After frantically trying to finalize the loan on my new house, as well as tie up loose ends with the business, I finally am on my way!

I packed light this year because I brought too much stuff last year; also I didn’t want to check luggage (and didn’t need to) because I didn’t have too much stuff and didn’t want to pay the checked luggage fee on american airlines four times, and instead I used that $100 to buy a new backpack.

I packed very tightly and used that waterproof compression sack I got last year; believe it or not that sack has 5 t shirts, a wind breaker, a long sleeve shirt, 5 pairs of socks and underwear, a sleeping bag, and a couple other things.

I also opted to bring a netbook this year, to document my journey. I left my phone at home as it wouldn’t work here anyway and all I used it for was the wifi anyway.

It was a long trip here. Didn’t sleep at all from the 8 hour flight from Miami, and when I finally got to Buenos I had to wait like an hour for a bus, then like another hour for a transfer. The hostel is huge, and its basically a club right in the entrance. I stayed in last night because I didn’t get in til like 1 am and was exausted. The city seems pretty nice, not as bad as Peru. There is some trash and stuff but everything seems pretty legit.

Here they use Argentinian Pesos, the exchange rate is about 1:4. Seems like everything here costs about the same as home but I have been told Buenos Aires is expensive. I was charged a $140 fee to enter Argentina which I wasn’t aware of, sucks.

Two of my roomates got bitten by bed bugs and are leaving. The hostel is pretty gross, smells bad. Not what I was expecting from online reviews. No AC, very hot and humid. I will stay tonight for the party then I am out.

Tomorrow I think I am going to tag along with this kid from Texas and go to a zoo, supposedly its really dangerous and they want to have it shut down. My other options were a city bus tour or a market so I don’t know don’t think I’m going to stay very long.