This trip is taking longer than it should.
The connection was crappy as they get: Swissair to Zurich, Iberia to Madrid, and then on to Buenos Aires. Including the two 2-3 hour waiting sessions, the slightly delayed 13hrs flight to Buenos Aires and all that, the trip has probably taken 24hrs total. So when I came out of the arrival gate in Buenos Aires, I was happy to have pretty much completed my trip. Prematurely, it turned out.
First I did not think much when I did not see Enrique right away. In my experience, pickups at Latin American airports are on time in about 50% of the cases. So I sat down and waited. But knowing that this is Latin America, I also sent a brief text message to Alex, asking him to send an email to the people here that I had arrived and was waiting at the airport now.
Since there was no wireless network and the tiny 1-PC internet access point would not let me connect my laptop, I sat down and processed some old email that was stored on my machine. After doing that for almost an hour, I started to suspect that something was wrong.
Some communication with Alex turned up that indeed I should take the bus to Rosario because Enrique, who was supposed to pick me up, had already left for Rosario after picking up Alexandre Oliva at the airport. They could not have left more than half an hour before I got out of the gate and were now well underway.
Given my recent experience with the Austrian government, I am tempted to ask how much Microsoft paid to desert me at Buenos Aires airport, but that is too paranoid. In any case, I’ll beat thank them personally myself tonight.
A quick inquiry at the bus company later I knew that there was no space on the next bus, so I found myself sitting at Buenos Aires airport, no money, no idea where to go, in desperate need of a shower and with no way to reach the others. Fantastic.
Around this time Alex SMSed me the number of hotel at which Fernanda apparently waited for me — obivously in vain as there was no way for me to actually get to the hotel. I didn’t even know the hotels name, in fact. When calling the number it turned out I could not get past the receptionist because his phone appeared broken. Alex confirmed by text message that the phone indeed seemed broken, I can only assume he also tried calling him.
While trying to figure out what to do next and wondering whether I should simply take a hotel in Buenos Aires and enjoy some time here, I first took care of the immediate needs: find ATM & internet. The first part was easy. Long live Maestro, the travellers’ friend!
The second part was a little more tricky. The internet cafes were deadly afraid of letting me connect my laptop (see above), and the only wireless lan was in the boarding area… so I would have needed a boarding pass.
After some studying of the airport architecture I finally found a place where my laptop did pick up on the wireless network. Only to find out that the only way to connect to the network was by voucher — and vouchers were only sold in the boarding area. The person setting up that network should be put in a dark, isolated room with his network as the only connection to the outside world — and no vouchers, obviously.
Either way: I decided that there was no point to pursue the internet thing further for now. Back to the busses. After 10 minutes of hope it turned out that the next bus at 12:30 was also completely full, which is around the time that Federico called me. So we decided I should take a taxi to downtown Buenos Aires where the large bus hub is located.
Arriving there around 13:20, I saw one bus leaving for Rosario at 13:30. With some improvised communication and running up and down some stairs — did I forget to mention I am travelling with a 25kg large metal Rimova suitcase? — I finally managed to get myself a ticket and grab the next bus at 13:30.
When Federico called again, I gave the bus driver my mobile phone so the two could figure out I was indeed on the right bus (relief on my side) and I learned that my ETA was 17:30. Just in time for my keynote at 19:00 tonight.
So as I am typing this I am sitting all the way in front on the upper deck of that very same bus, stopping at every lamppost along the way, but actually enjoying the experience. In moments like these I really do like my job. And if you have never been to Latin America, this little story may have given you an idea of the authentic experience.
Either way, I’ll finish preparing for my keynote now and hope to put this online before giving it tonight. Also they just started the movie: Double Jeopardy. Hm. It is subtitled, I might use it to learn a little Spanish.
