Date Written: Feb. 9, 2002 5:30 a.m.
Current Location: Iguazu airport-IGU
Subject: The Soccer Game and Penelope Cruz

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2002
...The last thing I had said about last weekend was that I went to the soccer game, which was indeed a fabulous experience. People just singing, dancing, and going NUTS for 4 hours. We were Matt (the wingman!) and Patrick, this guy from England, Joe (who later in the night played a critical role), and myself. Those Swedes were absolute soccer fanatics. They had gone out and bought like 10 soccer jerseys apiece at 50 bucks a pop. Anyway, we had tickets in the "popular" section which is for sure the place to be. There was about a 2 hour pre-game celebration that was basically just as rowdy as the game (the team had just won the Mercosur cup)...it also gave us the opportunity to learn a bunch of the songs and stuff. We all bought hats of the home team (when in Rome!!) to fit in but we were obviously the only foreigners there. The team is represented by and the stadium is located in a working class area of BA. The fans loved us and loved that there were foreigners there. Everyone kept coming up asking us where we were from and trying to give us weed. Oh yeah, that reminds me. See, they don't serve beer in the stadiums...trust me, these people are rowdy enough...but pot smoking is accepted, and trust me, these people were more than happy to abuse that privilege. Man, I've never seen so much pot at once. What's amazing about it was that there seemed to be an endless supply. I mean, these guys were smoking pot for four STRAIGHT hours, NONSTOP. That is not an exaggeration either. One joint gone, another lit up. It was like that all over the popular section. By the way, the game was between San Lorenzo (home team) and Estudiantes de L.V. or something like that. I have my ticket stub somewhere. Anyway, we cheered our asses off and baked in the sun for 4 hours...well, it was actually night by the time the game ended. Considering that I had only slept about 3 hours the night before, and four the night before that, I was pretty tired at the end of the whole thing, which was basically the equivalent of an ND game. Little did I know, it would be MANY, MANY hours before I would sleep again.
So we got back to the hostel around 8:30 from the soccer game. I took a shower and then went down to the barbecue that they were having at the hostel. It was then that I really started getting to know Johanna and I was thinking of making a play for her. I had only met her the night before and her and her Colombian friend (Bernardo) didn't go out, although it did seem that SHE wanted to.
So that night was when we really became friends and the idea of traveling together for the rest of the way was born...By the way, my plane just took off. Cool to think that Tony and I are both in the air on our way to Sao Paulo...So anyway that night in the hostel, Johanna, Bernardo, and I all bonded. I put on some latin jams and it was pretty cool. I also went down to the same store and bought some more vodka limon and Fanta soda since it was such a big hit the previous night. Tell you the truth, that stuff was pretty good. So once again, I rallied a bunch of troops and we all decided to go out. I had gotten the plan to go out to Recoleta first and then from there on to the clubs. I had seen Recoleta that same morning and noticed that there are a lot of good bars in the area. Around 1:00 a.m. we got everyone together and left the hostel. Bernie and Johanna were going to "maybe" meet up with us later at Recoleta or maybe at the club. We took two separate cabs up to Recoleta because we were such a huge group of people. Well, I was in the first cab so we got to the bar first and waited for the others. Well, when the second group of people got to Recoleta, Johanna was with them!! More importantly, her friend Bernie was NOT! As far as I was concerned, she had pretty much made her play which was cool because I was really interested in her. At the bar, she sat by me and we talked quite a bit. It was going pretty well. At around 2:30 or so, we all ent to this club we had heard about called Buenos Aires News. It was a great club. When we got there, it was a bit of a hassle getting in but we finally did it. Johanna and I danced a bit but then I guess I had screwed up somewhere because she seemed to have lost interest...or maybe was just playing hard to get. That really wouldn't be surprising as it is a typical move for a super hot chic. Let me tell you something, this girl is so amazingly gorgeous she is well worth jumping through few hoops for and I was certainly willing to play along, but I wasn't gonna let her know that. Well, to shorten up the story, I ended up going off on my own for awhile and somehow I started dancing with these two girls...one of which happened to be a dead ringer for Penelope Cruz (well known Spanish actress). Of course I was calling her that for the rest of the night. Actually, the girl's real name is just as beautiful as she is...Solange. It's a french name but she was an Argentinian girl. She was such a cute little fragile thing. For some reason, she really struck me. We had this non-verbal connection that I can't really describe, but it was a damn strong feeling. I was certain that she was interested in me and was definitely interested in her. Of course the problem was that if I decided to go for this girl, it would pretty much ruin any chance I had of getting with Johanna. My lord, so many women, so little time. Well, like I said, there was just something about that Solange girl. I guess I don't have a word for it but is certainly something that doesn't happen to me to often. Those pretty eyes and pouty lips just made me feel weak. I decided to let Johanna do her own thing, and I wasn't really sure she was interested anyway and I decided to go for Penelope Cruz...I mean Solange. Well, that meant that once again I needed a wingman to eliminate her friend from the equation. Unfortunately, Matt didn't go out that night so it was gonna have to be someone else. Insert Joe from England. It was funny because when I went to him to ask him to be my wingman, he said the exact same thing that Matt had said the night before, "What's a wingman?" Anyway, after I explained, he was more than willing to do it so the game was on. It was amazing the job this guy did. I have to say that was the second night in a row I had a quality wingman by my side. He ended up dancing with Solange's friend, Vicki over the next hour.
Towards the time the club closed (about 6:30 a.m.) Solange and I were just sitting and chatting and I was finding her pretty fascinating. I just didn't want the night to end. Everyone else from the hostel had taken off accept Joe, who stayed on as wingman, and Johanna. Well, I guess I just didn't want the night to end so I suggested to Solange that we go and grab some breakfast. I just couldn't believe how awake I was. I had slept about 9 hours over a span of 72 at that point. Anyway, the girls said they lived in the area and knew a place so we all (yes, all FIVE of us) began walking. We strolled along and talked for what seemed like about 45 minutes. I remember I couldn't get the songs from the soccer game the previous day out of my head..."DALE CAMPEON, DALE CAMPEON..." and Solange kept making fun of me. So in end we arrive at this place that the want to eat but it was just a little café attached to this gas station. That was a little weak so then Vicki suggested that we go back to her apartment and she would make breakfast. So there I was, 8:00 in the morning after partying all night, in this completely random apartment somewhere in the middle of Buenos Aires. Life was very good. Vicki made us all some tea and went out to get media lunas (small, sweet croissants.) We hung out until about 9 or so but then tiredness began to hit hard. There was a moment there where I had the chance to say something to Solange about crashing there but I didn't want to push it and with Johanna and Joe there it would have been impossible anyway. Well, Solange and I had been talking all morning about going out that night (which was gonna be my LAST night in BA) but she hadn't written down the number yet. Well, as we are leaving, Johanna asks Vicki for the number so we could "all" do something that night. That gave Johanna the power over that phone #. Bad. I kind of suspected that she made that move on purpose. I never really knew if she was pissed that I hooked up with Solange that night but anyway it was all a moot point because circumstances would eventually make it so I couldn't call them anyway. So that was it...I never talked to her again and the truth is that it is bugging me quite a bit. I really thought there was something there. I have thought about that girl everyday since then. I guess sometimes, things just don't pan out. I still wonder though, if our paths might cross again sometime. I guess you never know.

AC