Travel Log #4 - Aguanta Buenos Aires

We walked all over the place today. I can't believe how many people there are. I like to go up to people and have conversations. Most people are extremely friendly. One cab driver stopped me and told me to put my camera away because somebody might try to rob me. I'm glad we have cab drivers to keep us safe. We saw a lot of different neighborhoods. Recoleta and Retiro were our favorites. We found a law school. That's the building with all the pillars. Things are really cheap here (for us) which is nice. We found an art musuem. It was pretty cool. I put a picture of a Picasso piece and an Andy Warhol piece up above. I could put captions for each picture but it takes time and time is something I'd rather spend drinking mate and talking philosophy and politics. We're laying low in the hostel right now. We're meeting a friend of mine, Noelia, tonight at 10:30 for dinner and walking around. We're going to see the Puerto Madero which is something I've been looking forward to. Tomorrow we're going to Boca Stadium which is something else I've been looking forward to. We check out at 11am tomorrow and hop on a bus at 8pm which will arrive in Villa Angela at 10am Wednesday morning so expect it'll be a couple of days before I can write again. I love you all.

Travel Log #3 - First day in Buenos Aires

We got to Houston right on time yesterday. I got in trouble for trying to carry deoderant in my carry-on. I forgot it was there. Houston was a lot of fun. I met up with an old friend from my mission and he showed us around. Houston was really hot and really muggy...it was awesome to leave that and wake up in Buenos Aires.

It's been nice and chilly all day. We've both been wearing our coats. Our hostel is nice. I'm sitting in the lobby area right now watching the Germany/Spain game. Everyone's getting into it.

We made our first friend this morning at the airport. His name was Luis. He was a cab driver. We weren't going to use his services but he really put forth an effort to win us over so we went with him. I want to buy from everyone down here because they work so hard to sell something to you. It's impressive to see such a work ethic. Luis turned out to be really cool. He gave us a little tour on the way and ever drove us to the temple and stopped so we could take pictures. He gave us a card so we can call him throughout the week when we need him.

Our hostel is right in the middle of everything. A few blocks away is Florida St which just for walking on. There are shops and stands everywhere. We spent most of the day just walking up and down it. I go in every sports store looking at soccer shirts and hoodies. Everyone is cool here. We've stopped and talked to lots of people. Or they have stopped and talked to us I should say.

I find people's impression of my spanish is greatly influenced by whether I'm willing to buy their product with dollars.

Travel Log #2

So we can't stay at the temple hostel. I called back Tuesday and talked to some guy and he told me that it's really for people who are going to be at the temple. They usually ask people who stay there to not go into the city to visit friends or anything. The people that stay there usually do one session after another he said. I understand. I felt like I was kind of abusing the system anyway. So, we got rooms at a hostel called the Hostel Obelisco. The Obelisco is the Washington monument looking thing that I have a picture of in the previous post. It's right in the center of town. It's what they always show on the morning news in the background of their studio. We'll be 3 blocks from it.

Here's some pictures of the hostel. We're going to stay 2 nights.

Travel Log #1

Well most of you know that I'm going to Argentina in a few weeks. I think I'll turn this into a travel blog and that way it'll be easier to keep up. I'll post iteniaries and pictures and update with stories every few days while I'm down there.




Here's a tentative schedule:

June 28 (9am) - Arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina
July 1 (8:30pm) - Leave Buenos Aires destined for Villa Angela, Chaco
July 2 (12noon) - Arrive in Villa Angela, Chaco
July 8 - Leave Villa Angela / Arrive in Formosa, Formosa
Jul 10 - Leave Formosa / Arrive in Obera, Misiones
July 12 - Leave Obera / Arrive Puerto Iguazu, Misiones

I'll add more to the schedule when I'm at Puerto Iguazu. I'm finding it hard to plan an entire month at once. Anyone truly interested in what we'll be doing in Buenos Aires can click here to see our Yahoo Travel site.




The plan now is to stay at the LDS Hostel next to the temple. The temple is about an hour from the downtown so we need to decide if the distance will be a problem or not. We still have a lot to plan. This blog will probably be my journal so expect lots of boring little updates to my plans and adventures.