Arrival

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
I arrived here in Buenos Aires yesterday night, Alhamdullilah. I had a terrible 18 hour layover in Panama City, but got to meet and talk to a very nice Chilean man who was also spending the night in the airport waiting for his flight to Santiago.

On the airplane, I started talking to the man sitting next to me. It turns out this he lived in Palermo, the same district of Buenos Aires that I'm staying in, and he offered to take me to my apartment. He introduced me to his wife, who had also flown in, and we all took a taxi to Palermo. It was the best welcome I could have asked for. On the ride in, he and his wife explained to me several things about the city, among which probably most notable was that they have a system of free bicycle rentals in Buenos Aires and tons of ciclovias (bike paths) on major streets. It's a wonderful system, I look forward to trying it out.

When I got to the apartment, it was about 10:45 at night. Jorge, my host/roommate, was very welcoming--he made us dinner and showed my around the apartment and also we walked a few blocks around the building. It's a wonderful location--right next to a train station, a subway (Subte is what they call it here) station, and several bus stops.

But I also had this terrible realization: I only know a total of maybe four people on this entire continent. It's terribly frightening...

Here's a picture of the view from the apartment--it's gorgeous.