9 hours is nothing

Greetings from hot and humid Buenos Aires. I arrived this morning at around 7am local time, which is 2 hours ahead of Eastern time back home. Though it was a night flight I wasn't able to get much sleep at all. At least the gate agent hooked me up with a sweet exit row where I could unfold my long legs. Amazingly, after fliying to Asia so many times now, a nine hour flight feels like nothing!!! I was astonished how quickly it went by.

Upon arrival I changed a big wad of cach, purchased my ticket to Ushuaia for Feb 9, and then hopped on the local #86 bus to downtown Buenos Aires. I could have taken a Taxi for about $15to$20 or a minibus for $9, but I thought I should start out the trip right and use the 40 cent local bus. Though it did take me about two hours to travel the 35 miles into town on this thing, did I mention it was only 40 cents!!!!

I got off at the Plaza del Mayo, the most famous historical spot in BA, where the independence movement and other important politial events have taken place over the past 200 years. I tried finding a park with some nice shady spots because the sun was intense, not Bangkok intense, but still pretty hot. All the parks though seemed to weirdly be under construction so I instead headed to San Telmo, a historical disctrict with a variety of hostels to choose from. I decided to stay here> http://www.sandanzas.com.ar/ingles/buenos_aires_hostel.html It seems like every hostel in the town has their own web site so I thought I should include mine. Tomorrow I may try to stay with someone from Hospitality Club or CouchSurfing but I''ll have to explain what those are in a different post. Time for a nap!

On my own

Well, I'm on my own now. After spending the night in Chicago with Kristin and Bob (my sister and brother-in-law) they have left for work and I leave for the airport in about four hours. Saying goodbye to them was my last link to anything that is known for the next three months. From now on it will be new in every way: New cities, new foods, but most importantly, new people. Meeting strangers, both travelers and locals, will be what largely sustains me on this solo journey through Argentina and Chile. It's a bit of a scary concept, and something I've never done before, relying on the kindness of others for such an extended time. I can be unnecessarily shy at times, but I'm going to try my best to be outgoing, open to meeting as many new people as possible. If I don't make this effort I will only be shortchanging myself.
A rough outline of this trip: Spend my first week in Buenos Aires, then fly south to Ushuaia, the "southernmost town in the world". From there slowly make my way back north for the next three months, most of the time straddling the Argentina/Chile border. I plan on doing a fair amount of camping and hiking and taking lots of amazing photos. If I am able to I will post photos along the way with my posts. Oh yeah, and somewhere in late March I will have to make a decision on grad school from the road, as my mom opens my admission letters and relays the good/bad news to me. I'll keep you updated on that drama. I hope you enjoy following along.