The architecture down here is impressive, it is so pretty.
One of the best features of my stay in the capital of Argentina is my choosing the cheapest accommodation I possibly could, a little hostel in the area Monserrat, close to the famous obelisk.
The hostel is slightly worn down, and I have a bed in a room with 7 other people, but compared to how I have lived the last year, it is high standard indeed.
The best thing about being at a hostel rather than hotel is that you meet other travelers.
To my enormous delight there are two brazilians staying here. One looks like Bob Marley, smells so much like weed that I could find him from across the city and is constantly trying to get into the pants of all girls he meets. Despite this he is a pleasant human being, although I might think so only because he is Brazilian ... The other person of said nationality is equally nice, although sometimes a little bit strange. He is a homeless guy who has traveled all over the world with ships (it used to be his job), and he is trying to teach me a bit Portuguese, the times he speaks. Sometimes he gets all quiet and meditative and impossible to contact.
Staying with us is also a Russian guy with his son. The former looks and acts a bit like the albino assassin from the Da Vinci Code, but is pleasant all the same, the latter seem to be hyperactive and doesn't speak Spanish.
Then there is the Canadian that pretty much just wants to leave as soon as possible (he hasn't been home in 8 years and his ticket constantly gets postponed), the guy from the US that does some sort of work here(that's as specific as he gets when asked) and the adorable welsh girl that came here to spend her vacation, from London, where she studies medicine. She has the cutest accent ever and I am so jealous of her for living in London... We are all alone travelers, which is good in the aspect that you can meet way more people and you are much more free that whilst traveling in company.
I'm not sure if it is because I have gotten so used to getting into families that aren't my own over the past year, but I instantly got myself integrated in the little family our hostel group constitutes.
Being this social is very different from how I was only a year ago, and it just goes to show how much I have grown and changed during my exchange.
My trip had a rather crappy start though. My camera, for which I worked and saved money for about a year, got stolen. It was actually an ingenious robbery, and whilst being really pissed and sad, I am also quite impressed.
I don't know wether the whole thing was arranged but I do suspect it.
Somehow I got splashed with a liquid I suspect was butanoic acid (at least it smelled like it, for those not knowing the smell, it is a bit like a mix of puke and vinegar and really really unpleasant. I don't have any desire to actually know what it was...). At this point, an old lady comes up next to me and "helps" me to whipe the mess off with some napkins, I suppose to distract me. Also, an old man comes up with a water bottle, offering me some to get it off. This all happened really fast, and I didn't have time to react. It was first afterwards, when the couple had taken off in a taxi that I realized my camera was gone (it had been in my bag). I am still really angry about it, about the camera which was my little baby but even more actually about the 16 GB memory card it had inside, with photos from all the year.
However I decided that I will go for the positive thinking line. I could let this take me down and ruin my whole trip or I can just be happy nothing worse happened to me, and also now i don't have to bother with bringing it on the plane during my flight back... You can always replace material loss and with some saving and working I might get a new camera in a few years.
Another thing I'm noticing here is that my Spanish is very Paraguayan. So much so that one of my Brazilian roommates on occasion has asked me to repeat in Spanish because he "doesn't understand Paraguayan". Even so, everyone else understands me and it feels very good to be able to communicate with the people in their own language.
Another thing with Argentinians is that they don't like Paraguay very much. When I say I stayed in Paraguay for a year they look at me with a pitying gaze as though they want to console me and cautiously ask me what I think about Paraguay, eager to engage in some trash-talking about their neighbor. Now, I am the first to trash Paraguay, but only I can do it, because it is my country. If Argentinians want to trash it, I am the first to say that it actually isn't that bad. It's funny how you can grow such affinity for a country you sort of also hate. Or let's say love to hate...
Take care, stay safe
