I See Larger Headcount Of Gringo In Argentina Vs Rest

[ARbound]

I came for a bunch of reasons. Didn't like where I lived, was sick of winter, spent too much money on rent and school, wanted to learn Spanish, needed a change, had friends here, I can only live in a large city, and so Argentina it was.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Because it's totally insane. It's a little bit of everything. The city is very nice. I'm a big city rat, I couldn't picture myself in a city like Santiago or Montevideo. I don't understand Brazilians (I'm not referring to portuguese). Colombia seemed to dangerous, Venezuela is in ruins.... Ecuador is also to small. The only other option woulde have been Lima I guess but I loved Bs. As. since I came here for a few days years ago.

Santiago and Montevideo are both underrated cities, Santiago's infrastructure has surpassed Buenos Aires, and Santiago's arts and cultural offerings are closing the gap. Santiago is far superior for recreational opportunities, with the Andes half an hour away and the beach an hour-plus. Colombia is improving rapidly, and I would no longer hesitate to go there. Still, I would greatly miss Buenos Aires if I couldn't return regularly.

 

[splaying]

Hy--Bried -- where do you physically actually live? you speak of Chile but then always about the other surrounding countries to Argentina too so for our audience wanted to have you submit your actual living locaton. Santiago is a boring city with so much less to do than in comparison with lovely Buenos Aires. BA has parks everywhere yet Santiago selectively figures out how few than can give their peoples. I will say crossing the street is much more sane in Chile as a whole whereas in BA it is totally hectic with few exceptions. Concerts of all sorts of genre occur every day -- many are free --- tell us about all the concerts in Santiago.. perhaps the one or two or three of them too. Chile has vineyards -- true --- try to get to them without having to sign onto a tour .. pay good bucks to get there to stay for a limited time frame too. Are those vineyards convenient to the average person? NO-- not at all.. Of course due to the Zero Tolerance Laws... one needs to go with someone else like a TOUR to see them too. Much of the countryside in Chile is quite nice... many roads are being updated after the storm problems of the past too. Perhaps one day they will all be up to par again too. Every time you turn around there is another toll gate ... so many of them. I think people stay in BA or come to BA to enjoy the Paris of the South as it was named once. The different barrios -- each with its own unique culture and food and shops too. Show me that same life in Santiago and I will come again to visit it. I am sure you know it does not exist there at all. On the other hand... your city is clean in most sections of it. There is no or little dog poop on the streets. Transportation runs smoothly. You have one financial system for exchange of funds. You have fewer languages spoken there -- that is fewer people from around the world ever decided to settle there -- they all came to BA --- why? it must have been less was ever offered to a foreigner in Santiago or Chile as a whole than in BA or Argentina as a whole too. Hybrid I believe you need to look not just at the big picture of things but also at the overall scheme of things too. Look into every cranny of the life of the people in the country and again in the city of Buenos Aires too. I am an American -- I have traveled extensively within Chile from the furthermost point south being Port Williams to the furthermost point North being Arica. In the North I have taken the train to cross into Peru whereas in the South transport was by boat. I have driven to many parts of Chile too. I am saying all of this so you do not feel I am using google or Wikipedia to locate my answers. My data is drawn from my personal experiences in your country and elsewhere in South America too. I have seen in depth most of the SA countries. I am retired. I can take my time to visit them in depth. I travel on my own or with friends but not on group tours thus can afford to take my time to see in depth any country I choose to visit and explore too. I do hope I have been specific in my thoughts on this posting. Thank You. W.

 

[Rich One]

A friend from childhood is a senior advisor on his staff and I know she doesn't have a drop of malice in her body but Obama has created a whole lot of cognitive dissonance with the sly bait and switch on a number of issues. In 2007 he said he would mandate labeling for GMO foods. Instead his administration has approved more GMO crops without longterm studies and then the Prez signed the 'Monsanto Protection Act' this year. Still no labels -- even California couldn't get Prop 37 passed when up against the deep pockets of the corporate opposition.

He also said that the DEA would leave medical marijuana alone and 'focus on more important issues' then in July they raided dispensaries in Washington (some of which had already been raided in 2011 with no charges ever filed). These are just a couple of things, not too mention the more serious human rights issues and spying. I hoped that after being elected for a second term he would let loose and follow through on his promises.

Getting back to the OP's question. There is more culture here than Chile, and if you have fair skin and blue eyes you won't stick out here (Argentina has the world's fifth largest population among the Irish diaspora for example.) Not sticking out like a sore thumb really makes a difference in the day-to-day life longterm. Also Chileans are more machista than Argentines in my experience.

Guachita.... for some reason we tend to assume that most expats have fair skin and blue eyes.....

 

[la_guachita]

Not me, that's why I said 'if' -- just relating my experience. Having lived in countries where you get thronged by people just walking down the street if you're white, being able to blend improves one's quality of life. These days, black expats will also have an easier time here on the sticking out like a sore thumb tip. On my block alone there are about 45 or so black folks. While Chile has a very, very small Afro-Chilean community Chileans are *generally* known to be pretty racist. I have some black friends here and a few black friends visited me from overseas and while they get really ignorant comments and sexually fetishized sometimes (which the guys seem to have no problem with!) no one has related any stories of aggressive racism in Buenos Aires.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Not me, that's why I said 'if' -- just relating my experience. Having lived in countries where you get thronged by people just walking down the street if you're white, being able to blend improves one's quality of life. These days, black expats will also have an easier time here on the sticking out like a sore thumb tip. On my block alone there are about 45 or so black folks. While Chile has a very, very small Afro-Chilean community Chileans are *generally* known to be pretty racist. I have some black friends here and a few black friends visited me from overseas and while they get really ignorant comments and sexually fetishized sometimes (which the guys seem to have no problem with!) no one has related any stories of aggressive racism in Buenos Aires.

A few years ago, officials at Ezeiza detained an Afro-Argentine about her passport because they said "she can't black and Argentine."

 

[PaulBee]

[sup]I can´t speak for all parts of LatAm, but I´ve spent time in a lot of the countries. It´s been so long since I had a chance to go to Santiago, Chile that I was told that everything in Santiago cost times as much as in Buenos Aires. I suspect that´s no longer the case. I like Uruguay and some colonial cities of Mexico and Havana. Buenos Aires has beautiful old architecture as those places do, but is perhaps a bit more sophisticated. Havana is spectacular in it´s own right, but difficult to do business from (IE: no Paypal, ec, ec.). Getting back to Buenos Aires, I feel it´s safer and more first world than cities in Brazil, Ecuador and the only real city in Costa Rica. Believe it or not, I felt Costa Rica was a totally disfunctional place to live, though many gringos love it. Perhaps Costa Rica´s improved since I was there. I just had endless problems with dishonesty and corruption there, and there isn´t a good major city in Costa Rica. Brazil has many fine attributes, and perhaps southern Brazil is fine. What I saw in north and central Brazil was a less cultured and much less safe country. There wasn´t much architecture to my taste. I was in the state where Natal is, and the illiteracy rate among adults was 47%, so I didn´t find the atmosphere as intellectually stimulating as Buenos Aires. [/sup]

 

[PaulBee]

PS: Sometimes it´s good to feel like part of the "gang". I don´t think Porteños look at me, a blond gringo, as a space alien, good only for use as an ATM machine.

 

[mc kenna]

OK,OK, gents! Please shade some light on _why you guys chose_ Bs As or the nation of Argentina against other nation of central~south america. Why is Bs As so popular with the expats gringos in comparison to other contries? There are others such as : Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador to name a few..But you guys/gals loves Bs As very much, why...?I think you keep asking the same question over and over again and many people here did their best to explain to you why

Because as mentioned before good food, good looking women, better wine cheaper to live here and pretty much all others can suck it!!! btw some of us don't like the city .Argentina ain't just Buenos Aires 10-4?

 

[Crema Americana]

I didn't choose Argentina - it came as a package deal! I think a good portion of my bad feelings towards Argentina has to do with where we live. When we go to Palermo it's like a whole new world. Even San Isidro or Olivos are really nice. It's a city of 13 million and I feel isolated here. We live in a bad area and getting around on foot really isn't safe or feasible. Not that there's much around anyway... just factories and a lot of really sleazy looking telos.