Arrival in Argentina and at the LOPEZ Hostel

After a approximately 7-hour bus ride, I finally arrived in Bariloche (Argentina) in the afternoon. During the journey, I had a conversation with an Argentine who wanted to speak English with me. Because I was the first person he had ever spoken English with outside of school, he even bought me a chocolate bar to celebrate at the border crossing. So, my first impression of Argentina was already positive. 😉

Unfortunately, when I arrived in Bariloche, I didn't have much time to explore, although I could already see from the bus that it must be a beautiful city with an even more beautiful landscape. At the bus terminal, I bought a SUBE card, a 'ticket' that needs to be topped up with credit so that you can simply hold it against a sensor in public transport to deduct the fare. Without this card, I wouldn't have been able to take the bus to the airport in Bariloche, where my 2-hour flight to Buenos Aires was supposed to depart. When I landed, my taxi driver was already waiting for me with a name sign, as I had already ordered and paid for him online before my flight. It took us one hour to get to my hostel. However, it was better than taking public transport, as it was already later than 8 p.m. and the risk of something happening was growing.

My hostel in Buenos Aires, the LOPEZ Hostel & Suites, is located on Avenida Santa Fe in Palermo Hollywood, a neighborhood with lots of street art, beautiful cafes and restaurants, and a lively nightlife. I was greeted by Hector (24), a Colombian who was going to work there with me for the next few weeks. After he showed me around the house and took me to my room, I finally met Paulo (27), another volunteer from Brazil.

I get along very well with both of them, and we make a good team when it comes to work. We don't have fixed working hours, which means we always have to coordinate who will be on reception duty when. Our other tasks include guest assistance and recommending sights, activities, and local places around Buenos Aires, as well as setting up and taking down the breakfast buffet. We have also started designing a new website for our hostel and writing short articles about Buenos Aires. So far, I'm incredibly enjoying it here and I'm using my free time to get to know the city myself before recommending individual places to our guests. However, I find it a bit difficult and confusing to switch between German, English, and Spanish when talking to different guests, so I have accidentally started speaking in the wrong language more than once.

I met my boss, Gonzalo (28), the next day when we had Milanesas (schnitzel) together. I'm also more than satisfied with him as my supervisor and get along very well with him, although it's sometimes difficult for me to understand him because, as a true Argentine, he has a completely different accent than, for example, Chileans, and I still have to get used to Argentine Spanish.