Hostels and Transportation in Argentina, where time went

Hosteles

Telmotango Hostel Suite (San Telmo)(GREAT staff, Recommendable) $55 Arg. Pesos

Tanguera (San Telmo) (Eh) $42 Arg. Pesos

Hostel 1 (Palermo) (Eh+) $40

Hostel Cultural Corrientes 3594 (GREAT) $45

Iguazu Falls Hostel (Eh) $40

Cordoba Backpackers (Eh+) $40

Hostel International Mendoza (Seemed Great. RECOMMENDED) $40

Because of Booking Err from Cordoba staff to Mendoza, I was told to come here though my reservation was actually made in the following listed place. I ate good (hostel style) breakfast, loved the staff, and then had to go to the less central and more mediocre site to sleep. Of course, you meet great people in hostels, anywhere, but I would come back to this site without a doubt.

Mendoza Inn (Good) $40

Transporte

Buenos Aires SUBTE metro $2 per ride Arg. Pesos

Public Bus (depends on trip) $1.50 AP typically

Tigre Iguazu De Buenos Aires A Iguazu $227

Expreso A. Del Valle De pto. Iguazu A MINAS WANDA $10 Arg. Pesos

Expreso Singer De Iguazu a Cordoba $298 Arg. Pesos

Sarmiento De Cordoba a Alta Gracia $6 Arg. Pesos

Sarmiento De Alta Gracia a Carlos Paz $10.50 Arg. Pesos

Car- Cor De Carlos Paz A Cordoba $7 Arg. Pesos

Chevallier De Cordova A Mendoza $184 Arg. Pesos

Nevada De Mendoza A Santiago $80 Arg. Pesos

Jueves, January 07, 2010

Saw MATAR A VIDELA at a theater on Av Rivadavia 1635. The theater was breathtaking, the movie, forgettable. Although I basically didn't know who Videla was beforehand. At least I learned something basic about Argentina. To be fair, I couldn't exactly follow the film.

Viernes, January 08

Bellas Artes AV> DEL LIBERTADOR 1473

AMAZING art museum. I saw Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgard Degas, Edouard Manet, Jean Louis Forain, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Joaquin Sorolla, Francisco P Zargoza, Luis Felipe Noe, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, and a Pollock. Bullox on Pollock.

Recoleta, walking. Saw the sad library, the National Library, which is not even open through the Summer.

Soft Cheese (yummy brie like cheese is easy to come by) in bread for lunch.

Wandered through the very commercial Santa Fe strip.

Sabado, January 09

El Ateneo Bookstore, large and beautiful converted opera house. Bought Spanish to Japanese book.

I had time to read a very strange comic book version of Peter Pan, which I will not be giving to my cousin Peter as I had planned. Peter Pan is a sexually abused bastard with an alcoholic mother. Adults are twisted and he doesn't want to be one. His father's friend looks out for him somewhat, offering food and even shelter. He gives Peter a book that the abandoning father had left behind and Peter runs from his murderous mothers house to a shack where he wildly devours the print. Interesting.

Coffeeshop on Corrientes. The place was a ok, with two stories. I wrote lists and lists of lists while waiting for the movie to start.

Discount Movie. A bookstore Libreria Libertador on Corrientes gave me the tip to go next door and see what shows were available at discount. Even current theater and movies were available. I saw ABRAZOS ROTOS, an Almodovar movie. It was great, of course. The movie theater was quite a few blocks away but also on Corrientes.

Domingo, January 10

Poesia Cafe was really great. It sits on Chile Av, not far from the hostel. There are people there late, reading, writing or just being family. An array of crafted cheese and bread were offered. I had a glass of wine and wrote at length about my mother. I had staring contests with an attractive dude that was downing whiskey and reading. He looked like a smart cookie and a musician or something. Another girl sat by herself, eating whatever, writing in her notebook, and drinking. I saw her snooze a touch. She was Asian and looked to be about my age, but I don't think I caught her attention.

My roommate's snoring was so very profound that I abandoned all hope of sleep. Even the attendant at the hotel was snoozing, occupying the common space and making it impossible to use the computer. The room was cut off for, he said, the fogging of the room, which he needed to do early enough to clear the air before breakfast. Yet he didn't mind sleeping in the room after fumigating it. I saw lots of this RAID situation. RAID is terrifying to me, so I don't see why so many kitchens and eating spaces, in this case sleeping spaces, are casually sprayed down and then occupied as if nothing had happened. For me, bombing an area is a big undertaking because afterwards I don't want to be eating off of the sprayed surfaces or having too much direct contact with the items covered in insecticide.

Anyway, I went to the bar and met some fun people.

Met a Suis music teacher that is in love with her guitar. She was beautiful and I liked her. She came to Buenos Aires to tango, which I also liked. The next step for her is to return to study and become a music therapist. All very cool.

Lunes, January 11

Packed up and found a place in Palermo to sleep. Met up with Federico, who I met at the first hostel and he treated me to a show and beer. Good guy. Bomba de Tiempo was the group and they played at Konex. The beats killed me. His friends seemed less gringa friendly, but I boogied with some girls that I met in the crowd and we took care of each other. Adriana had been there with her buddies too, which we didn't realize until the following day. On the walk home with Federico, I was terribly tired. We had followed the beat to another bar, left it and found another, ate pizza and drank more, and went on our way. I half drunkenly tried to salvage scraps of fabric from the street which I was certain about needing to reuse. Those things got thrown away, sadly. I am never going to knit them and I collect too many things to carry on my back.

I checked out of the Palermo Hotel 1 the next day and left it to stay with Adriana and her two buds in the Hostel International. Best move ever. At the Palermo place, I had shared a room with an amazing climber from Ecuador who really made me want to see his country. He was some chef rockstar and martial arts pro, rugged and action oriented. He had a lot to prove and I left without saying goodbye.

Martes, January 12

I went walking. I thought it would help. After having some difficulty meeting up with and communicating with Adriana through limited internet access and without phones, I thought exercise was the answer. Walking and seeing more of Palermo was not as helpful as I thought. I found myself overwhelmed and wanting to leave the city. I felt unhealthy, malnourished, smogged to death, hungry for sushi, lonely, and restless. I bought salad supplies and put them in my knit bag, which reminds me of Julia and the beauty of my favorite women. I took my greens back to the hostel, made real contact with Adriana, and took my everything to go.

Seeing Adriana was the best part of my day, if not week. She and her friends were good company and made me want to learn Portuguese and go to Brazil. Adriana and I went to San Telmo together to collect more of my things that I had left behind and returned to the hostel after eating a giant salad with Alan. Later we went to eat pizza and fugazza on Corrientes. The hostel crew was cool.

Miercoles, January 13

Alan left at some obnoxious hour, and I didn't get to say goodbye. Adriana and I went to La Boca and el Caminito and then to the cemetery in Recoleta before meeting up with Marcos. Also we secured our bus tickets to Iguazu for the following day. We had planned to meet Marcus at 5 at the McDonalds in the Recoleta Village shopping center. What we hadn't realized was that everything was under construction. Having given up on meeting with Marcos, Adriana and I sat down to eat. Marcos walked by and we were overjoyed. Next was a hunt for banana splits and more walking. I bought a series of books written by a Uruguayan male prostitute and we happily made our way back to the hostel. Wine and cheese on the terrace were the cap on the night and I loved the hammock that held me there.

Jueves, January 14 and Viernes, January 15

Bus trip to Iguazu! 18 hours. Arrival and settling at the mediocre hostel we found there. I read some and walked some with Adriana. We made a meal and ate one out at Flavor Station.

Sabado, January 13

Iguazu national park, from morning till afternoon, baby!! Wonderful Iguazu. Adriana and I went on some boat ride and got goofy happy with other tourists that love to be sprayed by waterfall h20. We climbed and explored until the absolute last moment. My favorite part was throwing my hands up and smiling right into one huge downpour. I felt like I was the waterfall. Adriana and I took pictures of ourselves from every angle, with every stop and new path and sign, with butterfly pests, and with new acquaintances and coati lunch snatchers.

Finished the first of the books written by the prostituto.

IGUAZU

$85 Arg. Pesos to enter the park

Couldn't bye a bus ticket at the last minute to Mendoza. Decided from Annie's advice to go to Cordoba instead of spending 2 days on a bus to the Andean side of Argentina. I think it was a good idea to break up the trip and stop in the middle of the country.

Domingo, January 14

WANDA

$6 pesos para entrar

Beautiful and humble. Kids swarm to sell you precious stones. You see the mine and the red earth road. You get the impression that the people don't see much else.

Lunes, January 15

Cordoba trip, alone.