Storm before the calm.

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Hola guys and gals,

Today is my third day on the farm, and my 5th day away from home. Already, it has been quite the whirlwind of unfamiliar experiences and emotions.

From the airport in Buenos Aires I took a taxi to the bus station in Retiro, which was about a 40 minute ride. The taxi driver was incredibly animated and talkative, and even though he didn't speak any english we managed to talk the whole way with lots of laughs. On the way to the station, he kept pointing at giant pools of water that lined the sides of the roads and waved his hands around dramtically. At first i thought he was just REALLY proud of all the water they have in Argentina. Eventually I figured out that he was trying to show me the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy (which is a little more noteworthy than "look! we have lakes!")....looks like I picked the perfect day to arrive, just missed it!

When I got to the station, I walked around trying to find the platform my bus was schedueled to depart from at 12:45 am. Unfortunately this information was not provided on my ticket, nor could I find someone who spoke either a little english or slower spanish. But, I had 10 hours to kill so I decided not to worry about it until later.

My objective now was to go out and explore the city. Unfortunately I was carrying a knapsack the size of my entire body, and weighed just as much. I could not find a locker to store it, and i certainly did not find the "bag-checking station" that consisted of a rickety shelf of luggage and a man sitting in a chair in half asleep very appealing. However, given that I had just spent 14 hours on a plane I was not about to spend the next 10 in a bus station- so out I went, giganitic bag in tow.

Within 5 minutes of leaving the bus station, I felt akin to Dorothy as I said to myself, "Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore." In Retiro, there was more noise, traffic, and giant crowds of people than I have ever seen, even in the likes of Toronto. There are 6 billion people in this world, and you cannot really fathom or imagine what that must look like until you are surrounded by a sea of people everwhere you turn. It felt like all 6 billion of us were crowded into that one street. Everyone was walking around with their knapsacks on their fronts- which of course made me nervous for the safety of the mostrosity that was then taking up the majority of my backside. My only hope was that the honour system would be in effect here...HA. Already this place felt so different from home.

I continued to walk down the crowded street and was immediately surrounded by screaming children, stray dogs, street vendors, and traffic lights which had no bearing on whether or not people decided to cross the street-speeding cars be damned! It was chaos. But everyone seemed to know excactly what they were doing and where they were going. Except for me of course.

I went to sit down in a park near a clock tower in attempt to find somewhere quiet to rest- quiet not so much, but it was enough to not be carrying around my bag for a while. After a few minutes, a boy walked past me and lit a joint. He turned and realized that I had seen him; he then blurted something out in spanish, put his finger to his lips, and then smiled. Although I didn’t know exactly what he said, I clearly knew what he meant. I nodded and smiled back, and he walked away. Perhaps There is a universal dialect afterall.

Another few minutes went by and another two boys came over to where I was sitting. This, however, was not as simple as mutually communicating “you didn’t see anything.” One boy had a broken bottle in his hand and the other, crouched down beside me, looked around to make sure no one else was watching. Again, while I didn’t understand what they were saying to me, their message was quite clear. Luckily for me, “I hardly speak spanish and I have no money” is something I was able to articulate in spanish. Fortunately, it did not take a lot of convincing for them to leave, but it was an unnerving experience nonetheless. I picked up my bag and, with my tail between my legs, I trekked it back to the bus station to wait out the next 8 hours there. SIGH.

FINALLY 12:30 rolled around, and boy was I ready to get out of there. I went outside to find my bus, but it was no where to be found- nor did it appear on the departure TV screens. My heart sank. “This CAN’T be happening” I said to myself over and over as I ran up and down the terminal searching for my bus. I asked a number of people along the way if they knew anything about my missing bus, but in my panic they didn’t understand I word I said, nor did I understand them. In that moment I cursed myself for not practicing more spanish while I was at home. My departure time of 12:45 came and went and still, no bus. The next bus was not going to leave for another 24 hours, and after spending the last 8 in a chair, I couldn’t imagine waiting for another minute let alone an entire day. I sat down, put my head in my hands, and wondered what in the world I was going to do. Luckily, an elderly man saw me in my panicked state running around like a madwoman (still carrying around my stupid bag) and sat down beside me. In very slow spanish (no doubt for my benefit) he asked where I was going. I told him, and he said that he was waiting for the same bus- they had annouced a delay a few minutes earlier. PHEW. I lost all self control and sense of personal space, and gave him the biggest hug I could muster. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved.

So, at last, I arrived at 6am on November 3rd to meet Federico and Juan- The owners of the farm, and my housemates for the next month.

I have much to tell you about what has happened since (all good things) but this blog is quite long enough I think. Perhaps I can find some time tomorrow to tell you about the farm and all things I have been doing. But, to make sure I don’t leave you thinking that my trip is going terribly, rest assured that I absolutely love it here. I am incredibly happy to be spending time in such a beautiful place with such very nice people. So I will leave it at that for now.

All my love, ciao!

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