Best/favourite things about BA

[bomber]

With so much doom & gloom in a few threads at the moment (I do sometimes wonder why some people stay in BA...) I thought it might be nice to add some balance to the place. Now I myself have a love-hate relationship with BA, so am fully aware that while it's not all doom & gloom, neither is it all flowers & candy... but this thread is just for your favourite things to see, do, experience in BA, the things that either do keep you coming back/staying for more, or give you fond memories of the place...

For me...
- variety of bars & nightlife
- women from all over Latin America
- my porteño friends: once you do make them they are friends for life
- architecture
- tango
- good, local parrillas
- property prices: going up, but still way cheaper than back home

 

[hannstew]

The 10 pm flight out of EZE. ha, just kidding.

-Local wine variety
-Trying the wine variety
-weekend get togethers with family and friends

 

[Aleina Dee]

1. Architecture and its tree lined avenues.(think Jacarandas y Mimosas in bloom
2. Wine variety and its affordability
3. Its people
4. Shopping is not dominated by the supermarkets,individual shops hold their own,also independent producers.
5. Quirky shops - example a shop dedicated to brushes for all purposes
6. the pace of life (not 24 hr orientated)
7. being able to go almost anywhere on a colectivo
8. Pet friendlyness
9. Temper tantrums of toddlers aside,kids and adolescents are still polite
10. Once you are recognised as a "local" people include you in the daily chit chat, even with faulty Spanish and go out of their way to help you making Buenos Aires not such a lonely place as other cities if you were to live alone.Thinking about older people or recently single people.

 

[BASailor]

The 10 pm flight out of EZE. ha, just kidding.

-Local wine variety
-Trying the wine variety
-weekend get togethers with family and friends

weekend get togethers with family and friends to taste wine... (kidding too!)

 

[jeff1234]

When asked this question by an Argentinian, I always answer positively and politely. But since we are on an expat forum here's my honest answer:

I love 2 things about BA.
1. My novia, who is the reason I'm here.
2. We'll be leaving in 2 years.

Not on my list... the climate, the beaches (how many world class cities dont have an attractive waterfront or harbor), the crazy drivers, the absence of interesting shops and cafes, the stress caused by the political environment, not being able to convert our pesos to USD when we leave, the limited selection of shoddy but overpriced merchandise in stores, and the beef which I usually find to be inedible.

Lets be honest, people around the world wake up every day and walk on sidewalks that arent broken, dont have to dodge herds of dogs, pass lots of interesting shops, go to gyms with air conditioning and their car dealer can order spare parts from the US or Japan.

Most of the praise I've heard for BA is for the people here, the wines, the architecture. I like the wine and the people I've met but, for me, that doesn't nearly compensate for the monetary nonsense and other problems here.

I'd like someone to show me some good architecture here.

 

[NomadInBA]

Didn't take too long for this (yet another) tread to go negative. Can we just have one positive tread for a change?

 

[PhilipDT]

I love Argentine wine. I mean I LOVE it. Unfortunately its cheaper in the USA, the interesting bottles are more available in the USA and when I get bored I can pick up a bottle from almost every other wine producing region in the world for variety. So I usually hesitate to list it as a positive on my pro/con Argentina list.

 

[Montauk_Project]

I agree with a lot of points above, so I will make mine ones not mentioned:
1) you can sit in a cafe for hours with ordering just one coffee
2) it is cool to be intelectual, have a political opinion and be well read
3) You can study a lot of stuff--from university carreers to acting to "classical chinese dance with parisol" and "galician bag pipes" for free or low cost (I´m not making those classes up, and yes, bag pipes is a free class)
4) in my profession, filmmaking, there are no barriers to practicing as in Hollywood (4% of films in Hollywood are directed by women, here it is more like 35% if not higher). I´m female btw.
5) you can admit you go to therapy or you are depressed, or you want to kill yourself. I´m not in therapy right now but I like that it isn´t stigmatized
6) people don´t consider your job to be the most important thing in the world, your passions, hobbies and family count too
7) couples spend time together (in the US sometimes couples will live in separate cities)
8) no one judges your sex life. Could you imagine a political sex scandle here?
9) The way people talk: I love their accents and dirty slang
10) Good looking men, who aren´t afraid to seduce, flirt and talk.
11) bonus--there are a lot of things I don´t like about Argentina, but in the past few years I´ve seen a huge cultural shift happening with young people. They are moving away from a "contactos y coimas" system of doing busines (contacts and bribes) to more open systems of networking and transparency. When I started out in the film world, 2005, we dealt with everything by bribing (permits, cops, etc). Since 2008 we have not been asked to pay one bribe, and have found some pretty helpful officials. I think after the crisis of 2001 people realized they needed to get there shit together and be more fair.
Always look on the bright side of life!

 

[anjuna11]

I love Argentine wine. I mean I LOVE it. Unfortunately its cheaper in the USA, the interesting bottles are more available in the USA and when I get bored I can pick up a bottle from almost every other wine producing region in the world for variety. So I usually hesitate to list it as a positive on my pro/con Argentina list.

Cheaper in the USA? Really?

 

[hannstew]

Cheaper in the USA? Really?

Yes, really. I have some pics on my phone from Specs liquor store in Texas from my last trip of:

Rutini Malbec $13.99
Luigi Bosca DOC Malbec $18.99
Salentine Reserva Cab. Sav. $16.99
Trivento Malbec $9.99

Not much cheaper, but cheaper..

I admit, there isnt the variety there as here, obviously. So keeping this positive, thats what I like about here in BA.