¿Amigo o Enemigo?

Typical chori shack/cartThe first time I saw this man was about 2 or 3 weeks into my stay here in Argentina. I had spent almost my entire time either with NYU kids or with my host family, so needless to say I had not met very many people yet. My friend Charlie and I were on the way back from playing Ultimate Frisbee and we stopped to get some choripan in the park (you can refer to my 6th post if you want to get the lowdown on choripan). There was a small shack/mini-parrilla, typical of parks here in Buenos Aires, with two guys inside chatting it up. As Charlie and I approached, I the guys talking and they were speaking in Spanish, but parts sounded a little different. After ordering my chori, I asked if they were speaking Portuguese, and he said yes. I’ve taken a year of Portuguese at NYU, so I began to try to chop it up a little bit, speaking in a mix of Portuguese, kind of like the guys were before.

He was the first person with whom I’d struck up a random conversation. He asked us what we were doing in Argentina and we told him we were studying. He spoke incredibly fast, and the fact that he was switching between two languages didn’t help my understanding. While he was friendly, at the same time, there was a sense that he was spiteful of us. I picked it up in his tone and then finally I heard him say “chetos,” which in Argentina is a derogatory term for the rich. There’s not really much to argue with there, compared to a guy that is selling choripan out of a shack in a park, I am EXTREMELY rich. All I felt I could do was be genuine and try to have a nice conversation. When we parted ways, after about 15 minutes of chatting, he gave us a nice goodbye, whether it was genuine or not, who knows.Meeting this man was confirming something I already knew: as a North American in Argentina, there are going to be people who do not like me. The chori vendor was not an aberration, he represent a feeling held by many here in Argentina. There’s graffiti around the city that reads: “yanquis afuera del sudamérica” (Yankees out of South America). All I can do during my stay here is try to be the most respectful visitor I can and try to promote a good image of the “yanquis.”

I know I talk about chori a lot, but it’s really just that delicious.