So this pervasive melancholy feeling that has been surrounding me for the last week or so and made my behavior not such a favorable sight to behold (you know who you are and again I apologize) has apparently followed me to Buenos Aires. I arrived here from Bariloche on Saturday, and for the life of me can´t seem to find anything that can make me happy. Which is really unfortunate as I came back here a bit early in order to do and get a few certain things that I simply have not been able to find since I got here!
I am actually afraid to call my friends here and subject them to my current behavior, and am not sure how to get out of the funk. I guess with the impending departure I am feeling all the mixed feelings other travellers have told me about.
While I am excited to go home and see friends and family and get started on whatever may be next for me--and the prospects are great--I am also feeling sad of course about ending my travels, leaving new friends I have made, and maybe a little bit unsure of how to make the adjustment back to ¨normal¨ life. This is my life now, and even Buenos Aires, which I love dearly, is failing to snap me out of this current mood I am in.
Perhaps these feelings stem from a very poor mistake I made back a few days ago. I admit it friends: I took another Andesmar bus. I know Shannon is going to kill me when she hears this saddening news, and in my defense, I thought I was purchasing a ticket for Tur Bus, but they stuck me on the Andesmar crossing the border from Chile into Argentina. The ride itself was not bad, but can you believe these people had the nerve to not even serve a ham sandwich as a snack??!!
Anyway, back to now. The city is different, as I guess are all places when you leave and return. Walking around the city the other day, I couldn´t quite put my finger on what was so different. I finally realized that the street signs, which used to be sponsered by the Personal cell phone company with a blue banner on top, have been replaced by the Claro cell phone company´s red banners. A little thing, yes, but enough to put me out of my element and not sure what is going on. Favorite restaurants have closed, and new ones have opened in locations of previous clothing stores. Even the local dogs are out of sorts. Normally they act like they are on their way to a party, the office, or the home of a friend, but today there were some running around barking and growling at people...very strange.
But also, as always, the city has not failed to make me laugh. Cruising toward the centro to find my faovrite pants in a smaller size (this is a purchase not to be apparently) I came upon Plaza de Mayo and what was evidently some kind of waiter contest. There they were, cruising the loop so to speak, decked out in their waiter uniforms, carrying a tray containing a pepsi, a bottle of water, and of course a full glass of the ever-present-in-Argentina Tang, which these people have convinced themselves is actual orange juice. Just going around in circles apparently all afternoon. There did not appear to be any signage of any kind, other than the usual headlines about the Malvinas war veterans shoddy treatment by the government, which would explain the behavior of these waiters. Assumingly they were not there just because they had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon......
Other things I have filled my time up with recently are things like getting down to Michael Jackson and the Village People at the hostel party the other night, travelling through the Lake District near Bariloche in a car I rented with a new friend, watching said friend get down to Barry White in the middle of the street in Bariloche, being terrified by some animal from the llama family as it ran straight toward me in the car, and once again seeing some amazing views.
So I am off to the airport in a couple of hours to head to Miami where I get to relax for a couple of days with a new friend on a boat watching the sun set and putting away some margaritas....can´t think of a better way to end this trip! It has been a great year and I am looking forward to doing some reflecting on the year´s experiences and lessons learned. Soon I will post some more pictures from my last night here in Buenos Aires at the Cuban salsa club and also hoping some fun pics of us chicas hanging out in Miami. In the meantime, here are a couple from recent days.
http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Mas%20Argentina/?albumview=slideshow
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