Day 2. Lots to share, but it is 2am, so I want to cover some of the things I learned today before I forget.
(When Dan and I were out tonight at the bar, we came up with a whole list of kooky things we learned, but right now, I can only remember 6.)
I know it's not even an even number, but oh well. Here they are:
1. Plastic surgery is a way of life.
According to our FreeBA tour guide (and all the gorgeous people I see out-and-about) 1 in 30 people have had plastic surgery in Buenos Aires. Why is this?
2 reasons.
- Porteños are obsessed with their looks.
- Public healthcare is free in Argentina, but as an incentive to get people to pay for the private health care, anyone in the private system gets one free surgery every 3 years. It can be any surgery you want, and supposedly implants are the most popular.
2. One in five Porteños sees a psychologist weekly
As we learned today from our guide, "If you DON'T see a psychologist, you have a problem." It makes sense, as Argentina is an extremely open and expressive culture, going through a lot of transition and economic hardship.
If they can't vent their feelings completely to the people they love, it only makes sense to find a professional--especially since this is ALSO free with private health insurance.
3. Lanes are just a suggestion
Our taxi continually fought to split the lanes . . . it didn't get us there any faster.
4. The Spanish is an absolute mindf*ck
I feel like I speak decent Spanish. But in Argentina, it's a whole other world.
For example, "ll" and "y" are pronounced "ch" - - so, when someone is talking about chicken, it's "po-cho" as opposed to "poy-yo," when someone is talking about a street it's "cah-che" as opposed to "cay-yeh"
And in most Spanish dialects, "tu" means "you" - - and you add an "es/as" to most verbs. Like "tu estas aqui."
In Buenos Aires, they use "vos" but conjugate it as though it was "tu." Are you confused yet?
5. PDA is no big deal
Seriously, teens and adults alike are making out in the street--everywhere.
6. Porteños are obsessed with Italy. And Fernet.
Not sure why. We are all about the Fernet in San Francisco too, but here they drink it with coke. They also love pizza, and in fact, one of the best things we ate so far was the marisco pizza at Pizza Guerrin.
I am seriously bummed that I can't think of the other things I wanted to share, but hopefully they will come to me as we walk the streets tomorrow. For now, I am blaming my memory lapse on the heat . . . it is still pretty freaking insufferable, but I am learning to live with it.