Hugo

For starters, hope no one was offended by my last title. its a very positive expression, name, term--what have you-- about the greatness of this city. i saw it on a shirt a few weeks ago, im still trying to find the store that sells them...

its quite hilarious acutally, after all that trouble with the hostel, i finally got ahold of my friend hugo, who i met alomst 2 years ago in an electronic club in patagonia, and how now lives in buenos aires, and he told me to get my stuff and stay with him. the prospect of not having to pay $80 for 5 nights in a large dorm room was delightful, and soon i dropped my bags on the mattress (which was on the floor) in the bedroom. for all intensive purposes, hugo is a bachelor. technically, he lives with is two guy friends how are now out of town. the one bedroom looks as it would if three 22 year old guys were living in it. the bunk bed in the bedroom was broken, so only the bottom bed had slats to support a mattress, so the other mattress was tossed on the floor, sans sheets and a pillow. the bottom mattress was covered in plastic bags filled with clothes fresh back from the cleaners (thank goddness). other (presumably dirty) articles of clothing were strewn about everywhere. the living room was simmilar, with two futon couchs facing each other in front of a TV. one of which had a fleece blanket and a pillow on it, and was being used as a bed. plates and glasses were everywhere, and the kitchen sink was filled with dirty dishes that the fruit flies flying around were just delighted with. empty bottles of slightly alcoholic cider were laying on the dirty carpet floor. i vow not to live like that, but i will put up with it--even revel in it, perhaps--for the next few days. i am saving a small travellers fortune by staying here.

hugo had some stuff to buy (suprisingly cleaning agents were on the top of his list) so we headed to the super mareket a few blocks away. we bought more cider, stuff for cleaning, cereal and milk (in a bag, its cheaper that way), and then we bought lunch. it wasnt a deli chicken, it was pieces of a deli chicken individually wrapped in styrofome and plastic wrap. we also bought potatoe squares that were wrapped up the same way. dont ask we what a potatoe square is, i dont know, i just coined that term but i dont know how else to describe these bits of manufactured potatoe. after "lunch" we had some more errands to do, so we ran around town for a couple hours. i dont know what it is about the mentality of people in south america that makes them walk so slowly down the side walk, but it can be semi-infuriating occasionally. hugo apparently likes to rebel against this generalization, by haulling-ass everywhere we go. he´s not tall but something allows him to walk fast enough that i am close to a jog just to keep up. i honestly feel i am a healthier person just for walking around with him for a few hours; i was tired by the end of the day.

apart from the need he feels to get to where he is going, as fast as possible, hugo is fairly tranquilo. he doesnt have much to worry about, and live a simple life. although the first long conversation we had was about conspiracy theroes behind 9/11, religion, and world bankers. hugo believes they are after total social manipulationk, and that 9/11 was an inside job, among many other things. yesterday he took me to this same cyber cafe to show me a 2 hour "documentry" (home made conspiracy film) about the 3 things i just named. it was supposed to blow my mind an open my eyes, although once it ended i found myself merely playing along and agreeing half heartedly with his fanatical ideas.
i have lost track of the days and the date while ive been here, but sometime after the day of potatoe squares it was new years eve. we headed over to his friends house and had an amazing dinner of all kinds of cheese i normally dont get: brie, bleu, and swiss, as well as bread, olives, wine, and tuna. it was very castillion. his friend put on a movie and immdiatly passed out, so we left at midnight and shot off some fireworks and headed to the planeterium, where there was a party last year. the party was winding down a little bit after we got there, so we called it a night. here, since they dont usually go out till far after midnight, the celebrations (apart from a wonderful fireworks display) are somewhat mineute. after about 12:30 its the same as any other night, except that only some clubs are open so the price to get in is about $30. not something i feel obliged to pay in order to bring in the new year.

today is the second. i know that. hugo stayed at his girl friends last night, so i had the apartment to myself, which was nice. after going to bed quite late after reading and playing videogames (something i have not done in 3 months) i was awoken at 9 am by the buzzer from downstairs and a message on my phone saying "open up, im downstairs" from hugo. he only has one set of keys, so we switch off who gets them, and hope the other one isnt left stranded. he had to go to work, and once he left, i went back to the futon and fell asleep. when i awoke again, this time with the intention to have a bowl of ceral and not go back to sleep, i found the floor (and everything on it, my book included) was soaking wet. i jumped up (creating a small spashing sound from where my feet hit the floor), and went to check the bathroom. it had at least 2 inches of water on the floor and half of the rest of the (carpeted) apartment was soaking too. i threw some towels on the flore and called hugo. then i called the super--at hugos request--who came up and ask me in rapid castellaño what happened. i struggled to get across the point that i was asleep when whatever did happen happened, and that i didnt have a clue about it. he told me someone would come in an hour. 5 minutes later, with cereal in hand and flip-flops on feet, the phone rang. brilliant. i answered as hugos friend, and managed to figure out it was the water people calling. he asked me a series of questions relating to the issue, most of which could only studder a "i dont know, theres a lot of water on the floor and its coming from the bathroom. half hour later the buzzer rang and i let in the plumber. as he did his work in the bathroom, i couldnt help but to ask myself what this would cost. it ended up being free, and after a 20 minutes or so of work the bathroom was clear of water. every bathroom down here has a drain in the floor, maybe for this purpose. so i squeegeed (its a word according to the merriam-webster website) the water from the carpeted living room and bedroom into the bathroom for it to drain. then i bought 3 rolls of paper towels, which were no help, and only left me with a bag full of soaking wet paper towels and a still-wet floor. so i turned the fan on and headed out, finding my way to this cyber cafe.

the world famous Dakar Rally, held anually (maybe, i dont have any idea though) in africa is not in africa this year. its too dangerous there apparently, so they have a course through argentina and chile, and it starts today or tomorrow. either way, we are going to watch the beginning of it in BA. alright, thats all i have for now, although it was probably far to much for most of you. on sunday im headed to Iguazu falls, and then to the wine country.