We arrived in BA Saturday morning (we had originally planned to get there Sunday morning - damn hostel in Mendoza) and made our way to the hostel in Palermo where we then tried to sort our lives out as best as we could. We only planned on staying in that hostel for a night and then moving to another one and thank god we did because it wasn't so fantastic. Grungy and very reminiscent of our second hostel in Montevideo weirdly (one we didn't like so much).

In any case, I couldn't tell you what we did that day as we were wrecked and without money so I'm sure there was a lot of sitting around that took place. We went to bed wicked early only to be woken up by these b****es in our room going out on the town. Or at least that's what I thought they were doing until I looked at my phone and saw it was already 3:30 am. Ummm isn't it time for you to leave already and hit the clubs or do something besides be the worst people on the planet?! I believe them to have been Argentinian, but anyway, one of the girls kept coming into the room, turning the light on, playing music and then leaving to go back out into the lobby without closing the door behind her so that I could continue to listen to their club music out in the lobby. She did it twice and I was ready to rip someone's throat out. Had you known, b****, that we had been through hell and back I'm sure you wouldn't send me back to the hell that is not being able to sleep. Finally they left or I fell asleep, who cares cause then I woke up ten hours later feeling alive!

We switched hostels the next morning and we immediately felt better about everything in life. We met some funny older English girls who were massively hungover and learned that it was the younger girl's birthday (she was turning 19!! So young...). We promised to have a glass of wine with her that evening but with our lack of funds we couldn't truly take advantage of BA like one typically would want to. We could basically afford food as we had to pay for our emergency passports and buses all the way across the country and to Chile, so that was costing a pretty penny. In any case, we did the only free thing one can in the city and walked around the magnificent barrio called Palermo for a few hours. It's such a cute, hipster part of the city and we finally decided to sit down for a cup of coffee after a bit to take in our surroundings and some sunlight. Then we wanted to go to the cinema.. And we saw Fast and Furious:7 :) I really can't believe we saw it... I feel like it's completely out of character but it was so good!!!! Oh my god - I balled my eyes out for a solid twenty minutes during the final scene of the movie. Negar and I have now decided to have a Fast and Furious marathon ASAP.

I then decided to go for a run to both the American and Irish embassies to make sure I could locate them the following day. It was a tough run because I'm slightly (very) out of shape at the moment and I ended up going about 10 km. Excellent, I can drink all the wine tonight then!

Back at the hostel that evening we made a lovely stir fry and had some wine with our birthday girl. A Swiss guy also joined us along with a couple (guy from Ireland, girl from England). We chatted about all things in life and naturally retold our story about stolen passports yet again to explain why were back in BA (so funny cause that's exactly what our hostel was called lolz).

The next day was game day and both Negar and I got up early to be the first in line at both the American and German embassies. At the US embassy I walked up to a window outside and was asked to show a copy of my stolen passport along with my Argentinian police report where your man then asked me where my flight tickets were. To theoretically get an emergency US passport you must have immediate travel plans, which I did, but I had no real way of proving it since we hadn't bought our bus tickets to Chile yet (just in case something went wrong at the embassies and we had to extend our stay). After I told him I was leaving to Chile the following evening as long as I had no problem getting an Irish passport by the following morning, he allowed me to enter the embassy and told me to go to window 15. After passing through security, I walked past queues and queues of people waiting for something. Oh, this must be where I have to wait. So I stood in the queue for a few minutes while Argentinians stared at me wondering what I was doing lining up for a visa to the US when I didn't look very Argentinian at all. Woops, I get to skip all of these queues and enter the building. Suckers! In I go and pull a ticket and wait for my number to be called. The lady working at window 15 was quite nice and calmed me by saying passports are actually stolen quite often and I shouldn't be too worried. As soon as I gave her all my documentation she said she can give me an emergency US passport that's valid only for a year, but the good news is that if I renew it for a standard 10-year passport before the expiration date (April 2016) then I don't have to pay the standard $135 renewal fee. So with the $135 I paid to the embassy there I actually get an emergency passport AND a standard 10-year one upon renewal. Excellent - made me feel a bit better about spending so much money on it in any case. She then said I should come back between 3 and 4 pm in the afternoon to pick it up. 1 passport down - 1 to go.

I raced to the McDonalds where Negar and I had agreed to meet so that we could then head to the Irish embassy together. She had lent me the money to pay for my US passport as I had emailed my dad to transfer me money but it hadn't arrived yet. She had received her German passport that morning so she was all good to go and we set out for the Irish embassy which is located on the 6th story of some office building in the Recoleta neighborhood. We took the elevator up and got out on the floor, rang the bell to embassy and were buzzed in. The embassy is so small that it actually shares the 6th floor with some sort of bank or financial company. In any case, besides the one lady working, we were the only ones there. Quick service, just what I like!

I had to fill out a form and give her two passport photos and she then told me to come back the following morning (after I had paid the fee at their bank) with my payment receipt to pick up my passport. As these things go, everything was turning out according to plan for the first time in what seemed like forever!

Negar and I headed back to the hostel and I then went to pick my American passport up in the afternoon. From there we took the metro to the bus station to not only buy bus tickets to Santiago for the next day but to also pick up the money my dad had sent me via xoom.com. The xoom.com website showed there was a pickup location IN the bus station (how convenient!) but after running around and searching all the corners of the terminal we learned it wasn't yet open and I had to go to the main one in the city center (about 10 blocks away). No metro stop seemed close to our new pickup location so we walked very fast through the city enduring constant cat calls and whistles (I think I need to write a blog post solely on differences in cat calls between the countries because it's very bizarre how differently men like to express their thoughts on your beauty). In any case, we made it about an hour before the shop closed and hurried back to the bus station where we only managed to get tickets to Mendoza, as we were told we had to get the bus ticket from Mendoza to Santiago in the Mendoza bus station. Of course, it would have been too easy otherwise. Finally, almost all tasks accomplished - 2 out of 3 passports in hand, cash picked up and bus tickets to at least Mendoza purchased!

We headed back to the hostel and bought food and wine along the way to celebrate our small victory. Life was slowly looking up and, more importantly, our departure from Argentina was imminent! Back at the hostel our young English friend broke down in tears because of her s***head of a boyfriend so naturally we broke out the wine because wine is the answer to all problems. Seriously, this guy sounded like the devil reincarnated. She is on her gap year at the moment and the boyf on a gap year between his bachelors and masters degree, so he's about three years older than her. Initially their plans were to come to South America together but they dawdled away their time and finally she took the plunge to come down to BA for a few weeks and volunteer. Incredibly brave of her as she's so young, but he saw it as her being selfish. Even after arriving in BA he constantly said that she was putting other people and things before their relationship, that she was just traveling to hook up with other guys, etc. Horrible person. Horrible. He constantly puts her down and makes her cry and she's such a lovely person and hates confrontation that she tends to apologize to him. Hunny, hunny, hunny. No. You are doing nothing wrong.

Negar and I talked her through everything but tried to make her see that her relationship with him is as unhealthy as a relationship can get. Although it isn't physical abuse, it's emotional and psychological abuse at its purest, which is just as if not more painful than the former. In any case, we were soon interrupted by the arrival of other hostel guests including Swiss guy and Irish/English couple from the night before. We were also joined by two Israeli guys who were so, so funny. One of the guys (can't pronounce his name cause it's some insane biblical name as many Israeli names tend to be) had the best sense of humor I have ever encountered. He told us a story about the hostel they were previously staying in in BA where a guy in his dorm was having sex with a girl on a top bunk bed across from him when one of his friends came in and started talking to the couple still having sex and then proceeded to throw up. Needless to say, they changed hostels the next day. The story was funny in and of itself but his accent and manner of telling it in such a matter of fact way just took it over the top. Negar and I then told them about the Israeli loves of our lives we had met in Rio and he said he was going to do his best to find them (lolz). Israel's such a small country, I'm sure you can do it, sir ;) just kidding, but please try!!! We stayed up talking for ages in the big group and then headed to bed when some of the group went out for beers. Negar and I would have loved to join them but we were still broke... Sad times.

In any case, I got up early the following morning yet again to go to the bank and pay for my passport, then took my receipt to the embassy to retrieve it. I got it without any problems but the emergency Irish passport is only valid for 7 months and sadly I have to pay again to renew it for a standard 10-year one :( ahhh well, at least I have it now and can get into Bolivia without paying for a visa and do the hike up to Machu Picchu!

I walked back to the hostel and sat around with Negar until it was time to head to the bus station and set out for Mendoza. The hour finally came and off we went - farewell BA and thanks for giving us some new passports!

As difficult as things had become, everything the second time around in BA actually went according to plan and Negar and I even enjoyed our time in the city - can you believe it?! The first time around we weren't very impressed but this time we had a hard time leaving. I'm not sure what it was, but I think meeting such incredibly nice people and laughing and getting everything sorted out finally put us on the right track again and we were finally able to put the catastrophe in San Rafael behind us. "There's no use in crying over spilled milk" is one of my favorite sayings and I've had to revert back to it so often on this trip. I haven't cried once since coming traveling because I'm always of the mentality that crying doesn't produce any results - it won't get me anywhere. I believe in doing and getting things sorted out rather than sitting around and lamenting that events transpired in the first place and I think that sort of mentality has helped me a lot on this trip. I have very thick skin and not many things will stop me from continuing on and seeing the rest of this continent. Being back in BA and meeting great people and talking about our trip ahead gave me back my enthusiasm and I'm so excited to keep going. I've said from the start that this trip will difficult but worth it and I don't think we have managed to disappoint...

The Gringa Motorcycle Diaries continues, my friends!!