Spanish to English translation of a chapter of Viajes por Europa y América (Travels across Europe and America) by Gorgonio Petano y Mazariegos. The original text can be found on Project Gutenberg.
Buenos Aires and Montevideo
It takes five days aboard a steamship to travel from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
Life is entirely different from that in Brazil: the climate, the traditions, the language. Everything is different.
Society is pleasant and easygoing: in Buenos Aires, which has a gorgeous climate, there are some lovely buildings, cafés, and hotels, elegant shops, many casinos where members of high society gather, excellent promenades, two theatres, and beautiful women.
The political turmoil in which the city is unfortunately almost always embroiled is truly a shame: the day they organise themselves definitively and stably, providing the country with the tranquillity it needs, Buenos Aires will be one of South America’s leading capitals.
Trade is now beginning to develop on a large scale: with the resources the city possesses, it has the potential to become something great.
Montevideo is also a cheerful and lively city: its appearance, similar in every way to that of Buenos Aires, though on a smaller scale, also stirs up the same painful reflections in one’s mind.
The political upheavals that have shaken it for many years, almost without respite, have hindered its development and prosperity: due to sieges and blockades, some of its buildings have been reduced to rubble….
The population has declined rather than increased… and setting aside these reflections, which are sad for everyone, but even more so for a Spaniard, we conclude our chapter on America by offering our sincere wishes for the prosperity of the Spanish race that inhabits the region: a noble race, a dignified race, which can never perish, no matter how much its misfortunes have led the Anglo-Saxons of the North to believe that one day they will absorb it. No, no, that day is impossible; that day will never come.
Lauren Campbell Translation 