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Part 2: Where to Go Out to Meet Porteñas (Bars and Boliches)

Bars are bars (no surprise here), and there are TONS in Buenos Aires. I suggest checking out all my favorite bars which I’ve previously written about (read My Favorite Buenos Aires Bars - to your right - for info tidbits on each one). It’s worth noting that while Shamrock (Irish pub-type bar in Barrio Norte) definitely makes a solid option for meeting other foreigners, it also draws Porteños and Porteñas who know they’ll be bumping into foreigners - take that for what it’s worth.

Boliches (club/dance club/disco-tech, etc.) are where Buenos Aires, literally, dances all night long. Remember people normally don’t start heading to boliches until around 2 am - and often much later than that. Go too early, and there plainly won’t be a soul in the house, save the still-setting-up-shop bartenders and the few odd extranjeros (foreigners) who just made the same mistake you did.

One boliche needing mention in this discussion is Sunset - located just outside the city center. Pretty ludicrous scene… after you pay your cover fee (25 pesos), you file through a metal detector, then passed the coat check and through the doors to enter the club. Immediately to your left a stage sets up, and upon it dance, nope, not scantily clad beauties moving seductively for your amusement, but dudes… men… six to eight yoked out guys with no shirts on, dancing around. Guaranteed, your first thoughts will be something like “What the hell did I just get myself into.” Then, (if you don’t turn around at that point and walk right out the door) as you shuffle uneasily down the stairs further into the club you’ll notice directly in front of the stage, a giant crowd full of women, dancing along, and staring shamelessly up at the dudes, haha, it’s simply ridiculous. Nonetheless, it sets the mood. If there’s a boliche in Buenos Aires where the ladies are getting a little wild and looking to let loose - in full raunchy and blatant mode - Sunset is it my friends.

An extra note - a few of my friends have taken to the Spanish tutor route (hiring Porteñas to spend hours alone with them in quiet, cozy, confined spaces where they can review the proper situations to use “ser versus estar”). I won’t wholeheartedly endorse methods I haven’t personally tried out, but I must acknowledge the results have been nothing short of impressive.