Spotlight Buenos Aires

Ferg's Focus Vol. 22

Author

Charles Ferguson
May 21st, 2024

This Ferg’s Focus edition inadvertently turned into an ode to Buenos Aires. While I didn’t plan on it, I certainly do not regret it. May it forever merit its praise. Routines don’t seem too common around these parts, but I have found a loose one nonetheless, granting me the structure to write once more.

Winter is setting in down south. My nomad friends are departing for warmer weather. The leaves have turned golden and now catch the autumn sun in colors unseen by me before. The swarms of mosquitos are surviving amid 8° Celsius (46°F) temperatures. Life is good.

Rambling Toward Significance?

The more time I spend traveling, the more digital nomads I meet. Western economies have allowed for large swaths of employees to work from anywhere with Internet access. While mobility is enhanced, the sense of belonging to a specific place comes at its expense. The nomadic lifestyle blurs the line between borders, between work and leisure, and between our definitions of “home”.

Those unprepared for the reality of a transient existence can find themselves in a despairing place after a few months of working away from home.

This (among other reasons) is what inspired this piece.

The Disgruntled Nomad (Part One)

The idea that a digital nomad could be anything less than satisfied with a life wrapped around intense individual daily freedom, unrestricted movement around the globe, and a healthy income stream is altogether puzzling, existential, and (if we’re speaking on the nose) a rather privileged problem to run up against in our short lives…

…a year later, I’ve joined their digital ranks. While still a fledgling in the brigade in many ways, I’m beginning to understand where the source of this discontent may stem. It is where many nomads deviate from a path ripe with growth opportunities and instead ravage on into a limbo as meaningless as the one they fought to escape at their domestic desk jobs.

This is the existential, privileged, curious case of the disgruntled digital nomad.

Barrio Chatter

I cross fewer borders than I used to now. While my world is reduced to a handful of blocks some days, it would be disingenuous to assume there are fewer stories to dig up. In each edition, I’ll share the latest chat from my barrio (neighborhood), hot off the presses.

Every morning, I visit my local grocer for fresh produce. We share the same name and he refers to me as “Car-dos” (Carlos #2). It turns out bad puns are not limited to English.

Me: Good day, Carlos.

Carlos: Hello, “Car-dos”, all good?

Me: All good, yes. I brought you a big order today.

We shake hands over a crate of potatoes.

Carlos: Tell me.

Me: 2 apples, 1 orange, 1 pepper…

Carlos begins leisurely picking fruit.

Me, filling the silence: How’s the family? It was your oldest’s birthday last Saturday, no?

Carlos: Youngest.

Me: That’s right. You bought him a new jacket. Did he like it?

Carlos: He loved it. I spent a lot of plata on it. The nicest he’s ever had.

Me: How many years did he complete?

Carlos, chuckling: 29 years. He works at the local casino as a baccarat dealer. You know the one in Puerto Madero?

Carlos brings me a bag of fruit and legumes.

Me: The one on the boat?

I hand him a couple thousand pesos.

Carlos: Yes, the floating one. He works with his wife.

Me: That must be nice. What does she do?

Carlos: She’s a manager of the floor. Imagine that! His wife is his boss!

Me, appealing to the old man with a timeless crack: Whose isn’t?

Carlos, laughing breathily: Ba!

Optimizing for Productivity Patience

I used to think time could be managed. Then, I moved to Buenos Aires. How naive I was.

Exquisitely Inefficient

Buenos Aires, Argentina, captures the minds of many writers and evokes a melody of words when describing it: elegant, classic, un sueño, marvelous…

“Convenient” is not part of this melody.

In fact, the only word resembling “convenient” that may slip into a description of Buenos Aires is its alter ego, “inconvenient”.

Nay, if efficiency, fast pace of life, and sensible bureaucratic processes are what you seek, then Buenos Aires is not the city for you. Try somewhere in Germany…

Thanks for reading Ferg’s Focus! My goal is to use uncomfortable experiences to learn and in turn share meaningful lessons and insights about the world beyond the small bubble of predictability at home.

To support this newsletter and its corresponding stories you can buy me a coffee (see footer), or share this newsletter with your friends/family/secondary email account via the link below.

Until the next,

-Ferg

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