This past weekend was very nice, even more than usual, as I really feel part of a few families here now. It is really nice to ear that people from and otherwise random place will miss you when you leave. Shabbos day was also a gorgeous day, the only one in an otherwise rainy weekend. Friday was terrible; it rained non-stop the entire day, and Sunday saw on and off unexpected downpours. I thought the weekend might have also seen some build-up of excitement for my then-impending trip down South, but I really felt nothing over the weekend. I think it is part of not having plans and playing things by ear; I am not really excited for tomorrow because I don´t even know what is happening in the next hour. The last few hours before the trip were not very comforting. My cell phone decided to run out of minutes at the worst possible time, and not a single kiosk or locutorio in my entire neighborhood had a recharge card of my carrier; I was digitally stranded. When I got back to the hostel from dinner at what was the worst kosher restaurant I have been to (I don´t want t talk about it), I found out that the printer in the hostel was broken and I could not print my e-ticket. I went to bed at 1, with my alarm set for 3 hours later, without any idea of what I would do in the morning, no way to call a cab, and no ticket.
In the morning, after a quick shower, I walked down to what is usually one of the busier streets; at 5 there was no one in the street. No one. I was ready to turn back and try, well, I am not quite sure what, when a car pulled out of a parking space. It was a cab! He was free! He took me to the airport with plenty of time to spare. At the airport the check-in desk just took my passport and got all of my information, and as soon as you can say Buen Viaje, I was in the air in a small cramped plane heading to Neuquen. I arrived in Neuquen (we got to walk across the tarmac!) and took a cab to the central bus station, where i bought a ticket for the Puerto Madryn that would leave in the evening. Meanwhile, I had the entire day to kill. I left the bus station only to find a bit of a line waiting for the occasional cab. I approached a younger looking local and asked if he wanted to share a cab, and so I made my first local friend, Carlos, the student of mining, explosives, and historiography.
My tour book said that Neuquen is one of the Dinosaur capitals of the south, and I decided I could not leave Neuquen without doing a Dino tour. Then I got to the tour offices, none of whom had tours on a Monday, especially as there was some big conference going on, taking up the time of most of the cities tourist workers. I walked from tour office to tour office with no luck. I will continue the story the next time I am by a computer, as I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Buenas Noches!