Day Four

Today was the most difficult day I have had so far. Everyone I met has spoken Spanish except one who spoke spanish and some bad english. It has been frustrating, but quite exciting.

My day began at 730 am. I was really nervous about taking the train by myself then walking to the bus station. When I got up I had to finish packing my stuff. To leave I had to run to the outside door of the complex, open the door, run back upstairs to the apartment, grab my stuff, drop off the keys and leave.

BA was beautiful this morning. I had no problem walking to teh train station. When on the train I sat across from this nice Argentine man. He asked me something, but I had to tell him ´no espanol.´With the little spanish I have learned I told him I am from Alaska and on my way to Rosario. He did what everyone else does when I tell them where i am from, looked at me funny and astounded then says ´freo´. When it was time to get off the train I was putting on my bag. This other guy helped me put it on.

The funniest thing about Argentina. I always thought patagoina was the same as alaska. That is not correct. Alaska is way colder then Patagoina gets. Juan Pablo, who I had met a few days before used to live in Patagonia. I was asking him about it. He told me it got very ´freo.´ I looked in my Argetina book to see the comparison from celcius to F and turns out it gets way colder in AK. When I showed Juan he was like ´WOW´. It was pretty funny.

Once I got to the oumnibus I ended up having to wait two hours to board a bus. While waiting I met these other two old men. We talked the best we could, mostly with hand gestures since no one understood each other. Some how I ended up missing my bus to Rosario so they put me on the 1130 am bus to Cordoba, which stops in Rosario. There wasmuch confusion, but the bus driver took me under his his wing and got me on the bus,e ven though we couldn´t speak.

The bus ride was crazy. Like I said before, people here are really bad drivers. We were stuck in traffic for hours. At onepoint I looked out the window, while we were standing still of course, and I noticed a bunch of kids standing in the grass on the other side of the guardrail being roudy and hooting and howlering. A moment later I saw a coach bus following thekids, then another. I thought the bus was going to tip over, but it didn´t. It was very weird. That would never happen in the US. Turns out it was a soccar team by the way.

Once we arrive din Rosario the true cayas began. We didn´t get dropped off at the bus station, but in this sketchy part of town. I asked a girl and boy how to get to central Rosario. They flagged down a cab for me because turns out it was a dangerous place to be. The taxi cab driver did what they do here, take tourists the long way to make more money. Jerk, oh well. I still tipped him well though, I figure I would like to have karma on my side this trip.

By the time I made it to my hotel and got settled in it was 830pm. 5 hours after my estimated arrival time.

I have had fun with the guy at the front counter. I can understand written spanish, but not verbal so we communicated on paper.

I stopped by another hotel to check the price for the next day. The kid there spoke some english and he let me use the internet to let everyone know I made it and was safe. He also gave me the name of a hostel. I am going to stay there next.

For dinner I sat down to a bottle of red wine and a hamburger, consisting of a slice of ham, slab of beef, and a ton of cheese. A very fitting meal considering my day. If you end up here though, I wouldn´t recomend it.

I took one picture today, but I need my camera cord to hook up to the computer and get my picture, so I will put it up later.

Love you, don´t worry about me. I am in a very safe place now. Next I am going to go to Iguazu.