are you happy there?

[mendoza70]

on a different note. Has any one had hip surgery and how did you pay for it? very important question..

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

I think you are right Recolete.. Most people make the most of it but are not truly happy. those who come without family . I have no family.

Thanks Mendoza. It´s a deep subject but if you look at the faces of people on the street you see very little happiness. I find the look on most people´s faces very stern. Very thick skinned. Very little joy.

 

[jp]

Maybe I move in different circles, because all my expat friends are happy. And our argentine friends are happy. People moan about this and that, but thats hardly unique to buenos aires.

I love living here. We'll go home eventually, priorities will change, but for the time being its a massive step up from grinding through london life.

 

[BlahBlah]

Thanks Mendoza. It´s a deep subject but if you look at the faces of people on the street you see very little happiness. I find the look on most people´s faces very stern. Very thick skinned. Very little joy.

I am hoping for you was not here in 2003 then

 

[RWS]

. . . . The lack of family here is equivalent to a lack of support system which everybody needs. . . .

One can create a structural equivalent, though: a network of friends, active participation in a good church, even membership of certain clubs or other groups (however, these essential components of what's now termed "civil society" are much debilitated in Argentina in comparison to their counterparts in the United States or Britain).

 

[mendoza70]

2003 was a rough time for sure. I just wonder if it has gotten any better..

The issues we face are inflation, medical, isolation, I have made many good friends and some of them Argentine. I do speak Spanish and enjoy the easy life. Not being able to get anything done an being ripped off time and time again.
And the medical, the cheap medical is not so cheap. granted it is cheaper than the states but still costs. I am here for good the next tiem, falling into the immigrant status, I have no money to live in the states and have a place way out in the outback of Mndoza. Talk about a change.​

 

[Celia]

Companies like Telefonica make you want to leave. You pay your bills at the head office and then they threaten to cut you off and make you email the receipt of said bills over and over to prove you paid them....next month, same thing....
Similar story with Edesur (electricity).

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

I can say, without equivocation, that I have never been happier than I am in Argentina, but perhaps that's because:

"I have been a rover, I have walked alone...

Hiked a hundred highways, never found a home.

Still in all I'm happy, the reason is you see,

Once in a while along the way, love's been good to me."

(Rod McKuen)

A lot of people who live here 12 months a year and love it here live here on the cheap and that is a big part of the attraction. Take away the cost of living for them and they would be gone (to some other cheap destination).

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

Maybe I move in different circles, because all my expat friends are happy. And our argentine friends are happy. People moan about this and that, but thats hardly unique to buenos aires.

I love living here. We'll go home eventually, priorities will change, but for the time being its a massive step up from grinding through london life.

But, if I am not mistaken you are a renter. That seems to make a big difference because the issues that affect you are almost non existent compared to those who own. Also, and you might not believe this but the locals look at you (renters) very differently than they do at people who buy. There is enormous resentment towards foreign buyers.

Your friend (the one who is involved in a mess over pipes in his building).....is he a foreigner??

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

I am hoping for you was not here in 2003 then

Ha, Ha. I bought in 2003. It was actually one of my best years. And, it was so incredibly cheap. The cost of living for everything from restaurants, to clothes, to taxis, to movies was an incredible bargain. I actually consider those to be really good memories. It was a different time. You did not see as much inflation and greed. I guess people were too distracted.