Buenos Aires and me – not a match
My first experience of Buenos Aires was in January 2011 when I was travelling to the Antarctic, and it did not go well. (If you ever get a chance to visit Antarctica – go! It’s my absolute favourite trip I’ve done!) Buenos Aires is a huge city and as a seasoned traveller, I confidently declined my boyfriend’s offer to hire a private driver. I had travelled across Australia and New Zealand, backpacked through Asia and explored Europe – I could certainly handle Buenos Aires on my own. Wrong. Let’s just say my trip ended with me jumping out of a moving taxi, with a cut across my face and pretty sure I had just avoided a kidnapping attempt. So when I saw Buenos Aires on my Remote Year itinerary, I was less than thrilled. But I believe in second chances and decided to approach the city with an open mind. Buenos Aires had other plans for me. As soon as I arrived, I was hit with the worst cold I’ve ever had in my life. Things progressed so bad that I ended up at the hospital and discovered the cold had moved into my sinuses and then into my ear drums. Both ears became so infected I couldn’t hear. I spent the next two weeks cooped up in my apartment, only hearing the sound of my heartbeat and breath. I’ve never had an ear infection as an adult and have huge empathy for people who suffer from this regularly. It is completely disorienting. It’s like you’re living in an alternate reality, a bubble all your own. You can see water running as you draw a bath but you can’t hear it. The sound in your head when you brush your teeth is like a snow plow clearing cobblestone streets. You forget you turned the kettle on for tea because you can’t hear it boil. You stand in a crowded room and feel isolated. I watched the world through my window and wondered what lesson I needed to learn. I’m a big believer in things happening for a reason and sometimes our body gives us a time out when we haven’t been listening to its whispers. What was my body trying to tell me? Did I need to slow down and take better care of myself? Did I need to look inside for the answers to my questions about “what’s next”? Had I forgotten why I was on the journey? Or maybe it was for protection. Maybe my body remembered what happened last time I was here and decided I needed to be kept safely indoors. There are plenty of stories to support this idea. One colleague had her laptop stolen while sitting at a café, another girl told us of getting her cellphone stolen out of her hand while she was in a vehicle. And just the other day, as I walked out my front door, I saw a vehicle stopped in the street with its back windows smashed and surrounded by police cars. We asked what happened and were told the driver had just been to the bank. He put his bag in the back seat of his car and drove off. Moments later, two motorcycles pulled up beside him, smashed the windows and grabbed the bag – all while the vehicle was moving! How is that possible?! There is a very different vibe here than any other city I’ve visited. There is tension in the air. There are long line-ups at bank machines, which often run out of cash. There is garbage in the streets and constant sirens. There is a feeling of mistrust and warnings to not walk alone after dark. Some of my colleagues love Buenos Aires – they love the large steaks available in nearly every restaurant, they love the street art found all over the city, they love practicing their Spanish with locals, and they love the hustle and noise of a large city. But Buenos Aires is not for me. I knew it the first time I visited and confirmed it this month. We have just over a week left here and I’ll go see some of the sights my friends love – and then happily say goodbye. I usually love exploring new places and finding new things to fall in love with…but sometimes, it’s just not a match. Have you ever visited a place where you felt didn’t belong?
