Buenos Aires - Day One,Two and Three

DAY 1

Left Johannesburg the 11th June at 9.50 am and arrived Buenos Aires around 4 pm their time Slept most of the 11hour flight and when awoke, watched Toy Run 2 and Avatar.Flight was very smooth and the normal airplane food par exellance - yech. About an hour before landing took this picture.

Disembarked at Ezeiza airport and got myself lost by going to Transito entrance and ending up mulling through duty free shops looking for passport control. Realised after half and hour that I am actually in the transition area for further flights.Made my way back and down the stairs to passport control. Only 5 people in the queue..yeah. When I handed my documents to the woman and she discovered I am from South Africa, she started ranting and raving about something with me of which all of it went over my head.My only thoughts were - Now what is wrong?After nervously watching her shouting to another woman in a cubicle behind me, the mystery matter seemed to be cleared up and she gave me back my passport and waved me on my way. Expecting more surprises on the way, I came to the customs and dumped my stuff into trays to go through e-ray. Picking it up on the side other, I saw customs going through various baggage.Showing one of them my backpack, she looked at me and smiled me through and I officially entered Argentinia.

(As a matter of observation,.Eizeiza airport, Buenos Aires main Airport, is about a quarter the size of Oliver Tambo)

Next obstacle - how do I get into town to my accommodation. Went outside, only to be met by a horde of taxi drivers and no sight of what I hoped to be my hostel shuttle service. Would not even know where and what I should look for as they were clearly not looking for me. Remembering Lonely Planet's advice on taxi drivers - you do not know what you will end up paying and any change could be forged notes, I ducked back inside. It was getting dark now and referring to my Lonely Planet guide,I found one of the recommended taxi services. You pay up front and that is it - 120 Argentinian pesos or R300 for a half an hour ride to my accommodation. That sounded fair considering my situation. I found out the next day I could have done it cheaper with another service.

Anyway, arrived safely at Hostel Florida,booked in and went downstairs to  the pub and had two draughts to celebrate my arrival in South America and to try and not feel too much like a fish out of his own bowl.

Below some pictures of Hostel Florida based in Avenue Florida.

After my two draughts, which were quite light compared to our beer, I checked out my dorm.This is what you get with budget living-

So, the set up here is two rooms with 2 x bunker beds in each room and 1 bathroom with shower,bath,basin and toilet. Not too bad for slumming it.

DAY 2

Got up Saturday morning with less sleep than I hoped for.When you share a dorm like this, people come and go throughout the night, and the girl I shared the dorm with had too much too drink, and after vomiting in the toilet,returned to her bed, only to later vomit in her sleep. All part of an adventure!!

Went down to breakfast after a nice hot shower, only to discover that it is past 10 am and they are closed after 10.( Did not take a watch with me) So walked one block down in the rain and got a Big Mac and returned to watch Argentina and Nigeria play. And some more draughts. Decided in a boring moment to have a look at my passport as Inge, a friend of mine in Johannesburg told me that they sometimes do not stamp your entry or departure in your passport, specially in Africa in order to extort money from your then illegal status in that particular country, when you want to leave or enter again.Remembering my incident at passport control,I opened my passport....eish, there is no stamp!Only two from my Mozambique boat trip and a departure from South Africa dated 11th.I turned the passport upside down-still nothing. I shook it...actually I think I was shaking.Shit, the bitch did not stamp my entry!!An illegal alien! So now I am thinking ..should I go back to the airport and explain to an official there what happened.I have my ticket and receipt from the taxi that would proof I came through the airport. After some more panic thoughts, I thought no..I will make contact with SA Embassy here and explain my situation and let them handle it with the authorities. Discovered that I will only be able to that Monday as they closed over the weekend. Feeling a lot better, I had some more draughts.

After game,went to inspect the neighbourhood in the rain in my warm jacket with hood.Walked for about 2 hours in the rain, because I got lost. Found my way back only after I realised I had walked past my place 3 times. I also realised that the jacket and pants I had on, are not waterproof. So changed clothes and went to lie down and chilled out. Later watched the America and England game with more draughts.After that went down to Burger King and had a huge burger,chips and Pepsi.So much for losing weight on this trip.

Went back to the pub but nothing happening, so I went to bed and had another look at my passport. Still no entry stamp. Paged through it absentmindedly and there it was... on page 26. Like a big purple pimple on an angel's left breast! Man, I cannot explain the relief I felt. As this is not an adult content page, I can only say that it came close to an orgasm.Why on earth she decided to hide it on another page and not with the others is beyond me.I slept so well that night.

DAY 3

Woke up at 7.45 and showered.Not missing breakfast today.Had cereals with yoghurt,juice,coffee and an apple and banana for later.Checked outside and it was not raining.So decided to take a stroll again and some photos. Buenos Aires has a definite European feel to it and you can also see it in its architecture.

Here are some photos.

During this stroll I was approached by a blonde, asking me in perfect English if I would like to have sex.Told her not today, thank you. So she asked me if wanted it tomorrow then. I just laughed and said goodbye,thinking the only people that speak English here, will probably all be sex workers.All the people I want to have sex with speak Spanish and with my looks and ability to speak Spanish, it is going to be hard.No pun intended.

Will be organising a city tour tomorrow and some new photos.

Adios