Exhausted but finally here....

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I have finally arrived in Buenos Aires, what a trip. It took me a week to get from Cusco, Peru to Buenos Aires. ·3 days of altitude sickness, a hostel reminiscent of the movie Hostal, a 16 hour train ride, a 5 hour wait for a bus and then a 30 hur bus ride all in the last 48 hours have really taken a toll...well until I got here.

I left off in Oruro, Bolivia. It is a nice town, a lot of people everywhere, they seem to fill the streets. Oruro seems like it can be quite the party town when Carnval comes along, but otherwise it is a quiter touristy town nestled in a valley. I found the market and bought some fruit and marvelled and the vast quantities of knock or stolen brand name shoes. It seems that Bolivians have a hand in selling loads of consumer knock offs. A whole section of soccer jerseys and gear...all at ridiculously low prices. I wandered around and got bored very quickly, I really like the traditional markets with all the trinkets of varying sorts that are traditonal to that area. La Paz had more....

I took the train in the afternoon, it was ok. There was a lot of people on the train. I was in the "executive class" a little bit more room for the legs, and one free meal, oh there was also blankets and a pillow about 15 times to small all for 250 bolivianos....34 US dollars.

I did however, get to see Rocky 6 and founf it entertaining to say the least, even I was silently cheering for Rocky. He still has it in him, unike my unfair comparison several weeks ago.

Anyways, the train was not a bad way of transportation it was on time and nothing to serious happend. at 7:05 am on the dot, I arrived in Villazon, the border city with Argentina.

At 7:35 I was sitting in a bus office waiting for a ticket to Buenos Aires to be printed up. At around 8:30 we headed over to the boarder to get out passports stamped. It took about an hour, Argentinians are slow... when I finally arrived in sight of the window, the guy waved me right over...I guess being a foreigner has its perks. Out of all the customs officials these ones rubbed me the wrong way...it took a lot not to be sniddy with them. It was really all in their superior tone, and the way they spoke Spanish to each other about me in front of me.

Anyways I passes slightly perturbed but was more interested in getting on my bus....no need to worry because when I got to the station the "system" was down so they couldn´t "print" tickets. At first I thought they said no buses AT ALL and my eyes welled up. I didn´t know anything about the city I was in, I just paid 62 dollars for a direct bus to BA and I wanted to go. Well the two men started using the computer to translate for me. It was just frustrating, I get tempermental after long bus/train rides.

Anyways I froze my ass off waiting for 5 hours for the 3:30p, bus. I could have killed something....finally 2:30 rolls around and we can start boarding.
I am pretty sure that they put on as many whiny crying toddlers they could find, and the whinest of them all in front of me. The kid looked like she crawled out of the garbage, she cried at EVERYTHING and on top of it all mom kept giving her sugar to shut her up, only it made it worse.

Finally quiet......

Then what a luggage and passport check. Men and women seperated, and put into a 10 ft by 15 ft room no furniture. It had an errie feel to it. So about 10 mintues go by and I find myself at the front of the line and the guy did a once over looked at my passport and sent me through the line, didn´t even check my bag.

The next "check" (aka cocaine check) came at 2:00am everyone out of the bus, herded like cattle to get there bags checked in the freezing cold. Wow what a piss off... he rifled through my stuff took one look at my big bag and waved me off....

Back on the bus, and sleeping it´s hard to sleep on these buses I tell you.... anyways morning comes, watch a movie, read my book then make a pit stop and get some food, then on the road again. More whining, and spanish movies and lunch rolls around. We stop off at a diner and I had the least suspicous meal. Salad and fries...all I wanted was an avocado.

Back on the bus..... and 5 more hours and we are to be in Buenos Aires...I was under the impression we would be in BA at 3:30pm -it was 2:30pm...not so much. By this time EVERYONE is agitated... more whining and more candy....arghhh

FINALLY WE ARRIVE after a minor blimp when the back window mysteriously broke, no one knows why....

At 10:30 I arrive at my hostel ....it felt nice. I showered and made some new friends. This hostel is nice and cozy and has a very urban city feel, I like it.

At the moment people are trying to persuade me to go to a transvestite performance in about 45 min. I am too worn out, otherwise i would go... it looks as though nightlife in BA is really quite late. 1 am in a normal start time... I may need some midday naps and loads of espresso..........

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Comments

[Suzy Q]

Pantanal - A piece of Brazil
The Pantanal is the largest freswater wetland in the world, covering an area od 140,000 sq km(54,000 sq miles in Brazil alone. The north entrance is from the city of Cuiaba, along the road to penetrate this part of the Pantanal, the Transpantaneira. The wildlife viewing along of this road at any season is nothing less than spectacular, although the dry season(May to October)is the best because the lakes and wet areas become restricted and concentrate birds, mammals and reptiles in large numbers. Where do tourists go in the pantanal and how do they get there? Where do tourists stay and which tour agency to hire? These few of your questions I can answer and help you to get the best enjoyment for your vacation. I know some a affordable and responsable tour agencies that will get you a tour package according with your needs and interesting. Drop me a line if you like at [e-mail]. Thanks Suzy

[Anton]

Great Stories Magnum. I'm sitting here at MEC on a busy ass saturday. Ijust want to go play outside.. Don't let those argentinians get the better of you. Look for my friend in BA..his name is Nir. N-I-R. Ask around, people know him. He'll take good care of you, but watch out, he's kind of a flirt. See you soon