Kelly and Quang's Global Roam

I haven’t done justice to Buenos Aires. When we were here in November, when we were ill, I wasn’t exactly cranking out the blog entries. This time, we returned to Buenos Aires for just two days and I didn’t write very much about the city either. This has been bothering me, and I have been trying to figure out why.

I have such a soft spot for Buenos Aires in my heart. These feelings go back to the time I lived here eight years ago and taught English. In fact, I have such fond memories of Buenos Aires that I was nervous about coming back here. What if the city wasn’t everything that I remembered? What if Quang hated it and couldn’t understand why I was so drawn to these streets? But none of that happened. Even though we were sick, even though I often felt I wasn’t showing Quang enough of the city, he picked up on Buenos Aires’ pulse and he liked it almost immediately.



Here is the thing about Buenos Aires: it’s hard to squeeze it into a tourist package. The city is massive. Thirteen million people live here. That’s a lot of people. That’s more than New York. When you arrive in this city, when you stand on Florida Street on a Monday afternoon, when you are surrounded by the city’s people, when you are caught in their actual swarm, you begin to pick up on Buenos Aires’ beat.

There are beautiful buildings here. There are impressive avenues. There are Sunday flea markets in the streets and swanky dinner clubs with sleek tango shows. But as a whole, the city seems short on monuments and museums. Buenos Aires is unlike New York or London in that a visitor can’t jam pack a week full of non-stop “tourist” things to do. But Buenos Aires is exactly like New York or London in that the city can’t be tamed.



Being here a second time, I realized that Buenos Aires is hard to “show” someone. The city is not a specific neighborhood – I took Quang to San Telmo, La Boca, Recoleta and Palermo – but so often the best way to see Buenos Aires is to simply find a café, sit by the window and watch. More than anything, I think, Buenos Aires is an attitude.

And after all of our sitting and watching, Quang had plenty of observations. Here is a list of quotes from Quang about Buenos Aires.

“This city exudes sex.”

“Dude, I’m telling all my guys friends to come here. The women are HOT!”

“Oh my God, did you see that? Definite boob job.”

“Look at her butt. I think she has implants. There’s no way any woman’s butt is that perfect.”

“Okay, do they all get plastic surgery?”

“Why don’t you have any jeans that tight? Let’s go shopping. Come on, your Conquistador will pick out the jeans and you’ll try them on.”

“You can tell these are very proud people, almost to the point that you can call it snobbish. It’s just the way they walk, the way they talk, the way they hold themselves.”

“You can sense there is a work ethic here. These are not lazy people.”

“These drivers are crazy, just absolutely nuts. I think they speed up when they see someone in the street.”