Of brunching with Manhattanites...

Every traveller enjoys the moment when they run into a certain species of New Yorker, the Manhattanite. But not all Manhattaners are Manhattanites, generally just those who haven´t left the island in a very long time.

This Sunday morning I woke up around noon after a night out and went to do what any sensible person would do on a Sunday mid-day: brunch. So there I was in a cafe-restaurant that is becoming a favourite, eating toast with cream cheese, olive oil, and ham (not all together) while drinking espresso(s) and orange juice, and reading a book. All standard sunday morning fare.

Enter a couple. Sunscreen. Round glasses. Ethnic colourful shirt for her, Polo for him. Blackberry in hand, occasionally waved in a desperate search for service. They sit in the table behind me.
"What´s the word for menu in spanish?" she asks.
"I don´t know, menu?" he answers.
"Señor, do you have a menu please? Can we have two menus por favor?" to the waiter, across the room.
Loving it, and far from me any intention of not enjoying my morning, I put the book down and prepare to enjoy two Manhattanites in Buenos Aires. Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the meal:
"Dr. Lindbergh answered me this morning, she thinks we should continue our sessions even while I´m away. She says it´s important this trip doesn´t disrupt my life."
"Well unless Dr. Lindbergh wants to call you international or email a session with you I don´t see how that´s gonna happen. Besides I think you can take two weeks off from her."
"Then don´t act surprised if I throw off the edge of a glacier, ten days from now."

Unsure of the general hygiene the lady goes to the bathroom to wash her hands for the third time. I know she washed her hands the previous times, first because most feminine bathroom activities usually require more than 20 secs, and secondly because her husband told her:
"I think you´re being excessively paranoid, the place seems clean enough. If you´re gonna keep going to the bathroom we might as well ask him to bring us our food there."

The man, clearly more relaxed about his Argentine experience, suggested that with his kid having almost finished college he would enjoy finally leaving the rat race and taking time to live elsewhere, such as Argentina. To which the woman answers that "apart for the obvious problem of Dr. Lindbergh and needing to attend sessions here (I loved it this part) with subtitles, it would be difficult to re-start a life. Do they have ayurvedic yoga for example?"

Manhattanites. Love them. Different from most others Americans, they are acutely aware that New York is an international city and it is therefore almost their duty to extend that openmindedness when travelling abroad. They tried to ask the waiter for good Argentine wines he thought they should discover, and were extremely worried at the idea of offending anyone (repeating to the poor waiter their food was very good with thumbs up everytime he happened to walk by). You just get the feeling they need some adjustment time away from their 401k´s, psychiatrists, and blackberries whenever they go anywhere west of Lincoln tunnel.

For my part, I´m going back to Morocco tomorrow for the sailboat crossing. And then back to Buenos Aires, inshallah, when that´s over.

Best,
FOT