Majority of this site is going to be posts and pictures of travel, but from time-to-time I will give a little insight on things I take mental note of or things that intrigue me and will hopefully do the same for you. This is one of those posts.
Last weekend was an insane party weekend. It was also a nice chance for me to unwind as work at the ole headquarters has been somewhat insane lately. Working on a really awesome project though with a few peoples from back home and will surely post about it when it launches as it’s one of the largest sites I’ve ever built out.
Amidst pinting and taking in the scenery (see the previous post), I’ve been slowly adjusting to the Argie lifestyle. There are definitely some things that take a while to get used to and that take a toll on you. You eat loads of steak and you do so really late. Typical time for family dinner is 10pm or later. “Previa” is pre-drinks that you have at ones house/apartment and that usually doesn’t start til midnight, which means heading out to hit the clubs/pubs doesn’t happen til 2am or later. By the time you make your way out of the bar, the sun is usually coming up.
Being such a passionate nation, perhaps one of the most refreshing things I’ve discovered about living here is the total lack of hostility. For such a large population and a city that loves to party as much as this place, I’ve yet to see one single fight or even an altercation. Not a hint of it, actually. The police here are ridiculously friendly and laid back. In Mar Del Plata teens were leaning on their cars and hanging out and it wasn’t a big deal. I guess they figure that no ones causing any real harm or damage, so why bother making a fuss about it or using their authority for something so meaningless?
I just think of walking down Granville Street. You always see some sort of altercation going down, there’s usually a sense of hostility and the cops, as we know in Vancouver, just love to be hard-nosed cops. Pricks basically. They parade through the streets with the bravado of a bully and when they do their little bar cruises…forget about it.
Before I took off we went for drinks at The Charles Bar (thanks again Hanner). It was awesome. I guess at some point there were some peoples there that the cops deemed bad guys so they came in to check it out. Fair enough. When they stood against the wall for hours on end with the “Rambo” look in their eyes it became a bit much. What got me the most, however, was when they did their little parade through the bar. There were 3 adorable waitresses coming out of the kitchen to serve food and happened to be coming down the aisle the po-po were marching down. Instead of the police men stepping back and saying “Sorry ladies. After you.”, they simply charged ahead, forcing the three girls backwards in a traffic jam all the while looking at the girls like they were idiots for not moving out of the way. I respect people who protect us, I do. But respect is a two-way street.
I’m definitely not knocking Vancouver or Canada at all; I love the country and have phenomenal friends there and will always consider it home. I’m not knocking all cops either. I know some great ones. I just hate hostility of any sort and I think it’s one of the coolest things about living here. I came to realize that perhaps the reason there is no hostility in this place is because they give everyone freedom.
We were enjoying some frosty tacklers on Monday night in Mar Del Plata and it was 3am or so. 60-80 year olds were enjoying drinks, while their grandkids sat and ate ice cream. Baby boomers were out and about and young folks like myself were partying. Everyone meshed together. On the street down below, tons of teenagers wandered in and out of the various restaurants and ice cream shops and the cops sat on the corner talking to people and greeting them as they walked by.
Just a few short years ago, I was a teen. It’s called science. There was no legal way to be a teenager. Nothing was open for you past 10pm, so sneaking beers from your parents, going to hang out in parks and running from the cops after causing a little mischief was what you did. After seeing the lifestyle here I just wonder how things may be different if, at such crucial stage of ones life, we were given a little more freedom or had things that were open to us and we weren’t deemed “terrible teens” or “little punks” by everyone. I also wonder if our police showed a little more respect towards us if they’d notice a ton of respect back and maybe be a wee bit happier in their day-to-day jobs.
That’s all I got. Much love.