After six glorious weeks back home in New Mexico, I am now living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have just arrived and I will be chronicalling my first days and impressions here.
After having been away from Latin America for over two years, getting back here is incredibly exciting and incredibly scary as well. Its a lot of emotions all mixed in one. The major difference is on this journey I am by myself and on my last journey I was with my best friend who decided to stay home this time and follow my adventure remotely. I don´t blame her, living in Latin America is not for the faint of heart, and you have to really WANT to live here to be here.
So, here I am back in a place where I don´t speak the language, and struggling to understand the basic things that people are saying to me as I buy a bottle of water at the grocery store, or I try to exchange money at the bank.
The first day has been a whirl wind of emotions, all of the old stuff comes back and all of the new stuff awaits me with open arms. Nothing like diving in head first.
Its cold here, not real cold, but way colder than Pasadena, and I have not been in any type of winter for years, as I even skipped my winter before Pasadena living in Ecuador. Luckily, I am half way through winter, and this is NOT a real winter, but cold enough to say wow, it is cold out and the heat is on in my place of residence.
In November 1985 I arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico with short and T shirts, thinking I was going to New Mexico where its always warm. I arrived in Buenos Aires with no hat or gloves or long underwear, not even a sweater. It was so hot in New Mexico and I was in the mind set of shorts and maybe a T shirt, maybe not, that the concept of packing a hat and gloves never crossed my mind, well maybe it did, but I didn´t put two and two together.
I walked all over Ecuador with a hat and gloves and never used them because we were on the Equator, and so here I thought I didn´t need it either. But as we flew over Bolivia and I looked down at the gorgeous Andes and the towns of Sucre and Cochabamba I realized we are way south and not in North America, but in South America the further south you fly the colder it gets.
Buenos Aires is nine hours south of Miami. Its about 4500 miles or 7000 kilometers south of Miami. The first island you fly over is Cuba and then Kingston, Jamaica, and then on into the western part of Venezuela and then over Colombia, the Amazon basin in Brazil, and then the Andes of Bolivia and on in to Argentina. The most amazing part of the flight is seeing Bolivia and the Andes. Simply breath taking and gorgeous. Especially the huge river valleys that flow out of the mountains and down into the valley of Bolivia.
Aerolineas Argentinas is an excellent airline, my flight was not very full and I got to have an extra seat to myself. I believe it was close to the longest flight I have ever taken in my life. Its about 12 hours from Buenos Aires to Sydney Austrailia and about the same distance to Madrid, Spain. So, it was fun flying the whole time south, south, south. We only flew one time zone east, so all most all of the flying is south. Its another three hours to the the southern tip of South America approximately. So, basically, Antarctica is probably a few more hours from there, but some one can correct me if I am wrong. Its cool to basically just fly south, with no east west component to speak of. Its the first time I had ever flown that far in a north south direction and only moved one time zone.
The planet is a fascinating place, and flying around is a luxury, I appreciate this trip very much, and will continue to remember how lucky we are to have the things we do.
More about Buenos Aires as I learn my way around the city.
Stay tuned for the next adventure.
3 comentarios:
"y yo salgo oyra vez a regresar"...
Pablo Neruda says of a different journey..."I leave only to come back again" )William O'Daly translation)
And so you have, to South America... and so you will to us...(I hope) where your poetic roots were planted and so turned to flower. Your time there will be constantly surprising in many ways, just as it has welcomed you with a new coldness... a forgotten coldness, really, and you must suit yourself to greet it. And so this fascinating development in your adventure begins. "recomienzo las vidas de mi vida" Neruda says at the end of that poem, (O'Daly says "I begin the lives of my life again"...) I know the warmth of your personality will melt the ice of distances, your smile needs no translation, and your care and engagement with the lives of others and helpfulness in every situation will bring new friends, and though we miss you we can feel generous to those others who will greet you and have the pleasure of your companionship!
I think we need some pictures and description of the gutters, the bars, the people and the job. I think we wand details. Happy to see you seem to be likeing it there
Kathabela y Sharon, thanks for your comments --- you all rock, stay tuned for more details.
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