You may have heard that New York is the city that never sleeps, but it’s certainly not the only one. Spend one night out in Buenos Aires and you’ll realize that dinner is at 9pm, bars don’t start filling until midnight, and the club will be barren until everyone migrates to the boliche at 2am. And the dancing continues until sunrise. Not for the tame at heart (or the lame at heart), BA nightlife is an all-night affair. Don’t be surprised, however: if you attend a previa (in-house pre-game) with locals, expect to end up drunkenly discussing inflation and Cristina Kirchner’s habit of avoiding her deceased husband’s name in public speeches until 6am, your plans to go dancing forgotten somewhere between late-night espresso and empanadas. Let the cobbled streets do the talking as you do the walking, and lots of it, from the capital’s distinctive Casa Rosada (President Kirchner works in a pink house, even more impressive in neon lights after dark) to Caminito, the colorful birthplace of tango. Leave your germophobic tendencies behind as you pass around maté, a leafy and stimulating caffeinated tea best shared with friends. Greet everyone with one kiss on the right cheek; handshaking is both awkward and foreign. Oh, and you’ll make friends on any source of public transportation that you take, be it the underground Subte or colectivos that race around every corner of BA—personal space doesn’t exist at rush hour. Brush up on your high-school Spanish, start pronouncing your double-l’s and y’s like English j’s, make the life-altering choice of whether to support Boca or River (BA’s rival soccer teams), and you’ll be well on your way living like a true porteño.