First Impressions

I don´t really know how to start this. If it were an email I´d just address the person, but I don´t have anyone specific that I´m writing to... I guess I´ll just start at LAX. Alex brought me to the airport on Wednesday, and after getting all my crap checked in and my ticket taken care of, it was time to say goodbye. The idea of not seeing Alex for 4.5 months was really hard to come to terms with, and I was crying up until I saw him walk out of the airport. I had to remind myself that setting off on my own was part of what I wanted, despite how hard it would be (and is), and that helped me calm down. My first flight to Houston was amazing, I had all three seats to myself and slept the entire time! I think my flight into Buenos Aires from Houston was punishment for being so spoiled before; I was wedged in the middle seat between two rather large people, and couldn´t sleep the entire time. Fast forward to walking out of the airport and having all the taxi men wave me down to try to get me to get in their cars. I somehow made it past them and onto the right bus, which felt so cushy and comfortable compared to the plane.
As we got closer to the city, more tall buildings began to spring up, and more roads appeared, belching out more and more cars. They say this city is like the L.A. of Argentina, massive and sprawling. That seems somewhat true, but I´m predisposed to like Buenos Aires more. The Microcentro, where I am staying right now, is a mix of huge corporate buildings that look a lot like the ones we have in the states, alongside older, more beautiful but slightly broken down architecture. My hostel is tucked into this nook in one of the older buildings, I would have walked right by it had my shuttle not pointed me directly to the door. I dumped my stuff in my room and headed out to find some clothing that was more appropriate for the hot and humid weather - the longsleeves that I´d packed would just not do. It was crazy shopping, there were tons of stores selling futbol jerseys with the argentine colors on them. All I wanted was a tank top and a crappy purse to carry my lonely planet guide around in. But it took me forever to find something, i think I was in a tourist trap because stuff seemed overpriced for what I´d been told to expect, and there were people out in the streets heckling shoppers for money or to come in and look at their leather jackets. Or maybe that´s just how they shop here.
Anyhow, I made it back to the hostel finally, only to discover the key to my room would not open the door. Two of my roommates were locked inside, and another locked out with me, their keys wouldn´t work either. The hostel management ended up having to call the locksmith, and he came and drilled into the door to take the handle off. It took forever, it made me glad I wasn´t locked inside by myself, unable to get out. After that I headed down to get dinner with one of my roommates. She is from the south of France, and has just spent the last 10 months travelling with her ex boyfriend. She´s on her own now for a month and a half, it was nice to meet another female lone traveler and feel a little better about doing it myself. The food was quite good, also pricey, but halfway through dinner I realized I´d barely slept in the last 48 hours and I started to feel like I was going to collapse. I came home and crashed almost immediately. I had weird dreams all night.
So I don´t know how long I will stay in this city. Before I got here, I thought I would stay at least 3 weeks, maybe more. But the pollution and the noise and the chaos is already starting to get to me. I´m more of an open spaces kind of girl. Maybe relocating to a different part of the city would make it better. Or maybe it´s the same? Everyone else here in the hostel is rushing around, anxious to get out and go do this or that. I´m in a more mellow, relaxed state of mind because I have so much time to do whatever I want to do. But I´m toying with the idea of heading up north sooner than I´d originally planned. I´m already looking forward to the time I will spend on the farm, as it will be very rural, the air will be clean, and the pace of life will be slower.