Finally moving in Feb - Pilar BA - Advice on Pilar?

[nanu]

as a student I would try to make friends with other students at the university. It is an expensive private one with a good social level.

 

[nanu]

lots of professionals: doctors, dentists, etc. rent apartments in condos with swimming pool in Pilar and the swimming pool becomes a meeting place to socialize. All of them young. There are also nightclubs where the young and rich go on weekends.
Also shopping malls with all the classy shops.

 

[nanu]

shooping malls have banks where you can change your dollars, official rate of course.

 

[Supercharged]

as a student I would try to make friends with other students at the university. It is an expensive private one with a good social level.

I started the program at that institution. There are also other places that are good and cultural events do happen in the city, that is the way it works here. . i hope u enjoy Your stay.

 

[Sojourner]

Just a side note to the discussion of bus, train, etc. The Argentine government provides some truly excellent free apps for bus & subway & taxi & bicycle & foot transit. Check out https://turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/es/article/aplicaciones-para-móviles. Como Llego in particular is indispensable to anyone new to the city and may help in deciding on a location to live.

 

[evesal]

Back in the 90´s, decentralizing the cities philosophy finally reached Buenos Aires and it became a serious trend that involved a large quantities of young adults with means that moved mainly to the then delopping Country Clubs around Pilar and other similar areas. They were looking for peace and quiet places, with private security, CCTV and walls instead of iron cast fences and bars.

(Police was so corrupt and disrrupted in those days that selling private security was a flourishing business like no other. Menem, trying to gain favors with Bill Clinton, imposed a complete ban on CCW permits that, unlike Clinton´s ban, has never expired.)

Posh neighborhoods like Recoleta lost their young to these Barrios Privados and are now populated mostly by decrepit old farts like me, circling the graveyard util their number is up.
These families that moved mostly North, have been raising, IMHO, children living in a bubble or, as I put it, in a dense cloud of farts. Way disconnected from reality. The whole smartphone and internet interacting craze has considerably raised the density of those farts in their heads. We´re now on our way of making I. Asimov´s Caves of Steel a reality.

BUT the rich folk in those Barrios Privados do not mingle with the population of Pilar. They contract their services and that is all. Period.
Two societies separated by walls and check points.

So, if I were to study in Pilar, I would take the time to scout the place thoroughly and seriously consider if it´s not better to wake up early and commute to USAL every day and return to BA after school. If you stay in Pilar, having your own means of transportation might not be an option but mandatory.

Worked at the Pilar Industrial Park for over 10 years and commuted by train, bus and car. Never stayed in Pilar city more than necessary.

Thank you for this advice! I've just heard that commuting from town into Pilar would be a hassle, and class is from 9am until 5pm, Monday-Friday. I would hate to be stuck on a bus for an hour getting there and leaving. I am staying in a gated community in Pilar. Perhaps as the year progresses in my studies, I can move downtown.

I'm a little disappointed hearing that Pilar has nothing going on. I hope to find a way to make the best of it.

 

[mmoon]

If you’re outgoing and positive, you’ll have a good experience. Just remember that most of the life in BA happens in the evening/night, so I would still consider living in the city for the after school life, in a northern area neighborhood like Belgrano, which is closer to Pilar.

 

[Iznogud]

Experience told me that the Bus is the best way to travel to and from Pilar. Tried everything else and only the bus beats your own car.

Here`s a Worst Case Scenario for you.

As stated before, I used to work at the Industrial Park for a couple of companies there. My commute was early in the morning and I tried as hard as I could to be there (the Park) around 8 am and get the hell out of Dodge around 5 PM so as to go in the opposite direction as the rest of the people. Pretty much what you should do, IMO.

The day De la Rua`s government fell, I was working at the Park. All the phones in the office ran at the same time to warn us the shit was circling the fan. To leave the office ASAP.
One of the managers, who lived at a closed gates community nearby but had to rush downtown in his armor plated bulletproof glasses Jeep, offered me a ride and off we went down the speedway. Until we were close to the toll booths.

It became terrifying we we saw the first car pass us going full throttle in the other direction. It was going the wrong way!!!
Ahead, we could observe the large buses making U turns and the cars caught in the middle, trying to avoid collisions, frontal and rear while the highway became a total chaos. On the same side of the road you had vehicles going as fast as they could in all directions.

The infuriated crowds from the shanty town had blocked the highway and were looting the transport vehicles they could stop.

My driver didn`t dare push forward (good sense) nor enter Pilar so he left me in the outskirts of town to find my own way home. My family was in BA so it was my call to try to make it home or wait and see at his place. I declined and hoped for the best.

Pilar was indian territory to me. I definitely do not pass for a local. Had make my way half across town to make it to the train station and pray for one.
Plenty of shooting and looting all along the way.
Uncomfortable to say the least, surreal, a scary movie by all means. Nowhere to run to, no support or rescue team for me. Completely on my own.

When I was in sight of the train station asked a lady if she had heard or seen the train today and she told me the service had been interrupted earlier, they were expecting no trains. Saw one slowly entering the station and rushed to get a seat and start praying it would take me home. A static position is not the best in a turbulent situation but it was my only option to go back to BA.

Eventually the train started moving very, very slowly. There were lots of people on the tracks going back and forth carrying loot.

There were a couple of tense incidents and people running down the train corridors, Shouting, screaming. Passengers were scared shitless, so was I.
It was painfully slow until we stopped short of reaching Josè C. Paz. Our wagon stopped right in front of a suppliers side entrance of a large
supermarket. A crowd of looters (women in front row) lay siege to the gate, faced by a bunch of nervous uniformed guys with shotguns, looked like Patas Negras. My wagon was the bullet backstop if the party started. Duck and Pray time.
Reaching Josè C. Paz we could see a bunch of smashed cars with broken windshields. A couple of cops rushed into the train and started chasing some nice looking citizens and after a while the train started moving again. The rest was uneventful, compared to what we`ve been through.

I`m not saying this will happen to you. But you will likely NOT pass for a local, you will NOT belong to the group of the transplanted that live in the closed gates communities unless they take you under their wings. You might find yourself all alone if SHTF.

Scout the place and consider your options before you decide. My country might be circling the drain once again and better be safe than sorry.


The bus was a welcomed relax and unwind period in and out of Pilar.

Iz