Soy la persona con todo la plata.
It’s 12 midnight Cordoba time, and I’m sitting in a downtown apartment, surrounded by Argentinians. We’re playing Hold ‘Em, drinking Fernet and Coke, smoking. There’s the “boy’s club” camaraderie permeating from all the chicos, plenty of “¡hijo de putas!” and pantomiming violent anal sex every- and anytime someone won a big hand. I catch maybe five percent of everything they’re saying (the Argentinian-accent is a killer) but it’s so reminiscent of my own home games, I realize I’ve never felt more at home in this country.
Two hours prior, I was going mad from boredom at my hostel. My travel mates, Chrissy and Katie moved on to Puerto Madryn in the morning. The new hostel guests gave me a stink eye every other time I stepped in the room, and curtly told me, “You can speak English” when I spoke to them in Spanish. I wanted to curse them out in Chinese and used some universal sign language to translate, but was deflated. I limited my use of e-mail and Facebook to twice a week, and didn’t want to depend on the Internet as a means of passing time. Instead, I tried futilely to write, and worried about my Fulbright application.
What caused these drastic changes in locale and attitude? Couchsurfing.com.
Through couchsurfing, I met Gabriel, who didn’t just offer me his couch to crash on for a night. He introduced me to his mates, included me in their weekly get-together, and told me I was welcome to stay until the weekend, when he needed to leave for a wedding. I mean, Gabriel gave me my own set of keys to use for his apartment, so I could come and go as I pleased. He showed me facets of Argentina I’d never learn without him. It’s not the most glamorous of facets – nothing about Tango, or lovely porteñas, or the beauty of the wine country. Instead, he showed me the reality of middle class life in Argentina: the intimacy of friendship in this country, making time for each others company, and desire to share all the pleasures life offers.
He also showed me I still have some poker chops, when I took their pesos at the end of our tournament.
Posted by Ming 
