Let's start with the base facts - I was on this trip to Peru with two friends. We started in Lima (I flew down on the night of Game 3, landed on the night of Game 4). Me and one of the other two are die-hard baseball fans - he of the Yankees, which in 2016 didn't matter too much. The Astros had beat the Yankees in teh 2015 Wild Card Game, but realistically they weren't huge rivals yet (not that this really changed our friendship - helps the Astros own the Yankees which is a point in my favor, but the Astros cheated in 2017 which is a point in his). The third friend isn't a huge baseball fan, but generally a solid sports fan (biggest loves are college football & basketball, and soccer) who will get into anything.
The day we landed was Game 4, where the Indians would go up 3-1 (weird to remember that was their name at this point) and at this point we paid fairly little attention to either Game five or six - there was a new country to explore. Peru was my first time in South America. It was my first time going to a world famous restaurant - us dining at Maido during our time in Lima. It was a trip of many important firsts. It was also a trip of hostels, namely the Loki hostel chain.
There are many infamous hostels aroudn the world and in 2016, Loki was one of them, a chain of hostels scattered around Peru (maybe all of South America), including locations in Lima and Cusco. We probably could have afforded to stay in a real hotel - we all had solid jobs, but we were all 25 (or in the case of the Yankee fan, about to turn 25), and knew that staying in a hostel had other benefits. Namely, in the case of the Lokii, they had bars that were honestly more than just hostel bars, they were like actual city bars. Many people (including other tourists) would come to teh Loki Hostel Bar to start their night. in the case of Cusco, many to end the night. Loki in itself was an experience - particularly the Cusco location. That was the pure shit.
You checked in at the bar basically, which when we arrived at the morning already had their cadre of random hot girls who are backpacking for months lingering around behind the bar or just doing stuff. Now, these weren't Insta Thots or something - most were actually quite cool to chat to and get to know, but yeah - it was the vibe. Each nigth around 10pm or so, the bar became a makeshift club with live music and merriment. Every now and then they would serve a roudn of blood bombs, which a Loki hostel staple - something of a jagerbomb with red bull. I'm sure it was nasty but it went down quick, and we would all do it after the main bartender / rabbel-rouser would exclaim "Loki, Loki, Loki" and we would all shout back "Aye, Aye, Aye." To many this may sound dumb, and looking back it probably was, but at the time it was perfect.
It was in this backdrop taht we watched Game 7 of the World Series. How did we do this? Well some ESPN America type channel was showing it and we connived Loki to put that on in the corner-most TV at one end of their long bar. It was muted of course as there was live music and DJs and all that, but wer were transfixed to watch waht was one of the best baseball games of all time. To be fair, we started watchign it at dinner at some burger place, one taht I am pretty sure is within the Gaston Acurio food empire. It was there when the Cubs took their 5-1 lead, including scoring against the heretofore unhittable Andrew Miller. By the time we got back to Loki, it was 5-3, we convinced them to piut it on and settled in for the long haul.
One thing to remember is Cusco is at an elevation of about 11,000 feet, so alcohol hits you hard, but damn us 25-year olds were going to test that theory, including the Yankee fan friend who was born on October 3rd (the game was October 2nd). We were already plying him with blodobombs and cusquenas and whiskey sodas (along with us doing the same) while the game got tighter, and then got weird. By weird we mean the bottom of the 8th when the Indians tied it at 6, doing so with a Rajai Davis home run off Aroldis Chapman, maybe the most unlikely thing ever (more than Rojas). At thsi point we were pretty damn drunk (in a good way) and I was ecstatic - the joy of seeing the Cubs potentially blow it in this way.
Now, of course they didn't blow it in that way - they still ended up winning after a rain delay and more blood bombs and so much craziness. Because the game went to 10 innings and had a rain delay and a ton of pitching changes, it ended at 12:47 AM ET - which in Lima is 11:47pm - or in other words thirteen minutes before our friend would have his Birthday. What a surreal thirteen minutes, as you see by around the time the Rajai Davis home run happened, our hoots and hollers about this game attracted the attention of quite a few hostel-goers and Loki-partiers. We had created a mini watch party of say 10-15 of us (out of the totla say 50-70 in the bar). Most of the others weren't even American, let alone baseball fans - but exciting sports moments transcend borders. they were pumped, we were pumped, we were all drunk.
And then midnight hit, when the bar called both my friend and another person whose birthday it was (that old 35 people means 95% there is a shared birthday adage coming to life!) to stand on teh abr and down a double blood bomb as we sang happy birthday. There was still live music for hours more, during which time I started an impassioned rant about how Chicago doesn't actually deserve this because in their heart of hearts they were a football town.
Now, I should talk about why I was so anti-Cubs Shouldn't be that tough to figure out - despite the Astros now being in the AL for 15 years, and having their greatest run of success as an AL team, I grew up in a world where the Astros were in the NL. I grew up hating the Cardinals, and nearly as much hating the Cubs. Actually - in that time I hated the Cubs more - I respected the Cardinals, I feared the Cardinals. I hated the Cubs. I hated that people pitied them for not winning in 100 years, when my Astros hadn't ever won in 50. I hated that in the Astros admittedly smoke and mirrors 2008 season when they won 87 games (a complete mirage that dealyed their tear down by three years), when they were nearly catching up to the Wild Card, a Hurricane forced them to play against the Cubs in Milwaukee for a "home game" that was understandably 98% Cubs fans. Carlos Zambrano would throw a no hitter. The Astros wouldn't come that close to the playoffs for seven years.
I hated the Cubs even more because while the world got mad at the Astros for openly tanking in 2012-2013, the world didn't get nearly as mad at the Cubs for more or less doing the same thing. The world also got way more into the Cubs rise from teh tank than the Astros rise (remember, this was all before the cheating scandal would break). The Cubs had Theo Epstein, the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Astros had the dark and desolate Jeff Luhnow (again, before the scandal). I hated all of that, and hated that it paid off, and did in a year that was a disappointment for the Astros. Remeber in 2015 - both teams broke through and made the palyoffs for the first time in a while. The Astros blew a 2-1 lead to the eventual champion Royals in the ALDS (including a meltdown in Game 4). The Cubs made the NLCS - granted they got swept by the Mets (still crazy to think the Mets made the WS as recently as 2015!). The next year the Cubs just got better, while the Astros languised to a 86-win season and missed the playoffs. Looking back, it is hilarious how much more staying power the Astros rebuild had vs the Cubs, but at the time it seemed annoying the world loved the Cubs rags to riches story and ignored my team.
These pre-set feelings boiled over at Loki that night where I just decided this factoid taht Chicago is much more a football town. Now, I do think this is true. I exclaimed that most Chicago-ans would trade thsi Cubs win, despite the 108-years and what not, for a Bears Super bowl win. I still actualyl do think this is true. There are baseball towns - New York quietly is one (just so happens its split across two teams). Boston is one. St. Louis is one. Houston is one. Chicago is not - it is a football town. There's nothing wrong with taht - so is San Francisco, and Seattle, and Denver, and DC and many more places. But let's not kid ourselves - 80% of those fans celebrating in mosh pits in Chicago that night would trade that for a Bears Super Bowl. I believe that now, but I more vocally believed that then, making my case so impassionedly taht it continued when we got back to our room. It continued at probably 3am local time, when one of those girls knocked on the door to tell us to go to bed and quiet down, and thus ended one of the great nights of my life.
I don't know if there are any other days that lined up so brilliantly - a legendary sporting event with the location of a hell of a good time. In a sense, the ngith would have been amazing even if you remove the Cubs element - it was three graet friends in Cusco together at a world famous party hostel enjoying a great night where it was one of our birthdays (a special 25 at that). That's a 9.5/10 by itself - add in one of the iconic sports games of the 21st Century and you get a 10/10. The Cubs being the benefactor drops it back to a 9.5/10 - but my rant about the Cubs and Bears and Chicago fans hearts, and being told to shut up and go to bed (which should be impossible at a place like Lokie) brings it up to a 10.5/10 and a place in this list.
