what a day.

What a day.

I finished packing and my usual pre-travel preparations around 9pm. Oxygen milonga was that night, and my flight wasn't till 2am, so what the heck, I shuffled to the milonga. Danced with many familiar faces, a few I hadn't seen in a while. At the stroke of midnight (or, just a minute before), I rushed for my car just like Cinderella did for her carriage. Got to the airport and went through security in 5 minutes. That's the good thing about travelling at 2am. Though that just meant I sat there waiting for the flight and wishing I was still at Oxygen.

15 hours later...

We landed in Buenos Aires at 9PM local time. Went through immigration-- got my first Argentine stamp! And on my new RFID passport, no less. Then spent the next hour trying to get Argentine pesos. The ATM (cajero automaticos) rejected all 3 of my debit cards. Calling the bank collect kept connecting the call back to me. I finally gave in and went to the currency exchange, ready to exchange what little American dollars I had for backup. And I complain to the guy about the ATMs. He tells that the maximum withdrawal is 300 pesos. WTF? That's not even $80US! OK, so I go back and finally is able to withdraw some money. But at that rate, I'll probably have to hit the ATM everyday.

Take a taxi, costs me AR$98. The ATM had only given me AR$100 bills, so I felt bad about giving the guy only AR$2 for tip. Check in. Ask the receptionist about milongas. She calls around and points me to this place that's 2 blocks away. It's on the same street as the restaurants that she points me to, but in the other direction.

Not knowing how late these places might be open, I head towards the restaurants first. Ended up at this place called Todo Mundo and sat at their outdoor seatings. I chose that table because it was right next to the outdoor milonga happening right in that square. Of course I had to be there. Ordered a canejo florentino. Or I think that's the name. It's rabbit in florentine (rosemary tomato) sauce. It also came with scallopped potato fries. Total including tip comes out to AR$50 (i.e. US$14). Not bad. I finish paying, and head to the floor. I dance with this tall blonde. Her friend had left her empty cup on my table as they were headed to the milonga. The blonde is from Russia, her friend from Spain. The milonga ends at midnight, so I only got 2 tandas in. Oh well, onto the next milonga.

The next milonga was a bar/restaurant, so there was no cover. If only I had known that there would be places still serving food past midnight, I'd have just danced my heart out in the outdoor milonga. Oh well. I order a cerveza. They only have 1 brew, an import from Germany. It was large (500ml) and quite good, and best of all, only AR$12. Where in Los Angeles can you get a large beer for less that US$3.50? El Baron charges US$4 just for a small bottle of water! The place was only half full when I arrived, but within a few minutes, filled to capacity. I recognize a few people from the outdoor milonga-- I guess I came to the right place! I dance a few tandas. One with a Canadian expat, who is living in Buenos Aires while writing her dissertation. How I envy her-- I wish I could do the same, to live in a foreign city without interrupting your work/life. And just as quickly, the crowd dispersed after 2AM. So, I head back to my room for some sleep.

Ok, that was more than 24 hours, but, what a day.