A Shitty New Years Eve.. and the Porteño Attitude

[LostinBA]

Hola,

I hope you all had a fine New Year's Eve.

Here's what happened to me... I went to Plaza San Martin with a Porteña friend... got mugged for my $1000 Nikon and my Blackberry from 4 punks after my Porteña friend was telling one of them I was from Canada etc.
Fortunately I just handed over the merchandise and nobody got hurt. I also selflessly protected my Porteña friend in the assault.
I can appreciate they need that stuff more than me... plus I'm fully insured.. so whatever.
Here's what fucking bugged me about the whole thing... my so called Porteña friend... who has been going on for weeks about how fabulous BA is etc.. she was totally unapologetic.. yet I could see the confusion and the contradiction in her face... but she just refused basically to admit there is some problem here.
Hell, she didn't even bother to thank me for saving her fucking life!
I'm not a psychologist, but I can see when someone is having a brain meltdown... that's human nature and pretty easy to figure out.
But her attitude apparently over rides human well being and personal safety. She just took no responsibility whatsoever for saying out loud I was from Canada etc... just a stupid travel faux pas if I've seen seen it!
I'm just speechless right now to be honest... my insurance will cover the camera... no big deal.. but her Porteña attitude is a form of mental illness and I challenge anyone to prove me otherwise.
Again... I saved this women's life... with no thanks whatsoever in return... just pure attitude in return.

Hey.. sorry everyone... It is what it is.. and I hope you all had a much better New Years than this crap.

Saludos.

Now that everyone has weighed in on this and you're probably sick of all the BS, I'll add mine.

Firstly and most importantly, don't blindly trust anyone you don't know or haven't been personally introduced by good people you know well. That's the first law of Argentina and all the Argentines I know follow it.

Secondly, you have just learned something important about Porteno culture firsthand which is the general attitude that everything is someone else's fault. Your 'friend' probably couldn't give a shit about your losses or the personal danger you found yourself in because to her, it was your fault (If she wasn't in on it). Don't try to use logic and reason with her. She will not understand and will just become belligerent when presented with the facts (another frustrating Porteno trait).

My advice is this; the best and safest thing you can do if you're here for just a vacation is to hang out with foreigners. Sorry to tell you this but it's true. If you plan on moving here, you will be able to built a network of Argentine friends but until then, you don't know who to trust so follow my advice and don't trust anyone.

 

[rcmedia]

Now that everyone has weighed in on this and you're probably sick of all the BS, I'll add mine.

Firstly and most importantly, don't blindly trust anyone you don't know or haven't been personally introduced by good people you know well. That's the first law of Argentina and all the Argentines I know follow it.

Secondly, you have just learned something important about Porteno culture firsthand which is the general attitude that everything is someone else's fault. Your 'friend' probably couldn't give a shit about your losses or the personal danger you found yourself in because to her, it was your fault (If she wasn't in on it). Don't try to use logic and reason with her. She will not understand and will just become belligerent when presented with the facts (another frustrating Porteno trait).

My advice is this; the best and safest thing you can do if you're here for just a vacation is to hang out with foreigners. Sorry to tell you this but it's true. If you plan on moving here, you will be able to built a network of Argentine friends but until then, you don't know who to trust so follow my advice and don't trust anyone.

Thank you for the excellent post.
This is solid advice.

 

[2GuysInPM]

@rcmedia: That sucks... sorry that you had such a bad experience! If you're here next new years, you're welcome to join us and watch the fireworks from our place in PM. great views and lots of space for a tripod and camera equipment. Anyways, best of luck and I hope you can get your stolen stuff replaced quickly. There's a lot to enjoy about this city and hopefully this will not ruin your stay

 

[rcmedia]

@rcmedia: That sucks... sorry that you had such a bad experience! If you're here next new years, you're welcome to join us and watch the fireworks from our place in PM. great views and lots of space for a tripod and camera equipment. Anyways, best of luck and I hope you can get your stolen stuff replaced quickly. There's a lot to enjoy about this city and hopefully this will not ruin your stay

Thank you for the offer... much appreciated and I will definitely consider that for next year.
I plan on making a go of it here and this will not deter me from that plan.
I still think BA is a great city etc. and I've met some very good Porteños here as well.
*Most notably the aprox. 350 volunteers I met who showed up Xmas Eve to bring food donations and distribute them throughout the city to the homeless on behalf of Red Solidaria.... those were GREAT Porteños

 

[lomo]

Excellent, 100% agree.
I have been to BA off and on for 7 years, that's how I feel.

Now that everyone has weighed in on this and you're probably sick of all the BS, I'll add mine.

Firstly and most importantly, don't blindly trust anyone you don't know or haven't been personally introduced by good people you know well. That's the first law of Argentina and all the Argentines I know follow it.

Secondly, you have just learned something important about Porteno culture firsthand which is the general attitude that everything is someone else's fault. Your 'friend' probably couldn't give a shit about your losses or the personal danger you found yourself in because to her, it was your fault (If she wasn't in on it). Don't try to use logic and reason with her. She will not understand and will just become belligerent when presented with the facts (another frustrating Porteno trait).

My advice is this; the best and safest thing you can do if you're here for just a vacation is to hang out with foreigners. Sorry to tell you this but it's true. If you plan on moving here, you will be able to built a network of Argentine friends but until then, you don't know who to trust so follow my advice and don't trust anyone.

 

[scarface]

Now that everyone has weighed in on this and you're probably sick of all the BS, I'll add mine.

Not all comments were BS. Some were sound observations.

Firstly and most importantly, don't blindly trust anyone you don't know or haven't been personally introduced by good people you know well. That's the first law of Argentina and all the Argentines I know follow it.

Hmm. I think this is probably true for any expat visiting almost any part of the world. Certainly nothing unique about Ar/Portenos in this regard.

Secondly, you have just learned something important about Porteno culture firsthand which is the general attitude that everything is someone else's fault. Your 'friend' probably couldn't give a shit about your losses or the personal danger you found yourself in because to her, it was your fault (If she wasn't in on it). Don't try to use logic and reason with her. She will not understand and will just become belligerent when presented with the facts (another frustrating Porteno trait).

Now this is BS. Perhaps you are a native, but that is no guarantee that your advice or observations are necessarily valid. I am an expat, but I've been coming here for over 35 years, off and on, sometimes for long periods of time. I have lots of family here, native Portenos, that live in the burbs. I've made friends among their friends as well as local merchants and neighbors where I have had an apt for the last 3 years. I feel I have sufficient contact with BA to opine that Portenos are no more or less incapable of using logic and reason, or of accepting culpability than any other urban population. Where do you come up with this nonsense?

My advice is this; the best and safest thing you can do if you're here for just a vacation is to hang out with foreigners. Sorry to tell you this but it's true. If you plan on moving here, you will be able to built a network of Argentine friends but until then, you don't know who to trust so follow my advice and don't trust anyone.

I think your advice reflects a very sad and even disturbed mentality. Portenos are no less capable of earning and deserving trust than people from other places. My advice to you is to start working on a new circle of friends.

 

[mariano-BCN]

I agree completely with both remarks made by Lostin BA, specially the second: people here just don't have the logic of an own responsability for what they do or don't do. They always, always, blame the state, you or somebody else. It's so childless, it makes me sick here.

 

[LostinBA]

Not all comments were BS. Some were sound observations.


Hmm. I think this is probably true for any expat visiting almost any part of the world. Certainly nothing unique about Ar/Portenos in this regard.


Now this is BS. Perhaps you are a native, but that is no guarantee that your advice or observations are necessarily valid. I am an expat, but I've been coming here for over 35 years, off and on, sometimes for long periods of time. I have lots of family here, native Portenos, that live in the burbs. I've made friends among their friends as well as local merchants and neighbors where I have had an apt for the last 3 years. I feel I have sufficient contact with BA to opine that Portenos are no more or less incapable of using logic and reason, or of accepting culpability than any other urban population. Where do you come up with this nonsense?


I think your advice reflects a very sad and even disturbed mentality. Portenos are no less capable of earning and deserving trust than people from other places. My advice to you is to start working on a new circle of friends.

You and I can go back and forth but it's a waste of both of our time. My point is not that Argentines are incapable of being trusted...my point is that without KNOWING who to trust due to a short term stay, it would be better to be overly cautious. And this is not a culture of blame the other guy??? come on man...

 

[scarface]

You and I can go back and forth but it's a waste of both of our time. My point is not that Argentines are incapable of being trusted...my point is that without KNOWING who to trust due to a short term stay, it would be better to be overly cautious. And this is not a culture of blame the other guy??? come on man...

Fair enough, but you made a few points, not one.
The first point you made was about "not trusting others" being the first law of Argentina. If what you meant was that Argentines are not any less trustworthy than any other demograpic, you didn't express it very clearly. Sorry. It seemed you were singling them out. Understand now you are not.
The second point you made was that Argentines are unique in denying culpability for wrongful acts ("everything is always someone else's fault").
You made a third point - that the girl and Argentines in general empathize less with other peoples misfortunes. Lastly, you said this Argentine girl would typically not be able to use reason and logic. I don't agree with any of these later points.

 

[marksoc]

I was in Plaza Armenia, Palermo. Lots of fireworks, somebody hired a DJ, people danced in the street, that was closed to the traffic due to the amount of people dancing! Later, the park surrounding the Planetario was witness to a peaceful massive free electronic music party. One of the best NYE I had.

Plaza San Martin in NYE? Where do you get those ideas?