The Red Dancing Shoes

First Day in Buenos Aires

The 10 hour flight was not bad at all. I had two seats so I slept for about 7 hours on the plane. Since there is only an hour difference in time zone, I didn't feel like I was in another country when I arrived. The custom official asked me to open two of my bags. Good thing he didnt ask to see my kite bag. I was already charged an extra 80 bucks for it when I checked it in. The person did not believe that it was golf equipment in my bag and he really sorted through and found my board at the very bottom. I wasn't happy about it. Anyhow, Hector's father came to pick me up. Now I know where Hector got his look from.

Hector's dad and I had quite an adventure. First, we communicated in the car in three different languages - English, Spanish, and Italian. Things are cruising until we reached the city because we could not find the apartment. I had the address written down as " defensa y indepencia 833 2 piso 19". There was no 833 on Indepencia avenue. So we checked Defensa 833. It was looking positive until we reached the door and found out that the last number was 2 piso 17, there was no such thing as 2 piso 19. We were confused. I didn't know how to make a international phone call and neither of us had a cell phone. So he took me Sheraton hotel and I used the business center there to call. It cost me $84 pesos (equivalent to US$28) for a 5 minute call to New York to Yukako, my friend who gave me the address. She then gave me the owner's home phone and cell phone number and the people at Sheraton helped me to contact her and to inform her that we were going to be at the apartment. So we had the right house, just the wrong number. It was 2 piso 9.

After I settled everything down, I went to the internet cafe to contact Hector because I was truly lost. But I managed to get some food in the afternoon in a pizzeria. I don't care how badly I spoke, they understood me. People here are generally nice if I show some good attitude and at least try to communicate in their language. In the evening, Fabian took me to his apartment and cooked for me. It's 12:44am now and I am waiting for him to wake up to go to the milonga. The weather is crappy (so cold and it's drizzling) but I am sure the milonga is gonna be great.

Anyway, I am going to get ready now, I will have more for you directly from Buenos Aires.

posted by Chinese Fighting Fish @ 12:46 AM