One cool part of living in a different culture is being able to really see how each culture responds or deals with certain aspects. What I have found is that Argentina and the US have a very different approach about some issues and have a very similar stance on others. Let's take, for example, the topic of love, fidelity and relationships. For some reason, this topic has come up a lot this past week.
First Encounter: It started Wednesday morning- I was late for class and I still had to print off my homework so I took a cab from my apartment to FLACSO, where the majority of my classes are held. On the way I started talking to the cab driver- he was an older man, in his 60's I'd say, and we got talking about relationships. He asked if I had a boyfriend and I said yes, in the US. He smiled and said, Oh! What about Argentina? Do you have a novio here as well?? I told him I did not, but I had a bunch of Argentine friends. My cab driver half smiled and said, "Ah, la amistad is difficult between men and women." Now I couldn't help myself, he totally set me up, I had to bring up that constant debate- I asked him if he thought men and women could just be friends.
His answer: given an opportunity to be more than friends or to hook up, no they can't just be friends. If not given that opportunity, then they can have a friendship but they will always secretly want each other.
His story behind this answer: His best friend (who is a girl) is married to his best guy friend, and he says the only reason that nothing has happened between him and the girl is because:
1. Out of respect for his best guy friend
2. Because there hasn't been an opportunity- a.k.a. they are never alone
(I dont know which of these is the more prominent reason......)
His advice to me: never be alone with your guy friends.
Second Encounter: Thursday night I was at a party for an Argentine company called MultiRadio with a couple of my closest girl friends from my program. One of my friends, Sofie, started talking with one of the guys who works at the company while they were waiting for drinks at the bar. He asked her to dance this salsa dance with him, but told her it "doesn't mean anything" because he is "comprometido," or engaged. She has a boyfriend in the US, so she was relieved. They danced for a while when he pulled her over to the side of the dance floor and tried to kiss her! She pushed him away and said that she wasn't going kiss him- they are both "taken"! They went back to the dance floor and after a few minutes he thanked her, as if it was out of his power not to do anything earlier.
How does anyone in this country have a boyfriend? How is anyone in a committed relationship? It's a very interesting dichotomy between the image of relationships here and people's actual ideas about relationships. On one hand, there are couples all over the streets walking around holding hands, walking hands in pockets, making out on street corners, etc. You are hardpressed to walk more than a block before you see some PDA, it is extremely acceptable in Argentine culture. However, everyone seems to have the idea that it's ok to have more than one steady boyfriend or girlfriend, especially if you are in a different country for a while. It's not just Argentina that shares this idea though, a lot of European cultures believe the same thing about relationships. The American culture treats relationships very differently though- fidelity and monogamy are the key components to a true relationship. Yet, look at the extremely high rate of divorce in the USA- its around 50% of first marriages end in divorce, putting us at the third highest divorce rate in the world, according to this site:
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-by-highest-divorce-rate.html
Either way, I prefer the US's system to the Argentina's!
Commitment Issues
I knew this would happen- I would start a blog and not be able to keep up with it. Well here I am, ready to make a second, stronger effort! What really inspired me was this past week- I took two amazing vacations. While traveling, I couldn't help but write blog posts in my head, so I figured it was time to start up again!
Just briefly, to update you on recent events, Ryan came and visited me for the past two weeks. While he was here we traveled together down to Patagonia, in Southern Argentina, to a town called El Calafate. From there, we were able to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the most famous glaciers in the world because it is in equilibrium, meaning that the glacier is being made at the same rate that it is melting. Check out the picture- it is a stunning view.
We took a boat ride on the Lago Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina, to see the Eastern face of the glacier, then we walked the balconies to get a view from above the glacier. It is a relatively small glacier, and still the size is incomprehensible! The second day in Patagonia Ryan and I went to El Chalten, about a three hour bus ride north of El Chalten. We spent the day hiking the Sendero Fitz Roy, where we got a gorgeous view of the famous Fitz Roy mountains. (see pic below)
The third day we spent in town, buying chocolates and drinking maté (an argetine custom, it's basically tea made with yerba mate, served in a round cup called a maté.) In the afternoon we went horseback riding with legitimate gauchos, which caused us to almost miss our flight back to Bs As! Thankfully, since nothing in Argentina is on time, we made it!
The second trip I took was to Tilcara, a little town outside of Jujuy in the NW of Argentina. I went with my study abroad program. First of all, can I just say, my program is AWESOME. Although they aren't the most punctual or able to stick to a schedule, they take care of us students very well. Anyways, we stayed in these cabanas at a Hosteria outside of the town. I lived with Maureen and Melanie, and Rob and Tim were right across the way. We did not stop laughing all trip long- that's probably a sign that we had a good time. We saw a typical puntacara, which is a reconstructed fortified town used for keeping out the Spaniards and other invaders. The view from the top was amazing. The climate in the north is so different than that around Buenos Aires. Tilcara is a lot more dry/arid, and there are big mountains made of different shades of earth. Here is a view from the top of the mountain:
We also went to see Las Salinas, or the salt flats. I had no idea what to expect, but what I saw was way cooler than I expected. There is a literal layer of white-ish salt covering the ground. I mean, it literally looks like a salt desert! However, as we learned, the salt that is used commercially has to be dug out from a couple layers below the surface because it is more fine. Although the salt flats are at a pretty high altitude, when you are standing on the surface it is a lot warmer than one would expect because the salt acts as a mirror, reflecting the sun's rays upwards.
We did a lot of trekking and hiking on mountains in surrounding areas. It was a great trip, and a worthwhile place to visit if you are coming to Argentina.
Ok, that is all for now folks!
Just briefly, to update you on recent events, Ryan came and visited me for the past two weeks. While he was here we traveled together down to Patagonia, in Southern Argentina, to a town called El Calafate. From there, we were able to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the most famous glaciers in the world because it is in equilibrium, meaning that the glacier is being made at the same rate that it is melting. Check out the picture- it is a stunning view.
We took a boat ride on the Lago Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina, to see the Eastern face of the glacier, then we walked the balconies to get a view from above the glacier. It is a relatively small glacier, and still the size is incomprehensible! The second day in Patagonia Ryan and I went to El Chalten, about a three hour bus ride north of El Chalten. We spent the day hiking the Sendero Fitz Roy, where we got a gorgeous view of the famous Fitz Roy mountains. (see pic below)
The third day we spent in town, buying chocolates and drinking maté (an argetine custom, it's basically tea made with yerba mate, served in a round cup called a maté.) In the afternoon we went horseback riding with legitimate gauchos, which caused us to almost miss our flight back to Bs As! Thankfully, since nothing in Argentina is on time, we made it!
The second trip I took was to Tilcara, a little town outside of Jujuy in the NW of Argentina. I went with my study abroad program. First of all, can I just say, my program is AWESOME. Although they aren't the most punctual or able to stick to a schedule, they take care of us students very well. Anyways, we stayed in these cabanas at a Hosteria outside of the town. I lived with Maureen and Melanie, and Rob and Tim were right across the way. We did not stop laughing all trip long- that's probably a sign that we had a good time. We saw a typical puntacara, which is a reconstructed fortified town used for keeping out the Spaniards and other invaders. The view from the top was amazing. The climate in the north is so different than that around Buenos Aires. Tilcara is a lot more dry/arid, and there are big mountains made of different shades of earth. Here is a view from the top of the mountain:
We also went to see Las Salinas, or the salt flats. I had no idea what to expect, but what I saw was way cooler than I expected. There is a literal layer of white-ish salt covering the ground. I mean, it literally looks like a salt desert! However, as we learned, the salt that is used commercially has to be dug out from a couple layers below the surface because it is more fine. Although the salt flats are at a pretty high altitude, when you are standing on the surface it is a lot warmer than one would expect because the salt acts as a mirror, reflecting the sun's rays upwards.
We did a lot of trekking and hiking on mountains in surrounding areas. It was a great trip, and a worthwhile place to visit if you are coming to Argentina.
Ok, that is all for now folks!
5 Days in and LOVIN IN
Hello!!
So it's been officially five days since I've arrived and I'm in love with Buenos Aires. Slowly but surely I'm learning to navigate the city. It's a lot bigger than it seems, but transportation's really good here.
So a little run down of the day- this morning we all took a test of "nivelacion" to determine our level of Spanish knowledge. It was harder than I thought, but luckily the level you get doesn't really affect the classes you take. After that test, I had one of the most perfect afternoons! Maureen, one of my closest friend whom I've met here, and I took a walk after we were done with Orientation for the day. We were searching for the perfect cafe to write in our journals. Well, our meandering took us to Cafe Rodry, a pizza parlor/cafe in Almagro, a nearby barrio. We went in, ordered cafe, and started chatting with our waiter. His name was Rodrigo, but he told us to call him Rodry. He was so friendly to us, told us a little about his life and how he had just moved back from Spain to live here with his gf. I mean, we were a little saddened to hear that he was taken, but he still gave us advice on where to go and things to do in the city. When we were leaving, he told us to come back many times since we'd be here for 5 months. Ok, so this encounter might sound trivial, but he is my first Argentinian friend! Plus, I've always had this romantic notion about finding a cafe where I go every week and I know the people that work work there- a little community. We'll see if we can cultivate this friendship :)
So it's been officially five days since I've arrived and I'm in love with Buenos Aires. Slowly but surely I'm learning to navigate the city. It's a lot bigger than it seems, but transportation's really good here.
So a little run down of the day- this morning we all took a test of "nivelacion" to determine our level of Spanish knowledge. It was harder than I thought, but luckily the level you get doesn't really affect the classes you take. After that test, I had one of the most perfect afternoons! Maureen, one of my closest friend whom I've met here, and I took a walk after we were done with Orientation for the day. We were searching for the perfect cafe to write in our journals. Well, our meandering took us to Cafe Rodry, a pizza parlor/cafe in Almagro, a nearby barrio. We went in, ordered cafe, and started chatting with our waiter. His name was Rodrigo, but he told us to call him Rodry. He was so friendly to us, told us a little about his life and how he had just moved back from Spain to live here with his gf. I mean, we were a little saddened to hear that he was taken, but he still gave us advice on where to go and things to do in the city. When we were leaving, he told us to come back many times since we'd be here for 5 months. Ok, so this encounter might sound trivial, but he is my first Argentinian friend! Plus, I've always had this romantic notion about finding a cafe where I go every week and I know the people that work work there- a little community. We'll see if we can cultivate this friendship :)
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