Devon Alter

Yesterday, my friends and I went to El Tigre, a riverside pueblo about an hour away from Buenos Aires. It was so much fun! After taking the train over and buying river tour tickets, we went to a random little place for lunch. We ordered essentially a plate full of meats. The waitress said its meant for 2 but 3 can share it. Well there were 5 of us and we did not eat half of it!!! Not to mention half of what was left were things I didn’t even want to see on my plate!!! I will try ALMOST anything once, but when I look at something and KNOW it is animal intestines, I’m plenty happy with my ignorance. Then there was another lump that was obviously some internal organ, I am not just sure which one. :-/ Luckily we all ordered side salads too so we got enough to eat even though the waitress commented that we ate nothing! OY!

Then we took a river tour on a very comfy little boat! We found out that in this town everything is done by the river. EVERYTHING. There is a “school bus boat,” a “mail boat” and even a “supermarket boat” that comes directly to your house/dock!!! The houses have numerical addresses but each one is also named for easier identification. Some were people’s names like Vanessa, some were things like Mi Tesoro, and there were even three in a row named Athos, Porthos and Aramis, which just made me smile!

After that we went over to the amusement park and hit up a few roller coasters. The lines were LONG so we only got to do a couple of them, but it was still a lot of fun!

There are also a few things I have found out since my last post:

I LOVE my new home stay. The woman Teresa is WONDERFUL! I came home from work today to find a giant candy bar on my bed! I also told her about my stomach this morning and found Pepto on my desk this afternoon!

Also, my first day here, as I left to go exploring I heard Spice Girl’s Wannabe blasting from the land lords apartment. It was a very nice welcome and I enjoyed dancing to it by myself in the hallway for a minute.

One problem, Teresa thinks my name is Elizabeth. So does COINED. I told her the first day its Devon, but she keeps calling me Elizabeth. I think I will just let her call me that.

I also have a 3rd name I go by now. Maria. I found out the other night that my name is too hard for my Brazilian friends to pronounce, so they all started calling me Maria when I was not around. Even the American they live with calls me that! Their host mom thinks thats my real name! They have slowly began to call me Maria to my face also!

So now I am responding to Devon, Elizabeth and Maria… 3 names, 1 me!

So I am finally here in Buenos Aires after months of talking about it and planning it. I am very nervous and very excited all at once! No matter how much I travel the first couple of weeks are always pretty nerve-wracking! So lets recap my last few days!

Friday night before I left I was trying to finish packing, because my last-minute self did not pack in advance at all, when all of the sudden I started to feel terrible! Well, I got a 24-hour stomach virus. I was sick all night, could not pack, was miserable and terribly afraid I would miss my flight. Luckily my flight left at 9 PM on Saturday so I had all day to try and finish packing and relax. I managed this but still felt awful on my way to the airport. Luckily, by my flight, the worst of it had passed and I just needed to relax and sleep as much as I could on the 10-hour flight.

The flight was easy. I slept a lot and just picked a little at my food because I was afraid of getting sick on a plane. Mind you the only thing I had eaten since the night before when I got sick is some french fries at the airport. For some reason, my stomach loves them when I am sick! Anyway, I make it to Buenos Aires where it is HOT!!!! So far it has been mid-80′s every day. I know I am from Texas but the 40′s to 80′s jump while still not feeling so great was not awesome.

So I make it to my host house and the woman, Graciela, seems nice and there is a Brazilian girl living here also named Magaly. For dinner Graciela makes me what she called chorizo and I called smelly brown tube of mush, “soup” that looked and tasted like runny oatmeal and salad. Needless to say, I ate the salad and the bread. I tried the other things, but brown mush and runny oatmeal just aren’t my favorite. Then I went with Magaly to a bar in San Telmo and met some people she had met in a hostel, Benny from Liverpool and Jules from Australia. They were playing music in the bar so when I arrived I was serenaded with classics ranging from “Hey Ya” to “No Diggity,” “Stand by Me” to “Use Somebody,” and “Twist and Shout” to “Wonderwall.” It was entertaining but I was EXHAUSTED! My body hated me for flying in that condition! So to bed I went.

Yesterday (Monday January 4) I went to COINED, which is the local office for my program, for a welcome lunch (empanadas) and city walk. This is when I discover that of all the people at COINED, probably 95% are Brazilian, if not more! I saw one French girl, met one American and heard talk of another but that was it! One the walking tour I made friends with a good group of people who all live together in a student residence. Part of me wishes I lived with them! So after the city walk I went and bought a cell phone and came home just in time to leave again with Magaly to see a drum group called La Bomba de Tiempo who play every Monday. Basically it is the ultimate drum circle, ever! But we met up with Benny there and I quickly became the third wheel. I left them to go meet the city walk group for dinner.

That dinner was my first real meal since before I left America! My stomach is still adjusting to here, but it was nice to feel full and eat something other than bread and water. We then ended up at a place called Madagascar Bar and walked in 5 minutes before they started charging people. Then an Argentinian woman got on a stage and started singing. Again we heard American classics ranging from “Sweet Dreams” to “Poker Face” to “I Will Survive.” Then the Spanish music started. I knew a few songs but it was fun to just relax and enjoy the local scene.

That is all for now. I meet with COINED again tomorrow and will see where I am working and then start work on Thursday! More to come! Wish me luck!