In the spirit of alerting you folks to the societal differences between the United States and Argentina, I figured I’d take a moment to elaborate on both the things I miss the most from home and the quirky novelties of Buenos Aires that have stolen my heart.
Things I miss (apart from family and friends): free water, the certainty of toilet paper in public restrooms, textbooks, a credit-card-centric lifestyle, and a particular brand of customer service.
Hydration’s Hard to Come By: Asking for a glass of tap water in cafes and restaurants gets you a grimace and even an occasional “no.” If you’re lucky, you may receive a free “water shot”— a mini glass of water that won’t come close to quenching your thirst— to accompany your order of a coffee or tea. In reality, $18 to $20 pesos for bottled water translates to between $2 to $3 dollars, but a life of entitlement has prompted us U.S. exchange students to feel irked by the very existence of a price tag and forgo a beverage when dining outside of the home.
TP Tales: I’ve discovered that always carrying around a wad of toilet paper in my purse is the best way to ensure my sanity and sanitation. In public restrooms, most especially in parks or at bus stations, you may face a scarcity of toilet paper that forces a resort to the drip-dry technique or the payment to a bathroom attendant of $2 pesos you simply may not have.
Missing Unwieldy Books: None of my classes have textbooks. Instead, universities and educational programs rely on fotocopiadoras, businesses equipped with photocopy machines and binders full of class-specific reading material, to supply the weekly readings. Though this practice is more economical than assigning a book that only gets half-read, if that, my disdain for having to continually visit these establishments results in me skipping a few of the readings: they’re rarely at my disposal when I feel disposed to do them. And, yes, I’m just being a lazy brat.
Bills on bills on bills: This country runs on cash, locally known as “efectivo.” Assumption is always a risky game, but it can get tragic when you breeze into an Argentine restaurant or café expecting it to take credit or debit cards. It’s a panic-worthy moment when I run out of cash to charge up my all-in-one transportation card— the mighty SUBE—, take a taxi or feed myself from the alfajor selections at the corner kiosk. For foreigners, a cash-based economy is pretty ineffective-o, since we’re constantly scrambling to send ourselves money orders, carrying large sums of bills in our bags, and being met by resistance to accept the 100 peso bills that the ATMs dispense.
I Just Need Some Satisfaction (customer satisfaction, that is): The “customer is always right” mentality of businesses in the U.S. does not have transnational manifestations in Argentina. Waiters don’t dote on you here as they do in the States. While this partially relates to the country’s relaxed pace of living, it also has to do with a lack of incentive, since tipping isn’t customary. Moreover, it’s a shame if you don’t like your meal, because you’ll still have to pay for it; the genuinely sweet inquiries of the waiters about what went wrong aren’t usually followed by a deduction on the bill.
None of the above impedes upon one ultimate fact: I am in love with the city, and just when it seems like I can’t love it more, it surprises me with something to make my heart swell anew. Recall the scene from The Sound of Music when Maria twirls through the Austrian hills? Well, the following are some of the phenomena that daily make me want to twirl through the streets of Buenos Aires.
- ‘Whip It’, BA Edition: Both deliverymen on rollerblades and the flashy rollerbladers that coast through the streets in packs of twenty or thirty are sights to behold. What’s more, the graffiti-splashed skate parks add a fun, quintessentially “urban” element to the city.
- Little scientists on the loose: It’s so precious to see children flock the streets between 1 and 3 pm wearing the white lab coat-like statement pieces that make up their school uniforms.
- The elegance of café waiters: The crisp shirt cuffs, well-pressed collars and smart slacks of the gentlemanly waiters of Buenos Aires give many eateries in the city an old-world charm that makes you feel like a fabulous patron of the early 20th century.
- Friendly taxi and bus drivers: The former can’t wait to engage you in conversation and compliment you on your Spanish language skills while the latter will obligingly let you ride for free if you make a pathetic “I have a negative balance on my SUBE” face.
- Pope Francis inspired memorabilia: I’ve seen Papa Francis’ face grace both a huge billboard in the center of the city and a stylish woman’s shawl. His warm eyes and graceful salute are printed on over-sized shirts and fitted tank tops alike. It appears as though in Buenos Aires, the Pope is simultaneously a spiritual guide and the star of a fashion craze.
- Non-stop gorging: I once read that regardless of economic strife, Argentines will never compromise on cutting-edge cuisine. Be it fusion dishes inspired by different diaspora groups; warm and flaky empanadas filled with ground beef and raisins; or sweet and sticky Argentine croissants (medialunas), you can gastronomically indulge at any hour of the day and be guaranteed the company of sociable porteños. It’s also completely acceptable to eat cake for breakfast here— a win for all those with an acute sweet tooth.
- Businesses with hodge-podge services: I’ve seen an establishment that was part kiosk, bookstore and lottery ticket retailer. At the same place that I can buy or sell gold jewelry, I can also exchange my money at the blue-market rate. Adding credit to your cellphone at the laundromat? Also a possibility.
- The temporary fame of a foreigner: Native English-speakers are pseudo-celebrities here in Buenos Aires, where people will chase you down the street to demonstrate the little or lot of English that they know. It may be off-putting to some, but I have quite enjoyed the head-turning attention that I know will be long-gone once I touch down Stateside.
- 25 Hours of Activity: In a culture where people rarely follow the rules of punctuality, everything gets pushed back an hour or so. Yet, the distinctive norms of time make it possible to accommodate the innumerable events being held on any given day into your schedule. For example, I can attend an art gallery opening (7-8:30 pm, let’s say) on the same Tuesday that I am to feast at the finest steakhouse (9-10:30 pm), catch a cumbia music concert (11-1 am) and dance tango at a milonga (dance hall) until 4 am the following Wednesday. Weekend nights are particularly spirited, with few ending before the sun rises.
- Affectionate pet-names: Argentines demonstrate intimacy through playful monikers such as the ever popular “boludo/a” (idiot), “gordo/a” (fatty), and “negrita” (little black one) to refer to their swarthier loved ones.
- Bus brawls: Argentine blood is hot hot hot, meaning not only genetically blessed, but also passionate. Thus, a trip on the bus may bear witness to a fiery, yet comical, tête-a-tête between a bus driver and a commuter who is incensed about the bus doors closing in on him or her or the bus stopping at an indecent distance from the stop.
- Fanciful shop-window displays: I find that some of Buenos Aires’ best surprises are the whimsical storefronts that dot the city’s tree-lined streets and showcase the quirky porteño style. Store mannequins typically don shiny cobalt or crimson nylon leggings, floral headbands layered with multi-colored petals and a pair of platform shoes. Yes, Argentines love a good platform on every type of shoe, be it boot, Birkenstock-esque sandal, or flip-flop.
- The value of the paperback: With one of the favorite local pastimes being to peruse the best-sellers sections of its hundreds of bookshops, it’s no surprise that Buenos Aires is a well-read city. Residents know the deep love of a hardcopy, both the new and old book smells, and the delightfully decisive feeling of turning the page. From the regal theater-turned-bookstore El Ateneo to the more down-to-earth outdoor book fair at Plaza Italia, where both rare and English literary treasures await your discovery in stacks of crates, books have not lost out to the digital age in Buenos Aires.
- The beauty of a rainy day: While Buenos Aires is beautiful in every weather condition, I’m fond of those times when the greyness of rainy skies meets the warm yellow glow of wrought-iron street lamps. The image of voguish porteños shuffling past the pale stone facades of the city’s Parisian-inspired residential buildings, umbrellas in hand, strikes me as timeless. I even like the earthy smell that engulfs the city during a rainy spell, which in all reality is probably the odor of wet dog poop on the streets.
- The birth of a salesmen- the mobile maverick kind: I am in awe of the peddlers who ride the buses and trains long enough to make 5 min sales pitches that shame many a big-corporation marketing campaign. I don’t think I’ll ever again witness someone describe a package of Adidas athletic socks with more gusto. Though the existence of mobile vendors points to the consequences of the 2001 economic downturn, a time when serious financial loss forced people to get creative with their money-making, there is something impressively hopeful in the way these salesmen make banal items like USB jump drives, dishrags and packs of facial tissue sound like must-need items.
