Is Bsas Uncomfortable Right Now/also Car Question

[polostar88]

Brazilian friends told me that BsAs is depressing and uncomfortable at the moment...they said there were shortages and outages when they were there. Is this true, or not really?

I'm going to be in Brazil for a while but might head back to Argentina to enjoy the only place in the world where the dollar is strong right now. Want to know if it's worth it...

Also do any of you like to drive in the countryside? Any reasonable places to rent a car, for cheaper than the American companies, etc.? If any of you have driven across Argentina how would you rate the quality of the roads, and is there banditry or police stopping you for bribes?

I drove across Uruguay, it's safe and decent but many of their "highways" are unpaved.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Car rental - Expensive
Roads - In my experience they are mostly two lane highways and reasonably well maintained. Local drivers can be a little aggressive.

BA - you'll see all sides of the argument here if you read the forum ! Hard to cover in one post. Power outages have happened, this is undeniable. I guess I have been lucky, since Sept i lost power for 6 hours one day only.

 

[Ries]

Shortages of what?
I have been here for the last two months, and havent seen a shortage of anything. It may be that there is a shortage of some very expensive imported stuff- BMW car parts, or Apple computer accessories. But day to day, I see more argentines spending more money on shoes, clothes, food, drink, and having fun than any time in the last five years.

As for cars, I just rented a car for a week- it was about 2100 pesos, including insurance. I didnt find that expensive- I used these guys-
http://www.bairesren...CFQWCnQodW0sAjw
Brand new car (under 1800 km on it) they were very nice, easy to deal with. You put the reserva on a credit card, then if you want, you can pay in cash at the end, taking advantage of the blue rate.
I only drove in the Provincia of Buenos Aires, 2000 km in a week, roads were generally pretty good- I was usually able to drive between 100kmh and 120kmh- but it was a tiny car, with only a 1.4 liter engine, so 120 was about the point where it was revving so high mileage started to fall off anyway, so it was fast enough. Of course, you have to stay on the asfalta roads, not the dirt ones, and you do have to be alert for the occasional pothole, and steer around it. I saw no bandits, and wasnt hassled by cops, as long as you keep your headlights on, and dont speed in zona urbanas, they leave you alone, as there are tons of speeding locals with their lights off to get fines from.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Good point....keep your lights on and dipped out of the city. Sadly through experience I can tell you a fine is inevitable if not !

 

[citygirl]

Hahahahahaha - sometimes I wonder if I live in a different BsAs b/c I"m not in cap fed. The roads by me are AWFUL (anyone driven the Buen Ayre lately?!) and once you get off the highways, they're worse than awful - lots of dirt roads and enormous pot holes everywhere.

I personally have seen lots of shortages of basic stuff - can't find corn oil/sunflower oil mix for the last 7 weeks. Lavandina, no big bottles for sale. Detergent, had to wait 2 weeks for shipment. Imported anything - forget it. Granted, again, I'm in pvca but I definitely have noticed an impact over the last 6 months and can only imagine how bad it's going to get with the price freezes.

Power outage - no more than normal, it's the summer and with all the ACs, you lose power every few weeks. But it's been that way as long as I've been here so I don't think it's a big deal.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

In fairness I've only driven in Cap Fed or long distance via motorway, all good. No complaints. Can't speak for the backwoods ; )

 

[citygirl]

And sadly, the backwoods is a whopping 35 minutes outside of Cap Fed and 4 blocks from Aceso Oeste.

My favorite - our road on the maps is listed as a paved road. Best we can figure, a politician got money approved to pave it and he/contractor split the money. Needless to say, no paving was ever done, it's dirt/sand and when it rains, it's pretty much impassible. But I'll actually take that over the "paved" road by us that was once paved and is now so filled with potholes that it is close to impossible to drive and god forbid you do hit a pothole. Some of them are probably at least 1/2 meter (or more) deep. Awesome.

 

[NYKate]

Hahahahahaha - sometimes I wonder if I live in a different BsAs b/c I"m not in cap fed. The roads by me are AWFUL (anyone driven the Buen Ayre lately?!) and once you get off the highways, they're worse than awful - lots of dirt roads and enormous pot holes everywhere.

I personally have seen lots of shortages of basic stuff - can't find corn oil/sunflower oil mix for the last 7 weeks. Lavandina, no big bottles for sale. Detergent, had to wait 2 weeks for shipment. Imported anything - forget it. Granted, again, I'm in pvca but I definitely have noticed an impact over the last 6 months and can only imagine how bad it's going to get with the price freezes.

Power outage - no more than normal, it's the summer and with all the ACs, you lose power every few weeks. But it's been that way as long as I've been here so I don't think it's a big deal.

Very true. A few weeks back one of our expats posted that they were having a hard time finding Dove soap. There has been this problem of getting in basic imports for a while now and a few months back there was a shortage of cancer medication. Its amazing that some people don't notice these things!
The state of the roads here are not so great not to mention the drivers that carry their own secret book of rules. To see a directional used is very very rare.
We, here in Caballito, run into power outtages pretty regularly this time of year. Mostly because there are no regulations with respect to buildings going up and the infrastructure cannot handle the summer power usage. When the power does go out, we have the casarolas out on the balconys. I don't know about power problems farther into the city ie Palermo, Recoleta etc. where the tourists mostly stay.

 

[Gringoboy]

As Citygirl said, expect shortages and another black market when these price freezes kick in.
Driving here requires a sixth sense.

 

[lamarque]

I haven't notice big shortage of anything or light cuts, not 1 in my neighborhood, but i supose it all depend on what part you are. As city girls say there are some places where it happen, but you will not notice is by comming just as turist, I don't notice them and i live here, so i supose yes there are diferent Buenos Aires, no shortage of what i usually consume in where i live and no electric cuts, i touch wood just in case lol