"Bad Times in Buenos Aires"

Some Cafe/Street Culture

In the book “Bad Times in Buenos Aires”, the author, Miranda France, details her experiences in Buenos Aires with humor and sarcasm. As I read France’s novel, I found myself relating to nearly all of her embarrassing encounters in the city. Don’t get me wrong…I have been seduced by the culture of Buenos Aires and I am absolutely loving my time abroad. Still, I can relate to France’s endless “bad times” because the encounters that she considers “bad times” are to me, the unique aspects of the culture that have made Buenos Aires so appealing to me.

When I began reading “Bad Times in Buenos Aires” it was clear that France’s travel documentation was shaped by a pessimistic attitude. Regardless, her humor allowed me to smile and laugh at her negative encounters. As a result, rather than entirely despise the city for its setbacks, as a reader I only loved it that much more. Likewise, if I had high expectations for Buenos Aires upon arrival, even after unfortunate things have happened to me, I have still maintained a positive perception of the city.

Since arriving in Buenos Aires, I have stepped in dog crap and been shat on by a bird within a five minute time span. I have been physically groped by the ridiculously aggressive Argentine (young & old) men at bars, and I have had people attempt to pickpocket me. I know NYU kids that have withdrawn money from ATM machines and received fake bills, and currently, there are rumors that a girl from our program was knifed (!) and mugged the other day. Somehow all of this (aside from the possibility of the girl being knifed/mugged), is slightly humorous to me. When my friends at home ask me how I am liking Buenos Aires, I am quick to respond “I LOVE IT!”… and then I usually proceed to tell them about the above mishaps that I have encountered. I am not sure why these are the times I seem to reminisce from my travels. Perhaps this speaks to the idea of traveling as “an experience”. Personally, I am not fooled by travel brochures and advertisements—I do not believe there is any real paradise of a destination. When I travel, I expect to encounter many obstacles and hard times. Ironically, these may be my favorite moments of traveling because they are unique and unforgettable. To me, these interesting surprises are what make being in a foreign place, and being immersed in a foreign culture, so enjoyable.

France describes Buenos Aires as “a city that seemed fascinated by the possibility of its own collapse”. She continues to discuss how the city’s newspapers are incredibly pessimistic, claiming ‘We are in Crisis!’, and each morning proclaiming a new catastrophe. I find this incredibly accurate about Buenos Aires…in my journalism class here, we read the Argentine newspapers and the headlines are constantly referring to crisis and catastrophe—I have read articles about everything from (of course) “THE crisis”, to extreme coin shortages in the city, to the new infiltration of hair insects.

Some other things that France comments on in the novel that I have found true are that the drivers are crazy, and sleeping is often impossible because there is no air conditioning (and the power often goes off so the fan stops working). France constantly discusses little details about the culture of Buenos Aires that I have noticed. When reading the novel, I would smile when France mentioned certain details—the BA café culture, the popular Argentine barbeques called asados, the riots in the city, the Portenos’ (native Buenos Aires inhabitants) addiction to psychoanalysis, how the clothing stores in the city only carry extremely small sizes, and the abundance of coca-cola, meat, and pastries. Although these slight details may seem mundane, all together, they are what make Buenos Aires a distinctive and special place to me.