I feel obliged to first clear up something:  the capital city of Buenos Aires is almost a world apart from the rest of Argentina.  It’s much more connected to the outside world and therefore is a player in the globalized game.  The interior of the country is much more laid-back and for a most part it has more of a small town feel.  We currently live in the city of Tucuman and it still surprises me how in a city of about a million and a quarter people, you can still play connect the dots and link yourself (through marriage, cousins, long-lost childhood friends) to just about anyone.  One of our doctors is married to a cousin of my husband’s uncle’s wife.  Did you get that?  I just found out the other day, after the doctor visit of course.  But I really find all those connections nice.  If you need a doctor, dentist, architect, teacher, banker, mechanic or lawyer (in my case there are plenty of these on my husband’s side) surely some cousin is one of those.  And of for some strange reason they aren’t, they have a close friend that is.  I’m originally from the Washington, D.C. area and as I was growing up if we needed something we usually looked in the phone book.  That’s what you do down here AFTER you’ve talked to people first.

We lived in Jujuy for a couple of years and that was even slightly different from Tucuman, especially north of the city.  In Buenos Aires I do not stick out at all because of the large population of European descent.

You know, something relaxing.  Then about 5 pm they have a quick tea time where a lot of people drink “mate” which is a bitter tea.  You can get it in bags but usually they put the shredded leaves directly into the mug and fill it up with hot water and then drink it through a metal straw with a closed inferior tip perforated with a bunch of little holes.  I have come to the conclusion you have to be raised on it, but it is SO typical here you have to try it at least once.  Then they are out again by about 5:30.  The adults go back to work and the kids usually have P.E. or they are part of some sort of sports club (soccer for boys and field hockey for girls).

Then everyone comes home again about 9 or 9:30 and has dinner, which is lighter than lunch.  Usually sandwiches or pizza, or leftovers from lunch.  By about 12 everyone is getting ready for bed.

The weekends are unique too.  The younger crowds usually hang out on Fridays but on Saturdays they go dancing.  A typical (Friday) hang out evening lasts until 5 or 6 in the morning.  Friends get together about 12 midnight and have pizza or something.  Then they whip out the guitars and the wine, beer or Fernet.  Fernet is a harder drink that they mix with Coke or Pepsi and there is really nothing that I know to compare it to. It’s not like whisky, gin nor vodka, but it almost has a sort of a vegetable base to it. They drink it in Italy too (to which about 40% of argentines can trace their inheritance back to, but that is a whole other article).

They hang out playing music (usually more acoustic, folk-type music that is native to these parts) and just talk until about 6 or so. Then they go home and sleep it off and get ready for Saturday night. I must clarify that the legal drinking age is 18 but most parents don’t have a problem with under-age drinking because it’s done inside the home, and most close friends live around the same area so they usually just walk home (there are hardly any drunk driving accidents).  And since most families have one car, if friends live farther away they usually just take a taxi.

Saturday night is dancing night. The young people get to the clubs about 12 or 1 and dance the night away until dawn.  Literally.  Many times we would come home after sunrise. ALL the kids go dancing.  And the parents are OK with it because the older siblings (or cousins or kids from the block) are there to look after each other.  Even though my husband used to fight with his sisters (he is the oldest of 6, 4 girls and 1 other boy) he’d look after them a bit in the clubs.  I like how siblings hang out here. A lot of them have the same group of friends if they are around the same age. And if there is more of an age difference they don’t kick and scream when their parents ask them to take their brother or sister along when there is a birthday party or some social event like a soccer match or float parade or something.  In August, Jujuy hosts the Fiesta Nacional de los Estudiantes where there is a float competition and it is broadcasted nationally.  But I’ll leave that for a later date because it is a whole other article in itself.

Sunday is the day for the “asado” (what Americans would call a barbecue) and believe me, the beef here has no comparison.  I was not much of a beef-eater in the States but now when I smell the smoke from the coals, my mouth waters. And the best way to eat it is just plain, so you get the full flavor of the meat. Nothing to interfere with the true taste. I would probably venture to say that if you put onions and peppers, or mushrooms or anything else on it (like what is common in the restaurants in the US) you’d be ruining a perfectly perfect slab of meat. The asado is usually accompanied by a salad (once again very simple and not swimming in heavy dressing but oil and vinegar or lemon juice instead) and for appetizers they usually have “empanadas” which are like meat pockets. They fit in the palm of your hand and are filled with beef (surprise surprise), chicken, cheese, creamed corn or sometimes tuna.

The whole (immediate) family gets together for the Sunday asado. Grandparents and maybe aunts and uncles come too (depending on their marital status because you have to give each side of the family equal time).  Everyone eats lunch, the siesta-ers do their thing, the others maybe will just sit around and chat, the kids will start a little game of soccer, the grandparents might take a walk, or everyone might go to the park and have some ice-cream. It is definitely a family day. And if for some reason you don’t have family near you (like the kids that go off to college) then you get together and do the same thing but with your friends. At night you go to bed with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Everyone is friendly. The day I arrived as an exchange student the people from the block would come up to me and say hi because they already knew who I was before I even got there. The mom and pop corner stores (which there are a lot of because in the city there isn’t much room for big supermarkets) are like community centers where you find out what’s going on: when Cecilia’s baby was born, when Alberto is getting married, when Ana is graduating etc. But they also know the bad stuff so be careful! And like I stated at the beginning, somehow everyone is in someway related to everyone else so people tend to know stuff about other people. Even though some people may not like that at first, in the end it is really comforting because you know you have support and you will never be without friends.  Not to mention going to the corner store and not bringing enough money, but the owner saying there’s no problem, you can get it to him tomorrow. Or needing to rush out in a hurry and being able to ask the widow next door to look after your kids and not worrying about them because after all, she has 4 of her own, maybe 10 grandkids, and probably even a grandkid too.

To finish off, you’ve probably heard a lot about Argentina lately in the news because of the devaluation, the consequent riots and the rising poverty level.  That is a separate part of life here that regrettably is becoming more and more common because of the less than truthful politics that are being played (US politics don’t even begin to compare).  The common (middle-class) people are very aware of their situation but have decided not to let those things change their way of life.  Their hearts are SO big and their willingness to accept someone for who they are is amazing.  That is how I want people to see Argentina because those are the things that are passed on throughout generations independent of the political situation and those are the things that should count when describing a whole nation.

Here is some tourist info on Jujuy:

Great web site to get you started: www.jujuy.com  There you will find a bunch of pictures (some of which I included here) and tourist info.  The hotels I would personally recommend are Jujuy Palace (www.imagine.com.ar/jujuy.palace/) because it is smack dab downtown and gives you the ability to just leave the hotel and start walking around.  And other one which is nice is Hotel Alto La Vina (www.hotelaltosdelavina.com.ar).  It is up on a small mountain so it is about 10 minutes outside of town, which has its advantages and disadvantages.  But the view of the city is spectacular.  That is where we had our Argentine wedding reception (that latest until about 6 am of course!).

A good web site for Tucuman is www.turismoentucuman.com. Two good downtown hotels are Swiss Hotel Metropol and Tucuman Center Hotel.

Just to clarify some terms: The city of Tucuman is technically San Miguel de Tucuman (but everyone just calls it Tucuman) and the city of Jujuy is San Salvador de Jujuy (and they just call it Jujuy) in case there is any confusion when you’re looking at websites or anything.

Money stuff:  one US dollar will get you 3 argentine pesos. So a hotel that is 90 pesos a night is roughly 30 US dollars. But a lot of places are trying to get tricky and charge foreigners in US dollars (90 dollars a night instead of 30) so it’s a good idea to go with a tourist agency that arranges everything for you in pesos. The only thing that cannot be done in pesos is the airfare. To get to Jujuy or Tucuman from Buenos Aires it’s about 250 dollars round trip (the flight is 2 hours to Tucuman and 2 ½ hours to Jujuy).

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