Wrote Yesterday!!! Finally got Internet!

I’m becoming very at home in the bus stations of South America. So with less than a week of the trip left I figured it would be a good idea to start heading back towards Mendoza. Over the course of our travels we have moved rather far into the Northern part of the country. Just to offer up a little background information Iguaçu is very far north and borders Paraguay & Brazil, Mendoza on the other hand is much more central and is closer to the Chilean border. So I figured rather than going straight back to Mendoza and spending more time in a city that we’ve already spent a week in, I thought we should head to Valparaiso, Chile. I have heard from numerous people on our trip that Valparaiso (Valpo) is very beautiful and a must see in South America, so off we go. There’s only one little obstacle… getting to Valparaiso has proven to be quite the challenge.
So yesterday at 2:30pm Jim and I boarded a bus to Buenos Aires, thinking that because Buenos Aires is a large city it would be fairly easy to get to Valparaiso from there. We arrived here in Buenos Aires at 8:30am. I immediately went to work trying to find us the best way to get to Valpo. The only bus that goes directly to Valpo is sadly full today and our only other option is to first take a bus to Mendoza and then take another bus to Valpo.
Okay so this doesn’t sound like too big of a deal right? It isn’t really other than the fact that the next bus for Mendoza is at 6:30pm. Even if I could find us a sooner bus, it wouldn’t help because there is only one bus a day to Valpo from Mendoza and it leaves at 8:30am. So here we are hanging out in the Retiro Buenos Aires, bus station until 6:30pm where we will board another bus, ride overnight to Mendoza and then once again board yet another bus and off we go to Valpo. The good news is I was able to buy both bus tickets, so we won’t arrive in Mendoza and be told the bus is full and have to wait another day and I have already booked a hostel in Valpo for Sunday and Monday night, so at least when we finally do make it to Valpo we’ll have somewhere to stay.
I’m trying to stay positive about the experience, trying to remember the journey is just as much a part of the adventure as the destination. But one thing that would make the journey a whole lot more fun would be WiFi. I hate how hard it is to find a wireless Internet connection. I am more than capable of killing a day by playing on the Internet but sadly at this point that isn’t a possibility. Currently Jim is taking a walk around the bus terminal and I’m sitting on the ground next to one of the few outlets I could find, writing this blog, while being stared at by 3 police officers (all of which, as well as a few others has come over and told be to be careful because I have a laptop, I appreciate their concern but of course I’m going to be careful, I’m not totally retarded!) Perhaps when Jim returns from his walk I can wonder around and possibly pick up an unlocked Internet connect. Honestly I don’t care if the only available connection is in a bathroom stale, I’ll just sit down and hold my nose and off I’ll go surf the World Wide Web.

Oh something else fun and exciting to write about… on late Wednesday afternoon Jim and I were quietly reading in our room, when we heard a knock at the door, to our surprise outside the door stood our long lost Irish travelling buddy, Neal. Neal and I ended hanging out that evening and then covering from our hangovers much of the next day together. It was so nice to see my travelling friend one last time, even if we both were rather hung-over. Neal well be spending a little more time in Iguaçu and then tripping around the more northern South American countries, while Jim and I (as I have already stated) are making our way more south, so Iguaçu was really our last little visit but it was nice and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know Neal. Not to mention he and his travelling expertise have been a great asset in planning mine and Jim’s trip.