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Published: April 1st 2009
BUENOS AIRES
HOMER THE REVOLUTIONARIOThe flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires was quite smooth, the only annoying thing is we were delayed waiting for passengers connecting, and while waiting they put on the movies but gets interrupted every 2 minutes when the crew or the captain has to make an announcement.
It was foggy around 8:25am when we arrive at EZE, Buenos Aires' international airport. Customs and immigration was a breeze, i have to get to internet just to check if the Florida hostel had sent me a voucher for free shuttle to the city, at $12 bucks it's a hell lot of money i will save if i get to use it. No voucher so i went to the meeting point office, a nice lady spoke good English she called the hotel and I spoke to the receptionist, I was told i should have made a reservation 48 hours in advance but i was late so she said try and talk to the driver and see if he will let me on if not have to take public transport which i have to pay! After the phone call i realized that the meeting point office was not really connected to the shuttle transfer
BUENOS AIRES, RECOLETA DISTRICT
FLORALIS GENERICA @PLAZA NACIONES UNIDAS guys, she was just going out of her way to help me, i profusely thank her and waited for the driver, 40 minutes later, he came and well have no vouchers so he has to call someone and give our names and see if we are late add ons, we all cleared and off we go, heavy traffic out of the airport and into the city, i fell asleep and woke up in downtown San Telmo, we dropped off one girl then the rest of us went to Florida hostel. Getting off was a nice feeling, good to be back in Buenos Aires!! Found the hostel check in was 2pm so I waited then walked around town looking for a place to eat, steak if I can find it, found a take away place with jamon crudo sandwiches, bought two, they are a tad bit saltier than the best ones I had in Ushuaia six years ago.
Good news is I got an email from Andi one of the Argentines i met in Honduras and she got hold of Josefina and Juan and we are meeting up at Andi's mom's house in the suburbs this Sunday, sweet!!
Met my
other roomies tonight, 2 guys from Fortaleza, Brazil. one of them had travelled around the world and as he describes me his experience he keeps grabbing/touching my arm, dont know if it is normal for him or to the Brazilians, i dont remember Pedrito this amorous to me. So i kept my distance, nice guys though. Another of my roomie a Kiwi, Jacob is on his way to Uruguay tomorrow we got into a conversation while the reception desk and the lady cleaner sort out which bed is for him, anyway we decided to try and meet up in Patagonia 2 weeks from now and possibly hike Torres del Paine together. there was a DJ downstairs in the reception area there seems to be a happening every friday nite, i could hear them from my room but the noise got less and it wasnt too bad. if i was still energetic i would have checked it out but still exhausted from the flight i went to bed but did not sleep well. I heard the Brazilians come in late night from the tango thing they went to in La Boca. I heard them leave as well for Uruguay.This hostel have
different photo exhibits in every floor and on our floor is the Che Guevara exhibit and took lots of photos, the stories behind it were pretty interesting too, i dont know if he is as popular here as he is all over the world.
Decided i will do the walking trail that Lp recommended in Recoleta. i studied the map thoroughly and decided i can walk it so i did. Armed with a sandwich and orange juice and water off i go and 45 minutes later as i got lost a bit i arrived at the cementerio in Recoleta where the rich and famous in BA are buried, the sarcophagi are quite nice and atristic with statues of angels and sometimes the people themselves, quite have an eery or spooky feel though for me because it looks as if they live here in small apartment blocks, they are dead but still living, hmmm. from there i walk outside where there were lots of crafts and things sold, i saw another park nearby so i crossed the street and followed this big flower thing which later on I found out was called Floralis Generica, a metal structure thing of a
giant flower that apparently closes at night as well, well just like a flower? it is in a park called plaza Naciones Unidas. I sat at a becnh for awhile to recover quite tired from walking and the sun is scorching. Slowly made my way back, i traced my steps and eventually made it back to the hostel where there were lots of noisy backpackers in Argentinean football team jerseys, attending a game today pitting the home team against Venezuela, some World Cup elimination round i think, it costs around $70 so i opted out.
Woke up late this morning have to sort out what to do, for the 3rd consecutive day i missed the free pancake breakfast, starving i went for a walk to find food and found this Chinese buffet thing, for $21(pesos) only, forgot the Argentines use $ sign for pesos as well but it is about $1 US is to 3.70 so quite a bargain. Now I need to meet up with my Argy Bargy friends at this suburban neighborhood, at Andi's parents house, she gave me directions i just hope i make it there, i asked the reception lady at the hostel how to
get to the 152 bus stop, just a 5 minute walk i got there, bus came 5 minutes later and i told him where i am going, he told me to pay $1.75 but pointed at the coin machine , i dont have change but the driver just shook his head, good thing a nice dude hopped on as well and broke my 2 peso bill, quite nice of him, he told me i need exact change for buses if not just take the train and pointed to it as we passed by it near plaza San Martin. This kind dude talk to me in English and Spanish asking where i was going and where i am from , you know the usual. Anyway 1 hour later we are nearing the stop, i earlier asked the driver to let me off at the proper stop, in full blaring Spanish, so proud of myself! He overshot it by 2 blocks but not bad, walked back and followed the direction given to me problem was i found the street but the house number was wrong, i asked 2 guys in the security booth, mind you this place is posh, lots of nice
houses, they havent a clue where it is so they pointed me back to maipu street to use the phones to try and call Andi, got hold of her and got the right address, i then realized that the house is just across from the security guards, a..holes, not even helpfukl at all.
Good to see Josefina and Juan and Andi and a few of her trevaelling friends. josefina is pregnant what a surprise!! Juan was beaming with pride. The house is gorgeous with a pool but forgot to bring my trunks so just chatted with the people, met here Ran a very friendly Israeli dude whom Andi met in Honduras after we left them, he is staying in the same area as I, in downtown so we agreed to go together later. What is funny is his face is familiar and after further investigation i realized we met at Luna hostel in Panama City days ago!! I remember seeing him in the lounge and internet, wow small world.Lots of mozzies biting us so we went and soaked our feet in the pool water. Great to catch up with everyone and of course they gave me tips on what
to see in this great country. our conversations ranged from politics to travel etc. Juan and Josefina left before me, hang out for awhile with Andi and Ran as everyone left. then we eventually left and decide to take the train, Ran is a cool dude, we talked a lot about travels and I quizzed him about the Israeli conflict and why the freaking Israelis tend to be annoying when travelling in groups,he explained them to me in detail believe it or not . Good that he is level headed. At the train station the ticket vending machine isnt working so we got in without buying one, Ran got worried a bit but we dont know what to do in this case anywa and the locals just get through without hesitation. Ours is the last stop at Retiro, we got off and to get out of the turnstiles we need a ticket!! i found one that does not need one to get out so we are free! Then we walked back to Calle florida about 10 minute walk, and had Chinese buffet(where i had lunch). Food was good and cheap, the Chinese waiter asked me where i am from and
BUENOS AIRES
MY FIRST PARILLADA asked if my friend is also Filipino! I said no, Israeli look at him he is blonde...Ran and I just filled our tummies to the fullest. Said goodbye to him and hopefully we meet again down south.
The next morning i asked the hostel to book me a cama bus to Puerto madryn about 18 hours south. I walked to Plaza San Martin to see the bears exhibit that I saw on the bus going to the Olivos neighborhood yesterday, the bears were cool, each were ainted by an artist from their respective country, my favorite is the Cuban bear with the cigar!! Took the bus #50 that dropped me off at the Retiro bus station, at the station i went crazy looking for the platform the bus departs at 3pm walked up and down the aisle the info lady wrote down 4 to 14, then i realized the bus parks between those platform, i thought i was mistaken as it was past 3pm and no bus!! then i saw the office of Andesmar was just on the 2nd floor, I ran to get there and when i was about to go up the stairs the bus came, fashionably
late, annoying. So now am on my first cama bus towards the south, more to come...bye BA for now be back soon..
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