The Casual Moments
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
20
32
Trip End
May 31, 2006
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Sunday, April 2, 2006
As much as I welcome the cool weather, I hate having to dig out the sweaters and long sleeved shirts which are so uncomfortable. Wearing only tank tops in summer make having to suddenly wear a jacket a little awkward.
The days have become shorter. Nighttime now comes at around 7pm and daylight arrives at 6am. This of course makes mornings and nights colder
01 Walter, Ed and Lucia in the heart of BA
. The afternoons though are still warm and sunny and I am thankful for this. Despite the slow coming of the winter, Ed and I will be leaving right on time. The real cold starts in May when we migrate as geese do, to our second summer of the year, this time in Europe.
We have been working non stop getting our projects sorted out, trying to promote our travel log as much as we can, making the finishing touches to the details of our trip, getting together with people we haven't seen for ages and also making new friends.
As was the case of fellow Travelpod traveller Walter (www.travelpod.com/members/lobo) whom we contacted when we ran into his log and read he was currently in Buenos Aires and loving every second of it. I had loved his detailed description of Buenos Aires, handing out tidbits even I seemed to have missed. He travelled a bit through the interior of the country and returned to Buenos Aires for a couple of days before ending his trip. That was when Ed, Walter and I decided to meet since we had already been emailing back and forth.
We met after work at a pizza place right in front of the Obelisk
02 Pretty Trio
. We immediately engaged in such interesting conversations that we didn't order our pizza and wine until an hour after sitting down at our table. Talking to Walter about travelling and about Argentina and Canada so smoothly and realizing we were all total strangers to each other, made me feel uplifted. Ed later told me how my face was beautifully lit up the entire evening and how he noticed how much I was enjoying our meeting with a traveller. I realized that meeting people and making new friends really gave me a rush, and that first rush was experienced with Walter. The three of us immediately felt comfortable with the situation as there were no uncomfortable silences or no quick topic-browsing in our heads. So after a few glasses of wine and a couple of pictures, it was getting late so we wished each other well on our future travels and parted ways.
Fortunately we're still corresponding. Walter has returned to his home country of Canada and just recently started a road trip across the USA with his son Mathieu. Since summer has started peaking out from slumber in the northern hemisphere, I think his trip will be worth reading.
This past week I also spared some time to meet with friends I hadn't seen for ages
03 No one's paying attention
. They were thrilled with the news of my upcoming trip and we arranged late night meetings. As was the case with Natasha whom I hadn't seen in over 3 years. I found her email the other day and wrote her an email dying to hear about news of her life. We got together in her apartment with an amazing view of the night city, where she cooked me a delicious vegetarian dinner. We caught up as much as we could in the 4.5 hours the meeting lasted via non stop talking. I remembered why I had always been so fond of her: it was incredibly easy to talk to her and we shared many views and thoughts. At times when she was talking, I felt I was hearing myself talk. I found her to have grown so much in the years that had passed, not only in beauty but in maturity. We promised to keep in touch and to see each other again before I leave. It was nice to have rediscovered a jewel in my life, and although I regret having lost contact these years,and despite the fact I am leaving shortly, I am so very happy to have her in my life again. I also met again with Marina and Agostina, two very good friends from high school. These are the types of friends who I don't see frequently but when I do it's like we saw each other the day before. For different reasons we had grown apart a bit, but just as I figured, when we saw each other again, I felt I was back in high school. We reminiscenced about past experiences, especially about a couple trips we did together (will write about those someday)
04 Ooh is someone taking a picture?
. That night we ended up going to a pub called Mundo Bizarro where I met other friends I hadn't seen in ages. We did not have a chance to talk as we all started messing around taking pictures. We eventually grew tired of posing so formally for the camera so Marina had the bright idea of taking casual pictures.....she jokingly said I should upload them to our log and call them "The Casual Moments". We made such a spectacle of ourselves posing for these pictures and drunkenly singing along to Robbie Williams that the entire bar was looking at us in disbelief.
We met some good looking Australians there who had no problem in coming over and talking to us about absolutely nothing. One of them pretended he could speak Spanish but just blubbered a bunch of sounds together which made Paula and I laugh almost to our deaths. Overall, I had good immature fun, without the need of serious adult conversation in between and I realized how much I had needed that. Watching Marina, Ago, Paula, Nacho, Chala and Pato effortlessly having fun and making everyone laugh, and making Ed a part of all this makes for a nice, warm, comfortable memory.
Being 3am and having to work the day after, we said our goodbyes and Marina, Ago, Paula and I all agreed we had to get together once a week now, either over dinner or at a pub or at someone's place. I'm glad we have decided to do this, because just as Marina said, these are the casual moments of my life.....and I am going to miss them.
