SLANG TANG: That's that Sudamérica Thang: Buenos Aires: Randoms

This is a random story, that really doesn’t have any relevance, but read it if you’d like.

I am certain, the bus ride from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, will go down as one of the most memorable bus rides I have and most likely will have experienced throughout my South American Adventures. The bus was a monster, a double decker beast, with the capacity to hold 55 plus people, in semi-cama, and cama seats. Side Note—both of the semi cama and cama seats have the capacity to learn back much further than the standard clasico seats, resulting in a better environment for sleeping, and a more comfortable trip.

Back to the reasons this bus trip was unique… Devon and I boarded the bus took our seats, then immediately were bombarded by a fury of families, with little girls. There were three girls no more than five years old sitting in front of us, and beside us. Another Side Note—little kids crack me up. For instance at least 6 of my top ten favorite youtube videos are short clips of little babies laughing, singing, biting their brother’s finger, or doing other dumb things you secretly wonder why their parents captured on that specific moment on camera and put it up on one of the world’s most visited websites for everyone to laugh at. Anyway, the children were pretty well behaved for the majority of the bus ride, although one of the younggins decided to occupy her first complete hour of the bus ride by sitting on her seat, then slowly inching, or to be more worldly “centimetering,” to the edge of her seat cushion until she, and the cushion quickly tumbled to the floor, she would then look around and laugh hysterically for 30 seconds, wait for someone to put the seat cushion back on, then do it all over again. It probably didn’t help that nearly every time the girl would complete her advanced routine and tumble to the floor I would let out a brief but loud chuckle, then hit Devon’s shoulder to make him aware that, yes, the little girl sitting in front of us had fallen of her chair for the 27^th time, and then anxiously stare at the girl until she did it again. The good behavior of the kids, especially during the sleeping hours, was quite a blessing, especially after having to sit in front of the wheezing old woman for eight hours on our trip from Santiago to Mendoza. I was not prepared to suffer through a 16 hour bus ride filled with unnecessary noise, which would prevented me from sleeping more than three hours.

After 6-7 hours of pure tranquility, we were served a great ANDESMAR meal, and during our fine first in bus fine dining experience, one of the little girls sitting next to Devon and me, started to become curious as to who these two foreign boys were sitting next to her, and her young mother. I knew this because she was asking her mom, quite loudly, if we could speak Spanish, so I seized the opportunity to start using the Spanish I have been practicing for the last 4 months, and I began to talk to the little girl and her mom. This brief conversation was the impetus for the most amazing 5 hour bus friendship I have ever experienced. The girl gave me an alfajor, a tasty Argentinean treat, talked with me about her mom, and even gave me a hug goodbye before we got off the bus. It was definitely a memorable bus experience.

Sorry for wasting your time with that story, upon further reflection, I realized you really didn’t need to know any of that… My B. Now to the great adventures of Buenos Aires. Actually that is a lie and I am going to tell you another pointless story...

Story Number Two: (Feel Free to Skip this Part As Well)

Due to problems with obtaining the tourist visa to enter Brazil Devon and I arrived in the Buenos Aires much earlier than I initially had anticipated, nevertheless we quickly fell in Love with the city and ended up staying for roughly 13 days.

So far our time spent in Buenos Aires has been filled with a lot more monotony and routine than I ever would have expected, the main/ only factor of the constant routine here in Buenos is the Brazilian Embassy and getting the tourist visa, which is imperative if someone from America wants to enter Brazil.

I am going to take you on a short digression of the struggles of obtaining this visa. This marks the start of the second story that is going to waste five minutes of your day...

Attempt 1: We go to the Brazilian Embassy in Santiago de Chile, wait for a little while, no more then twenty minutes, I walk up to the counter, hand the worker my passport, a passport sized photo and travel itinerary. He counters my paper work with a small sheet of 6 different requirements that must be met before we could obtain the visa. He then informs me I have not met the first requirement which is to have proof of both entrance and exit from Brasil. I try to explain to the man we are going to take a bus out of Brasil, thus this isn’t possible. He brushes my paper aside and says I have to have proof of return.

Attempt 2: After messing around on the internet and making multiple trips to the bus station and Lan headquarters. Devon and I decided it would be a better to just book another series of flights getting us out of Brazil, and practically all over South America. I booked the flights, and was sure we were on our way.

Friday January 9^th we stroll into the embassy, fill out the paperwork on the computer, walk up to the front desk, and get rejected again, because we didn’t have the phone number of the hostel we will be occupying in Sao Paulo.

Attempt 3: Monday January 12^th, Devon and I walk into the embassy, extremely nervous. We fill out all the paper work, present our itinerary, hand over our passport photos, and yes… we get approved for the Visa. The woman signed off all the paper work, then told me to come back on Wednesday between 1 and 7.

Next Day: Devon and I had to go to the bank to pay for our Visa.

Attempt 4: Wednesday January 14^th, Devon and I walk into the Brazilian Embassy at 1:05 with our proof of payment ready, I confidently walk up to the security guard, and tell him we are here to get our visas, he looks at my paper, then looks at his watch and says come tomorrow. I try and argue with him saying, look at the paper it says we should come from 1-7 on Wednesday, he responds, no it says 12-1. Either people down here write their ones like sevens or… that guy was having a bad day and wanted to exert some authority over a couple of Americans, so he could feel better about himself… either way, 4 trips to the embassy and still no actual visa.

Attempt 5: Thursday January 15^th, Devon and I walk into the embassy wait in a long line, and finally get our visas. Side Note- The woman working the desk at the embassy recognized me… that is when you know you have been to an embassy too many times.