Mantequilla de Cacahuete

Peanut butter. Or, in Argentina talk its actually "manteca de maní" but I learned it as the "mantequilla de cacahuete" (mahn-tay-key-yah day caw-cuh-wah-tay), and its more fun to say so I prefer it.

Arrival day full jars

One thing that I was warned about before coming on the trip by alumni of this program was: "Bring peanut butter, you will miss it!" Having only barely used one small jar of JIF the entire last semester and trying to keep to the 50 lb luggage limit, I figured that the small jar of peanut butter would be more than enough.

I was wrong.

Luckily (I thought), Kylie brought the giant size of crunchy Skippy! But those soon began depleting. I assured myself, "Drew will be here in March, surely we can last until then."

Wrong again.

Empty

As we felt farther and farther from the US and the culture, language, and food that we were familiar with, a spoonful (or 2) of peanut butter became a piece of home, comfort food. Five weeks in we find ourselves empty. And we scraped down to the last ounce.

We had heard rumors that Chinatown in Buenos Aires had grocery stores that sold imported foods, and that maybe some type of peanut butter would be for sale there. Devastated and desperate, Kylie and I ventured down to Chinatown (a 40 minute trip by bus), willing to spend whatever amount on any peanut butter substitute we could find.

The grocery store in Chinatown was an interesting experience. I've never felt  so much before like I had NO idea what anything was, and I've been a foreigner for more than a month now. We searched the aisles for anything that resembled our desired manteca, and finally we found it! Be it decorated with unfamiliar Chinese symbols and some spanish and beyond off-brand, when you're this far from home, peanut butter is peanut butter.

The Holy Grail

Update: The strange Chinatown peanut butter has since been finished... back to square one.