Roberto Jeremías Bútler on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:24pm
Hola todos! As some of you may know, I decided to take the most random trip ever to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I left on Thursday, Jan 10th and will be returning to the states on Feb 8th... I wanted to do something really random, and I guess this is just as random as it gets...
Anyways, the plane ride was awesome. There were two Argentine snobs sat in my assigned seat, so instead of fighting with them to sit by the window, I simply complained to the flight attendant and got moved up to Economy plus where I enjoyed extended leg room, selection of 9 movies and alot of other bullshit that's not really worth the price people pay for Economy Plus. I decided to take a strong sedative as I get bored on long hour flights...Drug of choice this time: Promethazine.. so strong it could knock a horse on its ass. I fell asleep almost instantaneously, )well exaggerating a bit but it was still a rapid fall into unconciousness) and when I woke up, the map display said we were flying over Paraguay. I ate the shitty breakfast and before you know it, we landed in Buenos Aires!
At the airport, I decided to see how cheap it REALLY was here... I went to duty free and first stop of course, cigarettes. I know I only smoke when I drink, but when I'm on vacation that rule kinda goes out the window. When I looked at the price, I almost dropped the carton and shit my pants. A CARTON, yes that's right kids, a CARTON of cigarettes is $9. Back stateside, I would easily pay 5 bucks for a pack... so getting 10 packs, 200 cigarettes for 9 dollars is a deal you just cant beat. Wild.
Caught the bus into the city, first thing I noticed is that it's absolutely huge. Buenos Aires goes on for ages, and I don't think they have many emissions rules because it definitely is polluted. Not like Mexico City style, but kids, this isn't the kind of air you find in crisp clear San Francisco. Lucas met me at the bus station, it's so cool I have a friend here after thinking I was going to be here alone... We came to the hostel, dropped my bags off and decided to go have a bite to eat.
At the restaurant, when it came time to pay for the bill (roughly 7 dollars for a big piece of meat/steak, fries, drink and tip) , I went to pay with my 50 peso bill and the lady told me she wouldn't change it here because she thought it was counterfeit. Apparently counterfeit money is pretty common here in Buenos Aires..They say you shouldn't give taxi drivers and other shadeballs big bills because they will give you fake bills. After a brief fight with the waiters and some misunderstood words in the Argentine dialect of Spanish, they decided it wasn't counterfeit and let us move on about our day.
We got to the middle of the city and went in to set up our cell phones. After getting my new mobile number and being promised 10 pesos of credit for signing up, I tried to use my phone but of course it doesn't work. I found out a few hours later it didn't work because there was no credit on the phone.. My rule is now to NEVER believe anything anyone tells you at a store in a foreign country. It proved true for Spain and now it's starting to work for Argentina. By the way, the price for an activation fee on my new Argentine line (rhymes) comes out to $ 6.11. The prices here just can't be beat.
So I'm back at the hostel, quite possibly the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in and just relaxing on my bed chillin on the internet. Tonight, I plan to go out to dinner at about 11pm or so (they don't start till LATEEEEEEE here) , and hopefully hit up the bars and clubs around 2(yes, this is when the clubs just start to get good). I probably won't come home till 7, so I'll be posting about my night out tomorrow. I love this life. Travelling is awesome!
Peace! - Rob
P.S. I'm also going to post the weirdest thing of the day.. Weird things always happen in foreign countries, so here's the first.
I'm on the metro going home, sandwiched in between a 40+ year old lady and a 80+year old man.. When I say sandwiched, i mean completely sandwiched.. as in my nose was on the back of this lady's head. Anyways, I'm holding a beer (because thats the first thing I bought at the supermarket and since it's Argentina I can go around carrying it without a bag and not look shady), and this little kid looks at me and is like.. "Hey, give me a sip" (dame un trago). I just stare at him and kind of smile until I realize he isn't playing. I just ignore him. Kids begging for beer on the metro? This vacation can't get any better.
Anyways, the plane ride was awesome. There were two Argentine snobs sat in my assigned seat, so instead of fighting with them to sit by the window, I simply complained to the flight attendant and got moved up to Economy plus where I enjoyed extended leg room, selection of 9 movies and alot of other bullshit that's not really worth the price people pay for Economy Plus. I decided to take a strong sedative as I get bored on long hour flights...Drug of choice this time: Promethazine.. so strong it could knock a horse on its ass. I fell asleep almost instantaneously, )well exaggerating a bit but it was still a rapid fall into unconciousness) and when I woke up, the map display said we were flying over Paraguay. I ate the shitty breakfast and before you know it, we landed in Buenos Aires!
At the airport, I decided to see how cheap it REALLY was here... I went to duty free and first stop of course, cigarettes. I know I only smoke when I drink, but when I'm on vacation that rule kinda goes out the window. When I looked at the price, I almost dropped the carton and shit my pants. A CARTON, yes that's right kids, a CARTON of cigarettes is $9. Back stateside, I would easily pay 5 bucks for a pack... so getting 10 packs, 200 cigarettes for 9 dollars is a deal you just cant beat. Wild.
Caught the bus into the city, first thing I noticed is that it's absolutely huge. Buenos Aires goes on for ages, and I don't think they have many emissions rules because it definitely is polluted. Not like Mexico City style, but kids, this isn't the kind of air you find in crisp clear San Francisco. Lucas met me at the bus station, it's so cool I have a friend here after thinking I was going to be here alone... We came to the hostel, dropped my bags off and decided to go have a bite to eat.
At the restaurant, when it came time to pay for the bill (roughly 7 dollars for a big piece of meat/steak, fries, drink and tip) , I went to pay with my 50 peso bill and the lady told me she wouldn't change it here because she thought it was counterfeit. Apparently counterfeit money is pretty common here in Buenos Aires..They say you shouldn't give taxi drivers and other shadeballs big bills because they will give you fake bills. After a brief fight with the waiters and some misunderstood words in the Argentine dialect of Spanish, they decided it wasn't counterfeit and let us move on about our day.
We got to the middle of the city and went in to set up our cell phones. After getting my new mobile number and being promised 10 pesos of credit for signing up, I tried to use my phone but of course it doesn't work. I found out a few hours later it didn't work because there was no credit on the phone.. My rule is now to NEVER believe anything anyone tells you at a store in a foreign country. It proved true for Spain and now it's starting to work for Argentina. By the way, the price for an activation fee on my new Argentine line (rhymes) comes out to $ 6.11. The prices here just can't be beat.
So I'm back at the hostel, quite possibly the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in and just relaxing on my bed chillin on the internet. Tonight, I plan to go out to dinner at about 11pm or so (they don't start till LATEEEEEEE here) , and hopefully hit up the bars and clubs around 2(yes, this is when the clubs just start to get good). I probably won't come home till 7, so I'll be posting about my night out tomorrow. I love this life. Travelling is awesome!
Peace! - Rob
P.S. I'm also going to post the weirdest thing of the day.. Weird things always happen in foreign countries, so here's the first.
I'm on the metro going home, sandwiched in between a 40+ year old lady and a 80+year old man.. When I say sandwiched, i mean completely sandwiched.. as in my nose was on the back of this lady's head. Anyways, I'm holding a beer (because thats the first thing I bought at the supermarket and since it's Argentina I can go around carrying it without a bag and not look shady), and this little kid looks at me and is like.. "Hey, give me a sip" (dame un trago). I just stare at him and kind of smile until I realize he isn't playing. I just ignore him. Kids begging for beer on the metro? This vacation can't get any better.
No comments:
Post a Comment