Anne in Brazil

After several weeks of bumming around, as well as a whirlwind visit from the parental units, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a ticket for a two-week trip to Argentina. I'll be spending the first week in Buenos Aires, where an old Interlochen friend will show me around (finally!! the last time I was there I only had a fleeting glimpse at this amazing city), and then I will trudge up north to Corrientes to see my old haunts. I expect uncomfortable heat, lots of walking, and plenty of dulce de leche. Let's hope my Spanish is even passable; at its last trial (a brief, mortifying phone call), I could only manage Portuñol, the most embarrassing and all-too-common mix between the two languages.

There are lots of Argentines here in Bahia, all of them Porteños (from Buenos Aires). A few years ago, right after coming back from Corrientes, I would have struck up a conversation with them, but I've finally realized what a waste of my time this is. Telling a Porteño that you lived in (and only in) Corrientes is comparable to an Argentine telling a New Yorker, "oh my god, I love the US!! I spent a month in Fargo!" Neither New Yorkers or Porteños are very impressed. So I keep mum.

In other news, if you have ever called me when I'm in my apartment, more often than not you have probably heard the squeaky, blood-curdling yips coming from two unseen but ever-present dogs. They pretty much never, ever stop. I'd always sworn to find and one day kill both of them. Today I can proudly announce that I finally caught sight of these two scoundrels, and one managed to poop in the stairwell of the building. This remarkable gesture sums up exactly how I feel about them, too.

That's about all the news for now. Hope all of you are keeping warm up north (ahahahaha). Keep in touch!