Signs of being abroad.

Sometimes I think that the fact that I am abroad becomes most obvious when I try to do something that would be considered quite simple at home and yet I find it really difficult here. Here are a few examples:

1. Grocery shopping for peanut butter. Peanut butter is apparently not very popular here. In a mega grocery store of more than 40 aisles we searched up and down for a good twenty minutes before finding the last two Planters Creamy containers. And they were'nt like the jumbo size you crave when you just want to eat it straight. No, these were two 8 ounce jars of peanut butter.

2. Jogging. If it's not the difficulty of jodging dog shit on the sidewalk, then its a matter of having inhaled enough second hand smoke the night before to kill a small child on the spot. Or more likely I'm just a fatass.

3. Going to a movie. This wasn't actually difficult so much as peculiar. Here all the seats in the theatre are assigned. So, imagine me sitting in a completely empty theater. Two old ladies walk in from one door, a guy from another. All three off them checked their tickets then eyeing each seat as they walked down the aisle came and sat right next to me. The four of us watched the movie in a row while the whole rest of the theatre was empty.

4.Buying food. "What?" you might ask, in the world of declicious beef cuts and 3 course meals for $6 US you're having trouble finding a meal? Well, at least when I want one. It seems that just about the time I get hungry in the late afternoon all the food joints have shut down and only search cafe con leche and medialunas (croissants). Even worse, they give you funny looks if you ask to eat anything substantial at that time. I can't tell you the number of days I've gone without lunch due to the simple fact that I missed the lunch dinning window.

5.Riding a bus. I thought riding a bus in Guayaquil was bad (and it was) but here they at least pretend to have a system, albeit a broken one. The entire system consists of a Guia'T or guide to all the bus routes in the city. Easy right? I wish, walking down the street with GuiaT in hand (dog shit is a problem here too) trying to find both where I'm starting, and where I'm trying to go on this tiny map and then find a bus that passes through both little squares is a nightmare. In fact, in the past I've walked in the general direction of where I want to go and arrived before figuring out how to get to the damn place by bus.

For now that's all I can think of but I'll add more as they come to me. I'm off to Iguazu the amazing water falls on the border with Brazil so I'll post an update when I get back to BA.