Sometime back in December, not long after arriving in Buenos Aires to live for 5.5 months, I wrote this text below and had given it this title – my how things have changed – or have they…
What you can learn about Buenos Aires in a week
I heard from friends who’d lived here it was better to look at places to rent once here. So that’s what I’ve been doing.
That said I think it’s a little harder than that. From my discoveries you don’t want to go through rental companies here unless you are staying for quite some time and work can work on a better contract. Otherwise they charge you two months commission straight off, plus a 1 month deposit and sometimes extra expenses.
Even better they ask you to secure your property against the rental – seems nuts to me since I’m here to rent and if I owned a property I’d live in it.
I’ve been using Craigslist to deal direct with owners so you don’t have all those silly charges and friend of friends who have rooms or apartments available.
1 bedroom apmt in the more touristy areas seem the most common thing to rent and they aren’t really less than $700 US per month all expenses and utilities included.
Taxis seem cheap to me, $5-7 US for a 15-25 minute journey. Buses are dead cheap and pretty regular and there’s the subway. Driving is crazy here – might get a scooter when I figure out how not to get killed but will more likely bike cos I love it.
3 Months on and what have I learned?
Well once I got my own lovely studio things were looking up and I absolutely love living there in a great area, small pool, nice and private and close to lots of things but not in the touristy area. In fact I shot a video giving you a tour of it here.
I started practicing my non existent Spanish. I got private lessons with the lovely Melinda who suffered through two hours of speaking for 2-3 days a week with me until we could have proper conversations.
From there it was great to achieve minor breakthroughs every day like a Taxi Driver understanding my directions, a shop owner figuring out what I was ordering and for me understanding 40-50% of their response. Progress!
The beautiful gardens, ally cats, old colonial style buildings and street markets give this city its essence.
I have to admit that my initial thoughts about Buenos Aires and Argentina have changed quite a lot. Despite what I thought this is third world baby – as my Argentinian friend likes to say.
This means I’ve had more frustrations than moments of joy and my patience is running low right now. Even my sister agrees. In trying to find a battery for her Sony Camera yesterday she went to an official Sony store – did they have them? No of course not.
When trying to get a cream for some bug bites at a pharmacy she got told they couldn’t help and she should go to the hospital!
It’s not ideal for managing my business either. Here’s a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly – in my opinion
20 Things to Love and Hate About Argentina (or the A-V)
- The empanadas are delicious and my new favourite thing plus the Mate (a strong tea)
- Cider, beer and wine is dirt cheap in supermarkets
- Taxis are cheap and public transport is a steal
- You’re constantly aware of being mugged or pickpocketed
- Porteno Spanish (that of Buenos Aires) has a lot of nuances found nowhere else
- Wifi is becoming available in more cafes but it’s ridiculously slow and unreliable*
- The street markets are full of unique goods and amazing art
- Coffee is tasty and the mini medialunas for desayuno (breakfast) are common place
- Food here is on the whole pretty boring and I miss spicy foods
- Service in general – more in shops, generally sucks. Work ethic is not in their dictionary
- Things don’t make sense – why can you buy a sim card at a major cell network but load credit on it?
- The tango is a mesmerizing dance that’s much harder to learn then you think
- The temperate climate and hot summer is right up my alley
- People seem to love animals and even streets dogs and cats are well looked after
- The Argentinian people are quite a proud and elegant race if not a little serious and moody
- Did I mention the wifi sucks – 15MB would cost you US $150 to buy
- Infrastructure in this country is poor and the officials are corrupt
- You can find music, theatre and dance here every day in many different styles
- The Argentinians know the meaning of relaxed and not being on time (which helps me)
- Argentinian TV is on the whole tacky but thankfully good for learning Spanish!
- Barely nowhere takes a credit card over which is unbelievable and withdrawl fees are US$4
- People accept you into their family here and are welcoming
Ok so that’s a very rough overview of all my experiences combined. I have more tales to tell including incredible photos and video from Patagonia where Debbie and I just spent an amazing 10 days hiking.
PS this *refers to the fact that it took me 6 hours to upload a 20 minute video the other day in Patagonia and the internet cut out while it was processing so I lost it all. It’s episodes like that that make me question my sanity.
PPS while writing this in a cafe the internet cut out and I lost some of my post, the next cafe couldn’t get their wifi working and the third one also cut out. Finally found a reliable one with great Spanish Tortilla.
Great post! I’ll add a few things of my experiences here.
It’s great that you found something off of craigslist. I was warned against doing that though, and even Tim Ferris had issues (despite speaking Argentine spanish fluently). You can get great deals and meet lovely people, but you often find people who are trying to scam tourists.
My experience with a rental agency has been great so far. Yes, I’m getting hosed dollar wise, but it’s been relatively low stress and my place is decent by North American standards. They asked for a one-month damage deposit, but there were no hidden fees or commissions directly from me, and they’ve been available to answer questions from time to time. That said, I’ve given myself an extra day at the end of my trip to make sure I get my deposit back!
0. Yes, I miss not being able to get things easily. I went out looking for a blank CD to burn something, and didn’t find something right away. It also took me almost two weeks to find a hardware store that had a plug adapter for my camera. In addition, I’ve tried unsuccessfully to mail a letter back home for quite some time.
F. Agree! At first it wasn’t bad, but these last two weeks it’s been really dodgy. I wonder if it’s related to people getting ready to go back to school.
I. I was really enjoying the food at first, but I’m getting a bit bored of now too. Steak is tasty, but pretty much the same in every restaurant. I love cooking, and was really looking forward to cooking for my three months here. But the lack of easily accessible groceries and varieties of spices has made that pretty much impossible for me to cook anything that I would normally make at home. My fridge consists of a few frozen hamburgers and a bag of frozen veggies at this point, when back home it was full of healthy produce and left overs from my various culinary adventures.
K. Another thing that bothers me is that most clubs separate the purchase of the beer from the actual ordering of the beer. As a result, getting a beer takes twice as long as it should. Normally both lines are crazy long, so you spend most of your time in a club waiting to buy and order beer.
M. I don’t mind the heat, but I’m getting tired of the humidity. I’m actually looking forward to the day I can wear a jacket again, even if it’s for a day or two (I know, the sacrilege!)
R. I’ve been disappointed that most restaurants and pubs I’ve been to have simply played North American music. I was hoping there would be a lot more local music, but I’ve found that’s not the case
U. I found most restaurants in Palermo and Recoleta take credit cards, but most of the smaller shops don’t.
It’s an interesting place and the people are great, but in terms of someone working remotely and who wants to travel on my weekends, Buenos Aires doesn’t seem like the best destination. Other than very long bus rides, there’s not many places to visit that don’t involve several hour flights that are relatively expensive. Having shoddy WiFi definitely doesn’t help things, as I’ve had several episodes of needing to get something done but not being able to due to the WiFi being down.
I’ve enjoyed my visit, but I’ll be ready to leave and see something new when the time comes.
Roger that my friend and so will I. I do think it also helps to take on the mindset that things will be harder, service won’t be great and people will be – from a cultural front, different. It makes it easier to accept on the frustrating days!
Duane,
A good dietetica can supply you with all of the spices you can imagine (there’s great one on corrientes call el gato negro). For almost everything else, you can get it from the Barrio Chino or some imported items (like belgian ale) in Jumbo.
As far as service, I’ve generally let go of expectations. If I need something like a cable for an electronic item or something I don’t expect to get it the same day I go looking for it. In restaurants, I make sure I don’t have anything important immediately after.
I also use a plan B regarding wifi–since I work by Skype or phone, I have skype forwarded to my home phone–so even if the power goes out, I don’t have to miss a beat. As far as wifi in public places, yes, Argentina still has a long way to go.
Ah the fountain of all knowledge. Duane has now left but I’m sure he still appreciates the info and it’s interesting looking back at this post as my perspective differs a lot now. I’ve come to love all the things that frustrated me because I changed my expectations.
Between your blog post and Duane’s response, I think you have covered all of my adoration and frustration for and related to living in Buenos Aires. I’ve found that I can both love and resent the same aspect of life here in regards to many things, and I think that’s the coolest part of this whole experience.
On a somewhat-related tangent, here’s a post of mine about “What Argentines Love,” at least based on what I’ve noticed: http://taraandkarinagoout.com/2011/01/24/what-argentines-love/
Hi Natalie,
Loved your post. Seems like things have not really changed in Argentina since I was there 10 years ago. Traveling is the best thing in the world and Argentina was by far one of my favorite destinations. I love Dulce de Leche and mate. I also heard to you on the For The Woman Who Wants It All Summit and I am impressed.I would love to keep in touch!
All the best,
Kirsi