Argentina's just different

I will try to make this post not too long and rambling, but it may prove to be difficult. There are just so many things that are different here, I don’t know where to start or where to end, but I’ll give it a try. Maybe this will be an ongoing series. Perhaps it would be best to just try a list format.
With that in mind:

#1 Dogs and cats are prevalent in the streets. More dogs than cats, I would say. The biggest cause of this overpopulation of the local canines is an acute lack of Bob Barker mentality. I have yet to come across a single neutered pet since I’ve been in the country. In addition, most dog owners, for whatever reason, unleash their four legged friends upon the world in the morning or late afternoon, so that the streets are filled with teaming packs of both domesticated and stray dogs. This, of course, leads to further propagation of the species.

#2 Traffic lights or lack thereof. Only in the busiest of intersections do traffic lights exist. In all of the suburban streets there is usually not so much as a stop sign to control the flow of traffic. Instead, drivers use a set of incredibly efficient rules to govern how they drive: when approaching an intersection, you slow down, and if the car drawing near to the intersection from the opposing street is going faster, you let him go by. If you don’t see anyone coming at all, you give a light tap on your horn (if you’re lucky enough to have one) to warn the unseen drivers, slam on the gas, and hope for the best! I swear they have it down to a science! Or maybe not so much, since I do see an unprecedented number of accidents, leftovers from accidents, and close calls on a weekly basis.
Also something weird that I’ve seen here is that traffic lights in Buenos Aires not only cycle Green-Yellow-Red, but also Red-Yellow-Green. It’s bizarre. I have a video.

#3 All of the sidewalks in Mendoza, both downtown and out where I live, are not cement, but rather tile. This city is full of millions upon millions of tiles which make up the walkways. It seems as though every household must be responsible for its own sidewalk as well, because in front of every house there is a different kind of tile. It’s really lovely, I suppose, but it takes some getting used to. Lots of the tiles are broken, or missing, which can make traversing the footways difficult sometimes. Also, this city was just not planned out for rain; so on the few occasions when it has really poured here, I’ve found that the tiles become my biggest enemy. When wet they are extremely slick, and I’ve succumbed a time or two to their treacherous ways and have slipped and fallen.
But overall this is a positive difference between here and the US. At the very least it’s fun to look at the tiles and see the many variations every couple of yards.

#4 I really should have learned how to drive stick at some point. 95% of the cars here have manual transmissions, which has been really inconvenient for me. Not that I have needed to drive at all, but it’s nice to know that if I had to, I would be able to. And on trips to other parts of the country, the idea of renting a car has come up a time or two, but we usually lack a driver who can handle stick. I’ve thought of learning while here, but no one really has the time to teach me. Before I go to Spain, somebody back home better teach me (Kristin, Mom, Dad)!

#5 Strikes. Strikes are a way of life here. Strikes and protests. Every week there is some sort of a strike going on, which interrupts the flow of things and makes living in this city inconvenient. For instance, it seemed like every few days for three weeks the trolleys would go on strike. The trolley is one of the main ways to get around this city, so it becomes very annoying when the drivers go on strike. They literally finish their route at some predetermined time, and wherever they are they dump their passengers and then they all meet in one of the plazas to protest their wages or something. Well, I’m all for unions and workers’ rights and all, but as some of my good friends have pointed out, the strikes here are extremely inefficient. For instance, half of the trolley drivers will strike, shutting down one or two routes, while the other half keeps up the other routes. And they do it on a schedule, and everyone knows it’s going to happen. It would make so much more sense if they all dropped what they were doing and strike together, instead of a few drivers on a given day. I never thought I’d say this, but when SEPTA does it, they do it right.

#6 Little things. Little things are what I notice the most, and I usually forget about them. In the future I will try to keep adding in these little details to keep you all enticed. Here are some: there are never any planes flying overhead in the sky. Because of the tiled walkways, coins make a different sound when they fall out of your pocket. Most bottled sodas and beers come in a glass bottle with a cap that requires a bottle opener. Wine is such a big part of the culture that even the composition of the litter in the streets is different: it is full of wine bottles and corks. No one owns outdoor trash cans: outside they have baskets on posts and hooks on polls from which they hang their garbage to be picked up. No one has printers or scanners in their homes: they must go to a store to print things out. My friend pointed out that even the murmurs and the voices of crowds are different here: there is a distinct rhythm to the aggregate voices because of the Spanish.

There are tons of other differences, good and bad! But I'm sure you're tired of reading about them for now, so I'll wait till my next publication.

Coming up, a focus on food!