Sunday, November 13, 2011

Base Camp Alpha

Here I am, in Cordoba, and I felt like I was at home the moment I landed. There´s a sense of nostalgia I get from the geography from this place, for much like my childhood homeland of Boulder, CO, the city sits at the base of a vast mountain range that stretches across the western horizon, and like Colorado in the springtime, it is green...very very green. Plus, there´s a thunderstorm happening outside at the moment.

I haven´t had a lot of time to explore the city yet since I´m still trying to get my rest after three sleepless nights at two different airports. I did have a chance to hit up the grocery store for some grub, where I acquired a really decent sized slab of beef for $1.40 USD. I love this place.

I apologize if this blog seems pretty sparse at the moment. I´m still trying to figure out my satellite messenger so you folks back home can stalk me as I trek about town and such. Once I´m done rebuilding my bike, I´ll start providing a little bit more details about my motivations for this trip, my equipment, and my route, so make sure to check back later.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Buenos Aires

I have gotten to know this airport rather well. Yesterday, a strike in the control tower grounded just about every single plane in the airport and turned back countless others, leaving who knows how many stranded, including myself. What was supposed to be a 3 hour layover has turned out to be an overnight stay in the airport. Now I´m almost done reading Fanshen and I don´t know what to do with myself. Book of the New Sun sounds too daunting at the moment...

Like so many megacities in the world, Buenos Aires is known for having two many airports, both of which are on opposite sides of this humongous city. The flight into Buenos Aires was followed by a harrowing bus ride that would´ve made Officer Jack Traven mess his pants. Our chaufre made mince meat out of gridlock, gliding between cars as if he were driving a speck. This wasn´t just a man racing from point a to b. He was cool, calculating, a truely liberated mind who would not be shackled by arbitrary boundaries such as lanes and common sense. Countless vehicles were cutoff while others were forced onto the shoulder, yet not single horn was blasted in malice at our bus. The slow moving masses in our wake were obviously impressed. I had to shake his hand on the way out.

I counted six hamburger and brotwurst joints just outside the airport, and another two inside. I am about to go have my fifth burger in the last 18 hours. Wish me luck...

Lovin this country so far.

Oh yeah...I have officially chosen a theme song for my journey: