Buenos Aires – Day 1: A New Horizon
BUENOS AIRES
Day 1: A New Horizon
February 22, 2023
As much as I loved my time in Central America, leaving it behind felt pretty much like a fresh start. Over those few months, I had been living my best life as I climbed volcanoes, explored ruins, trekked in jungles, and dived in pristine coral reefs.
At the same time, I now craved something different. A different kind of adventure, a different rhythm. In fact, my original plan at the very start had been to visit some of the Caribbean islands right after Panama – something I now figured I could do at a later time – using it as an excuse to revisit the same sea that had broken me down and rebuilt me over the course of this one trip. And so, while in Utila, I completely upended my itinerary and decided to explore more of South America instead – a much welcome change of scenery.
The next leg of my trip would be a fresh start. Not the deep, life-altering, soul-searching kind. Just a clean slate. A new pin dropped on the map. I’d just be moving on, which felt surprisingly good. South America was calling again, and I couldn’t friggin’ wait. New streets, new accents, new food, new plans. And most of all – no expectations, no pressure to relive old moments or recreate past trips. And just like that, it was time. Bags packed. Airport ahead. Another country waiting.
The Plane Crash
Excited though I might have been – there was one thing I was dreading in particular as I made my way to the airport: the whole airport thing.
I had grown so used to land transport and hadn’t caught a flight in over six months. All the grievances and annoyances I had managed to shove down came back to the surface. The hassle of checking in, going through security, waiting, or worse, not having enough time to wait, boarding, the flight itself, passport control, baggage reclaim, bla bla bla.
To make matters worse, I had fresh in mind a video of a guy filming a live Facebook story as his plane landed in Pokhara, Nepal – the same flight I’d been on a few years previously – moments before everything suddenly burst into flames. The screams of agony of the few who survived long enough to feel the extent of their injuries played in the background. All 72 passengers died. I knew plane crashes happen, I knew that. I just never thought I’d see one live. Hell, even on Grey’s Anatomy, one of the most carnage-friendly shows out there, they skipped over the airplane crash part.
So yeah, while I wasn’t actively scared, I can’t say I wasn’t nervous either. And, unfortunately, the next leg of my trip would feature a lot of that. With Argentina being so huge and with my itinerary featuring a few places all over, flying was the only method that made sense.
Layover at the Beginning of Everything
As always, the universe loves to prove me wrong and it turned out to be the smoothest, most seamless airport experience I’ve ever had. No trouble whatsoever, and once on the plane, I dozed off immediately.
I woke up seconds before our arrival in Bogotá, where I’d be having a short layover. This was the very same airport that had marked the start of my adventures in Latin America. It was hard to believe that the country that had stolen my heart was just there – that I was there. Colombia had been the country that made me feel alive again during a period of my life fraught with grief and uncertainty. To that day, it was still my favourite country ever!
Even though I couldn’t go out, it still felt good to be back, if only inside this one building for a short while. And when that time was up, I found myself on yet another plane, a six-hour flight that flew by thanks to Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna, and When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank T Vertosick.
And just like that, I had cruised over Central and South America to land in yet another country that would steal another part of my heart -Argentina.
At 2AM, an hour unheard of by yours truly since my partying days in Nicaragua, I found myself more awake than ever. I can’t quite say the same for the second I lay down on my bed once I reached my dorm in the centre of the city, which, it seemed, was still very much alive and abuzz with activity.