Saturday, February 14, 2009

Over the rooftops...


I have arrived safely at my hostel in Buenos Aires! And thank god, because there was about 10 minutes after leaving the airport when I just wanted to abandon my 100lbs. of luggage and sit my sweaty ass down on the curb. But after denying an oncoming freak-out I tightened the straps of my pack a little tighter and kept going.

My flight wasn’t bad at all. I actually slept through most of it, having only been interrupted once by my seatmate, a large Slavic man programming his new iPhone and testing out all the possible ring tones. The headphones were in his ears. I guess he missed the instructions to plug them into the phone too. Besides that, it was all good. I ate two crappy plane meals, drank a miniature bottle of red wine, and woke up to find myself just an hour away from my destination.

A bus ride and then a van ride later, I am now sitting on the rooftop terrace of my hostel, Portal del Sur. I’m just a block away from the 16 lanes of Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world, I think. It has crosswalks, which is kind of scary. I’ve already had my first cafĂ© con leche at a little place on the corner and am looking forward to a cold beer on the rooftop when the bar opens in a few minutes. It’s almost 19:00 here, and not even a hint of sunset. Just blue skies, hot sun, and a bit of a breeze. There’s some Spanish Top 40 type stuff playing on the radio too. Life is good, and I know there’s still more to come.

I made it through my first Spanish phone conversation a little earlier, with Celeste. I’m headed out to her home in Belgrano tomorrow afternoon to drop off my stuff and take a stroll around the neighborhood. I might even head to San Telmo tomorrow, where there’s an antiques market every Sunday en la Plaza.

I miss my family and friends, but I’m relieved and excited to be here at last. It’s been a long day, but a great one so far. I think it’s about time for that beer.

2 comments:

  1. sounds like heaven! enjoy your argentinian beer my darling. i can't wait for the next post! hugs and kisses from skidmore<3

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  2. Oh woman, I am obsessed with your blog. Update it all the time because I'm going to check it at least twice a day.

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