3341  Beautiful Buenos Aires

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 15:26:01 -0500
From: Lois Donnay <donnay@DONNAY.NET>
Subject: Beautiful Buenos Aires

I am back from Buenos Aires, and this one was the best trip ever. I had the
best time, the most dances, and I learned so much about this music and the
dance it hardly seems possible. For instance - another myth busted: Even
though I sat at a table with my male friend, looking very much like a
couple, I got dances with other men with no trouble.

One thing that I saw and heard concerns me. I know that manners are
important to the Argentines. I also know that Argentines are the nicest,
friendliest and most forgiving people, so a little effort on a traveler's
part goes a long way. My group and I always make a special effort to engage
locals in conversation, and are rewarded with a much better understanding of
the people and a greater appreciation of their culture and intelligence. But
I see so many others treating locals as if they don't exist. They walk into
stores and start touching everything, without acknowledging the owner. They
don't say hello to the taxi driver. They treat waiters like servants, and
don't say thank you or smile. They wear hats in milongas and put their shoes
on the table. Now I know some of this is because of cultural differences -
some people treat everyone this way, not just Porteno's - but I wonder how
long the Argentines will be forgiving.

Lois Donnay
Minneapolis, MN USA

Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 23:45:34 GMT
From: "dubrovay@juno.com" <dubrovay@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Fw: [TANGO-L] Beautiful Buenos Aires

I am writing this E-Mail from Argentina, I saw this kind of behavior and it surprised me, it shows that after 9/11 the good manners of the turist disapeared, I even saw young ladies in the milonga (PorteC1o y bailarC-n) dancing barefoot and bumping into the dancers aroun them,

Please Show a little more respect when you are visiting other coutries.


Elemer in Redmond, now in Argentina.


Lois Donnay wrote:

I see so many others treating locals as if they don't exist. They walk into
stores and start touching everything, without acknowledging the owner. They
don't say hello to the taxi driver. They treat waiters like servants, and
don't say thank you or smile. They wear hats in milongas and put their shoes
on the table. Now I know some of this is because of cultural differences -
some people treat everyone this way, not just Porteno's - but I wonder how
long the Argentines will be forgiving.

Lois Donnay
Minneapolis, MN USA