Bye Bye Camera, Hello Buenos Aires!

We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina! Out of Rio, we took a bus to the airport and grabbed some acai smoothies on the way (we're going to miss the food so much). We got to the airport 5 hours before departure and played SPEWFI, the card game we created in Mexico City. It's seriously such a great game, we have honed it to perfection. I will definitely teach people when I go back home. After playing for about an hour and half, I realized that my camera wasn't in my pocket. I told Yoontae, checked my bag, and then talked to the information center to try to track down the bus that I probably lost it on. We didn't recall any close encounters with people, so it seemed unlikely that I was pick-pocketed, so we were hoping it was still on the bus. After about an hour of running around and trying to talk to the right people, I concluded that it was pretty much hopeless. The only chance I had was in waiting for the same bus to finish its circuit and return to the airport and that my camera would be with the driver. We waited and made some phone calls, but our boarding time came and the bus had still not arrived. I left my email address with a worker for the bus company, and he said he would email me if he found it, but I have yet to receive an email. Bye bye camera.

We flew to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and waited for about 30 minutes and flew out on another plane to Buenos Aires. The second flight was less than an hour. Once in Buenos Aires, we withdrew some cash (pesos, 3.8 to a dollar) and went to the bus stop, trying to figure out which line we were supposed to take and where we should get off. Luckily, people in Argentina are as nice as people in Brazil, and three people immediately started helping us out even before we asked them. They gave us change for our bills, telling us that the bus only accepted coins, directed us to our bus, our stop, and welcoming us to Buenos Aires. They made us so happy. We made our way to the hostel where we were staying, Hostel Arrabal, and we were pleasantly surprised. It has warm water, clean linens, climate control, a free computer to use, and lots of space! It's also newly renovated and the place is really pretty and tidy. It was really cold out, 10 degrees celsius, but we still went out in shorts to go eat. Not a good decision. I was wearing basketball shorts and it felt like I was out in the mountains without pants on. We got pizza and meat empanadas (best food item in Argentina yet), and came back to get ready to sleep.

All in all, it was still a good day. Even though I lost my camera, which is probably the most important thing that I have on my trip, it didn't hit me too hard. I think that if I had lost my camera 3 weeks ago, I would have been much more devastated than I was. Traveling, even for this short time, has shown me a bit more of what's important and what's not. Having to hand-wash our clothes, buying drinking water everyday, seeing tourists and beggars everywhere we go, things have changed for me. It's one thing to know you live in luxury, but it's another thing to really feel and understand it. As my travels continue, I'm beginning to feel that I live in luxury, not just know it or have it told to me. Yeah, having a camera was initially really important to me, but it's such an unnecessary luxury and I can still have priceless experiences, learn amazing lessons, and meet wonderful people without one.