First day and morning of BA

Arriving into centro

Buen dia amigos. I have had a good nights sleep with over 12 hours of rest. It’s 7:30 which means I am up at 3:30am beloved California time. Looks to be another drizzly day here.

Here are some pics of the drive from the airport. There are some pretty trees about as well as interesting buildings.

Trees

The flight from SFO to Miami was a dream as I managed to get the front seat meaning no one sitting in front of me and it was an exit row plus the passenger who was to be sitting to my left never showed so I had no one sitting next to me. I put my feet up, watched a movie “Made of Honor” which I don’t recommend unless you are on a looooong flight, it was the classic “chic flic” with Patrick Dempsey. The staff on this American flight were funny, lots of gay men attendents and passengers. When he was demonstrating how to inflate the life preserver, he said “pull or blow your choice” and a resounding “blow” came from the seat behind me, followed by some giggles. This came from the same man who was distraught that his new leather luggage had gotten knicked by the overhead compartment closure thingy. I imagine they were energized by a lively visit in San Francisco.

Apartment building

The Miami airport terminal  was ghetto, it had empty slots where the Arrival/Departure monitors once were, no airlines staff, poor lighting, and two choices for dinner: beer or pizza, so I had both. It was also my first taste of being in a foreign country as I was the only American I could see or hear, lots of Argentines talking rapido Spanish, couple of parents arguing with their children, and couples embraced, kissing passionately… get a room kind of material. Already I am missing my friends and home.

Love this pic

The flight from Miami to Buenos Aires was much more full and I was near to the rear of this huge plane sitting 9 people across. I was joined by Tricia, from Boston, who had just finished passing the bar and returning from Italy to be with her family. Her destination was Patagonia and would see Buenos Aires on the way back in, if she had time. We were served dinner, chicken with pasta, and had our own movie screen to watch what we wanted. Then it was time to sleep, which I did for awhile. My lower back was so pained that I walked around alot and did some stretching. Tricia slept the whole time, in the same position, until the people in front of us opened their shade and let in so much light it woke up nearly the entire half of the plane.

This reminds me what I learned or relearned from my massage I received in Mt Shasta: that I have a long neck. I don’t mind how long it is, it happens to be a good neck HOWEVER its a little harder to hold it up and tends to fall over and give out when sleeping with no neck support. So my snooze on the plane was short lived, hard to explain unless you have giraffe neck too.

Mood: blurry

Above photo most accurately describes how I feel when I arrive at my “hotel” which is really a woman’s home. I realize I had not seen any photos of this place but rather gone off reviews from other people on tripadvisor. It also reminds me that I had totally forgotten to take down the information like address and had to call Lin, via a pay phone in Miami, to have her google it. I took a bus from the airport to the bus terminal at which time a nice young man told me I had to get off the bus and take a cab to the hotel. I was like no, that is not what I was told, he apologized politely and so I got off. Then, to my relief, I wrote down the address on my receipt and was taken there but a man in a car. I think he worked for them, not sure. I literally was delivered to the doorstep, so happy, as cars stopped and honked, to have arrived. Shit, I don’t remember which apartment #, A or B. So I start ringing them one by one while a serious looking man eyeballs me. Someone has buzzed me in after saying my name into the intercom.

The street below is quiet at 7:30 this morning, I take a couple pics from the balcony…

The golden arches abound

Up the street from balcony

This street bustles during the day with tons of taxis. There’s a lot of shopping, I saw a crystal store on the way to dinner last night. Clothing oh and my first boot store sighting. I’ve heard so much about the leather work here and so many of the chica’s are wearing tall boots. Trivia about me: I have 8 pairs of tall leather boots and I’d like nothing more than to wear them all the time. Or my $8 pair of flip flops. Sooooo, it will be quite tempting to pick up a pair.

I’m off to have my morning comida: breakfast. Adios and thanks for reading!