Day 1 Discoveries

Okay, yesterday was a complete wash of a day. My plane landed at 9am, it took two hours to get luggage and transportation to my hotel, from which I ended up transferring due to over-booking, so by the time I got to my room, it was about noon. I hadn't eaten or slept in 26 hours (if you can sleep on planes, I am incredibly envious and hope you appreciate it). I plopped my bags, showered off, and crawled into bed, napped for four hours and woke up feeling super disoriented.

My mom and I got up to explore the area around our hotel a bit. The concierge mentioned that we were located in the upper-class area, which made being a Roaming Kat (hehe) in the area feel safe and comfortable.

With no internet access or cellular service, we quickly lost our way. This however, wasn't a frightening experience. In fact, it was something that I sought out. I wanted to get lost. I wanted to force my sense of direction to develop, because after all, how do you learn if you don't fuck up a few times first? It was fun to pull out my paper map (I know.... TOURIST ALERT) and figure out which way was west by observing the direction in which the sun set.

Alright, it was time for food! We quickly realized that there are were very few established restaurants, but an abundance of cafes, selling teas, pastries, and breads. And oh my lord the breads. I am gluten intolerant and very rarely eat bread, but I caved. I caved HARD. Just the smell of the bakeries made me weak. I decided at that moment that I would continue this semester abroad with a lenient diet in an intention to really embrace everything I can. So be prepared for some food pics because fun eating is new to me and I'll probably go a little crazy with it :)

Below – Fajita a batata: Potato topped with grilled veggies, topped in cream and layer with baked cheese. Side of lettuce and mashed avocado (everything I have ordered here thus far has been accompanied with avocado! What's not to love?)