2011-September-24: Day 40

Ok, Saturday. Out of the Escalante house. So my pack and I take a cruise and stop for some brekky at a little cafe along Parque Espana and use the internet. I found a last minute Couch Surfing host, Ricardo, and not only was he willing to host me for two nights, but he was attending a metal concert that night and going up to visit his family on Sunday. So I said both sound good to me! I (finally) found a metro station, took the pink line west, hopped on the orange to the tippy top, where I transfered to the red and headed east, meeting Ricardo and his sister at a 7-11 right outside the station. We hopped in the car, went to Ric's place, I set my bag down and we were off! We first had to pick up Ricardo's sister's boyfriend, Pepe, from the airport (straight off the plane to a metal concert: radical), then went to the house of his friends' (Marco Antonio and Adrian) parents. We were treated to some real hospitality and I almost felt bad for not eating (though no one did, so it's not like I was sticking out any more than my gringo-ness already provides). We were sitting around talking, each drinking a beverage of his/her choosing: I a water, Ricardo a paloma (a ton of Squirt with a dash of tequila), so of course I was advised to try my own paloma (well, I had mentioned that I liked tequila and mezcal...). I tried it and liked it, though accused it of having too little tequila, at which point straight tequila was offered, as was mezcal, and I didn't exactly refuse, which meant mezcal was on the table. I had a few shots (sipped, not slammed), and felt more sociable and less agoraphobic: aka ready to rock this concert. So this was a metal concert, like crisp, trebly metal with hair-swinging, elaborate and exceptionally fast drumming, and an overall super Classical-inspired melodic theme. It was like listening to Bach way too loud with some German guy singing in English about fantasy stories/characters/plights with a couple hair helicopters trying, in vain, to levitate. That was kind of code for it was fun.

Breakfast

Lunch

Colors!

Ooooh, pretty

"Everybody Loves The Sunshine"

Party Time!!!