Buenos Aires

I made it to B A in one piece after a flight that was delayed by 2 and a half hours. Luckily, I had checked my email the night before and there was a notice from the airline. Still, it threw my whole schedule off and I was concerned that I wouldn´t have enough time to exchange money. That wasn´t much of a problem either. The problem I did have was trying to get some food. All my Chilean pesos were spent, so nothing at the airport, and then on the flight they cancelled the meal because of turbulence. Not so much as a glass of water. The flight was kind of crazy with the pilot taking off at a ridiculous angle, like he was practicing for the Argentine space program tryouts. Then again, it is an Argentine airline and if the way they drive is any indication this was a completely rational aeronautical manoeuvre. Nothing like getting up to cruising altitude in 2 minutes instead of 15.

I have to say, it´s nice being confident in the computer I´m writing on. I find it very strange that Chile (with lots of money) was so poor in this aspect in comparison to Argentina (which is still struggling economically). Everything from the internet connection speed (very important when trying to upload pictures) to the competence of the staff (like an hour of blogging disappearing in Santiago when the idiot behind the counter turned off my computer by mistake).

I´m doing a lot of complaining in this post. I suppose its related to how tired (read: hung over) I am from a botched attempt to go clubbing last night. This time of year it´s hard to find a club that is open, let alone happening with most Porteños (as the locals like to call themselves) on vacation. I can´t blame them: with temperatures reaching the low 40´s last week, this city is not exactly comfortable.

Their is a long standing joke about this city´s name which means ´Good Air.´ You don't get the punchline until you step out of his airport taxi and get your first mouthful of diesel exhaust from the city´s massive fleet of 25 year old buses. These buses deserve some comment, because despite their age, they all run quite well, and are polished, buffed and painted with great care. In fact a lot of personalization goes into these buses, with the driver´s seat surrounded by shag, disco balls, all manor of lucky charms and trinkets. In fact my friend Graham (the Scot) told me he´s seen buses with neon lights illuminating the underside of certain buses as they wiz by at 4 in the morning. It´s my guess these drivers are assigned one bus and stick with it for years, thereby making personalization worthwhile. Understanding their routes requires a book an inch thick (which is available at most sidewalk kiosks). Picking one of these books is highly recommended, as it offers the most detailed and easy to understand maps of the city.

Enough about buses. A Frenchman, an American, an Israeli and myself went to have dinner at a restaurant I had eaten at two years previous called Don Ernesto. And no, I´m not telling one of those stupid jokes. The steak I had was exceptional quality and massive, all for 7 dollars. We drank three bottles of wine (Luigi Bosca Reserva Malbec, $20 a bottle), ate whatever we felt like, had desert, all for 20 bucks each. We went a little crazy on the wines because the American was a sommelier in New York and was going to work on a winery in Mendoza, I having finished the first leg in getting my diploma from International Sommelier Guild (which the American had graduated from) and the Frenchman who was, well, French. As you may imagine, there was a lot of wine nerd-speak going on.

Prices have definitely risen in the two years I´ve been away. The increase is not major and in fact has little relevance to me anyway with the Canadian dollar as strong as it is.

Today I´m off to visit Francisco de Miranda (sort of the Thomas Hinds Tobacconist of Buenos Aires) to see my friends there. Will be writing about that shortly. I hope to be blogging with more regularity now that I´ve settled into my hostel and have a decent machine to work on.

Ciao