We finally got out of BA today on a long-distance bus to Trelew, about 1000 km south. We bought the lowest-class of tickets and weren’t sure what the Argentine bus situation was like, but it turned out to be a pleasant journey. We did buy the cheapest tickets, but it was still expensive, so it was nice that at least the bus was good. It was a double-decker bus with several different classes of seats. It was almost up to Thailand standards, which was pretty surprising. The movies were certainly better; I’ll take “Along Came Polly,†“Pirates III,†and “21†over Thai music videos any day. Plus, we got meals and there was round of bingo. But most of my attention was focused outside the bus. Once outside BA, we drove for hours across flat pampas. Nothing but green fields as far as I could see. I was struck by both the flatness and lack of people. Asia is so full of villages and people everywhere, it seemed odd to not pass a village or at least see some signs of habitation every few minutes. We saw livestock and passed only a few small towns all day. Argentina is really sparsely populated. It has only 40 million people and I think it’s the fifth largest nation measured by land area. Additionally, over 30% of Argentineans live in BA??????provionce????. Looking out the window, I began to realize how empty of a place Argentina is. My discontent with Argentina so far had been left behind in BA with the crowds, pollution, crumbling buildings and sidewalks, and traffic. We were now on open road, empty country, and the huge blue sky and vibrant green fields replaced the dull city-tones that I’d grown accustomed to. We watched the sun set over the nothingness to the east, nothingness that stretched all the way to Andean cordillera. It was great to see the pinks and oranges that followed the sunset without the silhouettes of buildings or a skyline. It’s now pitch black outside and I cannot even make out the horizon, not that it matters. I know it’s just nothingness anyways. I’m just content to be getting farther from BA and closer to Patagonia, a land I’ve longed to visit.