11-20-03
I arrived last night in Buenos Aires at 2 am. I nearly lost my sleeping pad. My bag was searched before leaving Miami because they saw my "magic shave" while scanning my bag. I guess they thought it was plastic explosives or something. When they repacked it they didn't put my sleeping roll on very well. I was liberal and didn't say anything. I later scolded myself for that as a stupid short term lapse of logic. But my bags were checked all the way through to Argentina, what could I do? When I finally did get to Buenos Aires and went to collect my pack I was not surprised to see it missing one sleeping pad. I resumed in chastising myself for not thinking ahead as that is my mo. As my pack made its way around the baggage claim to me I saw a small familiar purple sack come through the baggage claim conveyor belt. YES! It was my sleeping pad. I began to congratulate myself for being smart enough to put a tag with my name on it. My thinking was if it does get separated from the other things, the baggage people could look on the tag and see it was the same as for the others. My self-assuring theory proved false when I grabbed it and saw the tag had come off. I don't know how it got to the right place, but I will take it. I hopped out of customs at exactly 2:10am to a horde of taxi and "car" drivers that out numbered us passengers. After brushing off several characters offering me "the best deal" to Buenos Aires via car or taxi I headed to the information booth. I then tried to get a public bus into Buenos Aires (federal district or capital), but there were none running. I ended up taking a taxi for 38 pesos to a "cheap hotel" (named hotel central). Stayed the night and felt sick in the morning. I had diarrhea already, probably from the food in Costa Rica, which I loved. I took a Cipro and went back to bed. I awoke at noon feeling a bit better. I headed out to an internet café to tell those back home that I did indeed arrive safely, and further more, I was free to get into trouble on my own.

From there I went out and explored. I asked for directions to la Universidad de Buenos Aires. I got a bit of help in the form of a guy that wanted to practice his English. I was busy practice my Spanish, which was frustrating me, as is evident by this gentleman's conclusion that English may be a better language to conduct this conversation in. He told me to head to Calle Paraguay. I did. When I got there, there was no obvious Universidad, only people laying around and kissing in the park. Not having kissed anyone in almost a year, I was not interested in seeing others enjoy this most joyous of human indulgencies, so I kept walking.

I went around a big white building, which had no name, and started just walking aimlessly. I enjoy that. I made my way back to el congresso federal.

I then saw a couple of young people collecting votes or something. They looked like activists of some sort, so I went up to them and asked what this was all about. They were getting signatures for a petition against ALCA (Area de Libre comercio de las Americas). I listened and chatted with them. I told them that I agreed. I wasn't sure of all the details but I was sure it was more of the "free trade" bullshit the US is trying to force on every country. Maya was the girl's name that told me about it. She asked where I was from and what I was planning to do while in Argentina. I told her about my Che trip and she said she was a Guevarista. I was quite happy and surprised. We chatted a little while more then we parted ways. I did not want to keep her from passing stuff out. I walked around and headed back to the hotel located at Solis 192. I was feeling a lot better. I read through the flyer she gave me and liked what it said. I decided to invite them out to dinner. I went back, and they said to meet them there at 7pm. I did and they were still rapping with people interested in their petition. Up came one of there other friends. Maya introduced me to her and her name was Andrea. They all handed flyers out and got signatures. We headed back to Andrea's house. I introduced myself to Eduardo. We walked and I talked with Andrea. She was very vocal, which was great. We drank mate back at Andrea's house and I broke out my laptop and played them a few songs (an absolute no no for the paranoid gringo traveler). We ate cookies and drank mate for a while. I didn't know if I would like mate, but this "mate dulce" was good. We eventually went out to a place to eat empanadas (a breaded food not unlike Jamaican patties). They were good. I had beef for the first time in many years. It wasn't straight nast and I expected. It was actually quite tasty. We discussed the political future of Argentina and the small role that the battle against ALCA played in the larger picture. Eduardo laid down a great base and analysis of Argentine history and the Peronist movement. I was sucking it all in. I learned much that first night. I had three great friends, a full belly, and a whole world to explore.

The Kiwi Chameleon...