Final thoughts and reflections on Argentina

Here are a few observations that I may or may not have mentioned before that make Argentina and Chile such remarkable places.

1.) Perros. You know the saying "all dogs go to heaven?" Well maybe they come to Argentina instead. A dog's life here isn't easy. It's not entirely bad either. The dogs, both owned and stray ones, trot blissfully around town using people when crossing busy streets. They are well fed and more than once I've seen them walk into a store or restaurant only to be handed an empanada or leftover meat. Strangely, the dogs here seem to know what restaurant you're going to and several times during our travels a dog escorted us right to the door of the cafe or bar we were heading towards. Spooky.

2.) Translations. Argentines speak English well. They are smart people. The English translations that appear in menus, signage and governmental brochures do not reflect this. I am perplexed as to how this can happen, but as this photo shows a bad translation can be downright unappealing.

3.) Buses. Any form of transportation that is both comfortable and entertaining -can you say Bingo on the Bus - is for me. Argentina's buses are amazing and I wish the United States would get a few like them.

4.) Friendliness. People in Argentina are ridiculously nice. For example, Adrian and I were looking for a restaurant and we knew we were close. I stop into a little apartment complex and ask a guy if he knows it. He does not. He asks three or four people and they don't know either. I prepare to leave, but he stops us. He pulls out the Yellow Pages and gives us the address. He then calls the restaurant to confirm the address. He draws us a map. The restaurant was two blocks away. Stuff like this happened to us all the time.

5.) Stop signs. As in there are no stop signs. I don't understand this because there are stop lights and the occasional yield. But stop signs - especially in Mendoza - are conspicuously absent. This scares me, but I have learned to accept it. See video below. Note the end of the video - motorcycle versus bus.

6.) Seat belts. Nobody - including small children - seems to wear them except taxi drivers. Note the no stop signs comment above. I think the taxi drivers are on to something.

7.) Mate. It's more than a drink. It's an experience. The mate is like a loose green tea that is placed into a gourd or wooden/metal cup. Hot water is poured into the cup and the preparer drinks it out of a metal straw called a bombilla. The preparer then passes it to the next person after filling it up with hot water. It sounds simple. But it's not. Since the drink is meant to be shared, it seems to contain magic that allows me and my crappy Spanish to communicate with other Argentines.