Job Discussion Forums

snielz · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 165 Location: Buenos Aires

Amy and Weona,
Good to know. Not that I am drawing up a list of piropos to use once I get down to BsAs, it was just interesting to hear. I am way too self-conscious to let out some kind of catcall to a woman I don't even know... It is all I can do to introduce myself without rambling on embarrassingly about something that is not remotely interesting (like now)

carlos-england · Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 2:33 pm Post subject:

snielz · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 165 Location: Buenos Aires

Ooh, Carlos...
You play too fair to ever win at love (just bustin' your chops). I am almost on your side now, it seems you have got it so bad for this mystery lady. I think I will go there and tell her about you (unless of course she is as gorgeous as you say, in which case I'll probably end up asking her to help me with my Castellano in exchange for a nice dinner and some wine...) Anyways, you mentioned she was "small". Does this mean she was short, skinny, or both?

In general, are Argentine girls relatively tall? I would think with all of the European immigrants (especially the germans) they would be about as tall as girls in the US. I am pretty tall so I like it if a girl is around 5'8" or taller. It just makes so many things easier.

carlos-england · Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 8:54 am Post subject:

Sneilz

Well there are enough fit women to go round...
so I wouldn't be too heartbroken if you got it on
with the waiteress (I don't even know her name...)
but she is really gorgeous and if she is still working
there, a good enough reason to spend your time in
the galerias pacifico...

The fit waiteress was about 5ft 3ins tall and she was
curvy and slim but she had a beautiful face with black
hair in a ponytail... I saw her and I was like 'wow'

Also there is a communal dining hall with differernt
restraunts that serve food from all over the world...
the Italian food stall there serves the best Italian food
I have ever tasted.

Well as for height, there are quite a lot of girisl in the
5ft 6ins- 5ft 9ins range, my last lady was around 5ft 7ins
tall, but they tend to be thin... there are not many girls
in Argentina that are fat...

gringomaz · Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 5 Location: mexico

I�m a gringo,formerly married to a Mx woman,had lotsa mx girlfriends b4 and since.It depends on what your idea of "romantic" is....if you have no interest in faithfulness,honesty(especially these)but including staying free of STD�s,et cetera,then by all means have a good time in Mexico!!Be apprised as well that some STD�s can be passed by kissing.......

ladygringa · Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 14

Relationships in Latin America? Do I have a lot to say about this! I found after living in Quito for 3 months that the biggest cultural difference between N and S Americans is most likely the way we view relationships. Both friendships and romantic. But sticking only to the romantic stuff I will say the following....

THE HISSING. Everyday, 10-15 times a day. In the beginning I would come home from school extremely pissed. When I voiced my disgust with my host mom, she just laughed and did an impression of the men. I don't think she understood my feelings. I swore that if I were in a bad mood one day, some innocent ecuadorian was gonna get cussed out or spit at for "complementing" me (especially the old ones). As time went on, I realized that they are taught to behave like this from an early age. But what's scarey is that even later on, I got used to the attention and actually began to take it as a compliment. I felt a little pressure to look nice when I went out of the house because if no one hissed at me I felt like there was something wrong with me. Being back in the states, and looking at my experiences in hindsight puts things in perspective. But I couldn't imagine being raised in that society where I couldn't even comprehend (like my host mom) how destructive it is to girls' self images. And the really sick part about it all was when I saw a hot guy I couldn't say, "ay! que guapo, papichulo! mi amor, mi esposo!"

ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS? my Ecuadorian boyfriend was very affectionate, flattering, sexy, romantic. It can easily cast a spell on anyone with heart. We emailed for a year after that as friends. Both of us had moved on to new relationships. But one day on the phone he told me that he wanted to be with me when I came back to the country. However, his most recent girlfriend would also be visiting for a while, and that he would need to "be with both of us" for a while until he got around to breaking up with her! I never spoke to him again.

MY ADVISE: Don't compromise your values. Don't think that because you are in their country you have to play by their rules with regards to relationships. You are who you are. And if that's a New England Puritan, so be it (I myself am an 'Amish' Ohioian). If they wanna have sex and you don't, be blunt! Be a bitch.

If you do chose to have sex, be extremely careful of STD's as I hear they are quite common in L.A.

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

Maybe I'm just a hooker with a heart of gold, but I feel like I would be really flattered if stangers let me know they thought I was good-looking (with piropos, hissing, or what-have-you). Laughing

P.S. Are STDs really common in Latin America? Any websites and/or statistics?

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Any online newspaper will give you articles on that topic.

They are very common. Machismo refusal to use condoms has a lot to do with it. Poor quality condoms, too. And then there are folks who don't have money to buy them....

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Along with the points moonraven raised, I think part of it is also a not uncommon belief among many Latin Americans that fate and destiny rule the future. Many locals that I know seem to live for today and not worry too much about tomorrow or how what they do today might affect their future lives. If there's an open well, don't take the time and effort to cover it until after someone has fallen into it. If there's a dangerous intersection, don't do anything to make it safer until after a few people have been seriously injured or killed there. Until something happens, the danger is only potential and not real. No reason to take precautions (waste time, money, and effort,) because fate and destiny determine what will or won't happen. One person can have unprotected sex with 20 different people and not get a STD. Another person can have unprotected sex once and get HIV. It's destiny. Besides, fate might decide that both of them will step in front of a fast-moving bus the next day.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

It only gets serious when that bus does not arrive....

2 over lee · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:00 am Post subject:

Your bus seems to be late, I wish you no harm only transport to shores worthy of your righteousness. Congratulations on a good topic OP.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Thanks for the humorless insults.

Where do they find you people?

2 over lee · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:06 pm Post subject:

I enjoy the humourless greatly, they are invariably some of the most funny people you meet.

Cheers Moonraven, an amused admirer.

MELEE · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 3:33 pm Post subject:

I've been mostly away from Dave's this past year, but I had to check out a thread that has gone on TEN pages!!

I must say I'd forgotten about the hissing in Ecuador, I quess its true that you only remember the good things.
On the other hand way back when I was a student in Santiago, Chile, there was this guy who asked me out and was really persistant that he wanted to go out with me. I told him I was busy on Friday, but I could on Saturday. He said he couldn't go out on Saturdays because that was the day he saw his novia. I told him to forget it.
When I was in Chile, I thought all the kissing hello and goodbye was a pain, females kissed each other on both checks and men and women kissed on one check and men hugged each other. If someone was leaving a party of 30 people or so, everything stopped while they did the round to say goodbye to everyone else. I missed just holding up a hand, shouting bye and wizzing out the door. But then when I got back to the US, I felt like I really should hug and kiss my close friends. It seemed so cold not to, especially since I was really sincerely happy to see these people. But I do think kissing every aquaintance a little extreme (it feels false to me).

I want to point out that all of Latin American is not the same. I live in a rural largely indigenous part of Mexico. Many locals have said to my husband that he likes American women because they are more affectionate than Mexican women! Well, more affectionate than Mixteca women yes. Here in my city you see teenagers hugging and kissing on the streets or in the discos, but not anyone over 25 or so.

The thing that gets me is how many people (both male and female) classify me as "bonita" when I'm not so in any conventional way. I don't like it that white means beautiful, and I'd never be considered blonde in the US or any European country, but that's what I am here. And my daughters (of course they truely are beautiful!) came out as white as me, so I worry about how this will affect them.