My wife and I have come to Buenos Aires for a dozen days to eat beef, drink Malbec, and see if the toilets actually do swirl the opposite direction. They don’t. Truth be told, I chose Argentina as it was the farthest place I could get cashing in Airmiles. Flew American through Dallas, word of advice, don’t. Most soulless place on earth DFW airport is. And I had a five hour layover there, so I know. Buenos Aires is a further ten hours from Dallas, thanks to the miracle of pharmaceuticals it felt like four. There should be a special Nobel Prize for the chemical engineers at whatever company made my depressants.
We’ve only been on the ground a day and a half now, but I have a few observations, they’re more about where I come from than where I am.
- The whole world, Asia, Europe, and now I can confirm South America too loves techno music. Every store or restaurant in this city moves to a 120bpm. Except waiters, they seem immune.
- Argentina joins Spain and Italy as nations where men drape sweaters over their shoulders and don’t look like complete prats. (Uhh, France, notice you’re not on that list?)
- The gates to hell are manned by an Argentinian ticket agent, just to give you a taste of what awaits inside. Wait, wait, wait, when you make the head of the queue it’s time for their break.
- Everyone in Argentina seems to be beautiful. Scary is there a secret eugenics program beautiful.
Buenos Aires is big. Not New York or Hong Kong big, it makes them look like villages. Vancouver could hide unnoticed in a corner of the Palermo neighbourhood and never be found. So far I am enamoured, it’s got the same quality I love that Beijing also possesses, namely a self-assured maturity that the glories on display exist whether the tourist sees them or not, it’s charm exists for it’s residents, and not some needy external validation. It goes on whether you are there to witness it or not.
Time to go for dinner.
(To be continued.)
~KT
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hope you are checking out the football at River Plate’s stadium, crucial game for Argentina (IMHO Boca Juniors’ neighbourhood has more charm, & Maradonna was genius when he played for them).
Went to La Boca today to see the stadium. Watched the game vs. Peru this evening before dinner at our local. Extra time goal gave the decision to Argentina. Watching a soccer match in a south american bar is once in a lifetime, I would have loved to be in the stands, and I’m not even a footbol fan.
Was in BA last January. Go eat at Miranda Restaurant in Palermo Hollywood. Best steak I had in BA!