Buenos Aires is often abbreviated to “BA” (or “BsAs”). I’ve been accustomed to seeing “BA” and thinking “bad ass” (obvi). Sadly, I couldn’t feel more un-BA in this city than I do after this first weekend here.
The feeling of being a foreigner has hit me hard. It could have been a domino effect starting with weariness from our 7:30am flight (running on 3-4 hours of sleep), arriving and having no place to set up and recharge until evening, but this is the most homesick I’ve felt on our international adventures.
Obama was here on Thursday, March 24, the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice. It’s a national holiday in Argentina to commemorate the victims of the Dirty War on the date of the coup that brought the dictatorship to power. Apparently, there was quite a lot of anger at Obama’s presence and speech on such a somber day, because of the role United States played in the military junta. To his credit, Obama promised to release critical and previously secret files that may shed light into the extent the US had a role in the dirty war. In a gesture between the two countries, Argentina has paused the need for the $190 reciprocity fee all US citizens needed to pay to enter the country, effective Thursday (2 months too late for Jon and I…sigh). But I digress, this all happened before we arrived, after all.
Once our room was finally ready at our hotel, it was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn’t the first and won’t be the last time some well-staged, and dated photos make a place look better than it is in reality.
First priority is now to see what we can do about finding a new place and canceling (or at least shortening) our month-long reservation at our current apart hotel.
On the bright side (and there must always be a bright side), we’ve done a few BA things this past weekend, which include:
- Trying our first mate drink.
- Meeting a kind stranger who gave us some great tips for the city, suggesting a visit to Tigre, a nearby river town and to steer clear of “Siga la Vaca,” an all-you-can-eat Sizzler-esque restaurant (TripAdvisor echoed this sentiment).
- Experiencing the San Telmo Antiques fair.
- Eating choripan, empanadas de carne, and of course, steak!
- Seeing tango performances on the streets.
- Walking through Plaza de Mayo.
We used to seriously consider claiming to be from Canada as some countries we would be passing through were thought to be not very friendly. Luckily, our political fears from a far were unfounded by the warmth of the locals we encountered. Hope you’ll find genuinely comfortable digs quickly and encounter more folks who see you for your kind humanness. Keep us posted. Good hearts prevail! HUGS!!
Awesome article.Really thank you! Keep writing. Brouse
Thank you!