Heading out too

[kurtdillard]

Yanqui's thread pushed me to finally write this update. My wife and I made our decision in May and I accepted a job offer at Microsoft a few weeks back. My first official day is 7/16 but she'll be stuck here for months while we wait for her immigration visa. So I won't be completely out of Argentina until late this year or perhaps early next year, but we made our final choice and the process is rolling. We'll be living near Seattle and I'll be a 'Senior Program Manager' working on security projects for Microsoft.

Why are we leaving? The littany of issues discussed on these boards are the main things we hate about the country: soaring crime rate, inflation, insane government policies, financial restrictions, terrible customer service, corruption, dishonesty, and frequent rationing. Up here in Corrientes we also have to deal with poor selection for shopping, restuarants, cultural activities, education for our kids, medical services, and lots of other stuff. We'll miss many things: my wife's family most of all but also the tropical climate, the kindness of most people we meet, and the awesome grass-fed beef that is still readily available up here.


I've learned a lot from these forums over the past 6 - 7 years including a lot of great restaurants, some great family activities, and tips on how to deal with life in South Cone. We enjoyed going to some of the expat dinners when we were still living in Bs. As.. Thanks to all of you who've tried to educate and inspire others through this unique little community. Special gratitude to Pericles who went out of his way to make me feel welcome even after I made it clear that we had no interest in buying real-estate.

I'll continue to be active on the forums until we make our final move, and if anyone has questions about life or travel in Corrientes, Missiones, or Chaco let me know

 

[nlaruccia]

My brother lives and works at Microsoft in Bellevue. You two might run into each other. When are you moving to Seattle? There's definitely less crime in Seattle, but it never stops raining.

 

[Argento]

Best to you for the move. Thanks for sharing your perspective and experiences. Helpful for others assessing a stay or not.

 

[YanquiGallego]

Best of luck to you. I'm actually a bit surprised (I dont know why) by the number of people who have commented and private messaged me after my thread telling me how they are very seriously considering making the move out of BA finally. I cant say Im ecstatic about having left BA, I have been in Santiago a few days and am progressively discovering its unique charm (more on that in a later post) but still resent having to have left a city where I was once its number one fan and took great pride in showing my friends from the US and Europe around when they visited. I knew Id probably leave sooner or later once all this BS with the dollar, restrictions, and all this other brujaja started happening, but didnt think my departure would be under these circumstances. Well, best of luck to everyone with whatever decision you are making

 

[el_expatriado]

I knew Id probably leave sooner or later once all this BS with the dollar, restrictions, and all this other brujaja started happening, but didnt think my departure would be under these circumstances. Well, best of luck to everyone with whatever decision you are making

No expat should leave over dollar troubles. Those are easy to work out with just a little bit of legwork and meeting the right people.

You, however, picked a very good reason to leave -- the security situation. It isn't going to get better anytime soon. Pretty much everyone I know has been a victim of some kind of crime here. The problem really is out of control. So far nothing has happened to me personally (knock on wood) but I know it is only a matter of time.

Here's a short list, just as an example:

1. Wife, armed robbers entered and robbed the clothing store where she was buying some clothes (Palermo).
2. Sister in law, house robbed while she was visiting my wife and I (Pilar)
3. Mother in law, home robbed over the weekend (Devoto)
4. Good friend (female), robbed at least once a year on the street (purse and cell phone)
5. Father, pick-pocked while visiting me here in BA outside the national congress.

I'm sure everyone has similar stories. It is impossible to run into someone here who has either had no personal experience with crime or doesn't know someone close to them who has had an experience with crime. Crime is everywhere here and it is only getting worse. The government, par for course, just denies everything and blames it on the media.

 

[steveinbsas]

. Crime is everywhere here and it is only getting worse. The government, par for course, just denies everything and blames it on the media.

Not where I live...not by a country mile...or thousands of meters.

The police here are personally known to everyone.

If any one of them dares to "cross the line" everyone in the village will know about it.

 

[el_expatriado]

Not where I live...not by a country mile...or thousands of meters.

I'm talking about the capital, not the interior.

 

[steveinbsas]

I'm talking about the capital, not the interior.

As a result you may be in grave danger.

There is no way to know for sure (I was once a direct target).

 

[RichardP]

Seattle or Redmond are good places to live and Argentina is nice to visit. Best of luck.
You will find quite a few Argentine expats in the area and some are at Microsoft.
It's a great time of the year to move here. As locals say, summer officially starts on July 5th.

 

[ghost]

Kurt:
Good luck with the move. Argentina [esp. BA] has changed allot in the past several years and not for the better. It will take some time to adjust to not looking over your shoulder and not being on high alert all the time. And even worse not having to worry about kidnap issues with your children.
Microsoft has plenty of security issues so you will be very, very busy. But at least you can focus on looking forward [in every respect]
Good luck! Good move.