With just a couple days left here (tear) I thought I’d share some of things I’ve learned about living in Buenos Aires and share them for anyone who may come here in the future. I really wish I had known these things before I got here!
First, spanish is spoken a little differently here. Anything with the double “l” like “llamar” or anything with “y” like “yo” is pronounced as a “sh.” So “calle,” is usually pronounced ca-ye whereas here it’s pronounced ca-she and “ayer” is pronounced a-sher. Also they use vos here instead of tu. So people if someone asks you como estas? People here respond with “muy bien y vos” not “muy bien y tu.” Also they use the vos form instead of the tu form. For example with the verb querer, in the tu form it’s “quieres” and in vos it’s “queres.” So it’s just a little bit different. But I’ve definitely gotten used to it and have started to pronounced words with the “sh” (sorry mom).
Other words to know:
Colectivo: bus
Subte: subway
Supe: subway/bus card
Dale: (can mean many things) go, let’s go, okay, perfect, sounds good. It can be used in a lot of different contexts.
Chico/a: guys
Moro: waiter
Boliche: club
Calle: smaller, side roads
Avendia: the large main streets
Ciao: bye
Aca: here
Barabaro: great/awesome
Porteño: name for people who live in Buenos Aires
B.A. or Bs.As. is simply the abbreviation for Buenos Aires
Other things to know:
–You can change your money for a better rate here instead of exchanging it back home or at the airport.
–Only take Radio taxis
–Dog poop is everywhere on the sidewalks
–People are very touchy, you never give someone a handshake when you meet them, rather you kiss them on the cheek.
–Nobody goes out until about 1am
–Everyone discusses politics
–Pick pocketing is very common here. That’s why people here wear they backpacks in front of them..
–On the weekends there a lot of demonstrations, usually they’re not too dangerous though
–You can re-fill your phone at almost any Kiosco
–During the winter months here people only wear dark colors. So stick with blacks, grays, browns, dark blue, dark red. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb if you wear bright colors..
Food:
–Breakfast is very light here (porteños definitely don’t think it’s the most important meal of the day like we do)
–And dinner is very late (around 9 or 9:30)
–They eat a lot of meat here. And asados (serving after serving of different types of meat, chicken, etc.) are a very big deal.
Submarino: popular drink here; hot milk served with a chocolate bar that you mix in.
Dulce de leche: kinda like caramel but not even close because it’s so much better and it is literally stuffed into everything here
Alfajor: really popular dessert made with dulce de leche in between two cookies either chocolate or vanilla covered
–Empanadas are the go-to food. I literally have them everyday for lunch and they’re super cheap. They range from about five to eight pesos.