Mood: Radiant
Environment: From a computer in my hostel, with the sounds of traffic outside and the smell of exhaust in the air. It is night.
Most recent meal: Ravioli and wine, bought at a store and prepared at the hostel ($3 for the food, $3 for a bottle of red wine from Mendoza).
"What`s new, Buenos Aires? I`m new! ... and so on." I can`t get the words from Evita out of my head, especially after gazing at the Casa Rosada this morning, where Evita Peròn used to woo the masses with her emphatic yet slightly hollow speeches. The US has a White House, and Argentina has a Pink House. What does that say about porteños (those who live in BA)? I don´t have an answer for that yet--I`ll get back to you in a few days.
So, I arrived here yesterday after a long and slightly delayed flight from Denver through Atlanta. Kyle`s plane was delayed as well, so I snoozed in the airport to wait for him. When he walked through the sliding glass doors of the arrivals gate, I knew the adventure had started in earnest. And it`s wonderful to have someone to bounce my thoughts off of as we prowl the city--instead of chuckling to myself as I stride down the streets, I can tell my goofy pun to Kyle and we can chuckle together (or he can look at me like I`m quite strange, and I can chuckle alone).
The ride into town on bus 86 was enlightening. We traveled with a remarkable cross-section of locals, from painted-up hussies, to children with mental retardation, to suave Argetine men, to Neaderthal-ish Argentine men. We first traveled through countryside, where people pulled off the road whenever they felt like it to park and have a picnic beneath trees between lanes of the freeway. The outskirts of the city were very delapitated and run-down, and the city center is only marginally better. Everyone I talk to says BA looks just like Paris. I assume, then, that Paris is a very dirty city with dog crap on the sidewalks, trash on all the curbs, and grit accumulated in the gutters. It is seriously a gross place to walk around.
Still and all, it´s nice enough (for a city), with beautiful colonial architecture rising suddenly from behind drab modern office complexes. We´ve even found a few cobble-stoned streets and plazas dotted with leafy green trees.
Ah, the weather! That is what is amazing. It was 80-something today, not very humid, hot in the sun. The breezes are warm, and the sun shines until 9-o`clock at night. What a change, coming from the cold Colorado winter! My skin is shocked about being revealed to the world again, and it is blushing after today`s heat (that`s code for "I have a slight sunburn").
Aside from all that, there are friendly people in the hostel, open-hearted bus drivers, rushing subways systems, annoying touts in the plazas (Kyle keeps entering conversation with them, whereas I pretend I only speak Swahili), delicious medialunas (croissants) at sidewalk bakeries, goofy pigeons and curious cockroaches.
But more on all that later. The moral of the story is that I`m here, I`m safe and sound, and I`m ready and eager to see the rest of the country and continent. Pictures will come soon (I hope) since this computer is very old and won`t let me upload. Until next time!
