What you should really know when traveling...

Many people would argue with me in the statements I am about to make, but they are facts that one may want to consider before traveling to Buenos Aires, and should think about before traveling anywhere else in the world.

Buenos Aires is not this party hard, no cares in the world type of town. It is a town plagued with a bad economy on top of sad social implications. To start with, as an American, you cannot refer to yourself as American. The people here get touchy about that, because they view themselves as American as well. People view people from the United States as rich, and they attempt to rip you off on every corner. I bought 40 pesos for my phone on my credit card. They ended up charging me 40 USD and ran it through 3 times. When here, you are bound to come in contact with cab drivers who will rip you off by not turning on the clock because they know you are from the United States. The economy is so bad, people see this as justified.

There are families living on the street on each corner. It is impossible to walk anywhere without being asked for money at least once. There is a family that lives 2 blocks from my house. Every morning they are there, the mother cuddling with her children in hopes that they will not freeze that night. I stop and give them 2 pesos every day, but people pass by them as if they are not people. They are looked at as vermen, and that is exactly how the Argetnine government treats them. Unlike the shelters and places to recieve help in the United States, the people here have very little resources to keep themselves off of the streets, and the fact that the government looks the other way at the large populations of homeless people speaks even less for the Argentine government. Hopefully June 28th, will bring some hope to a country in extreme turmiol.