If you’re coming from Europe or North America, Buenos Aires is an “easy” gateway to Latin America—it feels like any European city because Argentina wanted it to be the Paris of South America.
But if you’re coming from Brazil, Buenos Aires is a bit of a culture shock because… well, see the point above.
I accidentally landed in Paris and it was only a three-hour flight from São Paulo.
“Oh my God, everybody is… white!”
Well, I am too so I guess I should feel comfortable surrounded by people who kind of look like me. But I’m not. I’m used to diversity, in Canada, in Brazil, and at home.
It’s easy to tell apart the many immigrants from Venezuela and Colombia from Porteños (people of Buenos Aires). For a start, they look happy and they sing along to upbeat music while Porteños are drinking mate de coca and complaining about the economy. Buenos Aires doesn’t just look like Paris, locals act Parisian as well so don’t expect smiles and alegría or anything.
Porteños also dress smartly and have a unique style. Think blond hair, lots of makeup and bourgeois style for older women while men sport a mullet haircut and either a Boca or an Argentina World Cup winner football jersey.
Tattoos don’t seem to be as popular as in Brazil but maybe they’re hidden because, despite the heat, Porteños don’t show much skin.
Yeah, I don’t get the local fashion sense. I stick out. People talk to me in Portuguese, I’m too dark to be… Parisian. Oh, the irony.
Buenos Aires is an amazing place for people-watching opportunities and I’ll miss the interactions with Bolivian, Venezuelan, Colombian, Chilean and Brazilian tourists—this city is one of the crossroads of South America!
