No this not unheard of but it's a lot of money and I wouldn't pay it all up front. Tell them you will pay two months at a time, if they don't want to rent to you find somebody else.
Wherever you rent make sure to record the serial numbers of the bills you pay with. A dear friend of mine was paying 3 months rent on an apartment off of Las Herras around Junin. His wife was having a baby but didn't have her visa for the states yet so she would be having it there. He's pretty well off and can work anywhere he has broad band so he rented a place big enough for her whole family (pretty much, she has a really big family) it was 4 bedrooms I think. The rent was U$S 1200 a month with a one month deposit, payable in advance. I was already living down there so I told him to make sure he did a THOROUGH inspection of the place, making sure that EVERYTHING on the property sheet he was signing for was there and undamaged. Before heading down from SEA he stops at BofA and gets 48 crisp new $100.00 dollar bills puts them in a few envelops and tapes them to his body, (Never under any circumstances flash cash or discuss cash at EZE) drives to the airport and starts his journey.
When he gets to BsAs he and his wife meet the agent at the apartment. He has her supervise the counting of the money while he checks out the apartment, noting even cracks in the plaster on the sheet. His wife is like 8.5 months preggers and and has to go to the bathroom during the examination of the money. When she returns the agent has two stacks of bills, buenos y truchos. It seems that 6 of the 100 dollar bills were counterfeit. My buddy can't believe it, he got them out of the B of A in SEA the day before so he looks at them and sure enough 6 of the bills were fake. I saw them later, they were and bad ones at that. The agent had slipped them into the mix while his wife went to the bathroom. Amazing really if you think about it, she came to the meeting prepared to rob him if he gave her the chance, he did, so she did.
Later I was telling this story to my girlfriend, an adorable protenya, and she said "Mi amor, why didn't he just show her the copies of the money?" I said "what?" She (girlfriend) said, "the photo copies of the money he made before he went there, or at least the list of serial numbers of the bills he gave her." When she saw the confused look on my face she asked me "Don't you make copies of your money before you pay your bills in La Tierra de las Gordas?" I told her that making copies of money in La Tierra de las Gordas is against the law and most copiers have software in them inhibiting users from copying tender with it. She thought that was one of the craziest things she had ever heard of.
So many people want to make the differences in the cultures about right and wrong when it's not it's just about differences. In Argentina you are expected to be an adult and protect yourself. If somebody can rob you, it's your responsibility to stop them, not theirs to not do it. Sofi got it that my buddy wasn't stupid he was ignorant. Most, not all, but certainly most portenyos I've known sort of divide the world into three groups. Those that may be cheated indiscriminately, those that can only be screwed for great amounts of money, and those that may not be screwed at all.
The asado test will tell you which group you are in. If you have never been to an asado with them you are in group one and may be cheated at any moment. If you have been to an asado for a wedding, or cousins birthday (big party) then you are in group two and only need to be careful in transactions bigger than 3 months rent. If you have been to a family asado (one that their mothers, or girlfriends mothers are there) then like Frado Corleone you are safe as long as the mother lives or they are with the girlfriend.
You can bitch about the culture or immerse yourself in it, the choice is yours. Once people get it that it's still the wild west there then it gets to be fun. Remember, if they haven't been to an asado your mom was at the rules apply to them equally. They will bitch when you cheat them but their friends will hear about it and then you are less likely to be cheated because you're no longer low hanging fruit, you are somebody to be respected. You are no longer alguien pelotudo, you may still be alguien boludo but you have taken a step up.
Be careful, have fun, dance tango, eat beef, drink wine. Wave your hands around when you talk (even on the cell phone), gawk a little at a beautiful women walking down the street. Maybe yell out, Las Puertas del cielo son abiertos xq hay angeles en la calle. Cheat somebody. Have an adventure. I haven't been there for three years and I miss it more every day.
Wherever you rent make sure to record the serial numbers of the bills you pay with. A dear friend of mine was paying 3 months rent on an apartment off of Las Herras around Junin. His wife was having a baby but didn't have her visa for the states yet so she would be having it there. He's pretty well off and can work anywhere he has broad band so he rented a place big enough for her whole family (pretty much, she has a really big family) it was 4 bedrooms I think. The rent was U$S 1200 a month with a one month deposit, payable in advance. I was already living down there so I told him to make sure he did a THOROUGH inspection of the place, making sure that EVERYTHING on the property sheet he was signing for was there and undamaged. Before heading down from SEA he stops at BofA and gets 48 crisp new $100.00 dollar bills puts them in a few envelops and tapes them to his body, (Never under any circumstances flash cash or discuss cash at EZE) drives to the airport and starts his journey.
When he gets to BsAs he and his wife meet the agent at the apartment. He has her supervise the counting of the money while he checks out the apartment, noting even cracks in the plaster on the sheet. His wife is like 8.5 months preggers and and has to go to the bathroom during the examination of the money. When she returns the agent has two stacks of bills, buenos y truchos. It seems that 6 of the 100 dollar bills were counterfeit. My buddy can't believe it, he got them out of the B of A in SEA the day before so he looks at them and sure enough 6 of the bills were fake. I saw them later, they were and bad ones at that. The agent had slipped them into the mix while his wife went to the bathroom. Amazing really if you think about it, she came to the meeting prepared to rob him if he gave her the chance, he did, so she did.
Later I was telling this story to my girlfriend, an adorable protenya, and she said "Mi amor, why didn't he just show her the copies of the money?" I said "what?" She (girlfriend) said, "the photo copies of the money he made before he went there, or at least the list of serial numbers of the bills he gave her." When she saw the confused look on my face she asked me "Don't you make copies of your money before you pay your bills in La Tierra de las Gordas?" I told her that making copies of money in La Tierra de las Gordas is against the law and most copiers have software in them inhibiting users from copying tender with it. She thought that was one of the craziest things she had ever heard of.
So many people want to make the differences in the cultures about right and wrong when it's not it's just about differences. In Argentina you are expected to be an adult and protect yourself. If somebody can rob you, it's your responsibility to stop them, not theirs to not do it. Sofi got it that my buddy wasn't stupid he was ignorant. Most, not all, but certainly most portenyos I've known sort of divide the world into three groups. Those that may be cheated indiscriminately, those that can only be screwed for great amounts of money, and those that may not be screwed at all.
The asado test will tell you which group you are in. If you have never been to an asado with them you are in group one and may be cheated at any moment. If you have been to an asado for a wedding, or cousins birthday (big party) then you are in group two and only need to be careful in transactions bigger than 3 months rent. If you have been to a family asado (one that their mothers, or girlfriends mothers are there) then like Frado Corleone you are safe as long as the mother lives or they are with the girlfriend.
You can bitch about the culture or immerse yourself in it, the choice is yours. Once people get it that it's still the wild west there then it gets to be fun. Remember, if they haven't been to an asado your mom was at the rules apply to them equally. They will bitch when you cheat them but their friends will hear about it and then you are less likely to be cheated because you're no longer low hanging fruit, you are somebody to be respected. You are no longer alguien pelotudo, you may still be alguien boludo but you have taken a step up.
Be careful, have fun, dance tango, eat beef, drink wine. Wave your hands around when you talk (even on the cell phone), gawk a little at a beautiful women walking down the street. Maybe yell out, Las Puertas del cielo son abiertos xq hay angeles en la calle. Cheat somebody. Have an adventure. I haven't been there for three years and I miss it more every day.
