, 2012, May 6
89 Oriente Petrolero-San José 2-1, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2012, May 9
90 Botafogo-Fluminense 0-1, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 2012, May 13
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