Strikes in Buenos Aires
I should be back in Aus by now, but strikes and other problems with Aerolineas Argentinas mean that I've been stranded in Buenos Aires the last few days. Admittedly I had the luck to get stranded in a 4 star hotel with all meals included, but it's still a big pain.
Worse, recent news reports show that the flight I'm supposed to take tonight is also in danger - due to lack of a copilot, I believe.
It was really dumb, because I'd rung up the office a couple of hours before heading to the airport and they said there were no delays, mentioned no problems, and even let me choose my seat. Only arriving at the airport, waiting in line to check in did I learn that we probably couldn't get on our flight because those from Tuesday's flight were going out on ours, as those from Monday's flight had taken their spots etc etc because of pilot strikes. Worse - one of the passenger's mums rang up the office to see if her son had gotten on the flight. They checked and said that he was indeed on that flight. But really, he was with the rest of us, sitting at the hotel. An amazing lack of communication and forewarning going on there.
A bunch of us are going down there a little earlier to suss out the situation and hopefully avoid the queues which will result from the fact that all of our plane's passengers and all those who were supposed to be going today (who will find out that they can't... more scenes of crying, despair, anger. Weddings missed, holidays ruined, etc.)
Anyway, my last post was in Colombia.... I may post some up some of my adventures when I return, but in short, we traveled the North Coast all the way to Cartagena. Then we caught an awful bus back to Bogotá. There was no air con, and the bus had three (small) accidents on the way. To top things off, the bus dropped us off somewhere random - not in the terminal - and we had trouble getting our bags out because of the dents. I then participated in a week-long project to build 70 emergency houses in the outskirts of Bogotá. I then chilled at the French Girls' place for my remaining time, saying bye to friends and meeting the new exchange students. I flew to Buenos Aires where I've largely relaxed, staying off the tourist trail - except to visit "Tigre" - a delta area north of BsAs where we caught boats and walked around. Pretty. That brings us up to now... to why I'm still here, sweating profusely in the Argentinian summer, just wanting to go home.
