My Fellow Americans
ARGENTINA | Sunday, 6 April 2008 | Views [295] | Comments [2]
We're little over two months into our six month trip, and there have been some classic, cringe-worthy moments from our fellow Americans on travel. Americans are stereotyped as loud, brash, annoying, and with good reason. We speak English and think everyone else does/should too. We are used to basic customer service and expect to find it in Latin America. We think the dollar should be able to buy you anything at any time and any place. Here are just a few of our favorites thus far:
In San Telmo market in BA, a gentleman approaches a fresh-squeezed orange juice vendor, who sells ONLY orange juice. Gentleman (loudly): Is that orange juice? The vendor looks at him, not understanding English. Gentleman (more loudly): Is that orange juice? I want one orange juice. One! One orange juice! (I had to slink away before the transaction did or did not occur.)
In Iguazu Falls, a middle-aged couple is sitting in a cafe at the airport. He is trying to pay his cafe bill in a combination of AR pesos, which he does not have enough of, Paraguayan pesos, and USD. She is writing either a letter or postcard and distracting her husband with questions like "Where are we now?" and "Where is our plane flying to?". Her husband answers loudly and annoyed, "We are in Iguazu Falls and we are flying to BONUS ARES!". She timidly asks, "And what country is that in?"
In Colonia, two gentleman travellers sit at the table next to us at a busy lunch cafe. One gentleman orders a hamburger, but he doesn't want mayonnaise, so he has to say three times to the waiter, "No mayonnaise, I dont want mayonnaise." Mayonnaise is one of the easiest words to pronouce off of the menu in Spanish, it's simply mayonesa. The poor guy never made his point, and I think his burger came with the stuff. The two gentlemen also couldn't figure out how to pay their bill, which was divided into one slip for the drinks and one slip for the food. They were under the impression that the slips were divided per individual, and hence began to argue that the prices were incorrect. Ben politely explained the situation to them before they confused the poor waiter again.
At customs at the port in Colonia, a woman is having a sheer meltdown in the middle of the immigration line because she can't find the slip of paper we all had to sign before exiting Argentina and Uruguay. The slip should be surrendered at the border, but this crossing is one of the easiest and least bureaucratic of all the border crossings. None of the immigrations officials seemed to care, but she proceeded to yell at her husband that she had misplaced her form and would never get out of the country. I wouldn't be surprised if he left her there.
In Calafate, an couple in their late sixties were on our ice trek. As with most tours, a lot of time is spent waiting around for guides or boats or buses. At the very end of the trek, we were taken to the viewing decks for the Perito Moreno glacier, and there was a cafe nearby. The woman purchased a coffee, but as the bus was leaving, she had to bring her coffee on board. The guide politely told her to be careful with the hot coffee on the bumpy roads, and she launched into the following tirade, "Look, you dump us off on an island with no coffee and leave us there in the cold for hours and then now you only give us 5 minutes to buy coffee and no time to drink it!" Ben and I saw said woman later in town at dinner, where she had to move tables because the music was too loud for her and then scowled through the entire whole dinner.
I don't mean to judge too harshly; travelling in a foreign country and trying to communicate in a foreign languge IS tough. Ben and I frequently have no idea what is going on, where we are, or what people are saying to us. I suppose it's just another part of travelling: learning from others what NOT to do and how NOT to behave.
More gems to follow I'm sure.
Tags: culture
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