1. What are the most popular religions?
Catholicism is the most popular religion here. I have seen a small Jewish presence too.
2. What language do they speak?
The question should be, ¨What languagES do they speak¨? Argentina embraces many different languages. Spanish is the main one. Every single Argentine that I have met speaks at least one other language - with the most popular being English. German and French are also big down here. Portuguese is popular because Brazil is very close. There are language centers all over here where students go for private one-on-one tutoring sessions on top of what their learn in school.
The Argentinian government recently passed laws that require all schools to teach another language. Therefore, all Argentinian students learn another language from their first year of school to their last. Most schools offer English. However, some offer French, German and Chinese too.
One last note about language. The Spanish here is spoken very differently than in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. They pronounce the letters y, j and ll with a sh sound. Therefore, my name, John, is pronounced Shawn. It has taken some effort to get used to, but I enjoy hearing such a distinct variation in Spanish. You can always tell what country a spanish speaker is from by their distinct accent. Most people here can tell that I learned my Spanish in Mexico.
3. Is it dense in population?
Buenos Aires is VERY dense in population. In fact, it is the 4th largest city in Latin America with 13 million people. The physical size of the city is not so large, so just about everyone lives in high-rise apartment buildings. Everywhere you go, the streets and sidewalks are crowded...not just in the downtown parts, but even in the residential parts of the city. Not only is Buenos Aires full of people, but it´s full of DOGS too! It seems like EVERYONE has at least one dog...sometimes three or four. During the workday, it´s common to see many people who walk dogs as their job. I have seen some dog walkers walk at least 15 dogs at once. Also, because it´s kind of cold here, people dress their dogs in vests and sweaters. I´ve seen some crazy dog fashions lately. One down side to all of the dogs is that they turn the sidewalks into smelly mine fields. You really have to watch your step here. They say that the first pile you step in is good luck. I´m not going to test that theory.
4. Is soccer the most popular sport?
Soccer is definitely the most popular sport here. The two main teams are River Plate and Boca Juniors. Tennis is also big. An Argentine tennis player recently won the U.S. Open. He beat Federer. I think they call him del Potro???
5. What does it look like?
The city is located at the mouth of the Rio de Plata which is on the Atlantic coast, but you never see the water because you´re always surrounded by tall buildings. There is new architecture mixed in with the old on every block. Random grafitti with no artistic merit is rampant everywhere you look. However, there are a few works that make you stop in your tracks and awe at the true talent and hard work some artists put into their pieces. Some people who own buildings around here have even commissioned some of the street artists to paint masterpieces on their buildings.
7. How do Argentinians pronounce Argentina?
Ar-hen-TEE-nah
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