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The Perfect Storm
The day I arrived in Buenos Aires, I checked into a hostel in Palermo... No sooner did I crash out for a well deserved nap, I woke up to what sounded like the roof coming down... Then it did. An ice storm hit and took out 4000 car windshields, about 14 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and sent the city into confusion. With water pouring raining from the ceiling and no electricity, I headed for Centro. It´s no Rome or Tokyo, but BA is a nice place to rest over. Leather, steak and silver for pennies on the dollar...and 11 dollar hotel rooms.
Next I spent all day and night on a one hour boat trip boat to Uruguay. The hydrofoil sat in the harbor for 6 hours while we waited to disembark because severe winds were keeping the water level so low we couldnt approach the dock. After about 5 hours, about a hundred local passengers, led by about 5 furious men, yelled in unison, stomped and beat on the walls until the captain came out. Against his will he was forced to have a huge rope fixed to the bow and pull us in. We finally got off the boat and headed into town for a hot meal. After a good walk of the town we decided to head in and get back before we couldn´t leave. Guess what? We couldn´t leave... We were rushed back on board but apparently the captain did not want to risk taking to sea...so the boat was delayed for 30 minutes. I'm sure theoretical physics can expand 30 minutes into 12 hours, but hell so can a Uruguayan boat... so 11 more hours of anticipation wondering if we all died and were in purgatory. we arrived back in BA early morning to another ice storm. but we were back...
Steve Jobs, you are my personal savior...without an Ipod I would be at the bottom of the Rio Plata after trying to swim back to Argentina. As it is I found there are travel few situations in life that can´t be fixed without the entire discography of Pink Floyd played in chronological order. So it was up to northern Argentina to see the famous Iguazu falls, larger than Niagra or Victoria. May the weather be merciful...these storms are no Guam Typhoons, but they sure add....lets say...color to things...
Ciao Amigos,
Joe
"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." -- Henry Miller
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