Blogs :: Stood Up!
Maybe for the first time in my life I have actually, categorically, been stood up by a girl. The story started while visiting Salvador on a simple Saturday night at a bar/club called Borracharia. Now apparently I was the only one to find this name quite amusing out of the group in attendance. Not laughing yet? Let me explain.
In Portuguese, it simply means tire store. The type of tires you put on your vehicle. This tire store however closes down at normal business hours, but then transforms into a really cool underground-ish type of club. In Spanish however, borracha is slang for being drunk. Adding a form of -ia to the end of a word (in Portuguese and Spanish) simply implies a place where one does said action. (Lavandaria is a place that you wash (lavar) your clothes.) Maybe its just me, but I found it ironically entertaining that this was a place where I was going to get drunk. What a perfectly honest name for a bar.
But what about the stand up? Well, Victor decided to talk up a girl we were standing next to at the bar and I eventually became included as the focal point of the conversation. Once her friends arrived, we all enjoyed the night of dancing to everything from mid-90s Matchbox Twenty (yes they are still in love with that decade) to Beatles to AC/DC. As the night wore on, the party dwindled and phone numbers were typically exchanged. Except...I had abandoned my cell in Rio de Janeiro, so I left Victors numbers instead.
Two days later, no phone call. I figured nothing of it, planning to leave the following day as already behind schedule until I received an email: "Hey, phone numbers didn't work, but let's hang out. Drinks at my favorite bar Monday night." Sure why not, I hate being on schedule. As Victor, my couch surfing host lived a good hour outside of the city, I figured it smart to grab a cheap hostel room in town, also giving myself the opportunity to see the tourist part of the city, Pelourinho, the following day before catching the night bus up to Recife.
I arrived later than expected due to Salvadors poor public transportation, i.e. the bus never came, but not later than our planned meeting time, 9pm. I sent an email with the name of the hostel and a number to reach me at before taking a quick shower. Ready for a few drinks: no reply, no call. Alright well, I have a number, let me try calling it. Two pay phones later, nothing but a message I could barely understand. I returned to the hostel and asked to use the owners cell phone. The family running this place, Pousada dos Sonhos, was super nice and gave me a great deal on a private room. I finally translated the message: "This phone number is disconnected. Please hangup and try again." WTF? Huh...
Never heard from the girl again. No email explaining something came up. Nothing. What can you do? I took the opportunity to get a good nights sleep in a real bed, instead of a couch, for the first time in a week. The next day I walked about the cobbled stone street of the "Pelo", ate lunch at an African restaurant, Salvador (and the encompassing state of Bahia) is known best for its rich heritage of black african culture, and visited a few museums. It was an enjoyable, lazy day.
It's now been well over a month since my first encounter and my first failed re-encounter and no word. I wonder how many more of these I might (not) have. If its only one every 25 years, I think I'll be alright. So...cheers the girl who disappeared!
beer, party, girls, Brasil, Salvador, public transportation
Posted By:
Brendon
8/19/2009