What's your Favorite (and Positive) "Only in Argentina" story?

[katti]

I love the fact that nothing has to be arranged up front. When I wake up on a saturday morning, I never know how many friends of my daughter will have slept over. They sleep where ever, with 2 in single beds, in the sofa, on the floor... It doesn't really matter to them. As long as they are together and have fun.

We don't have a long term agenda like we used to do. In Belgium agendas were fully booked until 3 months ahead. Here they only book for this weekend. Next weekend is too far away. If you want to go out with friends now, you can. Just call them! COmpletely impossible in Belgium : agendas are full!!

 

[nativexpat]

People touching your arm briefly when talking to you.

 

[bebero]

being really sick while on the street and having a super nice girl taking my to her apartment, helping me, and making sure i was fine before i left

nice bus drivers that let me know when i have to get off

throwing up in a corner (sorry, disgusting, i know. it was inside a trash can!) and having almost everyone asking how could they help

 

[MorganF]

Hey! I started the original thread long ago and I'm happy someone brought it back to life. I have a positive only-in-argentina... that just happened today actually, so positive timing. True story:

I had a meeting in a cafe with the CEO of an Argentine company (with $100+ million valuation) who is trying to hire us. We're having a great meeting. It ends and we go to pay and... his briefcase is gone. The sketchy guy sitting behind him an hour ago stole it from right under the gazillionaire's eyes. Including money, car keys, phones, ipad, legal papers, etc. Damn. The CEO calmly leaves to try to deal with it. (Yes, this is a negative only in arg story... but it improves don't worry; this story has ups and downs!).

I email him a few hours later and he tells me: he got his briefcase back, *including everything* (minus the cash). I ask him "how in god's name?" -- I've heard so many stories of these sorts of cafe robberies and I have witnessed a few, but I've never heard of anyone getting it back! Well, here's what happened:

About two hours after it vanished (and the thief along with it), he got a phone call from a stranger, standing on a corner on Libertador, saying that a bum (!) had just been rummaging through a trash can there, found this suitcase, opened it, and then went over to this guy (who was calling him) and asked him to call this guy because his suitcase was in the trash. This guy obliged, called, and told him that he would leave his suitcase with the owner of the cafe on the corner. This guy's wife then drove over there, went to the cafe and, voila, everything was there minus the cash: the papers, the electronics, the credit cards. The bum, the guy with the cell phone, and the cafe owner together spontaneously coordinated to get it back to him.

Although this story does have a dark side (as all good stories do!), and reveals the underbelly of low-level crime and untrustworthiness in Argentina... I have to say, the story did warm my heart. I am proud, as an adopted Argentine, that 3 good people -- including a homeless man! -- coordinated to undo the bad that 1 bad person did. At 3:1, that's a ratio better than that of many other countries I know.

Morgan (who disappeared from BAexpats for a while but is back now just to see this thread revived haha!)

 

[Gringoboy]

From my personal experience, living here for about 7 years, the positive stories about Argentines probably outweigh the negatives by about 70/30%.
When I had an accident on my motorbike for example, complete strangers got out of their cars and rushed to help me and one even offered to take me to hospital.
Of course that could happen anywhere, but it does put many things into perspective.

 

[cbphoto]

Hey Gringoboy... it says "only positives"!!! 1 out of 3 stories/experiences being negative is not very positive

 

[Gringoboy]

Señor, es lo que hay!
Que vamos a hacer?

 

[cbphoto]

F........ stupid b..... always whinging . You think like a jewish princess but live in an ghetto. Your experiences on this forum are mostly lies as to embellish your small personality .

Here is a positive... only Argentina can produce a Cabrera that makes me smile every time she opens hers

 

[SteveO87]

When I first arrived in BA(around July 2010) I frequented El Alamo(big suprise right) Anyways one day late in August, I met some Argentines there and ended up drinking with them all night, including once the Alamo closed at 4, we drank on the street for another 2 hours. Anyways, I told this one guy in the group, Matias, that I love football. He said he was an Independiente fan and I told them that I am going to try and go to the Clasico between Independiente and Racing. He immediately told me he would take me. We exchanged numbers and parted ways.(the game was not until October 10th) I had forgotten about it, and low and behold the week before the game comes and I a text telling me how to get Avellaneda and what time to be there. Honestly, I had not expected him to come through on a drunken promise but surely he did. He informed there were no more tickets and that I will be using his friend's socio card. So now, not only was I going to one of the most heated derby's in Argentina, I was going at no cost! Unbelievable, I thought to myself. Sunday came and I met him and his friend at a busy intersection(can't remember which) in Avellaneda.

I'm a 6'2 brown haired light skinned American and his friends socio card looked nothing like me, yet I passed through both checkpoints with flying colors. We were in the stadium 2 hours before kickoff and it was already electric. Before this I went to Argentina vs Spain and River-Quilmes both at El Monumental and both games were great and I felt safe the whole time. This was a different story, I was in the heart of the popular. Matias assured me I would be fine. It was the most intense and craziest thing I have ever been a part of. I didn't know the songs but I chanted like I did. There are people who have their backs turned to the game to make sure everyone is singing and jumping, I did not want to get called out so I just mimicked everything they were doing. Independiente won 1-0 off a Baez header right in front of us. The avalanche was incredible. We went to their elementary school after the game and played some footy for a few hours.

Exhausted after a long day, I thanked Matias for everything and told him I will be a lifelong Independiente fan. I hopped on a bus and went back to my apartment with a renewed sense of gratitude and human kindness. Matias, a man who I met once and did not know very well at all, went out of his way to get his friend's socio card, look up directions for me on how to get from my apartment to Avellaneda, and included me in his friends footy game. Pretty incredible story and I am forever grateful to Matias and of course Club Atletico Independiente.

Also, me and friends would go to COTO every Saturday afternoon and buy a different cut of meat and have our own version of an asado. It would only cost everyone in the group to throw in about 5-20 pesos.

 

[allcraz]

OK, I have one. Taxistas in BsAs get a bad rap, but one saved my ass after Aerolineas had left me, shall I say, "displaced." After my first-ever trip to BA, my flight home was scheduled for 10am Sat. morning. A couple of weeks before the flight, Expedia notified me that my flight had been moved up to 9am... what they neglected to mention was that it had been moved up to 9am THE FOLLOWING DAY. So 5am Sat. morning, running on exactly zero hours' sleep, I check out of my apt, leave my keys, and hail a cab to Ezeiza only to find out that I am 24 hours early. So there I am, in a near-empty airport, laden with 4 suitcases, all my valuables, no one to call and nowhere to go. I finally take a cab back into Capital, directing the taxista to the only hostel I knew of. No rooms available, but they suggest another one. Once again, no rooms. The cabbie, being very patient with my then-shaky Spanish, asks if I am looking for a room, and offers to take me to a cheap-but-clean hotel he knows of (probably his favorite telo, but whatevs.) He speaks to the desk clerk for me, arranges to pick me up the next day for Ezeiza, gives me a generous descuento, and before he leaves, draws me a little map of Congreso so I can find my way around. I always remember that story whenever anyone bitches about how all BsAs taxistas are evil.

I loved this one. Thanks.