Arriving Thoughts

With an obsession for spending as little money as possible, I took the bus from Ezaize International to my Hostel. It was free, but also, it took about two hours to get to my hostel, for a total travel time of 24 hrs. Yet, it was my first real Argentinean experience.

The ride into the microcenter was marked by general discussion of the way the city’s geography worked. In LA, my ability to find my way around the city laid in the palm of my hand, my Blackberry GPS, or my keen sense of geographic direction, east and west. Here, the address numbers got smaller as we approached plaza de mayo (the microcenter and also a symbol of Argentina’s freedom).

After this educational exchange with a Brazilian, I look out the buss’ window, and seeing greenery everywhere, recall the dryness of LA, the grass is greener type of synecdoche and experience. Finally, we arrived at our bus stop, and the Brazilian helped me with my bags; he receded and so did the greenery.

I was greeted by outgoing, animated staff. It was refreshing, and my anxiety waned momentarily. I was tired, so I lay on foam, was this really my bed? Within a couple of minutes, the foam shrank, and my body was against the boards of the bed. So, I arose and went for a run. I was confronted by a number of differences: Beautifully architected building, noxiously polluting buses, and, how do I put this delicately, number two’s left by dogs on the sidewalk. I shall try to suspend judgment, I thought. But is this possible?

Comparing everything in terms of my previous environment, on one hand helps me make sense of my surroundings; on the other hand, the more I do this the less comfortable I feel with my conclusions and my environment. So, I’m working on acceptance because if I don’t avoid this kind of comparison making, I’m afraid I’ll miss some very, very unique facets of the culture.