Last week I took a trip down to the northeastern side of Patagonia to a little coastal town called Puerto Madryn. The town is famous for the whales and other marine life that populate the “Golfo Nuevo” to mate and give birth as the climate gets warmer around this time of year. After a 20 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires, my three friends and I dropped our bags off at the hostel and signed ourselves up for a tour of Península Valdés an ecological reserve that serves as the main attraction of the area. We spent all day driving around the arid Peninsula, which happens to look a lot “like the Australian outback, but with funky llama things instead of kangaroos,” according to one of my Aussie friends on the trip. We stopped at various beaches and were lucky enough to see the very first penguins of the season. Having never seen a penguin in their natural habitat before, it was awesome to be able to get up close to one of these goofy animals. One particular penguin was scratching his side with his webbed foot like a dog scratches his ear.
Tag: Giordano
¡Cuchame chabón! (Slang in Buenos Aires)
Latin America is like the United States in that the variety of Castellano (Spanish) in terms of the slang and pronunciation changes by geography, even within Argentina. Argentina is known for speaking a Spanish like no other Spanish-speaking country.
Rio Platanese is the variety of Spanish heard in Buenos Aires and other big cities along the mouth of the River Plate, such as Montevideo, Uruguay. One of the most noticeable differences in this dialect is the use of the pronoun “vos”, which is unique to this area. “Vos” basically means “you” and has its own form of conjugation, replacing the “tu” and “usted” from other Spanish dialects. For example, whereas in Colombia or Mexico you would say “¿De donde eres?” when asking where someone is from, in the River Plate region you would say “¿De donde sos?” Argentine Spanish is very informal, especially in comparison to Colombian way of speaking. Another notable difference is the pronunciation of double l’s and y’s as “sha”. In almost all other Spanish speaking countries you would pronounce the word for street, “calle” as ca-yay. In Buenos Aires the say “ca-shay”. The word “vaya” (go) would be pronounced “vai-ya” in Mexico and “va-sha” in here in Buenos Aires. Other parts of the country, like the north for example don’t use this pronunciation. ...continue reading "¡Cuchame chabón! (Slang in Buenos Aires)"
Bouncin’ Around Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is a HUGE city. The population of the metro area brinks on 13,000,000 people, most of whom will happily tell you some of the things they love about their city, the dulce de leche, the café culture, the European architecture, the tango, the colorful barrios, and the constant chaos that strings it all together. I experienced a generous dose of Buenos Aires bedlam as soon as I arrived, smack-dab in the middle of a Subte worker’s strike, the cause of which nobody could really explain (the Subte is the BA equivalent to DC’s Metro). I even heard a local joke about being furious, but not even knowing whom to blame anymore. It had something to do with the city’s government not getting along with the regional government and deciding who would set the wage.
The strike clogged up the streets, making journeys downtown, like one to apply for a student’s visa, a total nightmare. The cross-town trip took an hour and a half of being sardine-d into a bus. The colectivos (busses) and congestion on the road mirrored a similar sidewalk situation during the strike.
People everywhere.
Un Viaje: Cataratas del Iguazú
Somewhere in the Northeast corner of Argentina, the country kisses the corners of both Brazil and Paraguay right along the Paranáriver. The river continues South for 14 miles until it splits off in o the Iguazú river, dividing Brazil and Argentina and flows between these two countries. Before continuing East, the water cascades more than 250ft down the breathtaking Iguazu Falls.
Ex-Patriotism and the Olympics in a Far-Away Land
When I first arrived here in Buenos Aires, it was the height of the Olympics. In fact, the United States had just surpassed China and became the country with the most gold medals in this year's Games. I went to a bar with a fellow American student on the IBUS in Argentina program to watch the USA vs. Argentina basketball game. I asked the waiter if he could put the game on and if we could sit down and watch it. He could tell we were gringos from my accent and replied jokingly in Spanish,
"Sure! You guys are rooting for Argentina, right?"
"Claro!" We laughed with him and ordered a drink. After half-time USA pulled away form Argentina with a ten point lead. We said to the waiter,
"If we win the drinks are on the house, right?" He wasn't super amused.
...continue reading "Ex-Patriotism and the Olympics in a Far-Away Land"
Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
Hello! And welcome to my blog about all things Buenos Aires. I arrived here last Friday with 10 other GW students participating in the first ever "International Business in Argentina" program. After a weekend of orientation and a full week of classes we are finally starting to get a hang of the city. Another big leap in the familiarization process is that the Subte, the BA equivalent to the DC Metro, is working again after the 10-day-long strike, which resulted in the million (literally a million people) daily commuters who usually use the underground transit further clogging the city's streets and bus systems on their way to and from work. ...continue reading "Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!"