should old acquaintance be forgotten

the cabbie took us indirectly to the bus station after circumnavigating a group of six hundred or so kids spilling out of the discotech at seven in the morning. we rolled into the station at 6:10 by my watch and 7:10 by the deskclerk´s with no bus in sight, the ticket window closed. what to do but wait?


so we wait.

the sun is rising, rather, well up in the sky by this time, and its a beautious and fine morning as the wind blows through the palm fronds. other travelers are hanging around muttering about the time change and there is a subdued confusion about. we sit in the sun as feral dogs wander about begging for attention. the pace slows considerably. to a crawl.

after a while, the ticket window opens. i show the man mine.
"okay?" i ask.
"si, es okay." says he.

i go back to our perch and wait some more. an hour passes. we are again to our wits end by this point as it is well past 7:20 on my watch, and presumably 8:20 on the deskclerk´s.

i search my phrasebook and compose the sentence, "¿el autobus esta retrasado?", which i pose to the man in the ticketbooth.

"si, es retrasao." says he.

it´s delayed. no problemo. saga, over. next adventure, puerto madryn.

-------------------

we spilled out of the bus and made our way to the hostel El Gualicho which turned out to be a great multi-cultural stay with friendly and helpful staff. a bit on the spendy side at 130pesos for a double (we´ve been getting rates around 90 pesos). we tried to cook up a veggie stir fry, but could only come up with a couple of peppers and onions at the market. ending up with instant soup thing and champagne. down to the beach, then back for social hour with the collected travelers before retiring to bed.

the next day, we strolled all around the immediate area of the the hostel, then moved to the hostel La Tosca, just two blocks away and 30 pesos cheaper. tried to go to the bank (closed for new year´s eve), walked the pier, and had siesta. the sun is on the way down, time to change into the long pants and head out onto the town.

taking your vegan girlfriend out on the town on new years eve in argentina sounds a lot easier than it actually is. first, we tried to make our own food, but the markets had all closed. then we tried restaurants, but none served an ala carte menu, only the special buffet on account of the holiday. special buffets heavy on the meat and cheese and not much else.

the argentine new year consists of big family dinners and not so much of the going out we experience in the states. we went back to the hostel and rang in the hour with a shot of vodka. salut!

the fireworks were wicked cool, and walking the streets and seeing the families gatheredhad me a bit homesick and recalling the ghosts of new year´s eves past.

next, penguins.