A place has the same characteristics as a human being.
It has a soul, it can feel, it has memories, style, and life.
Just like you can fall in love with another human, you can fall in love with a place.
A place can give you feelings that no physical object can single-handedly give you.
It can cause you to remember people, feelings, and other sentiments.
It is a shame that we usually only travel for one, maybe two weeks at a time to see and visit a place. Maybe even less.
Just like a person, it takes time to get to know a place on a deeper level than to see just what's on the surface.
In a few days, you know a person's name, occupation, if they have siblings, where they live and are from, and maybe their relationship status. You get to know a place's main attractions: the top sites for tourists off of TripAdvisor, these are the places that present the best front for a city or country.
After several weeks, you may begin to understand a person's personality: their temperament, taste, and story. You start to see behind the perfect facade that you present to a stranger at first. You further understand a place's dynamic: the way the people interact, various street names and directions, the best place to eat the typical foods.
After a few months, you could know a person's secrets. You've seen them at their best and their worst, you've had both negative and positive experiences in their presence. It is identical with a place: best and worst, good and bad. But you also learn it's secrets: you get to know the places that no tourist would ever find, how to use transportation and live more like a local. The language also feels much more comfortable than it does, you speak to the place more freely as you would in a few month old relationship.
This is the furthest stage I have been with a place, and it's with Buenos Aires. I feel drastically more comfortable with where I'm going, I know where my favorite places are to get empanadas, medialunas, and pizza. I have come to enjoy mate and Fernet and coke, both which disgusted me at first. I am in the habit of drinking tea coffee or mate at around 6 pm with a snack before dinner. I know which bus to take and where the stop is. I have had some terrible experiences, and also some of the best in my entire life. I mean, I had two phones stolen from me, had some wake up calls, but also met some lovely people that I know I will treasure forever. When you are in place for just a few days or a week, you don't have time to reach past the surface and allow the opportunity for the negative (but extremely humbling and teaching) experiences to happen.
This time around, I will not have a chance to hit the year mark in this relationship I have with Buenos Aires. But I can feel that it is the beginning of a beautiful love affair, one that I am looking forward to rediscovering in the future. My host mom knows. She says to me "vas a volver, estoy segura" "you will come back, I'm sure". She can see it in my face the feelings that I have for this place. Who knows, maybe I feel this way just because of the time I've spent with it. This is the longest I've ever spent in a place, but I truly think it's more than that.
I imagine that after year, the relationship mirrors that of one with a friend or someone that's more: you feel fully comfortable, you know whether you can trust (or not trust) them, and the connection is even deeper.
I don't know how, or when, I will return, but I know that I will someday. There are too many places left in Argentina that I need to visit, and Buenos Aires has a piece of my heart that cannot be replaced by anywhere else in the world.
Te amo, Buenos Aires, gracias por todo lo que me diste, nos vemos.
I love you, Buenos Aires, thank you for what you have given me, see you later.
