Off to San Telmo despite no Eggs Benedict

The morning before I left for Buenos Aires was just like any normal departure day - running around to get the last few things done despite a terrible headache creeping in from lack of sleep. Mum and I wanted to have a nice relaxed breakfast in Newtown before heading to the airport. I had one thing on my mind and that was Eggs Benedict for my last meal in Australia. Unfortunately the cafe was closed so we had to settle for a sandwich instead. I hoped that this was not a bad omen for my impending trip. I was in for one more disappointment though. At the checkin desk I was presented with a boarding pass for Business class! Woo hoo! I thought that maybe my student who works for Argentina Aerlineas swung an upgrade my way. My sensible Mum reminded me to check the name on the boarding pass and alas I was about to board as 'Sarah Dodds'. The attendant didn't even apologise for the mixup and so within 10 minutes I was back to economy class like all of the other paupers.

The flight went reasonably well even though it was a few hours delayed and now estoy en Buenos Aires! I met an Australian girl in the line out of the airport and it turned out she was going to get a taxi to San Telmo as well so we split the cost. I think I got ripped off though because we agreed on 180 pesos but as soon as we dropped her off (she spoke Spanish very well) the price jumped up to 250 pesos because he had to drop me off at a 2nd destination. My Spanish is SO little that I couldn't argue enough about it so I let it go. Oh well!

Our apartment in San Telmo is amazing. My first thought was maybe I should just live here for the next 2 years instead but of course not I've got too many amazing things ahead of me! It's been a lot of fun to try and order food and talk to the locals. The food hasn't been that crash hot just yet so I am looking forward to finding some delicious empanadas and steak which seem to be fairly famous around here. I went exploring last night at about 10pm and got a bit lost. I unknowingly ordered too much wine and a huge margarita pizza that was more like a slab of melted cheese with a little bit of tomato and pizza base hidden underneath. The waiter was a little confused when I ordered which should have been a big red flag to me at that point! Once he saw how little I ate and drank of what I had ordered his face seemed to say 'I told you so!' and that was the second 'oh well' I had to say to myself that day :)

This morning I felt terribly jetlagged but I had a great time doing some more exploring in the daytime and joining my new lovely housemates to have a look at the markets. The neighbourhood has a great vibe and while my pictures are a bit grey because of the smog I really like Argentina already. My first impression of the people here is that Argentines are very gentle, chilled, helpful, good looking and smiley so what's not to like? There's already a million things I want to buy from the markets but I'll try to mull over some of my choices before going to some more markets next weekend. I am taking it easy today because it's been a huge week before getting here and I want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for my first day of Spanish school tomorrow! I'll let you know where my new shoelaces take me next...