Meeting Americans

[chris]

One of the reasons I love Buenos Aires is how few US tourists I see, and how easy it is to avoid them. You can see them coming from a mile away- they are covered in Pockets. For some reason, most US tourists are convinced Buenos Aires is on the Amazon, and jungle expedition wear is required, including pockets on your $100 gigantic safari grade bucket hat, 20 or so pockets on your bug-proof jungle cargo pants, and pockets on your sleeves. I guess they are on their way to Antarctica, where, everybody knows, they dont sell pockets. I can always tell when a cruise ship is in town, by seeing the Pocket Count on Florida triple.

Never noticed the pockets, just the obese people dressed like bums.

 

[chris]

When someone says, "iPhone is made by Apple," nobody seems to be confused and scream, "haha! Apple is a fruit!" Apparently, they can grasp the intended meaning from the context.

I have not yet come across a situation where some smartass would pass up the chance to mention that 'American' is, in fact, the broader term. I don't think it is a genuine confusion. It might be some kind of inferiority complex issue.

It's a kind of political statement, expressing resentment at US dominance and arrogance in International affairs and in other ways. A lot of the people who react with hostility to the term "American" to refer to US citizens or "America" in referring to the US nation aren't really super nationalists. I think they just resent a lot about the US and want to vent their anger. I find that they seldom ever identify with the rest of Latin America and don't like being lumped together with other countries in Latin America. The truth though is that China is playing a far larger role in the affairs of Argentina and historically Britain was the major player.

 

[Rich One]

Wow, well I certainly hope that the gov doesn't maintain a list of the number of immigrants from each country! Frankly, I'm rather fond of the Arg. Gov. being inept, and hope that they stay that way. I don't want to be on some list, tracked by thousands of cameras every day!! My libertarianism may be showing, and I'm not sure what the gov surveillance is like in BA, but I'm out in the sticks partly because I don't want to feel like I'm being watched and tracked... (writes the guy who's never more than a meter away from his smart phone!)
Although I'm new to this ex-pat thing, I've only been here about a year. I just thought about it, and aside from EZE, I haven't run into one single person from the states. However, it appears that the US may have started down a slippery slope of despair, so I suspect that we all may see more pocket loving Norte Americanos roaming the streets here soon...

Immigration has a detailed head count of the entries by country.

 

[Ries]

 

[ArgentinaVet]

Wow, well I certainly hope that the gov doesn't maintain a list of the number of immigrants from each country! Frankly, I'm rather fond of the Arg. Gov. being inept, and hope that they stay that way. I don't want to be on some list, tracked by thousands of cameras every day!! My libertarianism may be showing, and I'm not sure what the gov surveillance is like in BA, but I'm out in the sticks partly because I don't want to feel like I'm being watched and tracked... (writes the guy who's never more than a meter away from his smart phone!)
Although I'm new to this ex-pat thing, I've only been here about a year. I just thought about it, and aside from EZE, I haven't run into one single person from the states. However, it appears that the US may have started down a slippery slope of despair, so I suspect that we all may see more pocket loving Norte Americanos roaming the streets here soon...

Of course the Argentine government has a sophisticated database that keeps track of the nationality of resident foreigners and temporary visitors (tourists). They also have used for years facial recognition technology developed by the Cuban government at immigration stations.

 

[Silvie]

When someone says, "iPhone is made by Apple," nobody seems to be confused and scream, "haha! Apple is a fruit!" Apparently, they can grasp the intended meaning from the context.

I have not yet come across a situation where some smartass would pass up the chance to mention that 'American' is, in fact, the broader term. I don't think it is a genuine confusion. It might be some kind of inferiority complex issue.

From a South or Central American point of view, it doesn't create confusion but it sounds kind of annoying to listen to the word "American", when America is a continent and yes, we are all Americans from different countries in the Americas.

 

[chris]

From a South or Central American point of view, it doesn't create confusion but it sounds kind of annoying to listen to the word "American", when America is a continent and yes, we are all Americans from different countries in the Americas.

True but there is very little trans-national sentiment in Argentina. A lot of people seem to identify more with Europe than Latin American nations.

 

[Ries]

Never noticed the pockets, just the obese people dressed like bums.

I go to the feria antiguadades most sundays in San Telmo, and there are often safari clad US tourists there. I think when cruise ships are in town, they bus them there. Not exactly bums, usually wearing a couple hundred dollar shoes, and lots of north face, mountain hardware, and REI on the men. The women usually look like they are rich. Quite common to see a few thousand dollars worth of camera draped around some necks, and fancy handbags. But often, lots of pockets.

 

[chris]

I go to the feria antiguadades most sundays in San Telmo, and there are often safari clad US tourists there. I think when cruise ships are in town, they bus them there. Not exactly bums, usually wearing a couple hundred dollar shoes, and lots of north face, mountain hardware, and REI on the men. The women usually look like they are rich. Quite common to see a few thousand dollars worth of camera draped around some necks, and fancy handbags. But often, lots of pockets.

Are they mostly obese? That's what I saw on a cruise ship that docked here some years ago. I remember too how very poorly they were dressed.

 

[Ries]

I have not noticed a particular trend towards obesity in US tourists. I live near Alto Palermo, and work in Retiro near Florida, so on the street I see some tourists, and the US ones usually are pretty affluent, and they exercise. It costs a lot now to fly to Argentina, and the cruises that stop in BA are a minimum of several thousand dollars per person. A lot of the tourists I see are on their way to patagonia or antarctica- big bucks. In San Telmo, even the young US tourists have a thousand dollars worth of clothes on, most days, counting their 200 nikes, their fancy 80 dollar baseball hats, and so on.
I see US tourists in Palermo, and, again, in trendy restaurants now and again- like, say Chui, where you see US rock stars or movie stars slumming it. Havent seen many crustpunks or backpackers since the glory days before 2010 or so, when it was really cheap here in dollars, and you could fly economy on miles.
Argentina gets something like 2 to 3 million tourists a year, but the majority I see are brazilian.
Washington DC, on the other hand, gets 20 million plus tourists, and NYC has been clocking 35 million or so since Covid.
Many places I hang out, you dont see any tourists. Most times I go to see music, we are the only Yanks in the room.
Villa Crespo, or eating pizza at La Mezzeta, nobody from the US...