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by bloomingeek
1421 days ago
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My wife and I vacationed in Buenos Aires a few years ago because we read it was the Paris of the south. We enjoyed our trip, but what we found was far from Paris! We rented a nice apartment from an expat from Michigan who married a Argentinian. In an email he practically begged us to bring $100 bills, which he would exchange for pesos at a much better rate then was available from local banks, which he thankfully did. When I asked him what was the deal, he told me the currency is so volatile there, the only protection was the USD, especially the $100 bill. Most of the locals were friendly, the food was great. Public transportation was dirty and hot. We were constantly being approached by people wanting to give us "tours" around city for a fee. (We read about this before going!) The infrastructure everywhere was pretty bad, you had to be very careful where you stepped on any sidewalk. Not sure if we would go back, but we did enjoy most of our time there. |
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When people describe Buenos Aires as "the Paris of the south", this is what they mean:
That we have a great deal of Parisian looking architecture, especially in our "historic" sections of the city, such as microcentro.
That we have a greater deal of European influence than our Latin American neighbors. (There's also a racist implication that we are "whitest". Argentinians care a lot about skin colors, and for us, calling someone a "negro" is a common insult. There's a confusing exception here -- "negrito", "negri" or "negro" is an endearing term you can call a friend, but it's always insulting if you refer to poor people, "esos negros", "qué negros", etc).
Historically, the upper classes of Buenos Aires looked up to Paris. This has been replaced for admiration of the US, a long time ago, and is no longer relevant.
As for scheming locals and dubious tours: I find these to be the norm in many European cities as well. I was marked for tricking/mugging in Paris, Barcelona and Rome, so... another European influence I guess?
Dirt and poorly maintained infrastructure: sadly, you're right. We porteños -- the people from Buenos Aires -- are a very dirty people and we like throwing garbage on the streets, breaking public stuff, urinating in whatever place, etc.