in the southern most city in the world (ushuaia) and where in the hell is annette?

so...here it is...today annette and i both woke up from the same hostel in the same city (buenos aires) and took the same cab to the same airport and even checked in together...seems like a normal travel day, right?

after checking in at the airport, we went to sit down and began to engage in a game of uno (as much as i love uno, i hate, hate, hate the fact that annette almost always wins)...so as we played and annette once again squeaked out "uno", i became agitated (i know this is petty, but try losing uno for the 167th time and you would be agitated too)...and decided to get in line for the plane. now, the gate we had been assigned kept changing, but finally there was an announcement that we were to board at gate 10...i saw people boarding and asked annette if she was getting on the plane, to which she curtly replied no. i figured this was because she wanted to wait a bit while others waited in line, but i wanted to get on the plane after the many delays...so i gathered my belongings, got in line, and smugly waved to annette through the glass...thinking, i would have a bit of a break from yet another uno failure...so i followed the line and finally got to the flight attendant, who looked at my ticket and kindly informed me that i was not in the right line and that i should consult an aerolineas argentina official (apparently i was not even with the right company)...a bit of shock comes about here because i was sure this was the gate, so i turn to go back to our seat and see annette laughing at me with this argentinian guy that she had just met at the airpoirt...she fucking had me go through that line, knowing it was the wrong one!!! i was mortified, but laughing my embarassment away...the thing is, annette would not stop laughing, so i decided to go for a break and walk around...my last words to her being "i´ll see you on the plane"...famous last words...

so i walked around for a bit and then checked the monitor to see what was up with the flight ("annette will not fool me again!", i proudly thought) and saw that the flight was boarding now at gate 7. i checked my ticket a few times to make sure that i had the right flight before humiliating myself in another line. there was a big crowd of people, so i assumed annette was already in process of boarding, or at least would be boarding soon, so i meandered on through, got on the bus that took us to the plane and boarded. i was thinking how i was not going to talk to annette as punishment for her little trickster ways, but when i got to my seat, she was not there. i decided that she must be on the following bus and just waited for her to board so i could snub her...but as the people started to taper, there was no sign of her. i then heard one of the flight attendants call her name, so i went to the front of the plane, shouting"ella es mi amiga". the flight attendant said that she would call for her, although i really don´t think she believed me when i said that annette was down in the waiting room. they held the plane for about 15 minutes, then finally another flight attendant informed they couldn´t find her, but there would be another plane in 2 hours and not to worry. not to worry?!?! i was going to the southern most city in the world and i had no idea where the hell she was. i asked him to let me off the plane, but he wouldn´t because the bus had already gone and i was not allowed to walk on the tarmac. so that was that. i somehow lost annette at an airport. on my way to the southernmost city in the world. a city that is close to antarctica. fuck. where the hell was she?

so i journaled, trying to brainstorm, what possibly could have happened to her. i even looked for her new argentinian friend because he was supposed to be on our flight as well, but i didn´t see him so i was a bit confused. regardless, i got to ushuaia and had to make my way over to ask if she made it to her next flight, nervously stuttering in spanish. the guyt at the kiosk was a total dick and at first wouldn´t give me any information because i needed to have her passport (which of course i didn´t and of course she had mine, go figure)...finally after showing him the luggage claim ticket with her name on it, he looked it up and informed me that she was on that flight and would be getting in at 7...i figured, ok, it´s only 2 hours that i would have to wait, but then was told by the waitress in the airport restaurant, that it was actually an hour earlier than i thought, so i ended up having to wait about 3 and a half hours for her...i was going to go and drop off our luggage and get a hostel, but was told i wouldn´t be able to check into a hostel without my passport (plan foiled!)...so wait i did...

after 3 cups of coffee and a ten dollar sandwich,. i moseyed on over to the waiting area, and lo and behold she was on that flight and we reunited...man oh man...the great thing is is that she was laughing and i am glad that we were able to laugh away this experience...i know a lot of other people who would have not been in the greatest mood after that...so it turns out that annette was talking to this guy and somehow they both missed the announcement that the plane was boarding. at some point in her conversation with this guy, she thought to go and look for me (time had been ticking away) and when she couldn´t find me, she so wisely decided to look at the monitor and see what was up with the flight. and then she realized there was no mention of the flight on the monitor, so she and her new travel buddy went to the gate and showed their tickets. the flight attendant looked at them and said (with disdain) "this flight left an hour ago" and informed them that their names had been called...so in conclusion, annette was talking so much that she missed the announcement that the flight was boarding, which is why she was not sitting next to me on the plane. for anyone who knows annette, you know she is a talker, but man oh man, this is seriously the icing on the cake. luckily, she got on the next flight and now we are together, blogging away...how long will we be together? i guess that will depend on how much her mouth will be running the next few days...