The Land of Passion, Love, and Sex

 Now that I have felt the flames of Argentinian passion, I don’t think I will ever be able to return to my old lifestyle; it’s as if the long-dormant fireworks of my heart and spirit have suddenly exploded before me in a shower of color (yes, I know that sounds cheesy but hear me out). Let me put this in a metaphor for you guys: Argentinians treat life as if it’s the finest, rarest, aged cognac that needs to be appreciated and enjoyed whereas Americans treat life as if it’s a warm, stale beer that has been sitting out overnight but might be worth choking down if you can manage it. Simply put, Americans don’t really know how to enjoy life – we live life, but as a people we generally don’t get as much excitement and enjoyment every day.

People in Argentina live for their passions and eagerly follow their hearts. Each moment of each day is to be cherished and enjoyed – whether you’re cooking for your family, walking home after work, listening to music, or dancing in the streets. Here, there’s no excuse to not be happy; if you want something, you go out and get it instead of sitting on your ass wishing that it would come to you like people in America. Work is secondary (unless of course your job is one of your passions) and family, friends, and fun always come first. The Argentinian youth especially embrace the “carpe diem” attitude and live almost solely for the moment. It’s definitely a refreshing change from America.

Also, I have to say… I like the staring and cat-calling, though at first it was a little unnerving and awkward. Even though all women in Argentina, local and tourist, outwardly ignore male attention, we all love it deep down inside. Here, all women can’t help but feel beautiful, appreciated, and feminine. Men, here’s a lesson for you:  when a woman denies the need for occasional reassurance and compliments… that’s a bunch of bullshit. Women want to feel beautiful but it’s almost impossible in the US; for some strange reason we have created a culture where it’s ok to ogle at models and stars but impolite to ogle at regular people. The only thing this accomplishes is making beauty seemingly unattainable for “normal” American women.  This is NOT ok. Beauty is not an enigma here, beauty is not something to seek or try to obtain… instead beauty is in everything and everyone. Beauty is not makeup and beautiful clothes and diets.  Enough about that, you guys get the point.

People fall in and out of love faster than the weather changes here. One minute, a couple will be passionately embracing on a park bench and in the next, the woman could be accusing her boyfriend of infidelity while he tries to soothe his angry female. Today, someone can be in love with the cutest purse they’ve ever seen in their life, and tomorrow they’ll call it shit that a sewing machine spat out. The fickleness and drama of Mendocinos almost makes me feel as if I’m living in a one big soap opera. Either emotions are heightened and more powerful here, or Americans try to stifle emotions as much as possible. Probably a little bit of both.  

Also, in Mendoza everything is either described in one of two ways.  The phrase“¡Qué lindo!” can mean anything from precious to cute to adorable to beautiful to trendy. This is a blanket statement means Mendocinos absolutely love whatever it is they are talking about.  The same goes for the blanket statement “¡Qué horrible!” which could signify disgust, hatred, surprise, dislike, or any other such emotion. In Mendoza, it seems like EVERYTHING is either lindo or horrible. It’s impossible for my mendocina mom to see an object or action without categorizing it in one of the above two ways.     

I learned what a letoh is today. Argentinians have a strange habbit of reversing the spelling of words to give them a different meaning. For example, letoh is hotel backwards; whereas a hotel is place to sleep for the night, a letoh is a building that looks like a hotel that you can rent a room by the hour to have sex. It sounds odd, I know, but it’s actually very practical.  Most of the Argentinian youth live with their families until they are in their mid to late twenties and normally don’t move out until they graduate from college and start their first job. Obviously the country isn’t filled with millions of 20-28 year old virgins, and it’s awkward to have sex in your parents' house so the letos were created for the youth of Argentina. Weird, huh?