Buenos dias en Buenos Aires
... or should I say Buenos tardes! I´m now in Buenos Aires after what seemed like a day on the plane from Frankfurt! The 14 hour flight ended up taking 16 as the authorities decided to shut Buenos Aires airport, I´m guessing because of bad weather. Therefore we had to land in Sao Paulo which was either foggy or smoggy and goodness only knows how the pilot found the runway! Thankfully, after 2 hours, we took off again and got to Buenos Aires.
Live
I´m feeling quite tired at the moment, I guess it maybe jet lag after crossing one hour to Germany and then 5 hours back to Argentina! I don´t feel too bad though, and have been for a wander today (see below). I´m glad to be here at last :):):) It´s pretty cold, but that doesn´t bother me.. better cold then very hot for me.
The hotel I´m staying in is very nice too. It´s near where all the theatres are and you even get smoked salmon and that sort of calibre of food for breakfast! Obviously I can´t stay in that sort of place for my whole trip as it´d only last a quarter of the time, but as a starting point, it´s very nice indeed! Tomorrow, I´m going to a hostel, but it too sounds good, and for only a fiver a night :)
Listen
Listening... well in the last 36hrs it´s been weird! From the rumble of the jet engines in my ear for 16hrs to the hum of the air-con in my room in the hotel, from listening out for German and then for Spanish it´s been interesting and constantly changing. I´ve managed to understand a fair bit of spanish, but not everything! I also keep wanting to speak in German, which I know will get me less further than English. Hopefully, I´ll get the knack soon and start reeling off spanish like.. well.. a spaniard!
There was one beautiful moment to do with listening though.. as we descended into Sao Paulo at 6AM in the dark, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen´s "Dancing in the dark". People, you may laugh, but you had to be there to understand! I think it was because it was so peaceful up there and there was all these lights below. Something like that anyway.
Travel
I can say with no holding back, that I certainly have travelled since the last post! From Heathrow (with a scalded hand - THANK YOU COSTA COFFEE!) to Frankfurt and then 24 hours later from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires via an unscheduled Sao Paulo. I reckon about 7500 miles in 36 hours or there abouts!
It was great to see friends in Frankfurt as I hadn´t seen my mum´s friends for a while and also got to say bye to Paul and his family. Then I got to the airport where there was a suspicious baggage! Luckily I could still check in and by the time I´d finished it had gone. I got through passport control wandered a bit and then went to the gate, where they were none too pleased when they asked for my return ticket and I produced one from Canada next year! They said this was no good, but luckily I went to the help desk explained, and a lady wangled it for me and gave me a piece of paper to show if I get asked again.
I got on the plane and was happy to find I had two seats to myself.. this also meant two pillows, two blankets, but unfortunately not two portions of food. I managed to sleep for a couple of hours and then woke up and listened to a bit of Starsky and Hutch. Then I fell asleep again and was woken next by the captains voice saying that we had to land in Sao Paulo as they had shut Buenos Aires airport and he didn´t have enough fuel. I thought we were gonna get stranded and I would be going by bus! Luckily we took off again, and got to BsAs two hours late. Then immigration there wanted to know everything on a form, but then when I handed it in, didn´t seem too bothered and just stamped my passport! Suits me! I hope every country is like that :)
Today so far I´ve been for a wander around downtown BsAs which seems nice, but very busy, I´ve been up to where Evita was shouting from a balcony and to the biggest avenue in the world - Avenida 9 Julio, which certainly is very big! There was also a big protest on about something.. which taxi drivers, driving around them didn´t seem too happy about!
Right I´ll be off now, as I´m ready for some more wandering. I´ll be updating again soon as soon as I´ve got some more to tell you :)
Adios!
Live
I´m feeling quite tired at the moment, I guess it maybe jet lag after crossing one hour to Germany and then 5 hours back to Argentina! I don´t feel too bad though, and have been for a wander today (see below). I´m glad to be here at last :):):) It´s pretty cold, but that doesn´t bother me.. better cold then very hot for me.
The hotel I´m staying in is very nice too. It´s near where all the theatres are and you even get smoked salmon and that sort of calibre of food for breakfast! Obviously I can´t stay in that sort of place for my whole trip as it´d only last a quarter of the time, but as a starting point, it´s very nice indeed! Tomorrow, I´m going to a hostel, but it too sounds good, and for only a fiver a night :)
Listen
Listening... well in the last 36hrs it´s been weird! From the rumble of the jet engines in my ear for 16hrs to the hum of the air-con in my room in the hotel, from listening out for German and then for Spanish it´s been interesting and constantly changing. I´ve managed to understand a fair bit of spanish, but not everything! I also keep wanting to speak in German, which I know will get me less further than English. Hopefully, I´ll get the knack soon and start reeling off spanish like.. well.. a spaniard!
There was one beautiful moment to do with listening though.. as we descended into Sao Paulo at 6AM in the dark, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen´s "Dancing in the dark". People, you may laugh, but you had to be there to understand! I think it was because it was so peaceful up there and there was all these lights below. Something like that anyway.
Travel
I can say with no holding back, that I certainly have travelled since the last post! From Heathrow (with a scalded hand - THANK YOU COSTA COFFEE!) to Frankfurt and then 24 hours later from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires via an unscheduled Sao Paulo. I reckon about 7500 miles in 36 hours or there abouts!
It was great to see friends in Frankfurt as I hadn´t seen my mum´s friends for a while and also got to say bye to Paul and his family. Then I got to the airport where there was a suspicious baggage! Luckily I could still check in and by the time I´d finished it had gone. I got through passport control wandered a bit and then went to the gate, where they were none too pleased when they asked for my return ticket and I produced one from Canada next year! They said this was no good, but luckily I went to the help desk explained, and a lady wangled it for me and gave me a piece of paper to show if I get asked again.
I got on the plane and was happy to find I had two seats to myself.. this also meant two pillows, two blankets, but unfortunately not two portions of food. I managed to sleep for a couple of hours and then woke up and listened to a bit of Starsky and Hutch. Then I fell asleep again and was woken next by the captains voice saying that we had to land in Sao Paulo as they had shut Buenos Aires airport and he didn´t have enough fuel. I thought we were gonna get stranded and I would be going by bus! Luckily we took off again, and got to BsAs two hours late. Then immigration there wanted to know everything on a form, but then when I handed it in, didn´t seem too bothered and just stamped my passport! Suits me! I hope every country is like that :)
Today so far I´ve been for a wander around downtown BsAs which seems nice, but very busy, I´ve been up to where Evita was shouting from a balcony and to the biggest avenue in the world - Avenida 9 Julio, which certainly is very big! There was also a big protest on about something.. which taxi drivers, driving around them didn´t seem too happy about!
Right I´ll be off now, as I´m ready for some more wandering. I´ll be updating again soon as soon as I´ve got some more to tell you :)
Adios!
<< Home