Thursday, 06.03.10 - 7:00 pm.
As Steven Tyler screamed in Costa Rica: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Well, he screamed a lot of other things that made my heart melt. I love him and Joe, Brad, Joey and Tom. I love them!
Here's how it went: I woke up at 1:45 am on monday and headed to the bus station. I put on my headphones and Dream On was the first song to play. I had tears in my eyes as I looked out the window...I really made this happen.
It was a 21-hour bus ride. The seat was uncomfortable, the food was monotonous and the sound for the movies was awful. Not to mention my seat partner, who just couldn't wake me up one time we needed to get out of the bus to check-in at the border; thanks a lot, pal.
I stepped foot on Honduras and Nicaragua before stopping in Costa Rica. I loved seeing the world, I enjoyed the view through the window; I hated the border bureaucracy. I read the Aerosmith autobiography (of course), saw knowing, the little rascals, a bit of four brothers and benjamin button; and listened to Aerosmith music only. I fed some of my sandwiches to stray dogs and in general just tried to enjoy the ride. It wasn't bad, really. I enjoyed it from 6 am to 6 pm. Before 6 am, I had trouble sleeping. Past 6 pm I was getting exhausted.
I arrived at midnight to the bus station, a good man was waiting for me. He was so kind, and he looked like a character you'd find in the comic strip Asterix. My hotel was like two blocks away but he advised me not to go out walking because it was a dangerous area. The man at the hotel was very kind, too, and told me my dad had called (damn!) and I called him back to let him know I made it ok.
My hotel room was very comfortable. It did upset me that I paid for two nights when in reality I would be staying there for no more than 6 hours. But anyway, as a lonely amateur globe-trotter, I didn't know any better about choosing places. And frankly, in retrospective, all the money I spent was worth it. I'd never been to Costa Rica. I paid for the safety of having a driver, the structure of a schedule and a comfortable bed, however short the time I'd spend on it. I do not regret a dime.
I went to bed at 1 am. I woke up at 7:15 by myself...it's a good thing because my cell phone (my alarm clock) ran out of batteries and it wouldn't have rung. I was meeting Frank and his sister Eve at 8:30 at the lobby. Frank is the guy on Twitter that offered to buy the ticket to the concert for me. A guy I'd never met. We had had our regular exchanges on Twitter but that's about it. I'd heard from other people I knew that they were very good people. I was wary the first weeks, but as time went by, my trust in him grew stronger. We also kept in touch by e-mail.
So I came down to the lobby and shortly after Frank and his sister walk in. They have such a good vibe. They take me for breakfast and then to walk around San Jose, to see important buildings, stores and even to a small concert in the National Theater. They are beautiful people indeed and it was sad saying goodbye to them at 1 pm. I have to go back and stay longer. Of course, Frank gave me my ticket to the concert.
By the way, you know why I didn't get to meet the third sibling, Frank's brother (all three of them are on Twitter)? Because he was working. He works at a hotel, at the hotel where Aerosmith was staying. If I'd arrived half a day earlier, I could have gone to the hotel and greet them as they arrived. I read the news about it and they were charming with the fans that were waiting for them. *Sigh* Such is life. Moving on.
At 1:30 pm I met with the driver and with two compatriots that were going to the concert too. They were staying at my hotel but flew in earlier that day (June 1st). Turns out he knows Brother #1 but I learned that until we added each other on FB. Anyway, he and his 15-year-old son were big fans and were incredibly nice. They pretty much took me under their wing and I stuck with them for the whole trip. So in the end I wasn't alone at all.
We picked up other people, but they were from Costa Rica and that took some time. It was a 45-minute drive to the venue and it rained the whole time. I had to buy a one-time plastic cape, but luckily the rain went away at about 4 pm and never came back. It was a long wait for the gates to open at 5. We went to our section, which wasn't sold out and we took our spot.
Then we had to wait until 8 pm, when the opening band took the stage. Past 9, AEROSMITH CAME ON, YAAAAAY!!!! I can barely find words to express how I felt when I saw Steven Tyler on the big screen and heard myself saying, DUDE! Look at the stage, you have him in the flesh!. Un-fucking-believable! In my wildest teen dreams I dared to think of seeing them live, let alone TWICE!
When they came on, nothing mattered, but not in a I-want-to-kill-myself way, but in a everything-was-worth-it way. It was 11 pm and I'd forgotten that I was on a bus for 20 hours, I had slept six hours, I hadn't drank water since 5 pm and I hadn't eaten anything since 9 am. It was just me, all these hardcore fans, and Aerosmith onstage. I can cry just to think about it.
After the concert, I was interviewed by a TV station, haha. I figured, what the hell, nobody knows me here. And there were fireworks. But getting out of the venue was harder than getting in, because of the traffic. I had to be at the bus station at 2:15. It was 1:45 and we still were stuck. Mr. Driver did his best and we amazingly made it on time, dropping everybody else off in the process. We got to my hotel, I said goodbye to my Brother's friend and his son and I picked up my bags.
Then it was the bus ride home. Excruciatingly long, but it was a different bus. Same nice crew, same crappy food, but the seats were so, so comfortable that I slept for a good part of the morning. I was also lucky to have both seats for myself. I arrived to my country at 6 pm but between some trouble with the bus and migration stuff I got to the station at 10 pm. By 6 I was exhausted, already sore in every muscle from the concert and now from sitting for too long. Or standing for too long in customs when necessary. I didn't eat much yesterday, either: two sandwiches, two cookies and a Pepsi. Little water.
Luckily I asked to show up to work in the afternoon today. So I slept in until 9 am and took a one hour nap later. In the meantime, I unpacked and looked back on the pictures. I can't believe I did that...that is, or was, very unlike me. Or perhaps it's just that Aerosmith had never come here before so I didn't know I had it in me.
Either way, my dream came true. Imagine you have the dream of your life and you get to make it come true, twice. I think silly stuff, like "man, I missed them at the hotel" or "I should have taken the flag of my country". My whole dream involves meeting them and being acknowledged of my presence before them, but I'll just count my blessings. I've earned much more than I ever dared to imagine years ago.
And that's it. I'm sore, I'm inmensely happy. This is one of the best things I've ever done in my life.
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