¡Llegué´! / I arrived!
Note…since most of the readers are English readers, I have decided to change the format and put the English first and the Spanish (shorter version) below…
I made it!!! It has been a busy day! The flight from DFW to BsAs was not too painful (in retrospect). I was able to get just enough sleep (woke up so many times during the night, though).
I woke up for the last time to the smell of fresh toasted croissants. I checked my watch, and it said 5am. Shit! 5am! Well, once they were done picking up the trays, the pilot came on and said, ¨flight attendants, prepare for landing.¨ Yes!!! I had forgotten that BsAs is 2 hours ahead of Austin. It was really 7am when they served breakfast, and we were going to land soon.
Buenos Aires greeted me with clouds, cold, and rain…
The airport formalities went smoothly. No questions about that white powder in my chalk bag 😉
Once I left customs, I went to change money at a cambio in the airport. The rate was really shitty — 2.5 pesos to the dollar. I was going to change $200 to start. Then a lady told me not to change that much, that there are better rates in the city. Then she warned me to watch my purse everywhere I went. I thanked her for her advice, only changed $100 (all I had were $100 bills), then headed off to the Manuel Tienda León transportation service, as advised by Joe E. It was 25 pesos to their station in the center, and then 1 peso for the collectivo to Portal del Sur hostel.
I rang the bell of Portal del Sur and they let me in. I told the lady that I had a reservation. However, they never recieved my internet reservation and they had no room. Shit! Don{t panic, this has happened to me before…I was tired, just wanted a place to settle down…The lady was sweet enough to phone another hostel, V&S, about 8 blocks away, and to call me a taxi. She said that there were about 40 16year olds from England at Portal del Sur and they were fully booked out.
I caught the taxi from there to V&S for 5 pesos and talked with Linda there. Probably feeling a bit sympathetic, she was able to squeeze me in a private 3 bed room with a private bath for the same price. Hey, I am not going to complain! She said that I will have this room for 4 nights, then will have to move to a mixed dorm for the last 4 nights. I just do not want to bother moving hostels, so I will stay here. The lady at Portal del Sur said that V&S was one of the better hostels in central BsAs. It is nice here, so I am happy.
It was about 11:15am by the time I got everything sorted out and put my bags in the room. I was to meet Gabriela at Protal del Sur at 12:30pm.
I felt so grimy after not bathing or brushing my teeth since yesterday morning (such is the life of a backpacker…). My teeth were so disgusting and caked with food (great visual, huh?), I had to floss a lot before I brushed my teeth. I also washed my face a bit. Once that was done, I felt a lot better.
I walked back to Portal del Sur and met Gabriela there at 12:30pm. We ate lunch at a fast food type place. I have her the latest scarf that I had knitted. It looks so cute on her! 😉
Then we headed off and walked around the San Telmo Sunday markets. The markets were really neat. I love markets! These markets had many antiques. A lot of silverware, decorative bottles, jewelry, old photos, and vintage clothes.
We also saw a tango show in the street. Tango is a very beautiful dance. The man would pick random women form the audience and tango with them. Luckily, he did not pick me because I would have stepped all over his toes! With that group, we also watched one of the guys sing 2 beautiful songs.
San Telmo definitely has a lot of life on Sundays, when much of the city is closed. Tango, street performers, markets.
From the markets, we headed on and walked through the historic Defensa house, which housed more shops.
We snacked on sweet fried penuts (I cannot remember what they are called), strolled down another market area, then Gabriela walked me back to my hostel.
My Spanish as of yet…welll, it needs some work! But soon enough, I will give it a few days, getting used to the Argentinian accent and speed of speech..I will hopefully be able to communicate better.
Oh yeah, its fucking cold here!!! Tomorrow, I am going to layer up more!
At night (about 9:30pm), I decided to go for a walk to Devalle to find some dinner. I actually felt really safe walking around alone. There is quite some life to Devalle — it was lit up with shops, eateries, arcades — all open and bustling.
The sad thing is that I ate a hamburger, fires, and a Pepsi. But it was from an Argentinian eatery. But I could not find many places that were not swamped. After that, I walked around a bit more, then headed back to the hostel.
My hostel, however, is filled with about 30-40 loud Brazilian teenagers…who were driving me mad yesterday! Thank gawd I remembered to pick up earplugs right before I left!
Pictures..well, no pictures yet…gotta figure out how to download them. Or, I might just burn a CD after about a week and do weekly picture updates..will have to figure that one out…
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¡Llegué! He sido un día ocupado. El vuelto de DFW a BsAs no fue muy dolorosa (en mirando hacia atrás). Pude tener bastande sueno (me despertí muchas vecest durante la noche).
Me desptertí por la última vez al olfato de croissants frescos y tostadas. Vi mí reloj y dijo que era 5am. ¡Mierda! ¡5am! Entonces, cuando estuvieron finito de recoger las bandejas, el piloto se dijo,¨Asistentes de vuelo, preparar por aterrizando¨ Me olvidé que BsAs es 2 horas adelante de Austin. En realidad, era 7am cuando sirvieron desayuno, y íbamos a aterrizar pronto.
BsAs recibó a mí con nubes, frío, y lluvia.
Las formalidades de aeropuerto fueron suavamente. No preguntas sobre el polvo blanco en mí bolsa de tiza. 😉
Andes de salí las aduanas fui a cambiar dinero a una casa de cambio en el aeropuerto. El rato era mierda — 2.5 pesos por un dolar. Iba a cambiar $200 para empezar. Entonces una mujer me dijo que no cambiar $200, hay ratos mejores in la ciudad, y me avisó para guardar mí bolsa en todos los lugares. Agradezó a ella para su adviso, solamente cambí $100 (todos los billetes que tuve eran de cien), entonces fui a Munuel Tienda León servicio de transport, como advisó por Joe E. Era 25 pesos al estación de bus, y luego 1 peso para el colectivo a Portal del Sur.
Soné la campana de Portal del Sur y ellos me recibieron. Dije la mujer que tuve un reserva. Sin embargo, ellos nunca recibieron mí reserva por Internet y no tuvieron espacia. ¡Mierda! No llene de pánico, éste se ocurrío a mí antes…yo estaba cansada, quise un locar a ir…la mujer fue muy simpatica y llamó un hostel otro, Hostel V&S, más o menos 8 bloques de distancia, y llamó un taxi para mí. Dijo que eran más o menos 40 jovenes de 16 anos de edad de Inglaterra allá (Portal del Sur), y ellos no tienen espacio.
Tuve el taxi de Portal del Sur a V&S para 5 pesos, y hablé con Lina allí. Probablemente se sintiendo un poco comparsiro, pudo tener un cuarto privado, de 3 camas con baño privado por mí por lo mismo precio. Dijo que tengo éste cuarto por 4 noches y luego voy a movarme a un dormí mixto. No quiero mover hosteles, pues, voy a quedarme aquí. La mujer a Portal del Sur me dijo que V&S es una de las hosteles más mejores en el centro.
Era más on menos 11:15am por el teimpo que terminé las cosas y se pone mís mochillas en mí cuarto. Me encontraré con Gabriela at Portal del Sur a las 12:30pm.
Me sentí muy sucio despues de no bañarse o cepillar los dientes despues de ayer in la mañana. Mís dientes son muy asquerosos y tuvieron comida en los. Necisité usar hilo dental mucho antes de cepillar mís dientes. Y luego, me sentí más mejor.
Caminé al Portal del Sur y me encontré con Gabriella allá a las 12:30pm. Comimos el almuerzo en un lugar de comida rapido. Y le di la bufanda que tejido por ella. Se aparece muy buena en ella!
Salímos y caminamos a dentro de las ferías Domingos de San Telmo. ¡Me amo ferías! Estos ferías tuvieron muchas cosas atiguedades. Mucho plata, botellas decorativos, joyas, fotos viejos, y ropa cosecha.
Vimos a una programa de tango en la calle. Tango es un baile muy hermosa. El hombre seleccionó mujeres al azar de la audiencia y baile con ellas. Afortunadamente, no seleccionó a mí porque hacía daño a sus pies!
San Telmo tuvo muchisima vida en los Domingos, cuando mucho de la ciudad estaba cerrada. Tango, actores de las calles, ferías.
De la fería, iramos y caminamos por la casa historica de la Defensa que tuvo más tiendas.
Comímos cacahuates dulces y fritas (no me recuerdo el nombre de ellos), caminamos por una otra fería, y Gabriela me acompañó a mí hostel.
Tags: Buenos Aires, Travel
Marisa
July 25th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
Those ear plugs are a life saver!! 🙂
July 25th, 2005 at 2:06 pm
Fast food??!!??
Pizza of the gods is there! And the best Italian food! And MEAT!
July 25th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
Oh, you don´t have to tell me about the meat…um..I tried my hand at having a Bife de Chorizo, and it was bigger than my head!!! I ate about a quarter of it before I quit, and the guy was like..you didn´t like it? I told him my stomach was too small :p
July 25th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Sounds good so far! From now on feel free to overnight any of your leftovers back up here, I’ll eat em. Ha.
July 25th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Hey Marisa
Those peanuts are called GARRAPIÑADAS
thanks again for the scarf, I love it. I enjoyed very much yesterday. I hope you go on having fun