Here am I in Buenos Aires. I’m not a big city person, generally, but I think I’m going to like this one. I arrived at EZE (the B.A. airport) yesterday after a roundabout stopover in Bolivia. It was supposed to be only a 3 hour stay there ……hoo boy – I think I need to back up and start at the beginning.
My flight from Miami was supposed to leave at 11pm on August 30th, but it was delayed 6 hours. At something like midnight, the airline (Boliviana de Aviacion) provided a hotel room to sleep in (for barely 3 hours). I had to take a shuttle back to Miami Airport by 4am on the 31st to fly out at 5am…..which turned out to be 5:30am. Arriving in Santa Cruz, Bolivia about 6 hours later, my connecting flight to B.A. was, of course, long gone.
There was no flight out to B.A. until the next day, so the airline gave me a room for that night, too. The problem was that I needed a Bolivian visa in order to leave the airport to go to the hotel and that was going to cost around $125USD. Yikes. Fortunately, I’d met a young couple on the plane and the husband spoke Spanish – and he rocked! If it weren’t for him, I think I’d have had to pay for the visa myself or just slept on the airport floor. I don’t know what he did or said, but he worked magic for me. I didn’t have to pay a dime. I know the odds are a billion to one, but if you’re out there reading this Matias and Beth, thank you so much for your help, support and company!
It’s a very long and arduous tale of governmental red tape and I’ll spare you all that, but suffice it to say, I ended up staying the night at a very nice hotel (after being transported by a guy who made interesting driving decisions like going the wrong way on a freeway – hey, he was in a ditch on the side, so, you know, no problem) and I got to dunk my feet in a pool, didn’t have to pay for my food (which was delicious) and I slept like a baby.

As much as I wanted to get out of Bolivia and on to B.A., it turned out great and I’d like to go back some time. Super nice people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, like I was saying when I started this whole rigamarole, I’m in Buenos Aires and I’m liking it.
Yesterday and this morning I took a stroll and here are a few pics:

 

This is looking to the left as I walk out from my hostel….

 

 

 

 

…..and this is looking to the right.

I’ll tell ya, that City Bank sign has saved my butt a few times. It’s visible from quite a ways off and has reliably led me home.

 

 

 

Saw these buskers the first day out. They were wailing away at the blues. Super good. I do like to support buskers. I gave them one USD and they seemed particularly happy about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place reminded me of something I’d seen in Viet Nam, though I don’t remember what it was.
Anyway, I think it’s pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went in search of the school I’m going to start attending this Monday and couldn’t find it. The streets are sort of on a grid, but there are other streets that crisscross through them and street signs are hard to find. Gets very confusing. I’m going to try again tomorrow. I think I’ve got it figured out now….maybe.

 

Haven’t tried the subway yet. Not really sure I’ll need to, but we’ll see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that’s about it for now. All that walking has got me beat and hungry. Going out for a bite. Cheers.