15 Reason Why I Like Ba Living ...

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

You are breaking a few forum rules here, trying to claim you enjoy anything about Buenos Aires will only provoke nostril snorting and sabre rattling here! But but but but......out come the amateur statisticians and those possessing axes to grind. Poor prisoners that they are! Trapped here in their misery, seemingly aghast at the unwillingness of the local women to be swept off their feet by their tales of woe and vitriol.

Let's toast them with fountains of maple syrup, shower them in industrially processed food and herald the collapse of the local economy in support of the longevity of their foreign currency supplies! Hurrah...who is with me?

 

[jp]

Please refrain from mentioning any positive aspects of life in Buenos Aires. We all know it's an intolerable hell hole with no redeeming qualities.

A thread titled "things I like to moan about" would be much more appropriate.

 

[Crema Americana]

For every positive there is a negative. And vice versa... that's just the way the world works.

For instance, it's funny that you can get out of ticket with a bribe rather easily... but then it stinks that the police are so corrupt.

It's great to be able to walk anywhere, with lots of small specialty shops nearby... it's not so great when everything is a treasure hunt.

Public transportation is cheap.... unless you get pick pocketed, then it's not so cheap.

I like the beautiful gardens of Palermo.... but I can't walk outside my front gate on foot without fearing I might get mugged. (In fact, I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've walked on the sidewalk in front of our house... we always go by car.)

I like it that you can pretty much build whatever you want wherever you want on your property... I don't like all the shoddy construction or lack of codes.

I like the beautiful house architecture - brick walls with wooden shutters, balconies, and well kept gardens. (No real negative to that except those houses are expensive... and I've not had much luck with the those wooden windows and blinds.)

I've grown to love afternoon meriendas of cafe con leche and medialunas.... I don't like the other way I've grown. (I realize that's not a problem with the city.)

It's nice to be able to afford a personal trainer, private lessons, a maid, cook, pretty much try or do whatever you want without too much cost.... but that's because wages are low.

I like how shops wrap up your purchase or sometimes even put a little bow on it if it's a gift. Waiting in line can be a pain, though.

I like how the people are pretty warm towards children and animals.... but I don't like when they let them do whatever they want, anywhere they want. (Like cut the cake at a family gathering when they're running a fever...)

 

[lamarque]

Wow it is like people hate to read nice thing of Buenos Aires lol.
Nice list, i love all the parks and all the free events that i'm learning to enjoy really a lot

 

[citygirl]

And the fact that all those friendly kitties are in the botanical gardens because irresponsible owners couldn't be bothered to spay their animals or just abandoned them....

But there are a lot of things to enjoy about Buenos Aires and it is good to take time out to appreciate them.

 

[fifs2]

You are breaking a few forum rules here, trying to claim you enjoy anything about Buenos Aires will only provoke nostril snorting and sabre rattling here! But but but but......out come the amateur statisticians and those possessing axes to grind. Poor prisoners that they are! Trapped here in their misery, seemingly aghast at the unwillingness of the local women to be swept off their feet by their tales of woe and vitriol.

Let's toast them with fountains of maple syrup, shower them in industrially processed food and herald the collapse of the local economy in support of the longevity of their foreign currency supplies! Hurrah...who is with me?

Johnny captured the two Bsas extremes here a while back and as I said then "a younger person looking for a travel experience and not giving up a flourishing career or to set up long terms roots in Bsas has a totally different perspective and set of needs than someone with a family looking to work and live like a local. We old curmuedgeons need to stop opining on the right time to come and the youngsters may stop giving us a hard time for being negative about things that matter to serious long term expats with homes, business etc here..."

We all love Bsas but old/young, short stayers versus long timers will always see things differently..and neither view is more right or wrong then the other and the things to love posts are as good to read as the pizza is crap ones..I'm just surprised how polarized people are in spite of the idea that travel broadens the mind! Vive la difference!

 

[Gringoboy]

If my wife (to be) is stopped by the cops, she starts crying.
Works every time and I encourage it.

 

[Crema Americana]

Women do get special treatment! I remember once we wanted to order pizza - it was drizzling, nothing too bad - and my husband called to place an order. They said "sorry, we don't deliver to that intersection." The place was like 2 blocks away. Suspecting that they were just being difficult, he had me call up and talk on the phone, and lo and behold now they did deliver!

So there's a win to machismo Argentino.

 

[NYKate]

Johnny captured the two Bsas extremes here a while back and as I said then "a younger person looking for a travel experience and not giving up a flourishing career or to set up long terms roots in Bsas has a totally different perspective and set of needs than someone with a family looking to work and live like a local. We old curmuedgeons need to stop opining on the right time to come and the youngsters may stop giving us a hard time for being negative about things that matter to serious long term expats with homes, business etc here..."

We all love Bsas but old/young, short stayers versus long timers will always see things differently..and neither view is more right or wrong then the other and the things to love posts are as good to read as the pizza is crap ones..I'm just surprised how polarized people are in spite of the idea that travel broadens the mind! Vive la difference!

Totally agree. A younger person, fresh out of college will have a different set of eyes than a person who is middle aged and trying to build a family and live a normal life. And a person who is looking to retire here will look at it differently as well.
When we (really me as my husband was born here) moved here, I was not looking at it as a long vacation. I quit a very good job in the states to make my life here. But, as time goes on and as we are building our family, I am finding that the quality of life we have here vs the quality of life we could have in the U.S. is not even a fair comparison. I do have a lady that cleans our apartment once a week but I fully know we will never be able to afford to buy our apartment. If we could, I would happily clean it myself and save the money. I guess it depends on what people want out of life and what is important to them.

That said, I think it is great that there are a lot of people posting positives about the city. We all came here for some reason or other and I imagine it is because we loved it at first sight.

 

[WindyCityJames]

I like the numerous Spanish language schools and teachers. Also, I am able to learn Portuguese and Swedish here with a great variety of classes, all without breaking the bank.