4 Experiences a tourist/visitor from the USA will have in Buenos Aires, Argentina

1. You will get hungry at 7pm and the restaurant you want to go to will be closed

Here in Buenos Aires, it is typical to eat dinner at 10 pm on a WEEKNIGHT! So you can only imagine the liveliness of the weekend at restaurants in the middle of the night. As someone who ate religiously at 5pm before arriving to this country, this was a shock and big adjustment for me. Often I would find a great restaurant that I wanted to eat at and then be hungry and ready to go at 7:30 (late for me), only to find the employees just starting to arrive to open for dinner. Check the hours ladies and gentleman so you don’t have to occupy yourself until they open!

2. The smile, nod, and ´si´ tactic

On the assumption that, like me, you are arriving without the ability to speak the language (at least not fluently), and if so, unfamiliar with the Argentinean accent, you will find yourself in a situation where you have absolutely no idea what the other person is saying. In my experience, many times the other assumes you have more knowledge then you do and therefore might assume you understand what they are talking about. If you are anything like me, you might then feel uncomfortable to continue to repeat ´what´ or ´que´ 30 times over agin so you end up resorting to the classic smile, nod of the head and ´si´ response. Works (definitely not) every time! If you want to avoid this situation click here to check out some classes:)

3. You will get the question ´Why are you here?´

With the fluctuation of the value of the peso, and the stability of the dollar, when you tell an Argentine you are from the US, they might look at you with a contorted face and ask you why you have come here. To which you can answer ´the culture, the meat, the beautiful city!!!!…shall I continue??´

4. Conversion searches will become favorites in your phone

Since the metric system is a foreign concept to us estadounidenses, we are lucky we live in a world of technology. When talking about distance, measurements, weather, weight, cooking amounts, etc., you will most likely have to use the tactic described above until you can whip out your phone to convert the number they said into one that actually means something to you. Oh, and time too! Who has ever used the 24 hour clock before!?