This past weekend, the 2008 FIT America Latina was held in La Rural, a very large exposition hall in Palermo. FIT is the largest travel show in South America and attracts upwards of 10,000 attendees from around the world. My friend Gabi, who works for the government of Buenos Aires, was able to get us free professional passes. There were hundreds of trade show booths with representatives passing out literature but the only booths that were getting any serious attention were the ones giving things away for free.
The booth from Cuba was handing out free mojitos (a traditional Cuban drink) and of course I got in line and fought with the others to get to the front. At that point, Gabi told me I needed to call my parents and tell them they must have taken the wrong baby home from the hospital - because I was definitely Argentinean. He said this because it is very Argentine to get in line if something free is being given out. And he was right. Unfortunately, by the time we got our mojitos, they had run out of tonic water and all that was in the cup was hard alcohol, mint leaves and sugar, so I gave mine to Gabi (see photo above).
Later in the day, I got my picture (not included here) with two Argentine women who were very scantilly dressed. It's very common at trade shows in Buenos Aires for booths to hire Argentine models to bring in booth traffic. Well these two women looked more like cheap prostitutes than models and Gabi made a joke that "our women here are so talented. Not only are they beautiful, but they speak four languages and have numerous university degrees." This was a very sarcastic joke about how trashy/low class they were....it was hilarious and I laughed all during the afternoon about this, but I think you had to have been there to appreciate the humor.
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