This pequenito light of mine: Recap on Buenos Aires

Back in my room!

It is currently 5 a.m. I arrived back “home” last evening and was welcomed by the smell of Cochabamba (dry smelly excretion). My body is re-adjusting to the change in weather and altitude, as I woke up 4 times last night and once again with puffy eyes and a stuffy nose – I had almost forgotten where I was. J

Buenos Aires Cemetary

In Buenos Aires we went to a zoo and a cemetery and coffee shops and restaurants and walked a ton. The national cemetery has a ton of above ground graves. I am strange in the fact that I think cemeteries are fascinating. The way people honor and revere their dead says so much about the culture and when I was younger I enjoyed wondering what the lives of those past were like. I used to stand bewildered at graves from the 1800s and try and comprehend what that person’s life must have been like. Halfway through our trip we decided to switch hostels. GREAT DECISION.

checking into the Art Factory with my pasaporte

We relocated to the “Art Factory” on another side of town. Our room had 6 beds – and we mostly hung out with friends from Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, Belgium, France, and Netherlands. It is amazing how quickly you can make friends and connect with other people. The day would go like this. Morning – wake up – go have breakfast –conversation

Traveler #1 - “hello, what are you doing today?”

Traveler #2 - “I don’t know, what are you doing today?”

Traveler #1- “I’m doing this, this, and this, want to join?”

Traveler #2-“Ok, lets invite person a, person b, person c”

Traveler #random- “ok, and for dinner lets all make food together and eat.”

Traveler everyone-“ok”

And than we would proceed to go sight see or hang out at a food place. The environment was so laid back and great for rejuvenating. One of our friends from Columbia met an Italian and by the next day they had both bought tickets to Iguazu Falls and will be traveling throughout South America together for the next few weeks (including a stop in Cochabamba!). If you ever want to travel alone – don’t fret about the alone part – because you will make friends (provided you are nice, which, if you are reading this, you probably are because you are probably my friend).

Aside from that awesomeness, there was the, how should I call it, not so awesomeness. We call this part of the trip – food poisoning. I went to bed dizzy and woke up to more dizziness and stomach pain – and just about the point where it felt like I was going to die – that is the point when my night of food poisoning began. That night was spent on the community bathroom floor, vomiting every 20-30 minutes from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Never again – nunca jamas. Although – I know it is inevitable to return.

The bed I paid $55 for

What goes through ones mind when vomiting out everything even when there is nothing left? A lot. It’s like God was giving me extra time to reflect on life – in a unique way. I was sitting on the bathroom floor with my hand to my head, shivering profusely, and about to complain, when the verse about being thankful in all circumstances came to mind. OK FINE. “Thank you God for this illness, for my immune system that lets me know something is wrong, for the ability to feel when I am about to purge, and for this lovely bathroom floor that is not nasty. Thank you for…and the list continues.” This was a first time experience of being thankful while vomiting – and I highly recommend it – because it turns out – there is a lot to be thankful for. Early that morning I gave in and rented a hostel room to myself. I wasn’t quite sure what illness I had or how long I would be sick for so deductive reasoning led me to give up 55 dollars on a room with a private bathroom. I spent the next day in bed, going in and out of sleepy consciousness. I thought a lot about the time here and how to use it wisely and I thought a lot about a lot of you. (Tons of “a lots” in that sentence, but too tired to think of an alternative, much?)

After the day of pain – that’s what I’ll call it – I regained! We visited the president’s house, beautiful, long, boring, interesting, tour. We spent more time getting to know people at the hostel and the final night – Tango!! Don’t be deceived, I didn’t tango, but we watched and listened to Tango. It was the beginning of the national tango festival. I have a high appreciation for tango music and dancers now and perhaps someday, I will learn. There was an open dance floor with people dancing oh so elegantly to the tango, it was impressive, and beautiful. The tango definitely brings out the hopeless romantic feeling that sometimes you love and sometimes you hate.

Oh! I dropped my Droid phone in the toilet. I went to the store to buy rice to put the droid phone in, I opened the bag of rice in the store (don’t ask me why), and spilled the rice on the store floor. The remainder of rice was used to let the droid phone dry. The next day I also borrowed a French girls hair dryer and blow dried the phone. I am proud to announce that currently the driod phone is next to me with music playing and everything seems to be in order. To those of you with smart phones – store this portion of the blog in your memory for a slippery day when you drop your phone in a toilet.

Also, if you travel, buy a lock. Devon and I had money stolen from us the first night at the first hostel and another night, even with the lock!) Thank goodness it wasn’t too much – that is part of the traveling experience I guess.

This is excruciatingly long and I still have to add photos. More of tango to come another day. Enjoy!