If you are reading this blog we are home from our southern, South American experience. This post was written as we flew home somewhere between Buenos Aires, Panama City, Cancun, and Vancouver.
After a fine lunch, complete with a glass of Panamanian Atlas beer and a glass of Pinot Gris from Chile for Deborah, we thought it would be a good idea to record some of our initial reflections and observations of our land-based tour. Most of our comments are directed toward our Argentina experience since we spent most of our time there.
We like Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Buenos Aires is truly a beautiful, sophisticated, first world, European city. BA’s beauty is more than the landscapes of parks, boulevards, and architecture, but the culture and people themselves. Mendoza is in the heart of wine country and has a look and feel of an earlier time. Argentineans are both aggressive and helpful at the same time. Argentina has its faults but we are likely to return to this country and would like to do a driving tour to get to the many interesting places outside of the major cities.
Here are just a few random observations and comments:
It was somewhat a surprise to us that there is no stereotypical “Argentinean look”. Clearly, there is a Spanish influence but if you glance around a room or walk down the street, you could easily be in Canada, except for the language. Argentina is a nation of immigrants. Much like Canada, early immigrants were from Europe while many more have arrived from the Middle East and Africa in recent years. There are indigenous peoples still remaining but like our North American history, arriving settlers introduced new diseases and decimated the local populations while taking over their lands and generally wiping out their cultures.
I think I now have a better understanding of why Argentina has surpassed Canada by a wide margin in the international Rugby standings. Just over 25 years ago Canada and Argentina were competitive rivals. Today, Argentina’s second team would beat Canada on a regular basis. Similar to Canada’s 35 million populations, where hockey is king, Argentina’s 44 million are mad about soccer, yet there are still large numbers playing rugby. I saw towns the size of our own with multiple rugby clubs while we only have one. You often see young children in parks playing one on one or kicking a rugby ball around. I think the Argentinean people’s natural aggressive attitudes and burly physiques have served them well in this sport.
Generally speaking, our observations of Argentinean’s suggest they are certainly an aggressive bunch. “Argie Bargie” is an old rugby term. My understanding is that it describes the physical play that is very near or crosses the line of gentlemanly play. I thought it just applied to the type of rugby Argentina was known for but now I think it applies to Argentineans themselves. I’ll use walking in Buenos Aires as an example. To say that walking in the city is an adventure would be an understatement. We covered many kilometers during our stay but we never got used to crossing the street. Even if you are in a marked crosswalk, with a green light, and a specific pedestrian walk signal; you are fair game to be hit by a car. As soon as one leaves the curb and enters the crosswalk, cars come straight at you, almost as a dare. The trouble is if you don’t leave the curb, you never will. There are no breaks in traffic. The locals, drivers, and pedestrians alike, seem to enjoy the sport and both parties enter the crosswalk before the light. Walkers do so in herds as if a walking wall of people will be enough to deter the car assassins.
Speaking of traffic, we have taken advantage of the subways in the most major cities we have traveled. We have even ventured into the Mexico City subway system. We didn’t dare in BA. The guidebooks warn tourists to avoid it. They talk about theft but more importantly, the aggressive nature of the riders. If you are standing anywhere near an entrance or exit you will be physically, hands-on, pushed in any direction the river of humanity wants.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the kissing. Kissing is more prevalent here when greeting someone than we have witnessed in anywhere else. It is lips to cheek and it isn’t a fly by. You can hear the smack of lips while standing nearby. Each gender participates in any and all combinations. The most extreme I witnessed was a boys’ (14/15-year-olds) soccer team gathering for a practice at a local park and as each boy arrived, he dropped his kit bag and kissed each of his coaches. I thought it was a little extreme.
We must also mention cell phones usage. People here don’t hold their cell phones to their ears. They hold them close to their mouths and yak away. We think it must have something to do with the theory that cell phones can cause brain cancer. What is confounding is that the phone near the mouth often has to fight for space with the dangling cigarette. Smoking is very prevalent. They might be on to something about brain cancer and cell phones but clearly, they haven’t connected all the dots.
We enjoyed visiting the other countries but just not as much. We did find Chile to be very expensive and the locals not quite as friendly. The Falklands, well they’re the Falklands – unique and remote. Uruguay’s Montevideo was a disappointment but I think it was the fact we saw it on a dreadful day of weather. It is rated the most livable city in South America so I think it deserves a second look.
I’ll close with recognizing the economics of all these southern countries are in crisis. Inflation is out of control, 30% in the last few years, making these countries much more expensive to travel in than previous years. It is still like Canada to some extent but future travel will depend on the economies settling down to something predictable.
We did enjoy our flights home but it was a long day. From our B&B door near the BA airport, it took us 29 hours before opening the garage door at home. There were 18 hours of actual flying time. We traveled business class so we were pampered and fed very well. We also enjoyed the VIP lounges at BA, Panama City, and Cancun during the waiting to board and layovers. Business class travel is not our regular mode of travel but rather a result of putting everything on our points-based credit card. We save up the points to use on long-distance flights.
