After One Month in Buenos Aires…

Alright, it’s a little late, but we’ve been so busy in this crazy city that we totally forgot to do our traditional “After One Month” questionnaire. Buenos Aires is nothing if not distracting. Here are some of our thoughts about Buenos Aires, after having had time to become acclimated.

Most Memorable

Mike: On one of our first days, standing next to the obelisk on the Avenue 9 de Julio. A gigantic mega-street the width of an entire city block, with the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen. An appropriate introduction to Buenos Aires.

Jürgen: Our first night-time bus ride from Palermo back to San Telmo. I’ve never driven in such exhilarating public transportation. And I got a ton of great pictures during the ride!

Favorite Food

Mike: Almost too much to choose from, but I’ll go with the Fugazza pizza. Cheesy and incredible.

Jürgen: Thick, perfectly cooked lomo steaks, with dulce de leche for dessert!

Most Surprising

Mike: It sounds naive, but the level of poverty shocked me. We’ve seen entire families basically living in giant trash piles, right in the middle of the city.

Jürgen: You can be on Paseo Colón, with all its noise and traffic, but then walk 20 minutes to Costañera Sur and feel like you’re in the wildest nature. Today, I saw a wild turtle while jogging there.

Most Disappointing

Mike: Waiting in a huge 2-hour line for a Boca Juniors ticket, only to learn that tickets were restricted to club members. (And, of course, the hotels and tour operators who resell them for 4x the original price!)

Jürgen: None of the porteños we’ve met dance tango. And most of them laugh when we ask them. Too bad, that cultural aspect of Buenos Aires is lost on the younger generation… but understandable. I don’t wear lederhosen or do the Bavarian knee-slapping dance!

Funniest / Weirdest

Mike: I can’t get over the Vesre, reverse-talk. That’s just a total oddity; so interesting and fun.

Jürgen: When I say “thank you”, people say “no”. Took me awhile to understand that they mean “no problem”.

How Expensive? From 1 (cheap) to 10 (expensive)

Mike: 3. Almost everything is super-cheap, except for clothes… which I’ve found to be comparable to the US.

Jürgen: 4. Getting four cuts of incredible meat for 16 pesos is unbelievable.

People from Buenos Aires are…

Mike: … crazy drivers! And very, very good-looking.

Jürgen: … pretty patient when it comes to understanding my poor Spanish. Muy amable!

Buenos Aires in Three Words

Mike: Chaotic, Massive, Fascinating

Jürgen: Huge, Green, Loud

I’m sure that our opinions will change and evolve over the course of the next two months! We’re about to welcome a couple visitors from Germany, and it will be interesting to see if they share our opinions about BsAs. If you want, we’d love to know what your answers to these questions would be! Leave a comment with your thoughts!

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Carolina March 17, 2011 Reply

    Hello there. I really liked the positive feedback you wrote about my beloved Buenos Aires. Yes, the people are beautiful indeed 😀
    Crazy drivers, Ohhhh YEAH!!!!
    I’m surprised the poverty shocked you, after all it’s Latin America. Poverty exists everywhere in my opinion.
    What do you mean by the verse/reverse talk. I’m not sure I quite understood that one.
    Glad you’re enjoying it all. Buenos Aires is awesome!
    🙂

  2. Adomon March 18, 2011 Reply

    Glad to inform that for91days is not blocked in China
    Maybe because doesn’t have the word blog 😉

  3. Jime March 19, 2011 Reply

    And the oscar goes to– ehm.. sorry… the “obelisk award” LOL
    The “Thank you – No” thing it’s something we really say… and I didn’t realice that we do that hahaha
    I was to ask about the futbol match… so bad that resell thing ¬___¬
    And yes, tango is not that usual since tango music is not what we hear now.. is like my grandma told me when she was to a party she danced tango or blues and now we dance Lady Gaga x_x but bands doing electrotango like Bajofondo Tango Club or Gotan Project really makes me want to learn more about tango 🙂
    And poverty is something that makes me sad… but I think it’s better with this goverment, 2001 there was devastating.. lots of people lost their jobs and noone has money.. there were hard times for all, and we are recovering but it’s soon to say we have yet…
    kisses guys!
    Continue discovering this great city ñ__ñ

    1. Juergen March 19, 2011 Reply

      We actually got tickets now to see Boca Juniors tomorrow … can’t wait!!
      Talking of new modern Tango music. We discovered: http://chanchaviacircuito.com/ I’m so addicted to their music!

      Thank you for the comment!

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