I have been to many cities before in my life and have spent many nights in those cities. But I have never, however, experienced anything like this before: a city that comes awake when all others are going to bed. The place is Mar Del Plata, along the eastern coast of Argentina, 5 hours from Buenos Aires. This beachfront city of 600,000 inhabitants along the verdant South Atlantic comes alive during the southern hemisphere’s summer months of January and February, bursting at the seams with Porteños escaping BsAs. Sure, the city is pretty nondescript, an outgrowth surrounding a massive casino complex in the middle of the ocean cove, but it absolutely comes awake at night.

Argentines eat late during the winter, but they eat reeeeaaally late when they are on vacation. It was not uncommon for my wife and I to go out to eat a large dinner at 10PM and find the wait at the door longer upon our departure at 11:30 than when we had gone to eat. The hours between 11 and 2 are the most popular for perusing the European-influenced outdoor pedestrian malls, stopping for coffee and sweets at the myriad of cafes, and taking in a movie or playing video games. And these are not just the whipper-snappers, but all ages from 2 until 85 were seen roaming the broad streets of this city by the sea.

Although I enjoy staying up late and eating large quantities of meat, the late-night eating and gallivanting never took root. Porteños must be of a special breed to handle such a volatile mixture of food and timeliness. I will let them have their fun; as for me, I will drift off to sleep at 2 to the sounds of merry-makers outside my window in the city that never sleeps.