Flycycle Diaries, Pt. 3

Saludos de Buenos Aires! What a delightful experience to re-enter the 1st world after being in the 3d world for a month! Bettina from Berlin used to say that the countries of the world can be divided into 3 classes. The upper class countries give you bags for free when you check out of the supermarket. The middle class ones make you pay a few cents per plastic bag, and the lower class ones make you take your own bag to the market. I have a new spin on that. The countries of the world can be divided into 2 classes. In the upper economic ones, the bus doesn"t start up until the doors are closed. In the lower economic ones, they never close the doors of the buses. In B.A., they close the doors!

The Lloyd flight was supposed to take off at 10:30 a.m. The bus arrived at the hotel to take us to the airport at 11 a.m. That was a clue. We got to the airport at 11:45. There were about 10 people in line in front of me. There were 2 very challenged airline employees working behind the counter labelled "international flights." The 2 were sharing one computer. It was obvious that the computer was a hindrance to their job, not a help. I got to the counter at 2 p.m. Thank God I had a bottle of water with me! It was very hot and humid. An e-ticket is not a good thing to have in South America. They had to bring out some jefe from the back office while I tried to explain about my e-ticket. He very hesitantly gave me a boarding pass probably on the theory that there must be SOMETHING to what the gringo says or else how did he get here?

There were other people in line with me also headed for B.A. The airline staff told us to ignore the take off time on the big electronic screen; that the plane would not take off without all of us on it. I get the impression that LAB just sort of fills up the plane as people arrive at the airport, kind of like a bus that doen{t have a schedule. When it seems like everyone is on board, they take off. Because they take so long to process people at the counter, they{re always late.

As we boarded the plane, it was obvious that duplicate seat assignments had been given to numerous people. So they announced that people could simply sit anywhere they wanted. Theis meant that all sorts of people jumped up out of their seats to sit next to their spouses, etc. It was quite a scene. The plane was completely full, since they had cancelled the flight from the day before.

I watched as they loaded the plance below with an amazing amount of commercial freight. We must have been incredibly heavy at take off, but made it! I arrived in B.A. about 7 p.m. B.A. time and proudly took the muni bus for 50 cents, instead of a taxi to the city center. The bus ride took 2 hours and was a great tour of the city. The whole town is alive with people at 10 o{clock at night, probably because the temperature cools down a bit. I found a hostel for $10 a night, sleeping in a small room with six guys in 3 bunkbeds. Memories of the Army! Tonight I definitely want to find a hotel where I can luxuriate with a bathroom I don"t have to share!
Hasta luego!