From Melbourne to Brisbane: Alvaro Al's Australian Adventure and Insights

Swapping the bustling streets of Melbourne for the warm cityscape of Brisbane, guest Alvaro offers an entertaining and enlightening conversation: From the electric atmosphere of the Melbourne Cup to planting trees in beautiful Victoria, the journeys we share are as dynamic and varied as the locations we discuss.

The Australian adventure continues as we remember nights out in Brunswick, visits to Bar Oussou. Alvaro’s entertaining backyard chicken anecdotes add a heartwarming touch to our conversation. We also share a humorous story about our friend Lydon’s shopping adventure and the unique challenges of tuning a fretless 21-stringed instrument called the Kora. 

As the episode unfolds, Alvaro and I venture into our shared ocean exploration experiences, discussing lost spear guns, shark encounters, and the unpredictable UV index. George also shares some insights into his tech-averse cousin and our shared thoughts on the Brisbane weather. The recording of this podcast feels like sending a message in a bottle, carrying our experiences and stories across to you. As we wrap up, we delve into the world of radio communication and the key role scripts play in our podcast recording process. We leave you with a thought-provoking quote about underestimation and ill-wishers, capping off an episode that's as captivating as the Australian vistas we've explored.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

All right, so we're here with Alvaro Al. Welcome to my show. This is Unvalunit with me, with George. How's everything, man? How's the Melbourne Cup? You like Melbourne Cup?

Speaker 3: 0:22

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Have you ever been to Melbourne Cup? I do.

Speaker 3: 0:54

From about the age of 18, vegetarian and quite against unvalued groups.

Speaker 1: 1:04

I don't follow the races. I was working for an. You know, I remember working in an like an hk program, and then one of the guys they play like privately, so they put money privately on the horses. And then you say yeah, Georgia, we're gonna put some money on your horse. And then and I went like out of mind, yeah, okay. And then they I want a one couple of bucks. Yeah, that was good.

Speaker 3: 1:35

Cool. Yeah, it's all generations. It's very strong tradition because you know they used to be up north. There was the cup in Queensland, then there was a cup like way up north, then there was there was a Darwin cup, there was a Queensland cup, there's a Sydney cup and there's a Melbourne cup.

Speaker 1: 1:57

But which which one? You, which one is the famous one that the Melbourne Cup? Yeah.

Speaker 3: 2:03

Melbourne cups sort of.

Speaker 1: 2:06

You know right How's Brisbane. How is it?

Speaker 3: 2:12

I think, someone that doesn't know Brisbane maybe we'll be, interested to hear about it been recorded, are you? Am I actually being recorded by you?

Speaker 1: 2:27

Yeah, yeah we are, we are, we're not live, but because before I forgot to to press the button, so I just put the music and everything, but I didn't tell you. Now, yeah, we just now is on on on the record now. So see Brisbane, brisbane.

Speaker 3: 2:55

Yeah, how's how's things over there? It's really nice, yeah, no, it's um sure. It's like a big country town here. If you ever been living in rural Australian country town, it's just like a big country town, even the city. You walk through the city it's like quiet most days, like yeah, I like quiet better than like less traffic, and yeah, be honest, I haven't gotten out much.

Speaker 3: 3:33

I haven't haven't connected very deeply with the local population. Yeah, and with the locals that I have met up with, we've often traveled either up the Sunshine Coast or down to Byron.

Speaker 3: 3:50

So Brisbane still largely, you know, mystery to me, other than having walked through a couple of times, you know, to get my license to getting you bank card stuff. But I've got to say one thing the drug addicts here, yeah, very healthy, good tan, strong, well, compared to malnourished drug addicts, look a bit sick at the moment and I think the local drug using population is a great way to engage the. You know the health of the rest of the population, yeah that's a great insight Because, yeah, yeah, I'm being honest.

Speaker 1: 4:37

You know if when you go, when you travel or when you visit in a new city or whatever, you always need to know how things are on the street actually, because always someone's going to tell you about you know the best hotel, the best motel, but no one's going to tell you how the street, like this street atmosphere, the street environment, is like in real life, for real. You know what I mean. Like it's just odd here.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Everything is beautiful, you know, it gets, you know, but now you now you mentioned about the, about the home, that's all drug addicts. Yeah, that's good, that's good to know it. Yeah, I just met one. Well, not didn't met that guy, but I just saw every time I go to the gym there's one who sleeps in like on the corner and the guy. There's people who always and that's what I like on the Australian culture so people is always giving him, like a lot of you know, clothes and groceries and even even wine and stuff. So the guy has, the guy has plenty of stuff around him.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Hello yeah so he's having a good time, it looks like, but you never know, could be someone, someone with with a mental problem or something like that. So I don't want to be on his or Harry's shoes. You know, is you know?

Speaker 1: 6:07

but anyway, I mean the whole but anyway, I don't want to talk about homeless today. I just want to talk about the first time we met you and I was remembered that time, that that time when, when we met each other and I remember someone saying that was a job, and then I remember someone saying, yeah, this is all, or viral, and I remember like okay, yeah, my name is Jorge George, and then I remember that when we have this lunch break, then you start talking Spanish and I'm like what the hell we made each other first?

Speaker 3: 6:54

or was the Lyndon meet you first?

Speaker 1: 6:57

I think I met you first. I think I met you first, and then we, and then at the lunch break, lyndon. We met Lyndon and but I think, yeah, I think, because we were putting, we were doing tree planting and somewhere in Victoria, some of these new suburbs, was it Tony, tony? Tony, was that me? Yeah, I think so. Oh, craig Cracky bone.

Speaker 3: 7:36

It's extraordinary part of Melbourne to get real estate for sure. Yeah, in my head it was always Lyndon was like I met this South American guy. You're good at medium, but maybe my memory is always tripping out and back to front.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Hmm, maybe you're right. I met Lyndon first, and then I met you. I don't remember clearly, but maybe that was the way.

Speaker 2: 8:13

I thought I met you first. I remember I was pushing.

Speaker 1: 8:17

I was riding my bike to get to those places. I didn't have a car. Yeah, I didn't have a car. I was living in, probably in Parkville, like in Parkville, I think so, and yeah, so I have to take my bike. I just recently, at that time, I just I just came to Australia. So yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:47

I couldn't. Well, I couldn't speak properly, but that was the first thing. And then also I was right, I didn't have a vehicle. So and that's the important that, because if you live in I don't know, in Brisbane, it should be different, but in Victoria, if you don't have a vehicle, you're fucked.

Speaker 3: 9:06

You can go Best public transport in the country.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Yeah, I know, but if you're looking for a job, and then you should, well, you must have a vehicle just to move around, because otherwise you get less job opportunities.

Speaker 3: 9:23

Yeah, in Queensland, Queensland's big, you need a car here.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Oh, and a four-wheel drive, I think.

Speaker 3: 9:31

And even that's it. And even like I got here and as I was driving in the city, I was like, oh my God, I was like something's different about the city here. I was like, are the roads smaller? And yeah, the roads are smaller, but everyone's cars are bigger. Everyone has four-wheel drives at SUVs here you don't see little cars really.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Hmm, interesting.

Speaker 3: 9:57

So the person that was like little car central.

Speaker 1: 10:02

Well, after that I remembered I think I was, I met you during this time I think that was on December, something like that, yeah, I think January or February. And then I remember that was the summer and I was like, hey, alvaro, do you want to go for a beer? And then I went to your place in Brunswick. I remember that it was nice.

Speaker 3: 10:35

I remember that.

Speaker 1: 10:36

And then you took me to the African cafe, or whatever. But also yeah, and then we just have this beer, and then, yeah, and then I visit your place, and then you got the chocks, the chickens.

Speaker 2: 10:55

And.

Speaker 3: 10:56

DJ that was great.

Speaker 1: 10:58

I remember those times I was you know, and then you used to leave it up with a lot of interesting people and great yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:09

I remember a lot of people coming and going, for sure, yeah, yeah. I remember Funny, I think I remember who's that funny, Funny. Who's that Oil and bread? Um um, Linda went out one day. He bought a loaf of bread and some oil. It was like, guys, we got to have this. We got to have oil and bread.

Speaker 1: 11:40

Yeah, we used to play. Yeah, I hope I can met you guys here in Victoria next time, um Linden as well. Then you guys come in, yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:51

Yeah, he's coming up. He's coming up here to visit me soon.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Nice Andrew.

Speaker 3: 11:58

He was also the uh, another tree planting guy.

Speaker 1: 12:01

I don't know, I have, I have somewhere in my Instagram account but I think he's that guy. But I couldn't remember him and I got him but I don't remember.

Speaker 2: 12:14

I don't remember him.

Speaker 1: 12:17

I don't remember him like at all, but yeah, Um, yeah, Last time we, we, uh, some we we've been together. I remember this, um, um, vegetarian dinner we had and also the. You were playing the your, your, how do you call this instrument?

Speaker 3: 12:40

It's like an.

Speaker 1: 12:40

African. Yeah, that one.

Speaker 3: 12:43

It's pretty hard to tune.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Yeah, it's pretty hard to like it. It's a challenge.

Speaker 3: 12:47

Well, it was new Time and strings are still settled in. Yeah, but yeah, no like, and I guess as well, like it's it's. It depends on the temperature fluctuations. If you're at those missionary times of the year we're going from winter into spring. You get a warm day, you get a cold day or the strings gaining and losing tension. But once you're in winter it's pretty much solid, and once you're in spring, like summer, it's pretty much solid as well. Like, but you just got 21 strings. So tuning in, tuning does take a bit of time and of course it's 11 strings on one side, 10 on the other. So once you tension, if you tension one side and then tension the other, the other side goes off. So what you got to do is go from one side to the other, string by string forwards, and then get halfway and then do it in reverse backwards, so that way the bridge and the neck are all being tensioned inequanimity. Otherwise you get there. It's like a never-ending battle against yourself. But it was interesting learning how to tune a Chora.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Yeah, I think your brain has to probably adapt to. You know to have more strings, like usually you, because I play the guitar, but I just used to six strings, but not 20, 21, was it? I don't know? Hopefully 21.

Speaker 3: 14:30

Which pick would be 21?

Speaker 1: 14:31

21,. Cool, my god. But you don't have to. But that's no frets. Yeah, that's no frets. No, frets, no frets no frets Okay, yeah, got it, gotcha yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:42

I played once, but I saw a cartoon.

Speaker 1: 14:45

You have a cartoon, someone made it. Yeah, very nice, I saw it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 3: 14:53

Unbelievable. I love it. Who made that?

Speaker 1: 14:56

Did you made it yourself?

Speaker 3: 14:59

Did I what?

Speaker 1: 15:00

Who made that cartoon? Did you made it or someone else?

Speaker 3: 15:05

Oh, the drawing I sent you. Yeah, no, no, no, that's the drawing. That's just the drawing I did the other night.

Speaker 1: 15:13

Ah, wasn't you. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:14

Yeah, I'm the drawing as well. Or a tam puta. A tam puta is like when the sitar player or the flute player playing the tam puta is like a least broke the strings and the strings like a drone, like a in the background.

Speaker 1: 15:37

Yeah, so we have in the background talking about backgrounds, you heard in the background tangos del cigala. Diego del Morado is from your country.

Speaker 3: 15:52

The support of the music. It's a fusion of so many different cultures.

Speaker 1: 16:02

Yeah, so yeah, we were talking about music, always music, yeah.

Speaker 3: 16:15

Frequency is the universe.

Speaker 1: 16:17

Yes, yeah, all is about vibrations and it helps your, your spirit, you, you, you told me once, like how you do to um, to keep your spiritual life, and I was thinking like, yeah, probably music is one of the things that I do, um, but now I started this podcast, and these these podcasts is keeping my creativity like very, very good, like no, I don't want to I don't want to say hi, but good. Good, because I need to think and actually do it it's good vibes man, good vibes oh oh my goodness, yeah man, um, yeah, nice summer.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Well, it feels, feels like summer here in in melbourne on yesterday and today.

Speaker 3: 17:19

Yeah it feels like.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Feels like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Today is sunny, a little bit windy um.

Speaker 3: 17:35

We have 29 degrees, outside, so that's summer, yeah that's summer and that's when you think, that's what I worry about?

Speaker 1: 17:45

oh no, let's not. Let's forget about uv. Not, but uv is high at the moment.

Speaker 3: 17:50

Yeah, you're right I don't know my app and I'm like it's cloud sun. I don't care, I just go down to the bottom and I'm like what's the uv today? I want to get burned is it?

Speaker 1: 18:02

is it uv index? Um, how, how? How is the uv index in brisbane? I'm very interested in about it I wish I'd be impulsive.

Speaker 3: 18:14

I'm checking it here because the other day I went up to nusa heads and, um, we lost my mate speargun out in the reef. We're looking for it all day, couldn't find it. We bailed, went home. I agreed to stay the night in his house and we head back the next day and have a look for it. We come back the next day, go out and back into the water with the goggles and the wet suit on and the kayak, looking for the you know 400 dollars gun.

Speaker 3: 18:41

I can't find it. Like the tide's pretty strong me. No, it's a lot of serve. And then coming out of the water he flows like I've lost the snorkel. I'm like how can you lose the snorkel he's lost, like this. I am like I'm like give me a go. And he gave me the goggles and I put the goggles on the go out and I'm like swimming around out in the ocean trying to see if I can find this beer gun. Can't find it, I come back into the, into the shoreline, knock the goggles off my head, into the ocean and sucks them out into the ocean. So we're, in the space of two days we lost the spear gun. So have you have you have.

Speaker 1: 19:30

You have the chance to go um fishing into the ocean or not?

Speaker 3: 19:37

yeah, we're trying to do. We're trying to spear fish out in the ocean.

Speaker 1: 19:41

Oh, okay, but I don't any sharks any sharks.

Speaker 3: 19:48

This is sharks. Now there's a sharp net actually out around that area, the new sir national park, so. But the turtles have to be careful, I don't know so which?

Speaker 1: 20:03

um, if you, if you go into the water, in the ocean, so which thing you you be more careful about, like the sharks or crocodiles you have? Yeah, we should have crocodiles in there.

Speaker 3: 20:17

Yeah, no, I'm not, so not for this crocodiles brisman's quite mild temperature wise it's I mean, I've only been here a couple of months, but it's quite mild. Like it doesn't get as hot as um sydney, for instance. Like I think sydney reached like 51 degrees, like an ounce of urban air west a year or two ago. Sydney and new south wiles gets super hot for some reason. Like up north, a little bit higher, it's a bit cooler. Here. Might be something to do with the humidity, maybe a little less dry, I'm not sure. But like it's, it's mild here and then evenings get cool, quite chilly at night. It's really lovely. But what I worry about most when I go out into the ocean or the beach is the uv index. Not for sure, because that that's why we didn't find the snorkel, that we lost the snorkel. We couldn't find the gun. After those two days I'm burnt. I was deep fried.

Speaker 1: 21:18

I was deep fried like I haven't been for years well, how long have you been in there in brisman so far?

Speaker 3: 21:32

I've been nearly nearly.

Speaker 1: 21:34

I think it'd be nearly two months now that's great I need to go down there, yeah, well, up there, yeah, so here south. So that's not it depends.

Speaker 3: 21:48

It depends which way you're looking at the sun. I mean, you know, and who invented north and south anyway? No, seriously, did you look at all the maps of europe through the 1415, 1600s? Yeah, they're all upside down. And then sometime in the late 16 1700s they go oh, we're gonna flip it, but only about 300 years, you know, north has been up yeah, so so do you think it's more like a political or, yeah, like a government thing to?

Speaker 3: 22:26

just set up the north, near, near, the united states or something like that, or europe, and then africa south yeah, I don't know probably because you have a cape cape town used to be like the northernmost point, like known to known to man at one point. So I don't know, I don't know what.

Speaker 1: 22:56

I don't know exactly now what the reason was for the flip, but there's all sorts of weird stuff going on with world maps and typography and geography and all that like yeah, well, so for the people who are listening to this podcast and I like to be spontaneous, so no scripts here I just decided to call alvaro or alvaro, and I just wanted to have someone to talk with and and just just to try and to deliver a message, whatever it is so you can?

Speaker 3: 23:36

I can be edited out as well.

Speaker 1: 23:38

Thank you, I don't know, I don't gonna, I don't gonna edit anything, just gonna be like that. Whatever we're saying, it's gonna be. Yeah, it's in the history. And then, yeah, I'm trying to control all this stuff because, um, I just started to forget about my past and just concentrate on my, on the present. So now, whatever we did, we thought we done it, that's it. It's dusted. But how you say that? I? Stusted my shit, wrap it wrap it, wrap it.

Speaker 1: 24:15

So wrap, that's it, yeah, and then I I just get getting rid of, um, all the things and enjoy, like I get more enjoyment if, if I just forget about whatever I was doing and let's see that I'll just leave it in the past. But with the podcast we are able to listen to us, right, and this is going to be in all platforms. So we're going and then it's good, this is. This is like putting, putting on. I don't know if you remember when we put a message inside a bottle and then we just throw it, throw it into the ocean, so someone else is going to to listen, probably yes, probably not, but we just throw the message. So that's what I'm seeing. This podcast now, like us is this. And I did that with my one of my cousins in in colombia. So I just tell him because he's using he doesn't use a phone like a mobile phone or whatever because he hates technology and yeah, he's in that, yeah he hates technology, he, he hates being good.

Speaker 1: 25:19

Yeah, he hates being in a, in a picture as well. So he hated all the stuff, all this. And I was saying to him like um, he's using telegram, which is this encrypted application, and I just send a message like a voice message, and say hey, cousin, if you use go, if you're gonna hear this, I'm just gonna send the message in a bottle. You know, like you know, send it and then you're going to receive it over there. I don't know, but I, I'm just gonna try to send it.

Speaker 1: 25:51

So, and I'm gonna, and using this logic, the same logic, to create this podcast, like that's it, and then I'm going to bring my mates or my best friends, and that's it, and talk, and this is the first time I have an English speaker as a guest, because before I had Spanish speakers, which is that's. It makes sense. So now I divided the show into the Spanish, so I got a Spanish version, and then this is the English, the English version for an English speaker, not to confuse people, right, because we can, we can, and then I'll tell you as well, I can have you in both, because you're able to to speak in Spanish with the Spanish accent.

Speaker 3: 26:41

Why don't you just have one show, but have some titles?

Speaker 1: 26:46

How can? Because this is not. This is not a, this is not a video show. I'm not recording on video, so it's just I'm using.

Speaker 3: 26:56

I kind of put my voice a little bit on mute and then, like, translate what I'm saying and re-record like a presenter's voice over the top. You know how they do it. The UN, they have, like the, the translator phone. No.

Speaker 1: 27:16

But did you, if you, if you go into? My question is if you, if you're going to listen to a podcast and you speak just one language, are you going to wait until you hear the translation? If you're in a hurry, if you're jogging, if you're running, if you're commuting, or did you just skip? What do you do what? What do you do as you, as Albaro?

Speaker 3: 27:44

Well, maybe it's a maybe it's a bilinguals only podcast.

Speaker 1: 27:49

Yeah, I thought so the same. Yeah, yeah, but can you?

Speaker 3: 27:54

speak my language, get out of here and that's it.

Speaker 1: 28:00

I like that Get out of here, yeah, I like that one.

Speaker 1: 28:06

Yeah, yeah but look we have been here for a long time, yeah, but look, we have been here for 28 minutes so far Listening to some Spanish music, talking about the first time we met, and, yeah, I just going to do, if you want, I going to have you more times and actually, if you can, when we meet in person, being inside the podcast environment is the best thing. It's. It's like you know, have you ever heard about the radio word or whatever? Is that being connected to all these devices and headphones and microphones and be able to listen to your voice?

Speaker 3: 29:00

It's like. It's kind of like scuba diving, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 29:03

Yes, correct. Yes, great, it's great and you're breathing in another universe.

Speaker 3: 29:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, that's yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:11

Yeah, that is yeah. So the first time I did it, I wanted to do it again, and again, and again, and again. So, yeah, I'm getting more used to now, right? So, yeah, I think we're getting to the end. It's 30 minutes now. I think that's enough for now, for the first episode of the Alvaro series.

Speaker 3: 29:37

I don't have me on the again. Then let me know what time you're calling and let's organize some. Let's organize some prompts and some topic.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Yeah, absolutely yeah, we can talk about stuff.

Speaker 3: 29:48

I don't know man, you got me by surprise. Here I'm writing a uni application letter, and next time I got like I don't know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 29:59

That's good. Yeah, look, because I was doing I don't want to say any name, but I was doing in the show, and because this was in the planning process and stuff, and of course there's always, yeah, you have to use a script and a script and a script, and I always like to be against the system.

Speaker 1: 30:24

So, it's like sometimes look at this happening. This happened to me before when I used the script. I feel more, you know attached to the script, right, but when I'm talking and flowing and talking and talking, I think everything flows like different, like more ex-pontaneous, and yeah, I like that and whereas well, but I like, yeah, you're right, let's start Next time. I just give you a headset.

Speaker 3: 31:06

Telegram, so no one knows and stuff and are you on telegram?

Speaker 1: 31:11

Okay, yeah, um yeah. I go into I just go into to end this episode with this sound. Is not this one, this one, this one. Just have a listen. That one, oh, thanks for having a. Yeah, yeah, that one. Listen to this one. All right, everyone, that's it. Keep in touch, yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:02

Be oh, yeah, yeah, the. How much do they give me? All those who defy me, who see me as a prophet and torture themselves? They want my disgrace as they want their glory. Moreover, they want my failure, and that will be my victory. They will bet on me. Those who, yesterday, respected me and, without direct contriests, believe that they will surpass me. They are the ones who say they love me. They, little by little, they underestimate me, and between them, I am going up more are those who are laughing at me. How much do they give me? Those people envious, their language and their betrayal make them so dangerous, wishing me the worst. They are the ones who are laughing at me.