La Llegada

12pm Madrid Airport

I just had a very surreal flight from Heathrow sitting next to the head of a solar CEO from New York. We got chatting and he told me all about his business travels in India and China. I asked him if he felt intimidated by the Chinese work ethic and he agreed that the work/life balance was pretty lopsided there. He told me Chinese kids were so obedient they practically worshipped their parents. How to make them proud? Hard work and success.

Considering the constant pressure to perform, you would expect people to crack. Instead, the American boss was astounded by how peaceful Shanghai seemed, telling me he would be comfortable walking down the street at 4am without fear of being mugged or shot. Apparently this is not the case in New York.

But this peace is tainted by a cut-throat competitiveness. As the Chinese adapt to capitalism and its ideals of money and status, they are more and more attracted by Western ´luxuries´ such as Mercedes and McDonalds. I asked him if the West has corrupted China. "Oh yes. The middle classes are getting chubbier, more ambitious and, at least in material terms, more Western."

Other interesting passengers were the gaucho snoring noisily behind me and I ten·year old I nicknamed ´Justino el Latino´. Justino´s sister kept taking photos of him posing and pouting in his bright red bowler hat. Watch up Bieber, you have an Argentinian rival!

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3pm Somewhere in the Middle of the Atlantic Ocean

There was no one setting next to me on my second flight. I sprawled over two seats and got some sleep. But  just as I dozed off, dinner was served. It was about 1.30am (English time) and I felt totally disorientated. Not knowing when the next meal was going to arrive, I forced down some stodgy gnocchi and tried to get back to sleep. Five minutes later, the air hostess woke me up again to offer me some coffee. And for once in my life, I turned down a cuppa!

After a shaky night´s sleep, breakfast was served at 6am. It came in an icky yellow box including a yoghurt, a lemon tart, a pork and cheese chuleta and some pineapple juice. This odd selection was again followed by some coffee. This time, I accepted. Clearly a mistake. It was so gloopy that the powdered milk barely dissolved and floated around on top no matter how much I stirred.
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11am Buenos Aires

Finally, four hours behind schedule, I arrive at Onehouse hostel. There were several reasons why I was so late. Firstly, I had to queue for hours to get through aduanas (customs) which was really unpleasant because I was travelling in my ski jacket on to save space in my suitcase (It´s going to be Winter when I reach La Paz)  and yet the heating was on full-blast.

The next major delay was wading through the rabble of unauthorized taxi drivers trying to offer me their services. Eventually, I found an EZE approved cab and set off to San Telmo. My driver, Daniel, was amiable and chatty. He showed me a picture of his daughters and asked me how old I was. "¿19? Pero eres niñita. como mi hija. ¿Pero qué dicen sus padres ahora que estás tan lejos?" (But you´re so young, like my daughter. What do your parents say about you being so far away from home?) He mimed doing a turn in the road and taking me back to the airport, which was patronizing but funny.

I´d read about untrustworthy taxistas who drive off with your luggage or try to scam you with fake money. So despite his friendliness, I was quite nervous when I got out of the taxi. I was so worried that I almost robbed HIM by saying goodbye before I had paid! Obviously, he prompted me to pay the cobra (bill) and charged a steep 198 pesos. Despite the fact he over-charged me, I let him keep the extra 2 pesos change as Tomás ushered me into his hostel and treated me to a glass of maté.

Soon afterwards, Alex arrived. He give me a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks. It felt a bit self-conscious because I´d been travelling for 24 hours straight and hadn´t had a chance to change my clothes yet. But whatever, it was SO good to see him.

I then had the most welcome shower of my entire life.