There are explosions outside. As I write this huge crowds are marching toward the house of congress carrying signs, chanting, banging drums and blowing things up. They're inaugurating a news president in Argentina.

A little back story is necessary to understand what's going. This country has been through hell. You'll have than when you go bankrupt, your currency plummets and the IMF is less than eager to lend you money to get going again. I don't claim to understand the economic intricacies of what went on here, but I think you can safely imagine a Latino version of the Great Depression.

"Everybody's psyched for him."
So they elected a new president a few weeks ago... I think the guy who won was the candidate who'd been president before. Or was at least in some way very famous politically.

A Woman Sells Argentinian Flags

And today he starts work. The interesting part is that everybody's psyched for him. I don't think it was a landslide that elected him, but the paper said 70 percent or Argentinians are optimistic that he can turn things around.

So today there's that virgin optimism of a new beginning, unmarred by reality. I imagine most people know things are still in pretty rough shape, but it seems like there's a collective desire to forget that for the moment... and even if it's just for this afternoon, believe that it's the start of a new day. As the 1984 Ronald Reagan campaign commercials said, "It's morning again in America." Today, make that Argentina.

"Vamos, Argentina."
Everywhere you see Argentinian flags with the words "Vamos, Argentina." I bought one. It means "Let's go, Argentina." Maybe I'm a sucker for sentimentalism, but it's cool to see people who've

Crowds Fill Buenos Aires' Largest Street

had a humiliatingly rough time decide it's time to make things better. It's a less jingo-istic, less skin-crawling version of Bush's "Let's Roll." Email me if you'd like one. Maybe I can still pick one up in the next few days.

So after I try to listen to part of the inauguration speech, remembering it'll most likely not be in English... I start looking for an apartment. Probably this will entail looking a three websites and calling a phone number. I don't feel like walking all over town tracking down a place to live. I'll pay a little extra to have somebody do the work for me. I should have what passes for a permanent address these days by tomorrow.

"I left Santiago the morning the pass reopened."
And by the way, it was not a terribly enjoyable trip here from Santiago. I'd mentioned that the mountain pass and tunnel between Chile and Argentina had been closed for days due to unusual snowfall. I left Santiago the morning the pass reopened on what was supposed to have been a 20 hour bus ride. This wouldn't have been so bad, as the bus was what's called a "semi-cama." A "half-bed" bus. Oddly, the semi-cama gives me more legroom than a "toda-cama."

The problems began at the border. While the snow had been cleared, the backup of traffic delayed us there for probably two hours.

The Insane Road Finally Reopens

Then as we're leaving the border station, word comes that there's just been an avalanche across the road ahead of us. Turns out it was just a head-on collision between two big trucks and we were moving again in about 45 minutes. Then the half-hour stop for gas and cargo in Mendoza takes over an hour. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires nearly three hours late, we have to make countless stops in the suburbs for passenger dropoffs and unexplained bus driver standing around.

"Waiting to be picked up by the rescue bus."
Finally we've dropped our last passengers. There are about ten of us left continuing all the way to the central terminal. We pull onto the freeway for the last five miles and the bus breaks down. Seriously. We then sit on the shoulder for another hour waiting to be picked up by the rescue bus. This wouldn't have surprised me in Central America, but here the buses are generally quite nice and comparatively expensive. Total time from Santiago to Buenos Aires: 24.5 hours.