Towel
I seemed to have underestimated the value of my towel. Due to space constraints I swapped a large plush beach towel for a small little orange face towel and not a day goes by that I don't regret it. Many hostels do not provide towels you see, so I am left in the shower air drying and using the small patch of cloth I do have to get key areas. According to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."
Taking care of logistics has proved to be quite a nuisance in B.A. Today I have to go to some remote part of B.A. to go pay my Argentinean medical insurance of about $225 pesos for half of July and August. That's not really that bad but I checked out of my hostel today and I don't have to be anywhere until 10:00 tonight when I catch my 12 hour bus ride to Mendoza, rendering me a wandering traveler for most the day. I have finally learned the trick to hostels after one week. First you must be absolutely sure your hostel has a kitchen, then you go to the store and load up on basics, you come back and stick all your food in a basket, and put your perishables in a bag in the fridge. It's more economical and you can actually eat things like fruits and vegetables which seem to be completely absent from eateries. Another thing I have noticed from my travels is the absurd lack of Americans. I have met maybe 3 Americans in my journeys compared to probably 50 or more people from England, Ireland, and Australia. What's the deal? I have had numerous conversations about America's lack of a gap year too which to Brit's seems proposturous. In the UK, if you are in your 20's you are traveling at every opportunity you get. But I suppose it's a bit easier because they have 35 days's holiday plus bank holday's compared to the 2 weeks you get in America when you start. Alright, well until Mendoza, I'm off to wander the city, and hopefully my next hostel has wi-fi (and a TOWEL!) because it's a huge bother to use the community computers. They are running on like windows 95 and there's always a line for them. Farewell.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."
Taking care of logistics has proved to be quite a nuisance in B.A. Today I have to go to some remote part of B.A. to go pay my Argentinean medical insurance of about $225 pesos for half of July and August. That's not really that bad but I checked out of my hostel today and I don't have to be anywhere until 10:00 tonight when I catch my 12 hour bus ride to Mendoza, rendering me a wandering traveler for most the day. I have finally learned the trick to hostels after one week. First you must be absolutely sure your hostel has a kitchen, then you go to the store and load up on basics, you come back and stick all your food in a basket, and put your perishables in a bag in the fridge. It's more economical and you can actually eat things like fruits and vegetables which seem to be completely absent from eateries. Another thing I have noticed from my travels is the absurd lack of Americans. I have met maybe 3 Americans in my journeys compared to probably 50 or more people from England, Ireland, and Australia. What's the deal? I have had numerous conversations about America's lack of a gap year too which to Brit's seems proposturous. In the UK, if you are in your 20's you are traveling at every opportunity you get. But I suppose it's a bit easier because they have 35 days's holiday plus bank holday's compared to the 2 weeks you get in America when you start. Alright, well until Mendoza, I'm off to wander the city, and hopefully my next hostel has wi-fi (and a TOWEL!) because it's a huge bother to use the community computers. They are running on like windows 95 and there's always a line for them. Farewell.
Comments
BTW how expensive is stuff in Argentina? You bring up some good points about why you might not have seen as many Americans in Argentina as you have Europeans. I have a few conjectures as to why you might not be seeing as many Americans:
1. American linguistic chauvinism - Americans are generally monolingual and don't want to bother with learning another language, thus limiting their travel to places where the natives speak English or there is an army of English-speaking tour guides.
2. The vastness and diversity of America - America itself is like fifteen different countries in itself. Washington offers a bevy of different tourism opportunities and culture than say, Kansas. Even the cities are different; for example, New York has a fundamentally different culture than Los Angeles. Why go to
3. Brand name recognition - Let's face it: to Americans, Argentina isn't exactly a sexy place to go. We'd rather go to a warm oasis (e.g. Mexico), a classy place (Europe), or even an exotic locale (such as China). Sorry man, you're just a member of the American minority.
Your work is very entertaining, though I'm surprised at your poor word choice especially in spite of the fact that you had the privilege of being in Johnston's English class. I mean come on, you're supposed to use the word "articulate" in every conceivable circumstance, as every part of speech.