I did my research about the transportation in Buenos Aires. Bus ride from EZE airport to my hostel seemed pretty manageable and inexpensive. So, I had my heart set on using the bus service. I’ve always liked public transportation. HOWEVER, because I decided to take my carry-on with me, so I thought I should “reward” myself by ordering a pick-up. Does this make sense? Haha. Why stress? I have plenty of chances to have bus rides later.

Everything went smoothly from checking-in, custom and all that. I even had an empty seat next to me during the long flight and made a new lovely friend, Priya. You know how much I like Indians. 😛 I told her about the fire at Torres del Paine since she’ll be going there in a few days.

Coming out from the custom area, I expected to see a big, golden sign with my name on it. Nothing. Hmm… I scouted around for my name. Nothing. So I thought there might be traffic. I should just wait.

15 minutes later. Nothing.

I walked around the Arrival area a few times. Nothing.

30 minutes later. Nothing. I started to sweat a little.

Should I leave? Would they charge me? Were they waiting at a different Arrival hall? The taxi booth was right there, but I couldn’t leave.

I asked a lady at the Information counter for help. She answered in her very broken English that I could go to the phone booth and call the hostel. I was told by the hostel host to not to exchange any pesos at the airport, so I only had dollars with me. Sigh.

So, I waited another 15 minutes.

That’s it.

I pushed my luggage to an Internet center at the airport and asked for help. I showed them the phone number and they said it’s not an Argentina phone #. Oh Gosh. I was so confident that the pick-up was going to work out, so I didn’t even write down backup phone #. Sigh.

I quickly checked internet and found another number in the email.

The lady at the counter helped me to call and we found out that the hostel had mistakenly thought I was going to arrive tomorrow!! Not cool! The host apologized and quickly gave me direction to come to hostel.

Oh well!

I bought a taxi ticket at the taxi booth ($43, they accepted USD) and off I went.

The porter asked for tips. I felt bad that I didn’t have any small change with me. 🙁

Hello, Buenos Aires. My spirit was back. 🙂