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Published: February 27th 2008
I know I owe you some interesting stories from the last week of my trip, but I've just gotta write a bit about how my time has been so far here in Buenos Aires. This is now day three living with my host family and I have a lot to tell. Not to skip a beat, however, as of my last blog a lot has happened.
In brief: I took a 30 hour bus from El Bolson to El Chalten where I saw Cerro Torre and Mount Fitz Roy. Another 4 hours to El Calafate and I went to see Glacier Perito Moreno. 5 or 6 hours down to Puerto Natales Chile, 3 hours to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, 4 days trekking in Torres del Paine, 3 hours back to Puerto Natales, 5 hours back to El Calafate, one free day in El Calafate, and a 3 hour plane ride back to Buenos Aires. I arrived in Buenos Aires Saturday about 5, went to pick up my bag I had left at my first hostel, went to the Hotel, showered, and met my host family. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday...and here I am.
I arrived at the Aeroparque in Buenos Aires which is on the River Plate just North of the Palermo district of Buenos Aires. Although Dubi and I had bought our tickets together, we were not seated together and I had spent the entire three hours chatting it up with the man next to me who was a Brazilian tour guide. He had a group of about 20 people on the plane. He spoke a sort of Portugish (Portuguese/Spanish) and I was able to understand almost everything! When I mentioned I went to school in Colorado, he pulled out his photo book and started showing me pictures of fútbol matches involving his home team against their rival, a team called Colorado. I had been planning on writing in my journal during the flight...but there's nothing like real conversation!
We were served a sneal (snack/meal) on the plane that consisted of a small muffin and another dish with carrot shavings and a rolled sandwich thing containing sweet, flat bread and ham paté (I think). I tried the paté part but instantly wished I hadn't.
We walked down the steps off the plane onto the tarmac and then onto a bus that took us to the baggage claim. The employees must have been carrying the bags one by one because it took about a half hour for the bags to begin appearing on the conveyor belt. While we were waiting, Dubi and I and some of the nuts and dried fruit we had bought in Puerto Natales (a town completely and solely geared towards the Torres del Paine trek). We got our bags, ordered our separate remises, and were on our separate ways within minutes. I almost couldn't breath as I began to worry that something would have happened to my bag. With less time than I had planned on, I had left my bag at the Cambalache hostel before departing for Bariloche. It contained my computer, cell phone, external hard drive and a bunch of clothes and other miscelaneous stuff. Basically a gold mine if anyone were to take a peek. When I got to the hostel and went into the storage room, I quickly found my bag and groped frantically to make sure I felt my computer. I was safe and lucky as shit.
Now weighed down with much more stuff, I managed to squeeze out the front door and walk the four long blocks to Hotel Lyon where I would meet my host family. By the time I made it through the lobby, had introduced myself to the CIEE staff, and got into the elevator, I was sweating like a pig. I was already accustomed to Patagonia summerr weather which is incredible and exactly what I like. I stood in the elevator, pushed 8, and nothing happened. I waited, then semi-embarrasedly asked a girl in the lobby how to work it. The trick is all in the timing. You have to close the outside door, then the inside door, then push 8 - no exceptions.
In my room was Logan, a student from Kentucky. My castellano greetings were returned with....what's your name? I forgot that everyone who had just arrived would be on a bit of a different page as far as how often they were planning to use spanish. It felt weird to have a conversation in English with an American.
I took one of the best-feeling showers of my life, organized my stuff, talked a bit more with Logan, and headed downstairs to see what's up. I was given a brief 10-minute orientation that must have covered pretty much everything I had missed. A few minutes later, Olga came in. We greeted eachother while I remained stunned to finally have a face put to the name...she was nice and we had a great ride back to her apartment. Olga was very happy to hear that I spoke Castellano well. She gave me a bit of a mini-tour while we drove back, and we walked into her apartment up on the second floor of the building. As she gave me the tour, I was stunned at the size of the apartment! She took me to the back of the apartment and showed me her room, the rooms of the two other American students, the computer/TV room...I began to wonder where MY room was. I had no clue there would be other Americans in my house and their rooms were quite large. She showed me Mariela's room (her niece), a bathroom, a closet, and then my room. At about 8 feet by 8 feet, it has everything I need. A bed, a bookshelf, and a nightstand. There's even just enough space on the floor for situps and pushups! One major downfall: NO WINDOW. I sleep with my door open so that air comes in through the window across the hallway...I'm not sure how effective this method is, but I think I would die with my door closed. The ceiling fan works, but is very loud at what it does. There's some nice cuban-style art on the walls, and I'm not complainin! The rest of the apartment is big enough for me to stretch out in.
I started to unpack, heard Olga in the kitchen, and went in to see if there was anything I could help cook or prepare. Dinner was in the process of being re-heated. We were having homemade meat empanadas, some meat pie, and a chocolate pie for dessert. Olga's daughter, Natalia came for dinner in addition to a new friend of Olga's named Sylvia. Sylvia is a bit on the crazy side, but is Jewish and couldn't get over the fact that I was as well. Natalia was great company and I could tell she was not used to Sylvia and soon realized how new of a friend she really was. Although I could understand a lot of the conversation, some of the quicker, more personal conversation was too much for me to pick up. For some reason, I decided to eat my empanada with a knife and fork. I have had at least a dozen empanadas thus far in Argentina and have not eaten a single one with a knife and fork. Everyone at the table kindly and quickly reminded me that you eat empanadas with your hands...no exceptions.
Natalia had brought two bottles of wine with her and the first seem to get downed pretty quick. The second took a bit longer to get through and we didn't quite finish it. After dinner, everyone smoked a cigarette. Then we had coffee and the chocolate pie (with some Moon Shine Roasted Nut Crunch) and they smoked another cigarette. For the large majority of Argentines, smoking cigarettes is a cultural, social, and family affair. It is next to impossible to stay away from 2nd hand smoke in Buenos Aires (Sorry Aba).
After a bit more socializing, I organized my stuff a bit more and tried to upload all my pictures from my trip. I had forgotten my computer charger back in Colorado and my 44% battery drained quickly. It went out, and I prepared to not be able to use my computer until my mom arrives a few weeks later. When I mentioned it the next day, it turned out that Olga had the identical charger that I needed that had been left by a past student. What luck! So this way I can upload fotos for all of you to see! I have many more posted on Facebook as well...
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Jarrett
non-member comment
Ziggster, Reading your blog is both a blessing anda curse - I love to hear all about the trip but I'm mad I'm not there with you! Sounds like you're having a fucking blast! I think you've done more in three weeks than I did in 5 months - cheers, Jlew