Argentina is better than Australia

[steveinbsas]

I was the first to complain about the outrageous prices of Buenos Aires especially food....

If you are referring to the price of food in restaurants in the city of Buenos Aires I cannot comment one way or the other. I rarely ate in restaurants when I lived there and the two times that I ate in restaurants in the province of Buenos Aires in the past thirteen years (both in 2013), the prices for two people were less than 10k in late May and less than 13k in late November. I imagine the prices are 3x higher now, but I haven't looked at a menu lately.

What I can comment on regarding today's prices is the cost of food I buy locally to prepare and consume at home.

Here are the prices for what I bought in the past two days:

Chicken wings: $3.800 x 3kg ($1,19 USD x 1litro)

Google AI told me that I would pay at least twice this price at Walmart today, and only if I bought the eight pound bag of frozen wings. ?

Instant coffee: $5.000 x 170g ($3.29 x 8 0z jarr (Cabrales "La Planta" sin azúcar)

Google AI told me that a 6 ounce jar of Nescafe Clásico instant coffee at Walmart in the USA is almost $10. USD.

Eggs: $6.500 x 30 large ($1.79 USD/dozen).

Google AI told me that this is about the same average price at Walmart in the USA as of today.

Ultra pasturized, shelf stable 3% milk $22.000 x 12lt ($4.99 USD/gallon)

Google AI told me that I would pay $7-$8 USD per gallon for the same milk in the USA.

I calculated the US prices with an exchange rate lower than the Western Union exchange rate. It costs me less than $300 per month for everything that I eat and drink in Argentina, so I have nothing to complain about.

I'll include the other items that I consume in a list I will post in the thread about a "Diet: living on beef and eggs."

 

[FrankPintor]

After being in Australia for 5 months due to a serious health issue I cannot wait to come back to Argentina in spite of all its problems These are my top reasons .

1 Buenos Aires is a vastly more beautiful city physically than Sydney and has better architecture and cleaner indoor spaces without constant pests and insects .
2. Culturally Buenos Aires outperforms Sydney in all aspects in nightlife and general civility .I find Sydney people to be uncouth and very entitled .
3. Suprisingly in good areas of Buenos Aires its cleaner than good areas of Sydney with better footpaths and less public urination which is very common in all the inner city neighbourhoods of Sydney .
4. Sydney wins on food and its prices with excellent street food especially supermarkets like coles and woolworths which are up to half the price of buenos aires prices . You can easily eat a chinese take away meal for us 13 dollars in Sydney and buy a good take out meal from a supermarket for us 5 dollars . Its very difficult to find these prices in Argentina . Saying that latin american food is hor some reason outrageously expensive in Sydney and expect to pay 6 dollars for a small empanada .
5. Public transport in Sydney while efficient is suprisingly unclean with hordes of people eating on trains buses and light rail . I find this disagreeable and prefer Buenos Aires with its codigos .
6 . I much prefer the argentinian people to australian people even though australians on the surface seem more polite . There is a thin verneer of friendliness in Sydney and I have seem by far much more agressive behaviour on the streets here than in any middle class neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

7. Renting Buenos Aires wins hands down as its propery stock is vastly superior to Sydney where gloomy small rooms outrageous prices are the norm . think 300 usa dollars a week for a depressing room in a share house or 2000 for a run down terrace in surry hills newtown or marrickville . The housing here is very below par and to have anything like Puerto Madero think Us $ 4000 a month with maybe a view .

8. Language Buenos Aires wins hands down as the australian accent can grate on one very quickly .
9.Corruption suprisingly Australia and Argentina are tied but Australians believe otherwise. Taxes the highest on the planet. rent amongst the highest anywhere. a overzealous system of fining people for the most smallest of things and banks that pay no interest at all.
10. Safety I will suprise everyone and say Buenos Aires . In a good neighbourhood of Capital Federal its vastly superior in all levels to any so called good areas of Sydney . There seems to be much more drug use in Sydney and crazed people on the streets and not to mention the lack of public toilets even in cafes and restaurants .. Buenos Aires seems 1st world compared to.most of Sydney except the North Shore Hills district and North Shore . Buenos Aires has vast swathes of the capital and Zona Norte that are superb areas to live in clean and without the urban decay present here in Sydney

Your perspective is very interesting, I have a colleague who spends several months every year in Oz. Brisbane, I believe, not Sydney. While he does have to deal with monthly rents of AUD 4000+ per month, for basically a wooden cabin, he was very enthusiastic about the parks and public amenities there. Apparently the parks are equipped with picnic tables and gas powered BBQ stations. For free. Plus cycle paths. He did complain about some birds walking everyone up at 5am though.

PS: get better

 

[perry]

What is very confronting about Sydney today is the methamphetamine epidemic .Its very in your face with literally daily occurrences of crazed people screaming obsenities in the street .I lived in San Carlos de Bariloche for three years and cannot remember even one incident . If Argentina would just have more variety of food and fairer prices it would beat Australia on all levels . Still their steaks and icrecream are worlds best

 

[LuckyLuke]

What is very confronting about Sydney today is the methamphetamine epidemic .Its very in your face with literally daily occurrences of crazed people screaming obsenities in the street .I lived in San Carlos de Bariloche for three years and cannot remember even one incident . If Argentina would just have more variety of food and fairer prices it would beat Australia on all levels . Still their steaks and icrecream are worlds best

Argentina certainly has drug problems. I think it depends on where you reside to witness it. Neuquen capital has an ongoing problem with Cocaine powder, given the lucrative market here among oil workers. BA has historically had epidemics of "Paco" (cocaine paste) and One Direction member Liam Payne recently fell victim to another proliferating drug "Tusi" (pink cocaine). Rosario is well known as a trafficking hub on the "Ruta de Cocaina" through the rio Parana.

That being said I haven't seen either the skid row epidemic of Los Angeles or the extremely alarming rise of Fentanyl in Argentina yet. Heaven help us if it takes hold down here.

 

[dlish]

I was born in Sydney and grew up there and live in BA now. I adore BA for many reasons but the claim that “Buenos Aires is a vastly more beautiful city physically than Sydney” is objectively nonsense, as is the “Buenos Aires its cleaner than good areas of Sydney” - do you not see the dog poop littering the entire city and the grime?! Come on

I do agree with a couple of your other points.

 

[perry]

I was born in Sydney and grew up there and live in BA now. I adore BA for many reasons but the claim that “Buenos Aires is a vastly more beautiful city physically than Sydney” is objectively nonsense, as is the “Buenos Aires its cleaner than good areas of Sydney” - do you not see the dog poop littering the entire city and the grime?! Come on

I do agree with a couple of your other points.

Sydney may be more beautiful narurally with its harbour and beaches but Buenos Aires has much more inner beauty that Sydney cannot put a candle too . In regards to the cleanliness of the city the public toilets in Restaurants and cafe are disgusting in Sydney never cleaned and hardly any available for the general public .Also the streets of Buenos Aires are vastly more beautiful than Sydneys with their wide footpaths and more beautiful buildings . Surry Hills where I am is not even 10 percent Palermos Beauty but properties are 6 times dearer . The only great thing here is the food in Sydney

 

[antipodean]

Like anything in life perspective depends entirely on ones own personal and unique situation in life. All such perspectives are equally valid. There is objectively no "better" or "worse" when comparing countries like Australia and Argentina even though many people will have a strong favorite.

An Argentine living in a slum in Moron or Quilmes would see Australia and its grating accent and meth epidemic as the promised land.

An Argentine living in a humble house adjacent to a slum in Moron or Quilmes could likely see it as a trade off (meth instead of paco, expensive housing but better working class wages etc)

A working class Sydneysider born and raised in suburbia may well chose the authenticity and excitement of Buenos Aires versus rows of identical brick homes, copy/paste shopping centers and faux friendliness (their basics of life they are going to have "okay" either way so the "spice to life" they are looking for is bound to be an intangible factor)

A well accommodated Sydneysider may not chose to trade their home and "bubble" for the world (they don't really use things like public transport to care so much about it but many do care about driving a nice car and waking up to spectacular beaches on their doorstep)

A well accommodated Porteño also may not chose to trade their home and "bubble" for the world (family and lifetime friends mean everything to many of them)

In short, go where one is welcome and offered the best quality of life for what one can afford or accept. Home is ultimately wherever one choses to make it.

 

[perry]

Following up on my post on Australia compared to Argentina there is absolutely no doubt that Argentina for people with good financial means is a much better country to live in than Australia . For those on low incomes or not working Australia offers a plethora of government support not available in Argentina . The costs of foods in supermarkets are significantly less up to 50 percent cheaper for many products . The biggest killer in Australia are the rents which are extremely high and also of inferior quality to Argentina in the middle class neighbourhoods . The quality of housing in Inner city Sydney is very poor with eye watering values . Insects rats and mould are much more common in Australia than Argentina.

The Australian people are imho not friendly but they are polite . Noone wants to make friends in big cities here and Australia is the most passive agressive country I have ever seen . It takes very little to get them angry and irate for basically nothing . Son de cristal a argentinian saying sums them up perfectly . They also love to make rules and more rules and its the worst nanny state of the planet . The taxes are skyhigh fines for basically nothing are enforced on people daily with no remorse . They now are going for cats in Australia with the most draconian laws of the planet . The propaganda demonising these majestic creatures is shocking to say the least. I am a advocate for these noble creatures and the ignorance I encounter in Australia makes me what to leave constantly . Cats are never seen in public and if one happens to escape it will not live very long due to the overzealous councils and people here .

Argentinian people love animals and treat them better than any race of the planet . I love them for this and this kindness also shown to friends is beautiful and rare in the planet . Argentinian people are much more cultured than Australians in their behaviours and genuine interest in others . The argentinian people love culture to a level I have never seen elsewhere and this passion is the best thing about Argentina .

So for all the people complaining how dear Argentina is and thinking of moving to another country do not do it as the grass is never greener outside .

 

[perry]

I was born in Sydney and grew up there and live in BA now. I adore BA for many reasons but the claim that “Buenos Aires is a vastly more beautiful city physically than Sydney” is objectively nonsense, as is the “Buenos Aires its cleaner than good areas of Sydney” - do you not see the dog poop littering the entire city and the grime?! Come on

I do agree with a couple of your other points.

I do not agree that Sydney is so beautiful . It has vast parts of it that are very ugly much worse than most of Buenos Aires . The western suburbs is appallingly ugly with those weatherboard houses for sky high prices . Bankstown Liverpool Revesby Auburn are so ugly and thats just a few percent of the ugliness of Sydney . Buenos Aires in the capital Federal has vastly more beautiful suburbs like Palermo Colegiales Nunez Villa Devoto and so many more . Much larger public parks more options for coffee more beautiful buildings more friendlier people . The city streets are filthy even in middle class neighbourhoods with food wrappers and public urination much more common than Argentina . Yes dog shit is less common here but for me public urination and dirty footpaths that are never cleaned by porteros is vastly worse .

Sydney is by far the most overated city of the planet and most people who live here want to leave asap . In Buenos Aires they only want to leave as there is no money but if they have money noone wants to leave Argentina

For full context I was born in Sydney in a upper middle class neigbourhood of Strathfield . It had its glory days in the 1980s and 1990s but now in 2026 its way past its prime . The people of Sydney are no match at all to the civilized porteños nor are they friendly in any shape or form . They are polite but noone wants to make friends in Sydney . In Buenos Aires its easy to make friends even if you are mature