the good, the bad, and the feo

In the last 24 hours, I´ve had a pretty representative experience of the things that make Argentina a wonderful country, while being maddening and exhausting.

The good: Getting invited to a party by two local people you´ve only known a week, and then the warmth with which you´re treated as a guest. The party was hosted by a Mendoza couple that are friends with the two girls, Mika and Soledad, who taught me Tango this week. Mika and Sole are both university students in their mid-twenties, and they get together with their friends at this house every monday to dance tango and have conversations with lots of dramatic hand gestures and shrugging. Honestly, the people here seem more like Italians (which most of them are genetically. At one point in the 19th century, there were more italian last names than spanish ones in Buenos Aires) the longer I´m here. There were about 15 people at the house, all about my age and all excellent dancers, besides me of course. The men tended to be big athletic guys, probably averaged about 6´2, and were amazingly agile, so that was kind of intimidating. The women were characteritically beautiful dancers, which is always intimidating. But everyone there went out of their way to make me feel welcome, and I even danced a few songs on the dance floor without managing to knock anyone over or destroy Mika´s toes. Anyway, the warmth and joie de vivre of the people here is fantastic, and something it´s impossible to get tired of.

The bad: The logistics of everyday life. I brought a cheap portable cd player here, as i didn´t want to risk my ipod, plus it´s easy to buy cheap cds here so you have new music. Anyhow, the 20 dollar fred meyer cd player stopped working yesterday (though I got some good runs with it in the amazing park they have in mendoza.
I went to go buy a new one today. After finally finding a store that carried a discman, I presumed I might simply select my item, take it to the cash register for payment, and leave. Ah, but this is Argentina. I was required to speak with no fewer than 5 people over the course 30 minutes, submit my passport, and fill out a stack of forms in triplicate while shuttling around to different counters. I asked them at one point in spanish ¨Am I buying a cd player or real estate?´´ It´s typical inefficiency. Everything shuts in the middle of the day for a 4 hour siesta. Or it doesn´t open at all. My friend Kristie runs a business in B.A., but has to pick up payment personally from all of her advertisers because you can´t trust the mail. And on and on. Perhaps Italian efficiency?

The feo: Trying to adjust to Argentine hours is ugly (feo). Don´t like staying up late? Since dinner often happens at midnight, then that just means you´ll go hungry. Argentines still wake up early after staying up until 3 am, but they´re exhausted and just go back to bed for 3 more hours at 1 pm. And then they commmute all over again. Maybe I´d get used to it, but it feels kind of feo for the time being.

I´m off to Bariloche on an overnight bus with my well-documented cd player. Also, I should know by the end of the week where I´ll be based in the Navy! It looks like Bremerton, DC, and San Diego are unfortunately off the table for this first year, but there are some good bases that look like I should have a shot at.