From One Small Step to One Giant Leap

I've mentioned in previous post the increasing difficulty of living in Buenos Aires due to radical changes that took place after Cristina Fernandez Kirchner was re-elected.  Within the past yr and a half the abuse of political power, inflation, peso devaluation resulted in a large exodus of expats from the country back to their homelands or other places in the world.

Life here is like hanging onto a mechanical bull. The one where you have to cling on to it for dear life as it gets faster and faster until you get flung off involuntarily or you choose to hang your hat and surrender to force of gravity. For many expats, it was a combination of both. They voluntarily left simply because they knew if they were on the verge of being flung off.

For me, all the positive idioms in the world couldn't convince me to stay in an insane situation. So after much thinking about the next phase of my life.  All I knew is that I had to get out of here and leave everything that I know. If there is anything I've learned as a traveller is that you often can't see the whole picture of how things work out all at once. But often all you need to do is take one small step in the right direction and a light will illuminate the rest of the path.

For me, that one small step was buying a one way ticket to Chile.  In regards to my life in Buenos Aires,  I knew how important it was to tie up loose ends. And as I took that leap of faith an amazing string of events fell into place and bit by bit one small step turned into one giant leap.....

Inner Beauty....Outer Beauty and Everything in Between

Luisana Lopilato @ Ele Multiespacio (Photo credit: Bruno Belcastro)

While spending time at the house of my friend on New Years day, an interesting conversation burst forth about weight, clothes, and what beauty means in different cultures.  My friend was born with dark hair, and like me she has a belly, a bust, and a roundish face.  She is the farthest thing from the stereotyped idea of what Argentine women look like.

And she has the same problem as me here in this culture buying clothing is a nightmare for her. Most clothing shops have clothes for sizes 2-6. Recently the gov't passed a law saying that all clothing shops are supposed to carry a variety of sizes. But walking into any one of those clothing shops and you'll realize that the law and its impact is one big joke.  Katie Alley of Seashells and Sunflowers tackles this subject on this article she wrote on her blog:  On Being Fat in Argentina

The Serpentine Saga Continues: Finding Love in A Hopeless Place

At one point in my journey of trying to understand the Argentine Serpentine, I stumbled upon a revelation that would change the course of how I viewed her actions forever. Previously I had been under the presumption that it was just her and she's like that. However as I started delving deeper, reading blogs and articles, having chats with other foreigners it started to appear that many of the experiences I've had with her are typical of what many others have had with Argentines.

Through trial and error, I am discovering that the value system of Argentine society is entirely different that the North American value system. In Argentina people are very friendly and open when you encounter them but whether they are trustworthy is an entirely different story. Whereas in North America people aren't taught to be open to people they don't know and we are a little closed off at first encounter. But once people break into our worlds alot of us are taught to value our relationships.

I kept hearing over and over again the theme that foreigners here were having a hard time making Argentine friends, even having lived here for years some of them have only one person they would say is a friend. In addition to that, I heard it said that even Argentine women have difficulty finding good girlfriends. There is something in the culture that seems to block foreigners from entering into the world of many Argentines as well as making it difficult for Argentines to form genuine life long relationships.