Is Argentina Still a Good Deal?

[Lanick]

Nordelta is a suburb, mostly made up of gated communities with guards, gates, and fences. It has golf courses, shopping malls, and is very car oriented, much like southern california or parts of florida. It is near the actual delta, Tigre, which is mostly accesible only by
boat and has very few year round residents.
Its not "country" like many of the old towns a bit farther out, which are small, funky, and agricultural.

I would recommend you look at Tandil, which is a university and ag town 5 hours drive south of Buenos Aires. It is big enough to have everything, but old fashioned with a central square and shopping district, and with residential districts farther out, including a golf course or two. Within 20 minutes of downtown you could be quite rural, but still easy access to stores and hospitals and services.

Most of rural argentina is composed of quite big ranches, often 10,000 hectaires or more, and the towns are sometimes 50 to 100 kilometers apart, with very little in

No "Patricia" ?

Food and rent ,,, that's it ,,, no worries !!!

Wow ,,, amazing !!!! p

I got 1 friend living off of usd1420 each month renting in las canitas, going to smartfit, working out with a pt twice per week. Socialising, has a girlfriend, shopping from the US or Europe through friends travelling, playing golf at the municipio. And other things. If anyone needs a 1 br flat in Collegiales with a doorman, pool, gym, balcony for $500 please let me know

 

[A Antares]

I included the incorrect link in my previous post.

Here is the thread about "country life in Argentina" as I am experiencing it:

Country Life In Argentina: What's It Really Like?

Recently, Hybrid-san made a number of posts and asked many questions as he considered the possibility of buying land and building a country home in Argentina. I promised to start a thread about "country living" in Argentina and here it is. I'll provide a few details of how I got where I am now...

baexpats.org

Good for for you Steve. That's the way to expatriate. I did the same in Bolivia and Colombia. It's an enriching experience to see things and to do things that no tourists and few expatriates will see or do.

 

[sergio]

The expectations of most expats are radically different from those of the overwhelming majority of Argentines who are just trying to get by every month. I think that's understandable as few people would choose to live by an inferior standard to what they could have in a more developed country. Nevertheless, it is entertaining to read about the priorities of expats who are used to frequent dining in upscale restaurants, a lot of nightlife and entertainment and living in the most affluent neighbourhoods. Can someone live on U$S 1,500 a month? Just about every Argentine lives on far less. It boils down to how privileged a life one can have in Argentina on what would be a modest budget in places like the US or UK. Given inflation and the poor exchange rate due to an overvalued peso, I'd say that Argentina is not an especially good deal anymore. If the exchange rate is allowed to reflect reality that might change. Who knows what will happen...

 

[argeiCanuck]

@sergio
Exactly correct analysis.

Good deal was when ,,, Argentina afforded me maintaining my previous North American lifestyle on $1500.

It was real.
It was a good deal.

No one said you can't live in Argentina on $1500 or even much less. Just DO NOT expect to maintain your previous NA lifestyle.

 

[argeiCanuck]

1. Can you live on $1500? ,,,, YES
2. Is it a good deal? ,,,, NO. it used to be.

 

[Lanick]

When you say “you can live for 1500”, it’s not that you exist. You live, do things, have fun but it’s true that it’s not as it used to be!

 

[Lanick]

@sergio
Exactly correct analysis.

Good deal was when ,,, Argentina afforded me maintaining my previous North American lifestyle on $1500.

It was real.
It was a good deal.

No one said you can't live in Argentina on $1500 or even much less. Just DO NOT expect to maintain your previous NA lifestyle.

Depends on what you mean by NA lifestyle. In my case; Argentina offers me a lot better lifestyle then the NA has for 1500.

 

[argeiCanuck]

Depends on what you mean by NA lifestyle. In my case; Argentina offers me a lot better lifestyle then the NA has for 1500.

North America is absolutely out of reach at $1500. Forget it.
It is NOT part of this discussion.

 

[Rich One]

No argument there. We clicked a lot of boxes!

Nice couple. Excellent collage a space to dream on.

 

[FrankPintor]

Trip report: Asunción, Paraguay, October 2024.

We spent a few days for shopping in Asunción at the end of last month, traveling by bus overnight with NSA (semi-cama ARS 75k, cama 85k each way), which wasn't too uncomfortable but it's a long (16+ hours trip) with one stop at the border, and possible one more for coffee / bathroom. Since flights are now well over USD 500 with Paranair we said we'd try it.

We rented an Airbnb in the Recoleta / Villa Morra area, for USD 21 per night, well equipped, comfortable, and with a pool on the roof to cool off after the hot days (30+ degrees all day every day, 40+ in summer). The area contains at least 4 shopping centres, and some more specialized outlets as well like Nissei for electrodomestics and Feria Asunción for inexpensive clothes. We picked an apartment in front of a Biggie 24hr kiosk, though calling it a kiosk isn't accurate, Biggie beats El Jevi hands-down, you'll find everything from an ATM, frozen meat, fresh vegetables, soft and hard drinks, cooking supplies, ice-cream, basically everything you need to get started in your Airbnb. Biggie would be considered expensive in Paraguay, but there was also a Super 6 supermarket close by for more serious food purchasing.

Travel by Bolt (no Uber) in the area I mentioned is about USD 1.50 - 2 per trip.

My main reason for going was to buy Semaglix, a Paraguayan-produced equivalent of Ozempic. A tube of Ozempic here, with an OSDE 40% discount, costs ARS 240k (or at least it did last time I checked, 3 months ago, I'm sure the price has gone up since). Semaglix costs approx. USD 70 per vial, the method of application is less convenient, but hey, it costs almost 4 times less.

We did some clothes and shoe shopping, all the shopping centres offer tourist discounts, which can generally be accumulated with any price reductions in the shops themselves. There are lots of offers, for example Moschino shoes for USD 99 (normal price USD 459), I got some Goodyear shoes (USD 40) for myself, clothing items (T-shirts, and so on) from USD 2 - 10. Xiaomi had a reasonably low spec (5Mpix camera, 128GB memory) smartphone for USD 85 (reduced to 75 with the discounts). In general, prices are much lower than here. One problem is that the brands are sometimes unfamiliar, many are from Brazil, so research is needed to find good, reliable products.

Next time we go, we hope to bring back some electrodomestics (airfryer, pressure cooker, and so on) and maybe some tools for me (Xiaomi have nice man-toys). We might go by car next time, to bring more stuff back, though this article reminds us that we only have a USD 300 allowance:

Intensificaron los controles a los tours de compras que viajan a Chile: cómo es el nuevo protocolo

Aduana dispuso un nuevo procedimiento para las empresas de transporte y micros que realizan tours de compras en el país trasandino. El objetivo es evitar largas demoras y conflictos en el paso fronterizo Cristo Redentor

www-infobae-com.translate.goog

The inspection at the border on the way back was cursory, load everything into an AFIP van with an X-ray machine, nobody asked about the Semaglix, nor the various clothing items.