$Cary Prices.......

[salsapicante]

Wow, with prices like that maybe we shouldn't move there just yet.... Any thoughts?

 

[Gringoboy]

Maybe you should consider a country with a more stable economy?

 

[Sockhopper]

Maybe you should consider a country with a more stable economy?

Do you mean ANYWHERE more stable than Argentina or do you mean a place that is reliably stable per se? I don't know anywhere that's reliably stable in this continually deteriorating world economy. At least not for the middle and poorer classes as defined by each country. As a result, it makes sense if one's going to move far to choose a country where he actually most desires to live AND that his income can accommodate at least for now, or for the foreseeable future -a tricky thing to know of itself. Wanting to live there helps one make the hundreds of small philosophical and practical adjustments required during the first couple of years there. And feeling good about being there strengthens one's will and commitment to coping when and if that place's economy takes a nose dive. There's nothing more stultifying than doing all the work it takes to establish a new life in a new country that just doesn't grab your soul and that you moved to just because at the time its economy was or was claimed to be 'better'. Especially when 'better' really means 'better' for people of a higher economic demographic than yourself.

 

[Sockhopper]

I put food prices in perspective by calculating what I pay in dollars. I recently bought two T-bone steaks at COTO for 32 pesos. I get 8 pesos to the dollar in a XOOM transfer. That means that each steak cost me $2 which I ate with a baked potato for a peso. I asked friends if they could eat that cheaply at home in the USA, and they replied, no. I have no complaints.

Yes, food prices are increasing, but it effects Argentines more than it does foreigners with dollars or Euros. Inflation is a fact of life in Argentina, and at one time it was 800%. Foreigners can always return home if they don't like the situation in Argentina.

I shop around these days and compare prices. When I see blueberries at COTO for 26 pesos, and for 6 pesos at the local Chinese grocery, you know where I buy them. COTO has high overhead in big stores, and almost everything is cheaper in independent stores. We have to realize that we are not going to have everything we had in the USA at reasonable prices. The decision to live in Argentina is a big one. We have to accept the way things are here and not complain. It will never be like things are in the USA, and that's fine with me.

Years ago I discovered house sales and resale shops. I had to start over furnishing an apartment here (the first property I've owned in my life!) and bought everything at weekend house sales. I found great bargains. I buy all my clothing and shoes second-hand. I dress better here than I ever did in the USA simply because I buy used Italian and French clothes and shoes for pesos, not dollars. I have 14 pairs of Italian shoes I bought here at resale shops. I manage very well on my modest social security benefits.

What I do not miss about my life in the USA: junk mail, car insurance and maintenance, no public transportation at night, cold winters in Chicago, credit cards, working, television, the constant insanity to have more even if you don't need it.

On August 15, I took the oath of citizenship and applied for a DNI. I am here to stay!

Congratulations! I have a friend who's returned to the US after living in BA a long time. This person is having significant difficulties readjusting and I fear may not despite being a most positive and adaptable person. It's not that anything in particular has gone wrong in my friend's plans. It's that the US isn't what it used to be. It's just not stacking up to the continuing myths about quality of life there (I'll call it in general) in a world that's changed and shifted in unanticipated ways and rather quickly over the past decade. And that when one is lucky enough to discover and understand many other perspectives from which to view and judge things, it's not so easy to regress to those that one's own country automatically assumes you ought to just keep on having forever no matter how much things in that country or worldwide have changed.

 

[internationalguy]

The US is a MUCH WORSE place than it used to be 15- 20 years ago. This isn't only about the strength of the economy, people under the poverty line, or even personal freedoms and police state issues. America has changed tremendously for the worse. You can see it in every aspect. Everything used to be about trust, hard work, long lasting goods and goals. Now, everything is disposable, cheap, meaningless. No one trusts anyone anymore. This isn't to say that 20 years ago people didn't want material stuff and so on. It just feels like such a different place now. The reasons, who knows, but I don't like the way things are going.