Impressions of Buenos Aires

I spent my last week abroad visiting my good friend Jenelle in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These are my impressions...

BsAs is called the “Paris of South America,” but reminds me of New York City. Of course, I haven’t been to Paris so I don’t really know. It’s much larger and more hectic than Santiago. It has something like 48 barrios, of which Jenelle and I only went to like 5. There are a lot of European immigrants, esp Italian, so the city is a lot more European than Santiago. There is a lot more of a café culture with people sitting outside and eating in plazas. The people are a lot more fair than the people in Chile so I didn't stand out as much.

However, the city is also much dirtier than Santiago. There are a lot of torn-up sidewalks and dog poop EVERYWHERE, which is weird because I saw fewer stray dogs.

The Argentines are a lot more fresh with women. I got a lot more piropos than I did in Chile.

Tango is fun but hard. Everyone is moving around the dance floor so much it can get dangerous, esp since all the women are in heels. While it is beautiful, I like salsa better. Tango is very elegant and austere, while salsa is more relaxed and warm. Having had many more salsa lessons than tango I may be a little biased.

Tango in the plaza

Me: Brr

Jenelle: Chilly?

Me: No, Argentina

Delicious food: pizza, pasta, alfajores, wine, steak, chocolate, ice cream :)

I didn’t realize how much of a Chilean accent I’d adopted until trying to speak to Argentineans. They use “vos” instead of “tu” (eww) and the “y” and “ll” are pronounced “zh.” Meanwhile, I’m dropping the “s” and keep talking about flaites and cuicos like they know what I’m talking about.

Porteños (residents of BsAs) have serious self-esteem issues. They are obsessed with being thin and many women are anorexic. It's kind of gross. In Jenelle's neighborhood there are a bunch of psychoanalysts and the nickname is Villa Freud.

Omg gauchooo!!!

We went to a gaucho fest! Unfortunately we only saw the gauchos on horseback ride by once, but it was still pretty cool. There was also a huuuuge feria where you could buy all kinds of leather. My favorite argentine was this old gaucho all dressed up and dancing a traditional dance while eating popcorn.

<3

Mate is the traditional drink of Argentina. It's a hot caffeine drink, kind of a really strong tea. It has very specific requirements. You drink it out of a cured gourd through a bombilla, a kind of strainer. It's very strong and bitter but I like it a lot. It's a shared drink so you pass it around to everyone. It's a very nice way to relax and get to know people.

Because the buses only take coins (monedas) there is a huge moneda shortage. Jenelle and her friends literally hoard them. If you don't have enough to take the bus you have to get change through what she calls the Moneda Game-- you go to a kiosk and buy little candies and try to get monedas back. Except sometimes they don't want to give you monedas and you have to go try somewhere else... it's a big hassle.

I'm actually back in the states now, and in a couple days when I have readjusted I will write one final post... thanks to all who are still reading this lol. Pictures of Buenos Aires here.

This is a video of the gauchos dancing at the gaucho fair. I didn't know how to make it regular, sorry.