Well my pictures from Buenos Aires did not turn out as well as I thought they would, but that is okay, because during this Buenos Aires trip I had a sort of revelation about traveling. It is great to see different cities, and all the beautiful buildings and history, or to travel to different breathe taking Chilean national parks, but when asked what I am going to miss the most about Chile my answer is simply the people. And like my time in Chile, my recent trip to Buenos Aires would mean absolutely nothing without the people that I met there. Yes cities may be defined by their location, buildings, parks etc... but a city would be nothing without its people and for that reason I loved my five day trip to Buenos Aires, as I have loved my time in Chile.
I have always had a desire to see Buenos Aires, so when I learned I was coming to Chile I made sure to keep my eyes out for flights to Buenos Aires. I left last Tuesday from Concepcion for Buenos Aires, and by the hand of God I was on the same flight as 13 other Chilean friends that were on their way to the Campus Crusade for Christ Conference in Korea (but they flew via Buenos Aires). WE left Concepcion on a midnight bus for Santiago arriving at 6:30am. We hung out at a friends house until our flight at 1. I parted ways with the Campus Crusade for Christ group in Buenos Aires, and Kora and I (one of the other U of I exchange students in Chile) went to our hostel in Buenos Aires. That evening in the hostel, Kora had already gone to bed, and I was bored so I poked around the hostel hoping to meet someone that I could hang out with that night and hopefully explore the city with. I met an Argentine named Marcelo who was living in the hostel until his apartment was ready to move into. I am not going to say how old he is because yall would probably find it weird and one thing I have noticed (and I love) is that in South America age does not matter. I chatted with Marcelo for about an hour and a half that night and he became our unofficial tour guide of Buenos Aires. I really couldn´t have asked for a better situation, what better way to get to know a city than to spend time with one of its inhabitants. Marcelo had lived in Buenos Aires for 10 years, so he knew a lot of cool places to show us. Some of our activities included: stuffing our faces full of delicious Argentine steak at an all you can eat grill, attending a dinner / tango show, taking tango and salsa dance classes, touring the Boca Juniors soccer stadium, admiring the beautiful European architecture, and always being amazed to see restaurants filled with people at midnight. (The people in Buenos Aires don´t really ever seem to sleep, or atleast not during the night).
And as I said the thing I will remember the most is the people, they have a huge Italian influence, so they have a lot of the same stereotypical manerisms (loud, love to eat, and are incredibly hospitable) and they have an amazing accent.
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