Latin Men

Latin men, like Italian men, are usually depicted as wildly romantic tall, dark and handsome types. When I studied abroad in Florence I couldn’t wait to get away from the greasy and skinny Italian men. For the majority, they were not cute at all and instead of being suave they were creepy and would either yell at you, stalk you for a couple blocks or grab you if you resembled a female. I made the same kind of discoveries with Latin men.

I have been out with my friends from the school a few times to go to the boliches or just out on the town. I’ve seen and met several locals. On the whole Latin men here in Montevideo are better looking than the men in Italy. They aren’t all dark, tall and handsome though. A lot of them look so American or European that I’m tempted to talk to them in English. *Note the picture of one of the bolder locals*

I’m not interested in meeting a guy in a different country. I’ve only really talked to one guy, Alan, who works at a pharmacy in Pocitos. He’s nice and knows a little English. We just text every now and then half in Spanish and half in English every now and then, but I’m not planning on meeting up with him before I leave. He looks incredibly American in the first place.

If any girls do come here looking for a Latin Lover, Buenos Aires has the more aggressive men. Montevideo is a great deal more conservative than its neighbor and the guys here a lot more timid. It’s a huge deal for them to walk up to you. They usually try talking to you if you are walking past by pulling you away from the group you’re with. I’ve only had a couple guys come up to me and ask me for a drink. It simply isn’t done in Montevideo very often. However, in Buenos Aires there is a huge European influence that continues in the men. They act very Italian and will come up to you and grab you. So if you want a Latin Lover, head to Buenos Aires.

Enough of Latin men. Yesterday morning I walked to Ciudad Vieja to buy the rest of the souvenirs I needed. It was a nice, long walk there, but on the way back it started pouring rain. By the time I got home I was completely soaked. It was great. Then I went to work for the first time this week. Florencia randomly told me that I had an interview at the Spanish school at 6:30, when I usually get off work. Fernando (the Adelante director here) works doing PR kind of stuff where I work and picked me up at 6:30. He explained to me something completely different than what happened.

He interview was random and happened much later than they said (of course.) Kendall was at work, but they wanted Ryan, Jasmine and I to sit down with all the people from my work (they publish several prestigious magazines here) for an article. Miguel, my 70-year-old creepy boss, walked into Jo’s room where Jasmine was straightening her hair twice to get her to come down. Old men are so creepy here. Rodrigo, a local who’s about my age, had a friend over that kept stalking me around the school. It was such a hilarious experience. Eventually they got us all in a room and Florencia asked us questions about why we came here, what we thought of the people, etc. Then they took pictures of us (I looked like a drowned rat from walking in the rain earlier, mind you) and the interview was over. It was so strange.

Yesterday was so random. After walking around in the rain, having a random interview at the school and whatever else, Jasmine had randomly texted me that I was going to go with her and Stephen to dinner at the one Mexican restaurant in Montevideo. So we randomly went to the restaurant at 9 and Kendall and Ryan met us later. Stephen covered Jasmine and I. He wants to take me to the piano bar at the Radisson, the best hotel here, sometime. He’s an older businessman from Australia and is here investing in hotels and businesses here. While we were at the restaurant he wanted to talk business with me. He is currently looking into investing in El Corte, the restaurant where Bush ate when he visited. He told me that he wants me to go home to school and then come back to Montevideo over the Christmas break with marketing ideas for a restaurant to implement. He is so random. He told me he would pay me to come back, pay for housing, etc. Australians are ambitious and crazy.

Today we have an appointment at the American embassy at 2:30. There is an international ballet gala at Teatro Solis and I tried to get tickets yesterday, but they were out of tickets. There is another performance the last night I am here by a modern youth dance company from the Netherlands so hopefully I can go then. Jasmine leaves Tuesday so I may go with her one last time to the tango thing tonight.

Tomorrow morning Jasmine, Ryan, Kendall and I are leaving on a bus at 7 a.m. for Buenos Aires. I am sooo excited to see it! I have been reading a Lonely Planet book about everything there is to see. It is supposed to be very European, which is wonderful for me. I miss Europe more than I had thought. Apparently this weekend is the celebration of a famous tango singer in Buenos Aires so the city is supposed to be full of tango celebrations and pilgrimages to his grave. I will also be able to see Evita Peron’s grave, which is very controversial. I will give more information after I have seen it!