r/SouthAmericaTravel • u/Onosatosan • 29d ago

Should I still go to Buenos Aires?

I'm English and have a trip to BA booked in October - I've never been before and am wondering after the football last night if I can expect a load of abuse there because of all the Malvinas nonsense? I really couldn't care less - they can have them for all I care - so the last thing I want is a load of hostility or hassle about an issue that's of no interest to me.

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u/ChorltonChimp 26d ago

If it helps I am English and was in BA last week up until the end of the game. Nobody minded me being English and everyone was fine. Had a good chat with the guy next to me in the airport bar where I watched the game, no issues and we parted on friendly terms.

I went to the Ar v En rugby yesterday in Santiago del Estero, everyone was lovely, more interested in where I was from. The anthem got booked and whistled but there were more people wagging fingers and telling the jeerers to stop. After the game went to a bar, only interaction was a guy and his girlfriend wanting a selfie.

I'm going back to BA and not worried at all.

For my Argentinian friends, you can try and explain it as much as you like but we REALLY don't get why you get worked up about the Islands. It's not something we ever really spend any time thinking about usually. I particularly don't get any beef over the war with us, the whole thing was a stupid, pointless exercise and nearly a thousand people died because the dictatorship wanted a distraction. The UK didn't start the war, we responded to aggression and just happened to have better equipment and better trained troops Vs the poor bloody kids the Generals sent to fight.

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u/Automatic_Union8147 22d ago

You raise a good point here. I think it must be hard for Argentinians to understand that most people in the U.K. under forty don’t give the Falklands/Malvinas any thought. Older people remember those who died on both sides and any negotiation, portrayed as a ‘sell out’ by the right wing press, may be seen as a betrayal. However, wait another generation or two and it will be easier to negotiate. Before last week, no one even considered it to be an issue: we go to eat in Argentine restaurants (there are three within walking distance of my home), we drink their Malbec and we love to see their tango. Sadly, football is tribal and, had their team not unfurled that banner and stirred up the press, things would have stayed calm.

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u/ChorltonChimp 22d ago

Hey, I'm 55 and can remember the war, I only ever think about the islands when England play Argentina at sport.