Made it to Buenos Aires

Hi everyone,

I made it to Buenos Aires safely after a 22 hour flight which made a stop in Fort Lauderdale and Lima Peru.  Lima's airport was amazingly indistinguishible from the US airports, the same stores, brands, even the carpeting.  It was a bit eary given I thought Peru was one of the least developed countries in South America.

I got myself in my first trouble in Lima when I walked away from the ATM and left my card inside it.  Luckily, I realized in time and cancelled it right away and my sister Karima is fedexing me a replacement.

I arrived in Buenos Aires just in time for a street manifestation that meant my cab could not reach the hotel and I had to walk in the middle of the crowd with my back pack.  It seemed scare at first but they all seemed very peaceful.  My taxi driver really didn't like "la presidente" and called her all sorts of names for blocking the street and said that she hired the demonstrators for $10 to show support.

People here seem to be quite sensitive about the Falklands (which they call Islas Malvinas), which Argentina went to war with the UK in the 80's to reclaim them but got totally crushed instead.  It looked to me like politians pointing the finger outside the country as a distraction.

 

Communicating is hard.  I am in so far above my head.  I am studying vigorously though.  Yesterday, I was in a store and I heard a tourist ask if they sold "la umberela" (it had poured the day before) and the clerk had no idea what the dude was saying.  At least my spanish is not THAT bad!  (Spanish for umbrella is paraguas)

My hotel was at one time a beautiful neoclassical building but is totally falling apart and the staff act annoyed everytime you talk to them. I guess you get what you pay for but the reviewer from the Rought Guide that I relied on must have been high when he stayed here because I found another hotel two doors down that is the same price but incredibly better.

Here are some pictures I took

I am scrared and excited about my nature hikes in the next couple of weeks, thinking that I might have forgotten that one critical item that I will need when none of it can be found. I wonder how many of the contents of my back pack will survive until the end of the trip.  I have packed some items of dubious necessity - water shoes for example.  But we shall see.  I only packed 5 t shirts and 2 shirts.  Here is my planned itinerary.