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Survival Guide to Buenos Aires Argentina
Buenos Aires Survival Guide - Lesson one Buenos Aires is anything but predictable. To get the best from your vacation you must be prepared. You can play it safe or play Porteño rules to master Buenos Aires and its culture. Our Buenos Aires Survival Guide gets you off the ropes and into the centre of Buenos Aires' cultural ring and our handful of survival techniques helps you 'fancy-up-that-foot-work.' The Porteño secret weapon called "chamuyo", pronounced cha-moo-show, and is finely honed sweet-talk - resistance is futile. Your ear and sensory being must attune quickly. However, head our warning, the most important of our Buenos Aires survival technique is the mastering and defence of chamuyo, which is very much the Porteño way of life, communication, and most certainly business. It is a slick mix of smooth talking, exaggeration, persuasion and unrelenting confidence (mind you, such confidence can often be faked). It is how a Porteño might successfully convince you to part with your cash or travel to Avenida X just four blocks down the street when their nightspot is a marathon away. Unfortunately, there is no textbook or 'Chamuyo For Dummies' but here are some hints to start thinking like a Porteño. To learn the chamuyo technique one must listen very carefully and watch the experts (i.e. everyone in Buenos Aires). When asking a question, you might sense that a Porteño is about to stay, "I don't know." If this instinct strikes, then chamuyo will ensue. It is very rare that locals will admit that they do not know the answer to any question so here is your opportunity to listen and learn - when getting 'bum' information and meeting your 'Svengali' later, expect an elaborate excuse to add to your confusion. If you are pressured to buy something with much insisting going on- it is chamuyo. It could be that look in their eye, the crook in their sexy smile or their infectious comedy. Sometime they might get very serious- this is very dangerous. The serious chamuyo often has ridiculous reasoning you will never disprove. Do not even waste your time trying to convince a Porteño they are wrong or seeking an apology, turn those tables, chamuyo-back and you might just get somewhere. So, take these few hints, and when in doubt, and if you feel you are being 'chamuyo-ed' it is all right to say, "Bueno, que chamuyero que sos vos!" Pronounced, buay-no, kay cha-moo-sher-oh kay sew-s vos, and meaning, "My, what a smooth-talker you are!" It is important to add that most Porteños are generally warm and loving people who mean no harm by their chamuyo and they are socialised with 'old-world' charm and good manners that welcome our appreciation of them and their culture. We might add that Buenos Aires is no different from any other capital city in the world and we just hope that the Porteños we love to satire much do not change, too much! Along with your mastering chamuyo, foreigners might add a number of essentials to their armoury to complete their survival kit by carefully follow our next lessons over the coming weeks: " The Guia-T city guide
" Che Boludo vocabulary book
" Low denomination peso coins and notes
" Alpargatas
" Argentimes newspaper. Buenos Aires Survival Guide - Lesson one
By Buenos Aires Stay
Buenos Aires' definitive guide to the best of Buenos Aires -Apartments, Hotels, Travel & Tours
Copyright: Mainline Security Ltd 2008
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May, 2012
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