Feliz Cinco De Mayo Y Dia De Independencia!

[gusgutier]

Hope you have a long happy life here.

 

[steveinbsas]

Just thought I'd give this thread a bump as tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of my arrival in Argentina (as well as my personal independence day from Mexico, where I had been living for over five years). At this moment nine years ago I was in the Mexico City airport waiting for my first flight to BA.
I still have no desire to leave and I hope anyone who will be celebrating has a happy fifth!.

 

[steveinbsas]

I just remembered that today is also the ninth anniversary of the only time I was extorted by an "official" in Argentina...less than 30 minutes after my arrival at EZE.

The vet at EZE demanded $100 USD to allow my dog to enter Argentina with me.

It was actually a good thing as the customs official left me alone after seeing I was involved in a "serious discussion" with the vet.

When viewing scanned images, she had observed "metal" objects in my locked suitcases. She was going to ask me to open them but turned her attention to other arrivals instead.

The objects she saw were two small bronze sculptures (both "studies" for larger pieces) by Tom Bennett. If she had googled Bennett Sculpture she might have wanted to charge me duty even though I bought them on ebay for a fraction of the gallery price years earlier.

It actually took a couple months to "regret" bringing them, when my Argentine girlfriend threw them at me after she discovered I went to AFIP on my own to get a CDI.There was more damage to the fake wood-grain floor of the apartment I was renting than there was to me.

She didn't get really violent until I asked her to watch my dog while I went to Bariloche to look at property .

 

[ghost]

I just remembered that today is also the ninth anniversary of the only time I was extorted by an "official" in Argentina...less than 30 minutes after my arrival at EZE.

The vet at EZE demanded $100 USD to allow my dog to enter Argentina with me.

It was actually a good thing as the customs official left me alone after seeing I was involved in a "serious discussion" with the vet.

When viewing scanned images, she had observed "metal" objects in my locked suitcases. She was going to ask me to open them but turned her attention to other arrivals instead.

The objects she saw were two small bronze sculptures (both "studies" for larger pieces) by Tom Bennett. If she had googled Bennett Sculpture she might have wanted to charge me duty even though I bought them on ebay for a fraction of the gallery price years earlier.

It actually took a couple months to "regret" bringing them, when my Argentine girlfriend threw them at me after she discovered I went to AFIP on my own to get a CDI.There was more damage to the fake wood-grain floor of the apartment I was renting than there was to me.

She didn't get really violent until I asked her to watch my dog while I went to Bariloche to look at property .

Let's really have hard look at Argie women.........................

 

[steveinbsas]

Another year has flown by. Have I really been in Argentina for ten years?

Happy Cinco de Mayo to anyone who needs an excuse to start drinking at noon, regardless of how they feel about Mexico.

Yes, I know May 5th is not the official Dia de Independencia in Mexico. It's my day of independence from Mexico after living there for five years.

 

[jeff1234]

Another year has flown by. Have I really been in Argentina for ten years?

Happy Cinco de Mayo to anyone who needs an excuse to start drinking at noon, regardless of how they feel about Mexico.

Yes, I know May 5th is not the official Dia de Independencia in Mexico. It's my day of independence from Mexico after living there for five years.

Steve, can I ask what it was about Mexico that made you leave. And what part of Mexico you lived in?
I know you're happy here but you chose Argentina during a very troubled time here.

 

[steveinbsas]

Steve, can I ask what it was about Mexico that made you leave. And what part of Mexico you lived in?
I know you're happy here but you chose Argentina during a very troubled time here.

I lived in Sayulita, Nayarit (40 KM north of Puerto Vallarta). When I first started visiting Sayulita in 1986 it was a pueblo de pescadores, with no stores, no restaurants, and no hotels. It's now a tourist trap with many dozens of stores and restaurants. I didn't move to Mexico to be surrounded by hoards of English speaking tourists. Also, the weather is ideal from November through April, but it's extremely hot and humid from May through October.

I arrived in Argentina ten years ago today. It was far from being a "troubled time" then (except for the violent outbursts of my Argentine girlfriend who I met less than two weeks after my arrival). After four years in Capital Federal I moved to my present location in el campo. I am enjoying my life here and it doesn't feel like troubled times, even in the nearby towns and cities where life goes on and people are surprisingly positive.

PS: Being a "Gringo" in Mexico was a disadvantage. Being a Caucasian in Argentina is not.

 

[r2d2]

... or "Pinche Gringo"

 

[steveinbsas]

... or "Pinche Gringo"

Most of the Gringos living in Sayulita were really nice (not assholes as the term implies) and so were most of the tourists. In fact, so were most of the Mexicans.

But the Gringos were (and no doubt still are) much greater targets for Mexican robbers/house invaders, and as the pueblo attracted more Gringos, it also attracted more criminals. My house was no exception (twice from 2001 to 2005).

PS: On the night the Gringos of Sayulita held a fund raising dinner to raise money for a sewage treatment plant (so the untreated waste would not flow into the ocean in the middle of Sayuita's beaches), a number of their homes were burgled.

 

[wineguy999]

I lived in Sayulita

Sayulita? Don't suppose you know Michel Font?