Round two!

And we’re back for round two. I’ll start off the year by sharing my (hopeful) commitment of updating weekly this blog/critical analysis of my daily life/space where I may occasionally rant. That established, let’s jump in to where I am now and how I got here. It was already more than a week ago that I boarded the first of my four plane rides en route to Argentina (Fort Wayne to Chicago to Toronto to Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires). With a checked bag of exactly 50 pounds and my hiking backpack stuffed to capacity, I was elated, and exhausted, when I finally arrived in Buenos Aires proper after over 24 hours of combined fly and layover time. I actually don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see Retiro, Buenos Aires’ central bus terminal. Thursday night was spent on an overnight bus ride and Friday morning I finally arrived in Resistencia. I have no doubt that I was quite the sight when I arrived; nonetheless, a small crew of friends welcomed me with huge smiles and bigger hugs at the bus terminal.

Next stop on my seemingly never-ending travels: my new house. I have the blessing this year of living with a friend, Caro, who I got to know last year both at San Fernando and my church.  Friday was a whirlwind of house arranging and zombie-like communications for me. Truly, I think it took the next three or four days for me to recuperate from my marathon travels and the slight cold that I’d carried with me from Ohio. Add in some extreme climate changes and I feel like I’ve survived quite an environmental shift; It’s hot, very hot (like 90 degrees with high humidity hot), here in Resistencia which I have to say I’ve enjoyed for the most part so far.

I won’t drag on too much longer with this entry as a few other necessary tasks are calling my name at the moment but as a humorous close to my return to Argentina, I’d like to reflect on a few food addictions that the majority of Argentines adhere to and still make me laugh. One, Coca-Cola is king here. Believe it or not, I’d put good money on a claim that there is more soda pop consumed here per capita than in the United States. Two, an obsession with salt and consequent lack of pepper. Go to nearly any restaurant and you’re going to find just one condiment shaker on the table, one filled with salt. Three, mayonnaise. Maybe it’s because my parents really didn’t keep mayonnaise stocked as an absolutely necessary condiment in our refrigerator when I was a child but the quantities in which it is consumed here with steak, hamburgers, vegetables in a salad, you name it, truly astound me.  And finally, hard boiled egg. My friends think I am really strange for not being nuts about eggs prepared this way in a salad, on top of a pizza, etc. and I find them a bit obsessed for the ways that they use them in food. I guess life is fair and just in some ways. More life updates soon from sunny, scorching Chaco and God-willing some job updates too.