Beach Bummin....

Back at you here, now in a Daytona Beach-esque town called Necochea, which is about 7 hours south of B.A. After a night of flipflopping our next destination decision, we woke up trying to pursue a bus ticket to the beach towns Quequen/Necochea. We had heard about a great hostel in Quequen that we emailed the night before to reserve a bed there. At the bus station about 2 hours prior to departure, Petro informed me that he finally received a reply from the hostel owners saying they were booked through the middle of February (its summer vacation for Argentine families right now). And so with visions of street sleeping dancing in our heads, we departed toward the towns with little hope of finding accomodation. Soon to be a victim of spontaneity or a recipient of dumb luck, we were bestowed something in between when we found a campsite for cheap--if we possessed a tent (as of now we do not). We got fleeced with the tent rental as well as our location in the campsite (near a major road, which wouldn´t be a problem if cars actually possessed mufflers here). Striking camp early, we headed towards the main town area located right off the beach. We found accomadation in a moderately priced "hotel" that had a deluxe shower (meaning you can effectively shave, shower, you know what all at the same time--due to shower head being conveniently situated above the toilet. Almost heaven. With a guarantee of shelter, we headed to the beach to savor what little sun was peaking through. The beach was a mob scene, but what the predominately Argentine crowd possessed in numbers, they lacked in swimwear fabric. With Petro´s and I´s strict moral conservatism, we were appalled as you would imagine. But what can you do? Not yet possessing the golden bronze that I usually sport in the summer time, my appearance surely stood out among my fellow vacationers. For certain, many an Argentine dinner conversation tonight will include "did you see that pasty gringo walking the beach today--did he just arrive from Antartica?" Oh well, there is plenty of time to correct that problem. The day spent was an interesting time to see what type of behavior transcends cultures. The most notable of the day was when Petro and I stopped to observe a swimsuit photo shoot that was being shot on the beach. Feeling a bit creepy at our voyeurism we turned away to find a huge crowd of Argentine men of all ages blatantly staring at the girls and taking pictures. Only in order to blend in, we started to take pictures as well. Petro, the shady kid that he is took more, but I will post what I have.


The concensus between the fun committee has concluded that we will probably spend tonight and tomorrow night here in Necochea and then set off for the Patagonia area. We are probably going to have to pull the trigger on a tent tomorrow to faciliate cheaper travel and to ensure we can avoid any ditch-sleeping.
In bad news, I just noticed that the U.S. stock market is failing, which makes the 2nd leg of my trip a lot bleaker. I am already looking for places here to sell plasma. I am also going ahead with the proper steps to acquire non-profit status, in case you are looking for a really fun tax write-off.
Also, my sister Erin has been waging an unscrupulous propaganda campaign to get me to return to the U.S. Her main tactic is sending me pics and movies of my darling niece Kate. I don´t open her emails anymore for fear of sucumbing to the pressure.
Plans for the night include frying up some seafood and checking out the local scene.
Gotta run, I feel a phantom cell phone ring.....

Viajar es a Vivir,

Brian