"Mi Buenos Aires Querido"

In March of 2012 I went to BA for the first time. When I came back I was asked to write an article about it for a blog called "The delicate strength". I don't know if that blog is still around and how long it might exist, that's why I decided to publish the article on my blog too.

Buenos Aires Trip 2012, Part 2

The next day was a super lonely one. My dancing partner hadn't arrived yet, the internet didn't work, I didn't have a phone card or even an adapter to charge my phone battery, and all of that meant that I wasn't able to talk to anyone all day long. Yes, gentlemen, I like talking! I embarked on a hours-long journey in exploration of my environment as well as a search for a power adapter and a map. Saw Palermo SoHo and Palermo Viejo, bought the adapter but didn't find a map. Getting a map turned out to be harder than expected because the kiosk vendors kept sending me to the book stores, where I would get bounced back to the kiosks. Eventually, on the next day I succeeded in buying a map at a newspaper kiosk. Actually, I ended up hardly using it because the day after that at the Atisenal tango shoes store I was given a smaller and handier "tango map" - and that for free.

That first day during my get-to-know-my-surroundings trip I kept passing nice cafés with tables outside. I was craving a cold beer but didn't stop anywhere because every time I would approach a bar or a café I was exposed to the undivided attention of all the guys in it. Argentine men like to whistle, shout out in your direction and compliment you in general. They seem to feel that if a woman made the effort to dress up, even if she didn't, they should show her their appreciation, even if she doesn't want it. Walking through BA feels quite like walking through Harlem. All the guys want is to tell you that they think you are pretty and if you turn around and respond to their efforts with "Hey guys" you can see the mixture of happiness and confusion on their faces. But they generally don't follow you or get creepy. I think that hitting on women is Argentine's true national sport. It's even more popular than soccer, if you could imagine that! By the way, speaking of soccer: The first Sunday I was unpleasantly surprised that over 90% of the stores were closed, which I wrongly attributed to Church Time. Turns out that the Argentines are not particularly religious, or rather that on Sundays they pay their due to a different deity - The Soccer! Sunday nights the local guys show up at the milonga and first thing first: talk about soccer! - who won which game, who did what in the game… I asked one of them what do the women do on Sundays, while the guys watch soccer. Without a second hesitation he answered: "They go to their lovers!" Then he thought for a moment and added: "As long as she doesn't stand between me and the TV I don't care what she does". I wasn't quite certain how much credibility to attribute to such an answer until a week later I met an exceptional guy - one, who admitted not to care about soccer - and who confirmed that he meets all of his "lady friends" on Sundays during soccer time… Anyway, I think that Argentine guys often just want to try their luck with a women, without really expecting success. Offering is part of the game, part of what they think is expected from them. It simply is a different culture there. In BA everybody gives kisses on the cheek to everyone - men kiss men when they see each other, the car driver helps me out with the bags, says good-bye and gives me a kiss on the cheek (and that's not even the one with the phone number), I get introduced to the wife of the land lord and she pulls me in for a kiss… You basically hug and kiss everybody you get introduced to or talk to within and often outside of tango. At the milonga when you approach the table of a friend he or she will introduce you to all the other people at the table and each one of them will get up to kiss you. They will kiss you, probably talk to you and almost certainly not dance with you. But more about that later.