Saturday, December 13, 2008

Seeing ghosts, finding my way in the big ciudad, and making new friends

Buenos! Im still here in the Big City. Considering that I have spent the last three weeks doing everything I could - including several out-of-the-way bus rides to middle of noweher places - I am rather surprised to find myself quite content in this city of 11 million people. But yesterday as I crammed myself into the stuffy subway at rush hour, sat outside at a cafe on a busy street corner drinking tea, and successfully got on and paid for my first BsAs bus ride (this was no small feat as coins are worth more than gold in this city where everyone seems to be short on change and the buses ONLY accept exact change - grrr), I was feeling quite big city savvy. I even had a brief moment of missing my life in Chitown, and then I remembered that it´s freezing there and quickly got over it.

I have been fortunate to meet some great people in the last few days. First off, Jenny and I have met two great Canadians who have cruised around the city with us. Satia had to go back on Thurs night, but Noemi will be around for a bit, so we explored the ins and outs of San Telmo and La Boca - two very flavorful barrios - together. I also got to meet up with Vïctor, one of the guides from our group trip, who lives and works out of BsAs. And, finally, Camille, a friend from Smith who used to live here, has put me in touch with some of her friends here. So Thursday night I got to go out and chat it up in español with Milan who has spent a good bit of time traveling around Argentina, as well as other coutries in SA como mochilero (backpacker). He´s offered not only to give me some good tips for things to do here en la ciudad, but also tips for good places to visit, hikes, and even maps for the rest of my journey - woohoo! A few of her other friends had also contacted me with information regarding free tango shows and museum exhibits to check out.

And upon returning from my night out on the town, I thought I was hearing voices when a voice drifting from the room next door sounded JUST LIKE Jenny. This was very strange as just 3 hours earlier, we had said our goodbyes and she was whisked off to the aeropuerto in a cab. For the last week, we had been planning our trip - where to be when and what to do there - based on the fact that she had to be on a plane back to los estados on Thursday, Dec 11. So I stood still for a minute, took a deep breath, looked around to make sure I was awake and in my own body, and slooooowly walked around the corner - JENNY! "Am I seeing a ghost," I thought to myself? All I could do was drop my jaw and say (and I didn´t mean this rudely at all) was, "What the HELL are you doing here?" Well, it turns out her flight wasn´t until Friday night, so after getting over the shock and such, we rejoiced over the realization that she would have a second " last day" in BsAs!

I am staying at a hostel near this gigantic city park where I get to go for lovely runs each morning. Actually, the park where I run is lovely, but I usually end up getting terribly lost and coming back over an hour later mildly ravenous and extremely stinky - woohoo! The hostel is also conveniently located near a laundromat where my clothes are currently being properly washed and dried for the first time in three weeks - all for the killer precio of 3 dollars:). So Im quite the happy camper. All I need now is some avocado, tomato, bread, and maybe a tango show to top it all off! VIVA!

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