Detalles

The past three weeks in Buenos Aires have been an assault on the senses. There is never quiet. I am always hot. I have eaten fruits whose tastes I can identify but names I do not know. There is always something to see, try, do.

So far I’ve compiled a list of what I consider to be interesting observations about Argentina. I’m still getting lost and thinking in a weird mix of English-Spanish-Nonsense, but it’s a vibrant city that I’ve enjoyed exploring and experiencing.

Mom & I zip-lining over Mendoza River

Everyone is absolutely crazy about The Beatles. I see about ten people every day wearing a T-shirt of the famous quartet. Restaurants and stores play their albums on loops. Even the hostel where we stayed in Uruguay had posters of The Beatles, and “Love Me Do” serenaded our hectic check-in experience. I asked someone why they were so steadily popular throughout the whole culture still, but he simply responded by telling me that he’d been to two Paul McCartney concerts and one Ringo Starr concert and that Ringo Starr had once waved at him.

Everyone is crazy about Pope Francis. His photo is posted on supermarket windows and he makes a great addition to a wall of graffiti art.

The men here are very affectionate with one another. There’s no gender-based discrimination against the common Argentinian right cheek-kiss greeting. Last week, a group of about fifteen high school boys walked in to our favorite gelato store and got ice cream together. They put their arms around each other as they joked around.

No one understands why I am sunburnt. Although the Buenos Aires population has many influences, generally everyone is much tanner and much more protected from the sun than me. So, when I came back from Punta del Este, Uruguay, covered in splotchy red marks, it took a while to explain to concerned porteños that I indeed had worn pounds of sunscreen, but that the sunscreen just wasn’t a match for the near-equatorial sun. The idea of getting a sunburn in spite of an unprecedented commitment to sunblock baffled them, and I, in the itchy peeling stages, was jealous of their innocence.

hairband and watch tanned

Women wear illogically high shoes. The platform front of the shoe alone is often taller than most of my “heels.”

Water randomly drips from all of the buildings, and I do not want to know what it is.

The gelato is amazing.

Thanks to Rachel Taylor for capturing this delicious moment