Sunday, September 23, 2007

This Is Why I Hate Argentina: Post Numero Uno

The first in a series. Stay tuned for my This-Is-Why-I-Love-Argentina version. Ooh...which will rack up more posts? It's a nailbiter...

Dog Poop

Yes, it's oh-so clichéd. So much so that I'm not even gonna go into it and you can't make me. Suffices to say, no one follows the levantelo sign. No one. None. And that oft-heard thing about how it's the same in Paris. Bull(pun)shit. Even my little French students tell me the streets of Paris are less littered with crap, literally and figuratively.

Here's another example. Yesterday, a caravan of cars barrelled down Avenida Corrientes blasting some prerecorded endorsement of yet another corrupt politician. However, instead of confetti for this ticker-tape parade, brochures--the kind originating from 8 1/2 x 11 papers--were hauled into the sky in greedy handfuls. Unbelievable. My beautiful little cobblestone street got blanketed with stupid brochures that I dare say no single soul will bother to pick up and read.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no question the streets and sidewalks are something of a dumping grounds. I call them fecal landmines!

Anonymous said...

I was born and raised in Argentina, been living in the US for almost 8 years now, with a brief time where I moved back,, with my American wife.
So I get the expat life in Argentina from more than one angle and the question I have is: if you hate it so much; why stay there?

My point is: if you are going to have a bitchy, whiny attitude about the whole experience there (which I know nothing about, granted), you are not going to gain much from the experience.

I complained about everything and everyone in the US for my first 6 months here and that made me, and the few people I got to hang out with here, miserable.

The moment I let go of that attitude, I started to enjoy more things about here, to the point I decided to stay.

Just a thought, expat to expat.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I have lived in many different countries and enjoyed many of them on first sight all the way up until the time I departed, but Buenos Aires keeps rubbing me the wrong way from the people to the stupid politics and the fecal matter in the streets. It is truly one of the most horrible places to be placed for any reason. I can't even put my finger on it, but I think it is primarily the attitude of the people that bothers me so much. They really are very arrogant to a disturbing degree. The only friendly people are the foreigners. I count the days till my contract is finished here and I can get back to Europe or New York...

Anonymous said...

FUCK YOU !!!
LOL
YOU HAVE A LOT OF FREE TIME IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU WASTE HATING SOMETHING ?
WHEREVER ARGENTINIANS ARE BETTER THAN YOUR SILLY WORDS
GREW UP !!!

Anonymous said...

True that. I can´t figure how the people there think it is normal to live in the midst of dog shit.

Celina said...

I truly hate it when people call Buenos Aires Argentina.. I´m sorry, but if you have only been to Buenos Aires you can´t say that those are your reasons for disliking the whole country. You´ve got it all wrong my friend. The rest of Argentina is completely different from Buenos Aires. The streets are much cleaner, no dog shit anywhere, people are not arrogant but nice and warm and friendly.. Because I´m not too crazy about Buenos Aires for all the same reasons you have mentioned. I just wish for people to stop visiting only the capital and go to Cordoba, Rio Negro, Neuquen, Salta, Mendoza, San Juan, Santa Fe.. Then they would see the real, awesome Argentina that I know..

Anonymous said...

I am European and have been living in Argentina for three years already. All I can say is that i started hating Argentina after a while, people are so arrogant and superficial, but somehow on a very low level. Nothing really works and the food, that they are so proud of, is very simple and boring. What really made me angry is that they always try to convince me that Argentina is the best place to be, without having been anywhere else.

Anonymous said...

I was born and raised in Buenos Aires and I just can say all the above is true. As some of my Russian friends told me, the fact that my parents immigrants gives me another perspective. Maybe I can see things most of local people can't see.

I have traveled to USA, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Turkey, UK, Germany, Spain and some other countries and I can't think of a worse place to live. Besides poop, what I dislike most is the Buenos Aires people. Probably the most arrogant and uncultured in whole South America, and probably the continent. The most shocking part is how people seem to dislike foreigners. Not only they laugh at their pronunciation but try to take advantage of that in many situations (taxi drivers, kiosk owners, etc). And the funny part is most of current generation's grandparents are (were) Italians or Spanish.

I just can't wait to move somewhere else.

park said...

> FUCK YOU !!!
> LOL
> YOU HAVE A LOT OF FREE TIME IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU WASTE HATING SOMETHING ?
> WHEREVER ARGENTINIANS ARE BETTER THAN YOUR SILLY WORDS
> GREW UP !!!

First, it's impolite to use capital letters.
Second, it's always so easy to insult people being anonymous, don't you think?
Third, it's "Grow up" in any case, my uneducated lad.
Fourth, I bet you have Italian roots :)

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Frustrated said...

I live in a predominantly mexican city in southern california. Recently some "latin" folks moved in next door. They smoke alot, are arrogant beyond belief. Their back yard is littered with dogshit. They drive beat up broken down luxury cars (salvage titles?). Are completely incoherent as if they are mumbling in a high pitch tone of voice. All the adult children live at home there (25-35yrs old) with no steady jobs or ambition. One day I googled their flag (on their cars) and low and behold, they were not the good hearted mexicans normally found here. They are ARGENTINIAN. Even dirtier than in their native land.

Anonymous said...

What's more important in life? Not Littering, not smoking, or being out of debt and live for 10 years in a growing economy. Sure, Argentina sucks in many dimensions. At least Argentineans didn't fall for the mortgage-investment scam like most americans and europeans did.

Uncultered? Well, try to find somebody that speaks 2 languages reasonably well in Europe and NorthAmerica. Or try to find someone that would have predicted the Ninja crisis?

Guys, once U start seeing life beyond the dogshit and smoking you will realize how dumb the "first world" has become.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

DONT PAY ATTENTION CUZ ALL THIS BAD COMMENTS ABOUT ARGENTINA WERE MADE FOR DIRTY ENVIOUS
LATIN AMERICANS IN DISGISE
LIKE THAT AZTEC MONKY WHO CLAIMED TO BE AMERICAN AND CALL MEXICAN..GOOD HEARTED PEOPLE
AND THE AGENTINIANS ARE DIRTY AND BLAH BLAH BLAH FUNNY SHIT

Anonymous said...

I HAVE LIVED AND TRAVELLED IN 22 COUNTRIES AND ARGENTINA IS THE WORST!

FOR INSTANCE, IT´S NORMAL THAT ARGENTINIAN MEN HAVE SEX WITH TRANSVESTITES. WTF!!!

MY PERSONAL VIEW: ALL ARGETINIANS ARE ARROGANT AND STUPID, AND HATE ALL GRINGO´S AND EUROPEAN´S.(INFERIORITY COMPLEX)

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY STUDENT VISA FOR 7 MONTHS AND THE UNIVERSITY STUFF JUST DONT GIVE THE NEEDED DOCUMENT IT TO ME, ALTHOUGH PAYING FOR THE U..

FOOD IS TERRIBLE, PEOPLE STUPID, BASICALLY THERE ARE GAYS EVERYWHERE(CANT GO TO GYM SHOWER)...

NORMAL PEOPLE: STAY AWAY FROM ARGENTINA

STUPID PEOPLE: COME HERE, THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!

Anonymous said...

I hate argentina too..especially the people: most arrogant fuckers i have ever met...and the irony is: they think they are so good and better than others, even though all they have is shit and all they do is shit...poor bastards...and whats up with those transvestites...in Argentina it is normal to see men walking hand in hand with transvestites in plane day light...and no, they are not "gays" but these same guys have sex with women too!!!! WTF^100000

weirdest country

Anonymous said...

there more and more latin american apes claiming to be americans ...saying argentinians are arrogants blah blah blah..do u know how i know they aren't americans or europeans? cuz that arrogant call is their typical buzz word for argentinians that mexicans and the rest of that primitive rain forest monkies do

Anonymous said...

Hey, I am still waiting for the post "this is why I love Argentina"...as somebody else said before: Argentina IS NOT Buenos Aires. The arrogant people are mainly from Buenos Aires whereas in the rest of the country you can find much better people and places. Oh! I am from Buenos Aires, by the way...

Anonymous said...

I lived in Argentina for three years. I had quite a good time and the country is amazing. Buenos Aires is a modern city full of energy and life.

However, there are a couple of things that got me out of my nerves:

1. They try to take advantage of you every time. They are short term driven and so individualistic. This is probably the result of the experiences of the country, but it is a very dangerous societal self-reinforcing circle.

2. They will exert whatever power they have at any level. You have to beg and be grateful to the bus driver to let you get into the bus. A public servant can make your life miserable and they will not stick to any rules....

Other than that, I find them to be very well prepared, though their twisted values and belief system difficults delivering good results.

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone, i was born in argentina, and unfortunately i cannot say that it is a nice country to live, why i say this?, is not about landscapes, the land is beautiful, but the people is another thing.. and the government.. i prefer don't talk abt that... yes, i agree with a lot of ppl up there, ppl from buenos aires is sucks dude, fuc... arrogants, i've been living in a lot of countries like finland, sweden, canada, germany, and others and i've never seen so many arrogants like here, specially ppl from bs as, and i cannot f... believe the way of thinking from the most part of the ppl here, they makes me sick of angry, the only friends that i got are from another countries, the problem here is the ppl, u cannot trust in no one wth!!, honestly i'd like to move to another place, whatever it takes, but i won't getting old here, hell no. Is impossible to find a solution cuz the ppl (if u can call ppl of course) just think themselves, if u need help, they just say: oh screw u.., i think that only a miracle can save this land.Of course that exist nice ppl here, but unfortunately u can count on the fingers of your hand and i think your spare fingers...

Unknown said...

I aldo hate it for being beautiful. The truth is that I envy them. I understand that they have a nice looking country and that the natural marvels they possess no country can equal. I just wish we also had falls, glaciers, mountains, lakes, sea shores and the end of the world all together. Besides, I got rented apartments in Buenos Aires and realised they have a greater European/Latin city than ours. THat is it, they win. At least the economy in my country is going a little bit better haha

Anonymous said...

Hate it...Argentina sucks dick in many, many ways. I've been to countries designated as "third world nations" and had a better time visiting/living/working there than any of the time I spent in the shithole known as Argentina. What pisses me off more than anything are the people. They are arrogant beyond belief and are extremely rude to foreigners, no matter how polite and friendly you try to be.

Anonymous said...

Such a racist & empty comments...human stupidity is infinite

Anonymous said...

I don't need to explain why I hate buenos aires. This person is a clear example of why I dislike this place so much. Instead of being rude, you should show us that your people have the ability to be polite and friendly.
And btw, it's grow up. Something you should try.

tony said...

I'm in Argentina for work, have lived in Buenos Aires for 4 months and have one more month to go. Even though BA is an attractive city in many ways, after 4 months of being here its now really starting to drive me crazy. I agree with so much that's been said here, from the dog shit, to the arrogance. And yes, nothing seems to work - the wi-fi, the door locks, the toilets, public transport, the prices, the bureaucracy, the noise levels - omg the noise levels! Did you know BA is the noisiest city in S. America? I ended up buying earplugs just to wear around the house. Coupled with this I've had the worst experiences with inconsiderate neighbours, loud drunken chavs outside my house at all hours, drummers at 4 in the morning (wtf??), drummers over the entire weekend - can someone please explain to me what are the murgas all about? One night it was raining torrentially - it must have been 5 am, I kid you not, and the murga continued unabated as if nothing was happening! I couldn't believe it - what is up with these people? I've travelled around Argentina a bit and have seen some truly amazing places, but BA really does suck in many respects.

Anonymous said...

hello I am Mariano José Sampaño from Buenos Aires , Argentina and all of you have already talked about is true. the arrogance of people do not also disturbed your people but I am a porteño i also dont like really their attitudes. i found them lacking in cultural and scientific activities, it makes me laugh they think they have the best university of the world: UBA, where in really is at asshole completely corrupted by nepotism nihilism and where it does not work a simple piece of meritocracy- they think they know a lot, but are very superficial, they read a paragraph from a local newspaper and they like to believe are intellectuals

Anonymous said...

first their subjects are completely without a common sense: the university is a joke, their study plan is pathetic and the think they have a "great university ". now i have 20 years old and i want my genius to flourish in any other place, in this country i only found evil and stupid things from the local people... another thing they make me angry is like they have a "suppossd humanistic education ". first of all, they dont understand that there is a possibility to do research in humanities in a truth sense, they only think that saying stupid peronist things or otherwise who wit a litte of sense they are complete broken down by a minimal scientific argument. sorry my bad english i am a little depressed. this is a short description of a porteño not satisfied with this city. other things i hate is the city is so BORING, the people are so completely uncreative , i dont know how to describe this, as others say, their arrogance ( who as a porteño know very well ) cannot be described in pure scientific terms, is like Joseph Blumenthal, when , describe jews, could not do in a physiological term . well Buenos Aires is exacly the same. i wanto to get out this country but it is not easy because Argentina is also isolationalist country

Anonymous said...

I don't know anything about Argentina, but i like messi xd

Unknown said...

Argentina sucks big time. Assholes!

Unknown said...

Jesus I hate them. They should all be killed. They're 100% pure filth.

Anonymous said...

I don't know BA, so I can't comment on these issues. But at least they have "levantalo" signs not like in Mexico City where dog poop is actually an accident hazard and they don't even care!!
I lived in Paris long ago and remember when it was like that, too. Until they started seriously fining the inconsiderate dog owners who littered all sidewalks. As the saying goes... "my rights end at the point where my neighbour's rights start"

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