On Wednesday, Heidi and I had an extra hour of classes in the afternoon, to make up for the time we missed because of the Día de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia. So we looked for a place to have some lunch. We came to a busy spot called “San Fransisco La Gota”, and decided to go in.
It was an unusual spot and much less appealing from the inside: very plain, concrete walls painted red and white, and paint spattered on the floor, no decorations to speak of. But it was almost full, and the patrons, mostly men, looked, as far as we could tell, to be porteños. Since busy restaurants are usually good restaurants, we placed our order and chatted while we munched on bread and waited for our meals.
Several groups came in after us, including an older couple, who were clearly tourists (backpacks, shorts etc). Our meal took quite a long time to arrive, but it came eventually. As we were eating, we noticed the older woman who had come in after us, waving her hands to the waiter, indicating that she wasn’t happy that others had been served, but they were still waiting.
Then they got up an left, and as they passed our table we heard her say, “There was no reason, they just didn’t serve us”, in a distinct English accent.
Now, start your conspiracy engines.
Heidi connected the dots and is convinced that their meal didn’t arrive because they were English. But maybe they were just impatient. I’d say that others definitely received faster service than we did. So it is quite likely that locals or Spanish-speakers are given preference. But do they refuse to serve the English? Hmmm.
Would it change your mind if I told you that, as we left to go back to school, we noticed that there was some sort of monument for Heroes de Islas Malvinas just across the street from La Gota?
You tell me.
Go to the next post: Academia Buenos Aires
b r a n n a n . o r g 
Being discriminated against never feels good. If the service is just slow, that’s one thing: slow service. But if others come in after you and are served before you, well, as the old saying goes, that is adding insult to injury. –Curt
Here’s another clue: I’ve discovered that “La Gota” is likely a reference to “La gota colmó el vaso”, which is an expression meaning “the drop (straw) that broke the camel’s back”. During the war with Great Britain, the Argentine government used this as a slogan indicating that UK control of the Malvinas was the latest in a long series of slights to Argentine autonomy.
I agree with Heidi, it maybe a good time to show that maple leaf pin.
Bill B.
Not a bad idea. But I didn’t bring one!