Modes of Transportation: Trains, Busses, and Feet

To be honest I really have no idea what it is that happened this last week. Imagine if you will a great work of Pablo Picasso say during his cubisism period, or just about anything by Salvidor Dali. Really to me it has only ever seemed like a great blur of colors and shapes. Such was this last week. It all just seems like a great big blur. But I guess that is to be expected. On top of that, how does one disassemble a blur organize, refine and synthesize it into a coherent consumable.

I believe it was John Taylor that said, (at best a very loose paraphrase) it is a true sign of intelligence to be able to take a complex subject and break it down so that even a small child can understand. So I expose to you my intelligence (or more likely the lack thereof.) Enjoy.

If this trip down to Argentina has done anything for me it has made me remember the basics. Things that we far to frequently take for granted in the states. I for one find myself not apprecieating basic things like, palpable water, warm water with which to wash your hands, or clean and safe streets. I find myself far to frequently far more concerned with my friends most recient status update, or the most recient kernel bug fix then I am with things that actually pertain to the well being of myself and those I care about. I think I mentioned in my last post I lost my jacket on the plane from Lima to Buenos Aires. To rank cold with constant temperature there is the Provo Utah cold, which is a harsh dry cold but it doesn´t cut. There is the damp Maryland cold that cuts through the thickest coat if you have the smallest bit of exposed skin, and then there is Argentine cold which isn´t in itself worse then Baltimore, however, it is simply unescapeable. And going inside doesn´t help. Infact in the early morning inside a cement buliding can be colder then it is outside! At times I find myself holding Karina´s hands not out of the romance of the moment but more so her fingers don´t fall off. Apparently I´m better at keeping my extremeties warm. So here I am with a pullover in the inescapable cold and yet I am warming Karina´s hands. Regardless, Karina decides I´m the one who needs a coat. So after several days of her telling me how sick I´m going to get I relent and we go to Lomas de Zamora to get a coat. We went to a few stores and didn´t really see anything. I was supprised at how expensive everything was. It was about as expensive if not more as it is at home. Not that I would really know because let´s be honest, I never shop for my own clothes. So we find a coat that I we both liked and we asked the sales clerk if I could try it on. I try it on and the sleves are really short, by really short, I mean they are shorter then I liked. So we ask the clerk for a larger size and he gives us a larger coat and a much more expensive coat (that I liked better). Now I knew what he pulling a little of a bait and switch on us. I almost didn´t buy anything because I was mildly offended that he would offer me anything else other then that for which I had asked (I know I´m wierd, heaven forbid I get good customer service). Then I realized I had a choise between two evils, I could buy the slightly more expensive coat and be done shopping, or I could pass satisify my pride and decline the nicer better fitting coat. In the end my stomach made the decision for me and we bought the coat. And we went to McDonalds. Now McDonalds isn´t all that great a place to go you´re telling me, and I agree except this is an Argentine McDonalds which is one of the few things that argentina does better then the US run McDonalds. For the most part it is nicer, it would be more along the lines of an Applebees or Wingers in niceness, except minus the waiters, and the fact that it´s expensive like a circle, ie. they cut every single corner to save money and the cost is entirely round. We both got McNifta combos. Forget about the fountain drinks and forget about even getting a choice of soda. Before I had even paid they already had thrown a burger fries, and a medium cup (about the size of a small back home) with Coke on our tray. Now I probably would have just accepted and gotten over my dislike of Coke, but not Karina, (as well) before I had even paid had already told them that she wanted Fanta, and asked me what I wanted, as well as asked for salt, mustard, and fancy ketchup (why McDonalds ketchup is fancy the world will never know). And that threw a wrentch in the whole system. Apparently, orange Fanta doesn´t come out of the fountain very quickly, because we were there waiting for our drinks for about 4 minutes, all the while, I was confused as to why it was taking so long, and Karina getting more and more upset about how the french fries were getting colder and colder (again something I wouldn´t have even thought about, apparently to argentines eating warm food warm is VERY important). Finally, I paid and they actually gave me change with 5 one peso coins. I was throughly pleased with myself for having made the decision to come to McDonalds, as coins are increadibly scarse and needed everywhere. We ate, talked, and then she had to go to work, (her boss had been texting and calling her all morning long for her to come in saying it was urgent, and how he needed her, I may add by the time she got there at 3pm everything had been done and she didn´t really have anything to do). I decided I wanted to go and visit some people I met in my last area which was just a train ride away from where I was, (or so I had thought). Apparently, I didn´t remember as well as I had thought how the train system worked and I... well, I got lost. It wasn´t so much as I didn´t know where I was, I just didn´t go the right way, and it took me much longer to get to where I was going. Actually, I decided I wasn´t all that interested in going to my last area after all. I ended up going to visit a family that lives in an area called "Bosques" where I never was, but met on exchanges. But I couldn´t remember exactly how to get to thier house. I got off the train and I knew I had to take one street about 4 blocks which would dead end in thier house. Which street that was I couldn´t quite remember. So I went forward with faith in my "keen" sense of direction and my "sharp" eye for detail. And it turns out after about an hour of walking I found every single street in that half of the area, except for the one street they live on. A little discouraged I decided to go press on to my origional destination. Again, I took the wrong train. By the time I realized this and got back to the Bosques station I had the misfortuine of learing that there were protesters on the railway just beyond the station where I was going and they weren´t running trains in that direction. I figured a Disel train engine with 18 cars of inerita and several miles of track could pretty much plow through anything those protesters could have put in thier way thus effectivly ending the protest. The officials thought otherwise. So I really had two options, take the train all the other way around the loop and hope to be able to find a bus that would take me where I wanted to go which would take upwards of 2 hours, go home, or take another stab at finding that family I once met. Determined to achieve something productive in my forey into the argentine train system, I chose the latter and tried my best to retrace the steps where I would have gone. 5 minutes later I was at thier house, we talked drank more mate, and then the sun set meaning I wanted to be going soon (things can get a little touchy after dark espically with someone who is from out of town). They accompanied me to the train station and I got home just in time to get on the equivalent of Argentine rush hour which means playing sardines with an assortment of smelly, old and tired argentines on the train. I got home and ate dinner to find out the news about Bin Laden. I would be lying if I didn´t say I was pleased.

After an hour or so Karina got home and we went to the kids half house (I´ve decided the Salinas have two houses, one where the kids stay, and one where the parents stay, but one lacks a bathroom and the other lacks a kitchen, so between the both of them they have one house). We went to the other house to talk. And Karina wanted to speak english with me. Her english wasn´t quite as good as I had hoped. She wanted me to say something to her in english. So I told her "You´re gorgeous." Apparently she didn´t know what gorgeous ment. When I told her gorgeous means "hermosa" she told me I was wrong. I must admit I was a little taken aback. Apparently the only correct way to translate "hermosa" from spanish is beautiful. This was compounded with the fact that when she asked me to spell gorgeous to prove my point and I didn´t know (is gorgeous how you spell gorgeous?) and it wasn´t in her english-spanish dictionary (or I just really don´t know how to spell).

I really wanted to tell you all about the Tito Family, my trip to "La Costonera," and church on Sunday. But this post ended up much longer then I had anticipated maybe some other time.

An introduction and El Vuelo

So here goes. I hope everything is going well in the states. I am writing this blog to tell all my firends and family about my great argentine adventure. Wow I don´t know where to begin. My beautiful Mother was so kind to drop me off at Dulles international airport for my flight to Argentina. I got the cheapest ticket I could find which ment I got to get to know the gate of Miami international and I got to do some people watching in Lima before I got to Buenos Aires early monday morning. For the most part the journey was pretty uneventful but with a few ups and downs. I went through security in IAD and apparently I don´t know how to wait in lines. I seem to have the uncanny ability to pick the line that goes the slowest. This was the case as I passed through security. But once I got to the security guard checking my ticket it was well worth the wait. First of all this guy wasn´t your typical security guard (aka some fat white woman or young black man) he was an older gentleman of african descent. When I got there I was greeted with a smile and I couldn´t help myself but feel happy as he checked the passports of the family of latin americans in front of me in line. And he talked to them as he checked thier tickets, he asked them about thier family and how they were all related. I couldn´t help but feel that if our security guards were more like that man, if they just oozed with a cheery ether. Then perhaps we wouldn´t need quite so many of them and the world would be a better place. I was flying to Miami and I should have figured but just about everybody else that was flying there spoke English as a second language. In fact when I got to miami my connecting flight was on the complete other side of the terminal so I got to walk and it was a bit of a walk. I think I got about 2/3 of the way there before I heard any english and that was just by chance from a cashier at some restaurant. And I if I remember right they did just about everything in English and Spanish. I don{t know exactly why but there was an old grandma in the row infront of me speaking to her apparently her son and she was just so happy and speaking in floridian spanish I couldn{t do any thing other then smile. And then the guy sat next to me (I was in the window seat). He was a big fat guy that subsequently fell asleep and for whatever reason seemed to list starboard and unfortunately I was his starboard. Though it really wasn´t that awkward just a little uncomfortable at times. I figure it would be the airplane equavlient of between a rock and a hard place, between the window and a big sleeping fat guy. When the flight attendant passed giving my immigration forms she looked at me and hesitated, looking at me. I would like to think she was taken aback with my stunning good looks, but I am more inclined to think that she was trying to decide if she should speak to me in English or Spanish. Then she spoke to me in spanish and was suppriesed when I responded. Then she asked me if I spoke spanish which I confirmed. Which to me seemed the wrong order of operation, wouldn´t you want to establish the mode of communication first and then communicate... But I am not to judge. Anyway, as I got off the plane they announced like three times to not forget anything as you get off the plane. So of course I forgot my jacket. And I didn´t remember until I was well off the plane and about 40 minutes after we arrived. I went back to the airlines to see if I couldn´t get my jacket but they said no that I would have to make a "reclamo" when I got to Buenos Aires. But in a way it was a blessing in descuise, because for now I´m using Karina´s fathers jacket which I think is better because I blend in a little bit more then I would have otherwise. So I waited in Lima peru and I really had nothing to do, and I didn´t for whatever reason want to use my computer nor read my books so I had nothing to do but people watch. It was quite fun to watch all the people who would go into the masuse shop there by the terminal and wonder about thier story. Finally I got to board the plane and It was the first nice plane. To Lima I was on a 737 and 757. But to Buenos Aires I was on a 767 it had a screen on the back of the seat infront that showed movies and games and distance to destination and that kind of stuff. Finally I got to Buenos Aires and there is a 140 doller one time entry fee for US citizens. So I waited in line to get through immigration and I thought I had to pay that there, but they said I had to go in another line to pay. So I did. What I didn´t see was that the other line also had a special immigration booth where you did your stuff. So I paid the fee and got back in the other line. And unfortunately while I was paying the fee a whole bunch of Germans decided to get in line and a 20 minute early arrival became a 40 minute delay because I didn´t pay the fee first. This made Karina a little nervious as she had to wait. She told me she was going crazy everytime someone with glasses walked out of customs. The one day I´ve been here has been amazing. I got to meet all of Karina´s family, and they all generally like me. Karina didn´t want to tell her family that we were dating until I got there, so I told them. They all were mildly supprised I think but all generally happy for the both of us, and in thier very Argentine way they started asking all kinds of questions. Many questions for which we didn´t have answers because we haven´t gotten there in our relationship. I suppose they already had us married in thier heads. This made for a few awkward moments but overall everything was alright. Anyway, Karina is awesome and beautiful. In her own cute way she does everything she can to take care of me. For example this morning we went to the train station and I said good bye to her while we were waiting for the train she went and got me some Halls cough drops, here they are eaten more like hard candy, she got them for me because she is afraid I will get sick with out a heavy coat (it´s only about 50 degrees, so not that cold, but...) and the cough drops have vitamin C. She was very cute. ... And she is an amazing kisser. :)