Part of traveling alone is being both on the lookout for and open to random opportunities. Last night my new German friend Verena and I were simply planning to play some Yahtzee at the hostel and eat dinner on the terrace. A light summer rain closed the restaurant so we stayed in the bar downstairs and were joined by Chef Nicolas, who it turns out knows his dice. De hecho el tuvo dados calientes (hot dice). After winning decidedly (not much one can do when someone gets 2 Yahtzees) he taught us another dice game called Diez Mil (10 thousand). As we rolled and tallied points the lounge began to fill: the owner Manuel arrived with his business partner Hernan (honestly these men are insanely goodlooking), then another friend named Hernan who took over the dice for Nicolas who needed to take a shower, and a beautiful Italian girl and her friend the Russian girl who lives in Houston of all places and whose names I never quite mastered. We were invited to join the group for dinner and off we went.
We ate at a fantastic Spanish restaurant with incredibly rich food and wine. Among the languages spoken at the table were Italian, Spanish, English and every so often some German but not much. A Russian word or two may have slipped in but my concentration and comprehension were already thoroughly tested so I can´t be certain. There was much discussion of the glory of all things Italian, sports, Argentine men, how rare an American I am perceived to be, how much more food the men could possibly order and eat, poor Verena´s health (she is quite sick but rallied like a trooper!), and of course where to go after dinner. I had a brief moment of self-consciousness when I realized the other women had eaten very little and the men were still piling food onto my plate but I got over that rather quickly. Que rica!
The next stop was a pub around the corner from the hostel where they served STONE IPA from San Diego. I bought a round and toasted California just as I did when I saw the same beer in Taos, New Mexico with Liz Lombardi. The pub was crowded as most pubs are so we returned to the hostel and that´s when we started playing poker.
I really know very little about poker save what I´ve managed to pick up from Bravo´s Celebrity Poker Show, but I figured what the hell. I could fake it long enough to have fun and always I have the ¨No entiendo!¨card to play, pun intended. Manuel, the two Hernans and I each anted up $5 pesos and received a stack of matchsticks. All I can say is either I really am good at poker or these guys are not. I think it´s the latter. I managed to stay in the game, I was even winning at one point, until sometime around 4 AM when I lost my groove and subsequently my matchsticks. But I learned some new lingo, laughed a lot, talked shit in Spanish, y pase una noche muy divertida.
