buenos aires

I´ve been in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a week now. The city is nice, it reminds me of so many places. In some ways it´s like New York City, there are a lot of upscale stores in one area that reminds me of Manhattan. Other places remind me of Taiwan, some smells (not good) bring Taiwan back to mind fast. And it also seems very European in certain places. All in all, it´s a really nice place to visit. I´ve had some trouble adjusting to the time here, it´s not so much jet lag (it´s only an hour ahead of NY) but the way of life here. People don´t eat dinner until late at night, 10pm is on the early side for dinner. Last night, I ate dinner and then went to a few bars with some people I´ve met that are staying at the same hostel as I am. I ended up not getting home until about 8am. I was so tired. But that´s pretty normal here, that wasn´t really crazy.
I´m enjoying myself here, but also I miss Jess, my girlfriend. In some ways I feel like making this trip was a bit of a mistake. The timing was bad, and it´s been difficult. I´m glad I met some nice people to hang out with in Buenos Aires, it takes my mind off of how much I miss Jess and how hard it is to be so far away all alone.
Tomorrow I have a 20 hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn. It´s overnight and I will have some sleeping pills and also some whisky to get me through the ridiculously long trip. I´m looking forward to getting there though, there is some good diving there and I have the chance of seeing killer whales hunting seals onto beaches near there at peninsula valdez. Traveling alone is difficult though. You´re always "on". You don´t have anyone else looking out for you and you always need to be aware of everything. That doesn´t sound like a big deal, but when you are in a totally foreign place it can take a lot of energy. Also, I´m obviously responsible for figuring out what I´m going to do every minute of every day. I know that doesn´t sound like a big deal, but it takes a lot of energy. And I want to make sure I don´t waste time anywhere, so it´s a lot of pressure. And on top of all that, I get very lonely. I´ve met some nice people here, but that´s not the same as old friends you´ve known for a long time. I´m also shy, so I find it stressful to put myself out there and make all kinds of new friends. I´ve been hanging out with some Norwegians most of my time here that I met at the hostel, they are nice and have made me feel comfortable in their group. But even as nice as people you meet along the way can be, I never really feel totally comfortable with people until I´ve known them for a sort of long time. I suppose this trip is a good experience for me, always on my own needing to meet new people. When I moved to Taiwan it was hard too, but I moved there and was living there, not really traveling like now. I got there and met some awesome people and had a group of friends... this is totally different.
Anyway, I am having a good time. And I´m sure I will the rest of the time I´m here!