Culture Shock

Tell me this doesn´t remind you of the prairie of Illinois if you have ever been there. It was the bus ride in from Ezeiza airport to the city.

I knew I would have some culture shock and it kicked in when I found out I could throw toilet paper into the toilet! Oh happy day! No smelly garbage bin next to the toilet filled with dirty paper. Not only that, you can drink water from the tap! Wahoo!! No buying bottled water for me! I also realized that there are no llamada ladies which means I have to find a pay phone to make a call if I am not at Gabi´s apartment. Fortunately, they aren´t that difficult to find. Getting on a bus that is tall enough for me to stand upright is really weird and quite refreshing. EVERYONE has leather boots. (If they aren´t wearing them I am sure they have a pair at home.) a 37 peso menu is not the same as a 10 sole menu.

I am kind of excited about the Starbucks around the corner from my place. I haven´t gone yet but I will definitely make it there at least once before I leave. Frappecinos are a weakness of mine along with donuts (of which I only indulged in one in Bolivia!)

There are dog walkers!! What a foreign concept to someone who has been living around wild dogs all over the city in Cusco. It´s not like I haven´t seen dog walkers before but I had forgotton that that is something people do in big cities. It´s funny when you see a dog on a leash, let alone walked by one person along with a bunch of other dogs. Cusqueñans would laugh.

There are parks eveywhere and they are huge and wonderful and full of grass. I miss grass in Cusco. It´s this weird kind of astro turf kind of grass there.

All the people I have met so far have been very nice. I have gotten a few ridiculous cat calls and a ¨You have a very nice ass!¨ from one nice gentleman, but that´s nothing new. It is South America after all.

I met up with my friend Sara this morning for lunch and now I am headed off to meet up with my friend Teresa who I went to Denison with. I also met up with Cameron yesterday who I worked with at Maximo in Cusco. I will write the next post about my adventures with my friends here in BA.