Day One: First Impressions

The Portenos (What the people of Buenos Aires call themselves) are most definitely distinct from Latinos that one would often find in California, who are primarily of Mexican descent. Not only are they largely Caucasian by decent, but their demeanor reveals their European ancestry. The Porteno Castellano (Spanish) has a very European accent. If one wasn't listening closely to the words they are speaking, one could easily mistaken them for talking Italian. If you were to a sentence in Spanish and accentuate the second or third syllables of many of the words, you might be able to get a sense of how they speak.

Time for pics:



This giant obelisk is in the middle of a main street in El Centro. If you get lost, this is a good way to re-orient yourself.




In the US, we have many signs that say "Do Not Block Intersection. In Buenos Aires, they must have signs that say "Please Block Intersection" because that's pretty much what all the drivers are doing.




This was a protest of some sort, mostly with some folks banging drums and others mulling around texting. The building they were standing in front is the Ministerio Del Interior.


Whole pork.




Tango is quite popular and you can find dancers performing in the streets.




This picture was taken at a pizza place near my residence. It had a good crowd at the time I took the pic at 10:30pm.