Letters from the International Superhero, Devin Carberry

I get a letter from my friend Devin once in a while about his travels. He sort of gets around the world. I have a very mild case of wanderlust compared to Devin, but my case of jealousy is pretty strong. And in my opinion, he is the modern version of Jack Kerouac. When I met Devin in New Orleans, he was practicing acrobatics. Now he is living the dream in Buenos Aires. I think I might have a portrait assignment to do in Argentina soon...
So for my support of travels, cool letters, and random blogging, here is a random letter from Devin in Argentina.


Que onda, querida gente?
It's been three weeks since I arrived in Buenos Aires. What follows are notes on Argentine living and the debacle that is my life.

Note 1: The first night here we went out to dinner at eleven (any earlier and there is no one in the joint) and I got a steak stuffed with bacon, ham, and carmelized onions. My vegan friend, Mary, got a salad that was lettuce and only lettuce. Serves her right. Then we went to a club across the street featuring fat draq queens dressed like bumblebees and breakdancers (these are a few of my favorite things). Everyone was ridiculously, ridiculously good looking. It's like the attractive elite of the world decided to relocate to B.A.--I'm kind of bitter that I didn't get the memo until now. The men are super aggressive, machista d-bags who like to grab at and unduly whisper into the ears of women (I think they whisper the yin yang twins "wait'll ya see my..."). As a result, I've been teaching Mary how to Judo chop and puke on command.

Note 2: Everyday there are protests. If you haven't read, Argentina's farmers are on strike. It's difficult to discern what the hell is really happening since people protest the government, then the government pays protesters to protest the protesters, and sometimes people barricade streets with burning tires and no one seems to know why. The media is allegedly critical of the government, but there is graffiti everywhere condemning the media for just the opposite. Either way, domestic and international protests always make front page news, which is refreshing coming from the U.S. where international protests of millions of people receive two paragraph coverage on page B28. What is for certain is that prices here suck because inflation is out of control and everyone seems worried that another crash may be nigh.

Note 3: Circus school is for winners. I've been training in circus two to four hours a day. The vocabulary is beyond me sometimes, so I watch and copy...it gets tricky, though, when I'm basing in partner acrobatics and there is no one big enough to demonstrate. one woman, dominique, has taken a liking to me and escorts me around the school asking if anyone wants to take my hand in marriage. then i do handstands or juggle to avoid the awkwardness that ensues. monday i start trapeze class.

Note 4: MC Hammer pants are cool for women. Mullets are cool for men. Everything is drab--grey, black, and blue. Canadian tuxedos are popular. Hip Hop is still street. And Argentines can't dance...an anomoly in Latin America.

Note 5: Ten minutes after Mary turned 25, her dress lit on fire whilst standing next to the fireplace. We tackled her to the ground and put out the fire, but not before she recieved second and third degree burns on her ass. Yours truly has had the unique pleasure of dressing said ass with gauze and aloe vera every day.

Note 6: We went to a Naked Tango show and only saw one boob.

Note 7: I have the vocabulary of a sixth grader, so my humor has become even more slapstick and outlandish than normal. Yesterday in Spanish class, I told a story about unicorns, rainbows, slaves, Batman, monkey butlers, and Marilyn Monroe.

Note 8: I live in an apartment with a Goth named Graham who is studying Norwiegan, French, Portuguese, Spanish, violin, and figure drawing. Nate who secretly has terrets syndrom and his dog, Manu, who i walk everyday. A Brazilian/American couple that sleeps till 4pm and is up to something. Through the kitchen is an old school printing press and studio space for three crazy fifty-something Argentine painters. Our living room is their gallery space.

Note 10: AMER-I-CA, FUCK YAH! For the fourth, my roommate threw a party for her English students and brought four beer bongs as indispensible icons of American partying. Never would I have though it cool or funny to watch people beer bong, but wathcing Argentineans discover the beer bong made me a little weepy. We sang Karaoke and danced till 8am.

Note 9: If you want to contact me: I live at Avenida Juan De Garay 223, Dtpo. 1, Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina CP 1154. My phone number is 011-15-6683-6646. I'm not sure if you have to dial a country code in addition to that number.

Note 10: In August, I will be travelling around Brazil. If you know anyone I can stay with or should hang with or any places to go, let me know.

Love, Devin