you never know

First let me give you a rundown of the movies from last post.

Star Wars

Dead Poets Society

Flatliners

Untitled

Silverado

Cannonball Run

Tin Cup (seriously underrated sports movie)

Top Gun

Back to the Future

Shawshank Redemption

Can’t Hardly Wait

A Clockwork Orange

Elizabethtown (mediocre movie but an appropriate line)

Good Will Hunting

I enjoyed assembling the quotes but it took a long time. I could have butchered them all and just typed what I thought they were but wanted to be accurate. Then of course I butchered the final Star Wars line.

So, I am sitting in a hotel in Buenos Aires. The Apart Hotel Flamingo I believe it is called. My room is just a titch on the large side of normal. I asked for a single and I got 3 beds (1 king, two singles), a kitchen (the apart part) and a decent sized although poorly laid out bathroom. From the throne to lying in my bed is 31 steps. Yes I counted. More importantly that’s like 90 feet. I could park Ruby in here and still have plenty of room for 2 beds and the bathroom. It’s very odd but I like it and reasonably priced. I managed to fit into their parking garage by less than an inch. BA is not designed for tall Land Cruisers and on that note…

I have made a bad decision or two along the way (staying in Ushuaia for 3 weeks being one of them) and managed to luck my way into some very good experiences. I will have to say however that yesterday I made a decision that would pretty much assure my status as a genius. Not in the legimate IQ status but pretty damn clever. After the wise move to leave Ushuaia (and get more accomplished in 4 hours regarding shipping than I did in 15 days there) I followed it up with one that was even much more wiser. (why do I feel like I need to explain that is joke?) So as I was rolling north through the wind and desolation of Argentina I was unsure of the best way to approach the second largest city of my trip. I wanted to make it Sunday but it was just too far. The rumors and reputation of the southern Argentina winds are 100% true. At times 30mph and pushing my top heavy truck all over the road. It was very tedious driving and after back to back 16 hour days I was torn between staying an hour outside the city or coming into the city at night. The benefit of late night is little traffic. The downside? Hard to read signs, lost in the wrong neighborhood, hotels are full.

I came in last night and first thing that happened I got lost. The fault however was not mine but that of Lonely Planet. They had the right address for the hotel I wanted but it was wrong on the map. I found the map location quickly. Graffiti, abandoned buildings, empty trash filled streets. Awesome. I parked the truck and walked up to the corner to look around. A guy on the street says hey then the first thing out of his mouth. Your lights are very bright. Or some approximation thereof since I was confused at his greeting and didn’t fully understand his Spanish. I told him that yeah I know they are bright. After a few minutes I was in his little market using his phone to call the hotel. I was about 20 blocks away but they had a room. The shop owner couldn’t read so when I showed him my map we had to ask a patron to help us. Hey good thing they are people shopping at midnight. We found it on the map then I had 4 more people help explain how to get there. All were super friendly, complimentary of my truck and my trip, one even said he’d join me if I kept going.

Back into the city and I got lost. This time my fault. Missed my turn, got stuck in the middle of 9 de Julio (which is a 22 lane road) and couldn’t get out. So my 5 min drive took 20 mins. Finally I found the hotel and parked the truck. I spent most of the morning walking around town working on shipping and one thing dawned on me. This town would have destroyed me had I come in yesterday. Buses, taxis pedestrians, one way streets, alley ways passing as streets and did I mention a 22 lane road that I would have had to use and cross? It was hard enough to get across it on foot let alone in Ruby. So I am at the end of my trip (I hope for real this time) and I think I’ve learned a few things about getting around. You never know when your experience and judgment will kick in. Not driving at night is the standard tenet of Latin American travel but without question it was the right move yesterday. I’d still much rather prefer small towns and having spent 2 months in the sticks Buenos Aires was quite a shock but I made it into the city unscathed. I feel very safe walking around and enjoy the people I have met so far. Granted I am just here to get out of South America but the fact is I am glad I’m here and think I would have missed out had I shipped home from Ushuaia. I just wish I would have decided to come here two weeks ago. I have a special post planned for tomorrow. Be excited. Be very excited. Okay that might be an exaggeration. But I’m sort of giddy about the prospect.

(oh and some pics from the a few sunsets on the drive north, ushuaia, the flatness that is ALL of southeast argentina, enjoy)