You can't buy Pepto Bismol in Buenos Aires, but...

This week I had my first experience with mexican-vacation-style upset tummy here in Buenos Aires. It wasn't too bad, I wasn't sick-sick, but my tummy hurt for three days or so and I didn't want to leave the apartment for a day or so. And I found out that you can't buy Pepto Bismol in buenos aires, or anything remotely resembling it. (Pink Bismuth? I've seen it called that in generic form in the states. Bismuth, hmmm...)

Which is fine, not everything has to travel internationally. But really, this would be a good thing to travel. I see it everywhere in mexico and central america, at least everywhere where foreigners might go, probably for good reason!

But one thing that shouldn't travel is this -- daily updates on the doings of Britney Spears on the local news. And I mean daily, like, every single day. We get the big news of other stateside 'stars', like j-lo's twins and, I don't know, Victoria Beckham or whoever. But swear to god, every single morning, around 11:45, the "entertainment news" comes on my favorite news channel here, and i get the Britney update.

The world is a strange place.

FWIW, here are some other things you can't get in Buenos Aires which would be nice: pseudoephedrine (for sinus headaches), hydrocortisone (for mosquito bites, which are ridiculously frequent), a decent chocolate chip cookie (please, just some chips ahoy!), swiss cheese, turkey (never did I think I'd miss turkey sandwiches, boring as they are), and, maybe worst of all, screens for the windows.

Everyone has these little devices that they plug into an electric outlet, which take a little "tablet" of some toxic chemical. It seems the device melts the tablet, causing the toxic chemical to permeate the air and kill or annoy or tranquilize the mosquitos. And nobody, nobody has screens on their windows. (My spanish teacher says "en el campo", out in the country, they have them.)

I hate to admit it, because I'm generally anti-air-conditioning, but I took to keeping the windows closed and running the AC when I needed to, just to keep the damn mosquitos out. Now it's March, the equivalent of Sept. in the northern hemisphere, and there aren't many mosquitos left, thank god. Fresh air in the apt. again.

Oh one last thing that travels in surprising detail -- coverage of the US primaries. I wouldn't think the primaries would get that much attention, but they spend tons of time on the local news channels seriously analyzing what's going on in the US political process. This is probably a good thing -- lord knows it's going to affect them, a lot more than whether britney breaks up with her current loser boyfriend or whatever.